Ready for your close-up?

Let’s face it. Going for a little chat with people who 1) are basically strangers to you, and 2) hold a very important part of your future in their hands is more than a little daunting.

You want to be as ready and relaxed (but alert!) when you walk into that final C-CAP scholarship interview.

So here’s what you do to give yourself an advantage.

Pack a little survival assistance into your kit for the competition. Add a clean shirt (a t-shirt is okay), a face cleanser, and a toothbrush or even just some mouthwash or breath freshener.

After the plate presentation judging, take a few minutes to get to the rest room, wash your face, and put on a clean shirt. Yes, ladies – you can fix your make up, too.

No, you absolutely do not need to do this. But it will make you feel better and more prepared for the rest of the day.

When you walk into the interview, here’s what to do:

Smile and greet each judge individually. Look each person in the eye (briefly!).

Mention that you’re happy/glad/pleased to be there (“It’s great to finally be here.” “I’m really happy I made it here.” --- You get the idea.)

Before you answer each question, stop for just a second to take a breath. It will help to relax you and also gives you a moment to think.

Make sure you have at least one or two questions you can ask the interviewers.

Finally, before you leave, say thank you to the interviewers. (“Thanks for talking with me. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.”)

With a calm, collected presentation, you’ll make the best impression. And you can walk out of the interview being positive you’ve done your best.

Final practice - first notes: from the lead judge and a former contestant

Work and school schedules kept more than half of this year's C-CAP finalists from this weekend's final practice session at Arizona Culinary Institute with lead judge Chef Glenn Humphrey.

Chef Glenn gave a rapid-fire demo of the required entrée, chicken chasseur, and took time to review tourneed potatoes.

"Move the potato, not the knife," he says, "and make sure you get 'em about the same size so they cook evenly and quickly. And don't wear gloves - you're gonna cook these, you don't need to be gloved. Save the gloves for when you're working with food ready to serve."

And about those gloves…"Get some blue ones," says C-CAP graduate Justin Richardson. "If you use blue gloves, you'll know right away if you've nicked one enough to leave even a tiny piece in the food."

Chef Glenn ran through a step-by-step guide to preparing chicken chasseur (see below!) before finalists began formal practice.

As a graduate, Justin offered a few thoughts as he observed finalists at work, drawing from his own C-CAP finals as well as his work experience in the kitchens at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak.

"People need to be prepared to eat, breathe, sleep this competition for the next week, because it's the little things that trip you up and cost you points," he says.

"First, figure out your weakest point, and get busy on it. I can see hat everyone here is off to a good start, but there's a real need to buckle down and be serious. Focus on the work."

• Keep your sauce supple, not over-reduced. When you over-reduce, it gets gummy.
• Make sure your pastry cream is - well, creamy. You should not be able to taste that you used flour to thicken it!
• Keep your pastry cream creamy by placing a piece of plastic directly on top of the cream! Otherwise, it will develop a yucky-tasting 'skin,' which, by the way, Mr. Grausmann really dislikes.
• Keep your chocolate sauce away from the pilot light - you could inadvertently scorch it and - no matter what you do to recover - your final dish will retain a faint scorched sense.
• Remember: it is a chocolate sauce. If you use it primarily as garnish, at least put a few squiggles or dots directly on the crepes. (People like to taste chocolate!)
• Take along extra product, especially extra chocolate, stock, glace. Carry extra towels and gloves. (You might not need them - but what if you knock over the pot of stock?)
• Practice working in a tight (two feet by three feet or so) space - that's all the room you'll have during the finals.
• Keep moving your used equipment out of the way. By the time you're ready to plate, you should have a nearly empty work space to use.
• Use the photos on the C-CAP web site to come up with a plan for presentation. You don't need to be overly creative - make it appealing and neat and step away from the plate!

Justin has one final bit of advice: "You need to focus. It can be $80,000. Think how much winning this scholarship could change your life. I know it's possible," he says.

"It changed mine."

Next year’s competitors go off to summer camp

This year, scholarships for summer culinary programs became available to all ten of the top junior level competitors in C-CAP Arizona. All of the top ten ranked juniors also received a professional knife kit valued at $100.

Here’s the rundown on who’s attending which program:

Dulce Alaman of Metro Tech High School, $250 to attend Le Cordon Bleu Summer Camp. Christopher Anrade of Valley Vista High School has $690, the Career Discovery Award from The Culinary Institute of America.

Karen Kreiger of Gilbert High School/EVIT and Tiffany Miller of Flagstaff High School will attend Johnson & Wales Institute Summer Discovery Program with the help of a $235 scholarship.

Jeremy Ballester, Casa Grande High School, Alyssa Falshaw, Flagstaff High School, Royce Schlittenhart, Canyon del Oro High School, Emery VanGilder, Catalina Magnet High School and Shoshanah Wright of Payson High School, each received a $275 scholarship for Studio 101 at The Art Institute of Phoenix.

Summer camp should give these students a big start on next year's C-CAP competition - so we're going to keep track of how they're doing over the course of the next school year.

Stay tuned!

Matching dreams with dollars Part three

So you’ve been sitting in your interview, answering questions and chatting for maybe half a year.

You’ve met and talked with all these people before, and it is totally lame how they still want to know more. Didn’t they read the application? And it was – ahem – a really great application. The essay killed.

And now they want to know if you have questions for them. Fine. When can I find out which scholarship I get?

Okay. Most definitely NOT THE QUESTION you want to ask. So here are a few to get you started thinking.

• How would you assess the differences among the culinary programs at A, B, and X schools?
• What can I expect during my first year of culinary studies?
• What do you see as the most important qualities in a professional chef?
• A degree or certificate is only one step toward becoming a professional. What other things are important?
• How important is travel to my culinary education?
• What do you look for in your students?
• Is there anything you would change about your career and why?
• You’ve seen my work. What three things could I do to improve my performance?
• What do you see changing in the profession that I should consider as I start my studies?
• Do you have any other questions for me?

(PS – You never know who's reading this blog. Parrot this list at your own risk.)

Coming tomorrow…passion in the kitchen.

Matching dreams with dollars Part two

C-CAP Arizona’s final competition interviews give judges a chance to talk directly with students. Judges can learn more about each student’s expectations for both their education and their career.

It’s all about matching the scholarship dollars with the students’ dreams, says C-CAP Arizona director Jill Smith.

“We need to know that the students have given serious thought about how they’ll reach their career goals,” she says.

This means students need to be prepared not just to answer questions, but to have some questions for the interviewers.

For instance, C-CAP founder Richard Grausman is known as one of the top culinary educators in the country. He could probably assess culinary schools and programs across the country, both in terms of overall approach and in what students in those programs are known for.

As placement director for the Arizona Culinary Institute, Chef Glenn Humphrey is well-versed on current expectations culinary schools have for students.

As a graduate of The Art Institute, Jill has first-hand experience with that program – and the kinds of positions graduates go on to have as they set out in the culinary world.

Still stumped for questions? Post a comment; we’re here to help.

Tomorrow….part three tackles some ideas for interview questions. Monday…what’s passion got to do with all this?

Meet your judges

C-CAP Arizona scholarship interviews include four professionals. Each has a different kind of view, and will look for different things in your responses.

“Group interviews are just as serious as one-to-one interviews are,” says HR expert and culinary pro Almira Wagley.

“Each interviewer is going to have a different perspective on each candidate. Candidates need to remember to give each person in the interview equal weight and importance in responding to questions.”

This is rough on candidates, but also helps insure that each student is seen more completely as judges discuss the interviews and applications.

Here are the judges who will conduct this year’s interviews:

Richard Grausman

Richard Grausman is the founder and president of C-CAP. A native of North Carolina, his first degree is in economics. He studied with James Beard before enrolling at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. He became the school’s first official ambassador.

He’s considered one of this country’s foremost culinary experts and educators, with a sterling national reputation. His greatest goal for C-CAP students is to have each succeed in school and in their culinary careers. (Learn more about Richard and his career at www.ccapinc.org/grausman-bio.php.)

Glenn Humphrey

Placement director of the Arizona Culinary Institute, Chef Glenn is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. A native of Connecticut, he’s also worked with the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, and was also food and beverage director for Marie Callender’s, among other professional culinary work.

He’s coached and judged culinary competitions across the country, and has been lead judge for C-CAP Arizona for more than a decade.

Sharon Levinson

Sharon Levinson is a professional non-profit organization manager and has worked with several groups and organizations. She’s been volunteering with C-CAP for more than 10 years, and is the person who helps keep everything running smoothly on the administrative and (actual) organization end.

Jill Smith

Jill is the C-CAP director for Arizona. Following a successful career in the high tech industry, she enrolled in culinary school and graduated from The Art Institute of Phoenix. Working with C-CAP allows her to take advantage of her skills in marketing and management, while capitalizing on her culinary understanding and expertise. She’s become tireless in her goals to help Arizona’s culinary educators provide an excellent foundation for their students’ success, and to help each C-CAP student reach both educational and professional success.

What judges want:. an update

What judges want -

Last year, C-CAP Arizona's executive director Jill Smith took a few minutes to briefly outline what students most need to understand about the C-CAP cooking competition. None of this is earth-shaking news, but it's worth reviewing now that practices are in full swing, and the preliminaries are just over the horizon.

Best of all - this is simple stuff. Approach it with this perspective, and you'll be steps ahead before Chef Glenn says, "Time is....NOW."

“You want to err on the side of caution,” Jill says. “A lot of these are easy points, so don’t lose them needlessly,”

Here are a few of those she mentions most often:

1. Be professional in demeanor and appearance. (This counts for a total of 10 points in competition.)

a. Black or checked trousers, a neckerchief, a hat (no ball caps!). Sturdy kitchen shoes, not tennis shoes.

b. Little or no makeup, no nail polish, no acrylics and no jewelry.

c. Hair up in a hat, no tendrils or wisps.

2. Understand the size of different kinds of cuts and how to cut them (slice, baton, julienne, chop, dice, brunoise, mince, etc.) Learn to visualize the cuts as you do them and get out a ruler to practice if necessary.

3. Keep your cuts even, so that all the pieces in the salad are the same size.

4. Memorize the recipes. Save your scraps, but not the garbage. Think of what else you can do with the scraps (“’Stock’ is always a good response for vegetable scraps,” Jill says.)

5. Make sure your plates are clean after you’ve plated your food (clean up droplets, small spills, etc.)

6. French omelets are not like American omelets! There should be no browning, and eggs should be beaten so there are no remnants of white showing when the omelet is cooked.

7. Shake and stir, shake and stir – you want it creamy inside and out.

8. Get the whole seam of the omelet on the bottom of the plate. If you’ve shaken it enough, it shouldn’t stick to the pan at all.

9. Taste all along the way with each recipe. You want a balance in flavors – with a little zing in the salad dressing.

10. Practice, practice, practice.

One more thing. If you’re confident of your skills, know your recipes and your techniques, it’s okay to be nervous. You’ll be fine.

What do C-CAP judges really want?

Culinary competitions all have rules and standards and expectations, but most competitors understand that success often rides on understanding just what the elusive ‘something’ is that judges want to see on a plate.

That’s true, too, for both the preliminary and final C-CAP competitions, which are made easier for judges by having published criteria for each level.

But – and this is a big, fat, hulking but: BUT every year brings some changes in the judging line up and expectations from judges.

Chef Glenn Humphrey, CEC, CCE, of the Arizona Culinary Institute, has been C-CAP Arizona’s lead judge for the annual competitions for more than a decade. He says, “The semi-finals are hard. In terms of the sheer number of competitors, it’s necessary for some of the judges to cover the kitchens and some the tastings.

“That’s when the written standards become important. It helps us make sure the judging is fair and even across the board. It’s a real balancing task.”

Chef Glen points out that, while the written objectives and standards haven’t changed greatly, “There’s a higher level of expectation, and the GPA’s are higher.

“We have kids with GPA’s of 4.0. The grade standards have been raised, and the levels at which the instructors are training have been raised, as well.”

He’s adamant that the key to success is practice and focus, for both instructors and students.

“Keep in mind that students who compete at the semi-finals need to execute at their absolute best to get to the finals. This means they need to understand exactly what needs to be done, how to do it – and they need to time everything.”

Instructors need to understand exactly what the students compete on, which is made clear, Chef Glenn notes, when both students and instructors attend the scheduled practice seminars.

“Those practices, though, should be time to practice with professional assessment from Jill and the other chefs who participate,” he adds. “Students who are clear about winning are also clear that they will need more practice.”

He has specific suggestions, too.

1) “Practice. Read the recipes to understand them. And practice will boost your confidence level.”

2) “Find a chef-mentor to help you, if it’s at all possible.” He urges students to...

3) ...“Take the initiative. You’ve got to be able to put yourself out there. If you do, I don’t think there’s a chef out there who wouldn’t agree to critique your work and help you improve.”

4) “Knife skills. Be comfortable with holding and using your knife. If you’re shaky, there are (extra) classes you can take.”

5) “Sanitation skills. It’s critical to know how to keep your work space sanitary.”

6) “Organize. Understand how to approach the dish.”

Coming next: This week’s practice – and tips from the rest of this year’s judges.