C-CAP
Arizona's preliminary competition for this year's scholarships is this coming
Saturday at Le Cordon Bleu in Scottsdale. You're going to be going to the campus at 8100 E. Camelback, just off Hayden Road.
Here
are a few last-minute tips and hints from grads and judges.
*
Always taste, taste, taste. Taste every vegetable you add to your
vinaigrette and then taste them together - and then taste it again before you fill the salad mold!
*
Make sure your vegetables are drained properly. They should be seasoned and tasty - but not drowned.
*
Keep your work space clean, handling one ingredient at a time on your board.
*
Remember to separate useful cuttings from the garbage. When a judge asks what
you intend to do with your leftovers, a good answer is always
"Stock." Or, "Soup."
*
Make sure your cuts are the right size.
A dice is 1/4 inch square - that means it's one-quarter inch entirely. If you're having problems
here, you need to practice with your knife a little more.
*
Whisk the eggs for your omelet thoroughly: they should be a nearly-even pale
yellow, with absolutely no strands or clumps of egg white. (If you're seeing
little white splotches in your omelet - do it again (no, you wont get extra
time. The C-CAP omelet is an even
color.)
*
SALT. C-CAP grad, chef Jack Quijada reminds competitors not to be afraid of
using salt sufficiently to season food! ("Salt is not your enemy in the
kitchen!").
*
Be certain your omelet pan is hot enough to completely cook your omelet. It's moist inside, not wet, because wet means it's not cooked - and there's not a
judge in Arizona who wants to eat your uncooked eggs when they taste your
omelet.
If you want to be a chef, look like a chef. For C-CAP competitions, this means ditching
every single electronic device you typically carry in the kitchen - no cell
phones, no iPods or MP3 player - NADA.
You are going to cook. (that's a period at the end of that sentence,
folks.) You are also wearing
· Clean and pressed white chef’s
jacket and an apron.
· Chef pants or black pants.
· Rubber-soled, non-skid shoes –
preferably black.
· White chef toque or hat provided by
C-CAP.
· Neat hair, pulled back if it is
long. (NO wisps, bangs, or stray
curls - no one wants a hair in the salad!)
· Minimal make-up and short, clean
nails – no nail polish (probably you already know that nail tips are also not a good idea).
Here's what you are also NOT wearing:
* rings
* bracelets
* earrings of ANY kind (this includes that
sweet little diamond stud no matter
where it is - and is also includes your gauges and/or chains)
* no tongue studs (no studs, no matter
where they are, unless it's your navel
and no one can see it (if we
do, you're disqualified - professional chefs don't
show midriffs in the kitchen)
* watches may be visible, but not on your wrist. Clip 'em to your equipment or use a
small timer, and make sure you can see it.
* watches may be visible, but not on your wrist. Clip 'em to your equipment or use a
small timer, and make sure you can see it.
And, alas, you cannot chew gum to
calm your nerves. Ditch it before
you enter the kitchen on competition day.
Practiced enough?
Young chef Jelani Port, a CCAP grad, credits his
high school mentor, Chef Dean Wilberscheid, with teaching him the importance of
creative visualization.
"Chef Dean taught me that,
before an important test or competition, I need to mentally prepare by seeing
myself doing the work. So I learned
to go step-by-step in my mind.
"It really helps, because you
learn where your weak points are - like, if you have to think 'how much lime juice?', you're going to
lose time. If you don't see your
equipment all lined up, you might have forgotten a piece.
"I use this all the time when I
need to do something exactly right - and that's all the time."
Just
in case you're thinking there's no hope of winning this competition - take a
look at this year's Bocuse d'Or competition (spoiler alert! The United States
came home with a silver medal - and that's a first!) - here's the link:
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