How to ace the C-CAP 2017 preliminary

Okay, this isn't a 1-2-3 - hooray! sort of competition. It's rough.

On February 4, nearly 150 junior and senior high school culinary students from throughout Arizona will compete for 40 open spots in the senior competition finals.

Ten lucky juniors will also move to finals (where they'll observe and have a hands-on class with a professional chef that results in lunch for everyone at the finals.

So what sort of odds does that give you? Depends. Depends mostly on how much you've practiced the culinary skill sets needed to make two composed salads and two (perfect) rolled omelets.

Let's right now agree that you have your recipes memorized. Look - this isn't a hard one, and your ingredients - which will be on a handy-dandy tray at competition - should help you remember your recipe.

Here's a short tip sheet for this part:

a) This competition is about training for a profession. In this world, food is purchased within a budget. You're using the food - you're working with the budget. Show it some respect.

b) Be prepared to use every edible morsel of the food on your tray for your recipe(s).

c) When prepping and cooking, do not mix food scraps with garbage. Garbage is thrown out. Food scraps….get creative: soup, broth/stock, larger scraps (sauce or…smoothie, anyone?)

d) Be mindful of sanitation. Keep ONE food on your cutting board at one time - and only the equipment you're using for that task.

Make sure you review the steps you need to take and the order you should follow in assembling your salad and omelet!

Make a list of your equipment and ingredients in the order you're going to use them. You'll be surprised at how much help that will be - and CCAP rules allow you to have that list taped inside your equipment box or in your pocket (no peeking while cooking!).

Step by step to a perfect salad

Now, let's look at how to make that salad.

"Balance is really the 'secret' key to this salad," says CCAP Arizona Director Jill Smith.  "You need the vinaigrette to be sweet/salty/citrus-y in balance for each element to shine through.

"The cilantro should be just a fine dust in the salad, but enough to taste. And, of course, the cuts need to be perfect and even."

(And don't even think about taking that cilantro and using it as a garnish if you don't have it actually in the salad! Also know this is something you want to remember for finals!)

Take a deep breath - this salad is easy with a series of very logical steps. (Yeah - this is the order the judges will watch for!)

·      Core, score, blanch and shock your tomato - and then take it out of the ice as soon as it's cool. Put it back on your mise en place tray and leave it alone for now

·      Make vinaigrette, taste. Adjust seasoning and put it on top of the ice bath

·      Peel, dice jicama (small! 1/4 by 1/4 inch) - put it in the vinaigrette - leave that tomato alone! It does NOT go into the vinaigrette YET!

·      Dice bell peppers (small!) - This goes into the vinaigrette!

·      Cut onion into small dice - add to vinaigrette

·      NOW peel, seed and dice that tomato and add it to the vinaigrette

·      Cut cucumber slices (not too thick, not too thin) for ring mold and plate them evenly along the sides of the mold

·      Peel, seed and dice the remaining cucumber and add to vinaigrette (and, yeah - the judges will definitely notice if there's no cucumber dice in the salad)

·      TASTE your salad and adjust seasonings

·      Strain all vinaigrette from diced vegetables (you will need to use cheesecloth to be certain vegetables are seasoned but not dripping)

·      Put strained vegetables into mold; clean plate for presentation (if your salad is "weeping" vinaigrette, use paper towels to blot it away - and make sure it's not weeping when you take it out for presentation)

Perfect French omelets require a fine beating

Omelets are devilishly tricky!  Here's how a few notable chefs remember how they made their first (almost) perfect omelet: http://www.bonappetit.com/people/chefs/article/perfect-omelet-chefs

Feeling better? Let's go break a few eggs and amaze the CCAP judges.

Break your eggs on the edge of your cutting board, not your bowl (you don't want any stray bacteria in your omelet).

Agitate your eggs, using a whisk or a fork, making certain to beat them enough to remove any indication of egg white (you need to break the whites so no strings of white show through in your omelet).

[Special note: C-CAP standards are especially rigorous here.  You need to NOT have any clumps, bumps or strings of white showing in your omelet.]

Have your pan hot.  Really, really hot.

Don't let your eggs sit still in the pan; you need to keep the eggs and pan moving.

Fortunately, this won't take long (it's a really hot pan, remember?)

Moving the pan and eggs constantly keeps the curds of egg small, and in this case, small means tender.  You want to have a consistent, very tender feel to your omelet, inside and out.

Shift the eggs to one side of the pan, tilt the pan and use your fork to help roll the omelet out of the pan onto a plate (this should help you to have a near-perfect roll to your omelet).  The eggs will still be slightly damp.  (Don't forget how Jill and the other practice chefs have shown you how to hold that skillet!)

If your omelet browns, there are reasons: 

It hasn't been stirred hard/long enough while cooking. Omelets cook quickly and you must not stop moving those eggs around.

The omelet is overcooked. A French omelet does not look entirely dry when it's done; it should have a little glistening sheen to it.

The eggs were not whipped sufficiently to start with:  browning indicates there's albumin - that's egg white! - that wasn't entirely incorporated in your mixing.

[DON'T FORGET! C-CAP standards demand that this omelet be a nice, golden yellow, without any evidence of browning. This takes practice!]

This omelet only has salt and pepper in it - and it needs enough to be apparent in the taste. So season judiciously!

Finally, make sure your plate is completely clean, with no butter or oil slicks on the plate, and definitely no stray pieces of egg. If you are at all uncertain, leave it sit for a few (okay - like 20) seconds, and have a paper towel handy.

A list of preliminary competition judges will be posted no later than February 1, along with last-minute assists on maximizing your interactions with CCAP's professional judges.