A primer on baking with apples, from someone who should know (or at least knows whom to ask).

By Wendy Brannen

I know that Bed, Bath & Beyond is a great resource for purchasing household goods—and for 20% off, at that, with those ubiquitous coupons—but until recently I didn’t realize the big-box retailer has an excellent blog.

“Above & Beyond” blipped on my radar when a fun and friendly freelancer called to ask me about baking with apples for a consumer blog story. That’s also when I realized, “You know, I work for the U.S. Apple Association. I really should know more about baking with apples!” Thus, I tried to go “above and beyond” to find out a little more from a handful of subject-matter experts.

Jane Bonacci is a dear friend and food blogger from San Francisco who has a tsunami-sized love of food—and creating good food recipes. I love her advice for a simple-but-saucy baked apple. (No crisps or crumbles needed here, folks!) Says Jane, “If you want to make baked apples, leave them whole, peel them about halfway down from the top, leaving the bottom half with peel on for structure. Remove the core and fill the hole with hard sauce—Oh, my!”

Armed with a degree in business, Katie Veile decided not to let her student loans stand in the way of pursuing her lifelong passion at The French Pastry School.  

For the Love of Chocolate Foundation provides scholarships for qualified students in the specialized training of the pastry arts in the full-time programs taught by The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago.

The goal of the scholarships is to encourage and assist aspiring students, career changers and culinary-career professionals to advance their knowledge of the pastry arts. The program is specifically geared toward individuals who are in need of financial assistance. The French Pastry School’s full-time programs not only train students in the art of pastry, but also educate them about the pastry profession.

The school was founded by Chefs Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sébastien Canonne, MOF, in 1995 as a resource for intensive pastry education. Today it is often referred to as the premier pastry school in the world. The French Pastry School offers certificates in Professional Baking and Pastry Arts (24 weeks), Professional Cake Decorating and Baking (16 weeks) and Artisanal Bread Baking (eight weeks).

On its 80^th anniversary, Kendall College’s president envisions a future in which everyone worldwide with a passion for food may pursue their dreams to cook professionally.

By Emily Williams Knight

Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts exists to create agents of change, not only in Chicago and the Midwest, but across the country and globe. We teach people with a passion for food how to put that passion in play in ways that extend far beyond creating convivial social experiences for people.

Our graduates have the power to greatly enhance a community’s health and well-being. They leave our campus with ardent commitment to serving and protecting the environment that sustains us. These newly minted professionals, trained in the art of culinary and the business of securing and preparing high-quality food for others, can also help alleviate that which keeps populations worldwide adequately fed yet severely malnourished.

Given the immense potential of trained culinarians to bring significant, positive change to all corners of the planet, we in the United States and many other nations are fortunate that a relatively newfound respect for chefs coupled with increasing love of and fascination with all things culinary extends throughout our respective cultures—making it easier to enact real, worthwhile change.

Although some instructors might feel threatened or intimidated by having to adapt to accommodate the needs of an ever-diversifying student body, consider that change can be good, benefit the student and ultimately make teaching and managing the classroom a lot easier.

By Bradley J. Ware, PhD, and C. Lévesque Ware, PhD

The student landscape today is drastically different than in the past. Classes are made up of an increased number of students who have new and unique needs and a variety of views and opinions concerning their role in the classroom and that of the instructor.

More and more students are culturally diverse, have learning disabilities, live with visual and hearing impairments, and require more personal attention. Educators who adapt their teaching methods and strategies to best accommodate these diverse groups will have the greatest degree of success in motivating students to learn.

Culturally Diverse Students
There are many outside forces that can influence the overall success of foreign and multicultural students. Behaviors that are culturally linked such as a lack of eye contact, non-participatory behavior, a disregard for personal space, or the failure to respond to questions might be misconstrued by instructors as poor preparation or a lack of interest. Students who are first-generation college students might experience the pressure to succeed in an environment with which they are not familiar. They may at times feel like outcasts and honestly believe that they do not belong or fit into the college scheme of things. Students who have English as a second language also have the added burden of limited comprehension and might find it difficult to adjust to the academic rigor that college demands.

And with power comes responsibility, says this Hoboken chef, restaurateur, author, businesswoman and Latin cuisines historian.

Dr. Maricel E. Presilla, a culinary historian, author and chef specializing in the foods of Latin America and Spain, reminded graduates of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) they are following a tradition of excellence, and with it carries responsibility. Presilla was commencement speaker at the college’s Hyde Park, N.Y., campus on July 3.

“Keep your sharp knives at hand, but hold onto the wooden spoon,” Presilla told 61 recipients of associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts. “A wooden spoon becomes one with the food. It also represents the collective wisdom of grandmothers and home cooks everywhere.”

Presilla is president of Gran Cacao Company, a Latin American food research and marketing company that offers cacao educational programs and premium heirloom cocoa beans. She is also chef and co-owner of two restaurants—Cucharamama, featuring artisanal South American cooking, and Zafra, a pan-Latin restaurant with an emphasis on the cuisine of Cuba, both in Hoboken, N.J. In 2010, she opened Ultramarinos,a gourmet Latin American market, bakery, chocolate shop and cooking atelier in Hoboken.