Outscore your competition - a last minute series

This year's C-CAP competition is one of the toughest yet. By now, you should know best practices and techniques (how well you execute this is another matter!).

In any event, not only do you have to make it through another cooking demo, you're also about to face some of the toughest judging yet. And the first thing you need to know is this: if your grades are hovering under 3.5, you have some serious compensation to generate.

Don't panic! Stay tuned here, because your C-CAP Arizona blog is gonna spend this week bombarding you with skills AND interview assistance.

Almira Wagley, C-CAP volunteer, chef and human resources pro, has been presenting information and offering help across the state. Here are some of the basic things she suggests keeping in mind.

First, "It's okay to be nervous. In fact, you can mention it up front. And then, be quiet and listen. You need to hear and understand the judges' questions."

A good next step, she recommends, is going back to your C-CAP application, reviewing your answers and preparing to clarify any answer or ambiguity.

Rehearse answers with your parents, teacher, or friend. You can use a 1-2-3 listing to help you remember things.

Know your goals - not for your whole life, but for right now. (As in "I am most interested in attending BLANKBLANK school, because it will help me perfect my herbs and spices identification skills. Those are the skills I believe will help me gain the best entry position possible in the kitchens of the Jamaica-bound Black Pearl sailed by Captain Jack Sparrow.")

Coming next - meet your interview judges!

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."

Just a few extra tips

C-CAP Preliminaries begin this coming Saturday, and if you're a student getting set to compete, take a deep breath now, just for practice.

Shake out your hands….ready? Here are just a few more hints for you (and make sure you check the tips and lists posted through January, too!).

You have your equipment, you've memorized the recipes (c'mon - how hard is it to remember the salad dressing must be completely emulsified and the eggs must be beaten completely so that no strands of egg white show through your omelet.)

REMEMBER: in the preliminaries, kitchen skills count for 80 points. Presentation and taste count for 30.

C-CAP Arizona director Jill Smith offers a few more thoughts:

• · Watch the seasoning in your omelets - you need salt and pepper and enough of both to be apparent in the final dish
• · Keep shaking your omelet in the pan until it is almost stops moving - the inside should never be wet, but it should glisten
• · Taste your vinaigrette as you are making it; it needs to be balancing tart and sweet
• · Use the tip of your paring knife to move your cucumber slices up/down after you unmold the salad
• · Make sure your salad reaches just to the top of your mold
• · Do not "dress" your salad with cilantro or parsley sprigs on top, along side or ANYwhere at all
• · Make sure you have completely drained the vinaigrette from your salad; wipe up any "weeping" from around the unmolded salad before you put the plate down
• · Have fun! Cooking and food make people happy. You should feel happy with your work and your food!

Only four more days!

ALL applications for the 2012 Arizona C-CAP scholarships are due this coming Saturday, January 21, no later than midnight.

Applications must be in Jill Smith's hands - or on her doorstep - by that time. There are NO - repeat, NO exceptions.

Get your completed application to 4948 W. Buckskin Trail in Phoenix (85083), by deadline Or not.

Applications must be received - not postmarked on the 21st!- to be accepted for this year's competition.

C-CAP a program "on the cutting edge"

Susan Robbins says things like that (above) with complete sincerity, and a total lack of irony.

That's because, as even casual discussion reveals, the new national C-CAP leader fully believes that C-CAP could be just on the cusp of turning into a major force within the entire hospitality industry.

"We need to be (more) creative," she emphasizes, "reaching out to more industries, expanding and offering benefits (our) students can use as they progress in their careers."

C-CAP, she explains, serves students who have been, in parts of this country, significantly under-served.

Whether from urban or rural areas, many C-CAP students - even those with higher GPAs - might have difficulty tying those grades to productive careers, for a host of reasons ranging from lack of financial resources to further any education beyond high school to problems identifying a career field with possibilities for success.

C-CAP, through dramatic scholarship funding and significant mentoring through the selection process, offers a clear path to an industry offering multiple opportunities for a fulfilling work life, and key connections that help with everything from study aids to job referrals.

This is already at the heart of C-CAP's national success as a critically acclaimed and deeply needed scholarship program.

What Susan Robbins envisions, though, is a significant expansion of the program's role and activities.

She sees a spectrum of academic, professional, and even life skills training possibilities, all developed to give C-CAP students broad support not just as they begin training, but throughout their professional lives.

More on Susan Robbins' vision for C-CAP later…

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.

How to make, fill and fold a crepe

Timing, timing, timing. If you make your pastry cream first, drop a sheet of plastic wrap right on top and keep it in an ice bath at your station.

Make sure your eggs aren’t curdling; keep stirring!

Keep your pastry cream smooth and as light (thin) as possible.

Keep your crepes as thin as possible.

Make sure your crepes are the right color.

Practice folding your crepes.

Play with the presentation before you get to competition, to give yourself a plan and options in plating.

Be careful about your chocolate sauce, and how you pipe it onto the crepes and plate.

Chocolate piping doesn’t need to be too glitzy!

Finally – don’t forget to taste! The pastry cream should taste sweet enough, with a whisper of vanilla.

Chef Marz says, “If you want this, fight for it. The night before, review every step and make out lists. Visualize everything you will do and what your plates will look like,”

More than that, she adds, “Develop a sense of urgency in your work. And visualize how it will feel to win. You want an emotion to hang on to as you work.”

Preliminary Heats 1 and 2

Nerves were taut as the first 33 juniors and seniors reached their work stations on Saturday, Feb. 5, at Metro Tech High School in Phoenix.

Anxiety was less visible during the afternoon session, but the focus remained tight.

These preliminary competitions are the first step toward scoring big in C-CAP’s scholarship awards.

Seniors know they can win major dollars if they make it to finals, and juniors are looking for that extra boost from a funded summer school session as well as crucial experience that can poise them for the 2012 awards.

And it’s a crowded field, with 140 juniors and seniors competing this year. Only 30 seniors and 10 juniors will remain for the finals on March 5.

This year’s competitors, while clearly anxious about performance, displayed great enthusiasm, a big plus for the ever-observant judges. Also noticeable and praised by the judges were the students’ distinct focus and attention to taste.

Judges also had some additional words of advice for competitors:

Knife skills (excuse the wordplay) need to be sharp (never, ever cut toward yourself)

If a judge stops your work to demonstrate a correct technique, you’d better be using that technique the next time they look

If you develop a plan for your work and follow it, you’ll gain better timing

Don’t finish too quickly; use all of your time and if you have time check everything again

Omelets should not need a “five-minute massage” after they’re plated

Taste! Taste everything and taste each time you add an ingredient (If you wait until you are finished before you taste, you can’t easily correct)

Do not be afraid of the salt

Add vegetables to your salad vinaigrette in progression – hard to softest (e.g., jicama, peppers, onions, cucumber, tomato)

Pay attention to sanitation

Practice! Practice! Practice!

Still practicing! (and not stopping yet)

Guided, formal practices for this year’s C-CAP competitions continue through this week (see schedules, below, and click on “Older Posts” for additional information).

Chef Tim Stutz of Dawn Foods joined C-CAP Arizona executive director Jill Smith at a practice session at Mesquite High School in Chandler.

Skyline High seniors Ericka Hoth and Colby Cable, gluttons for punishment and practice, attended, along with Max Hodge, senior, and Chrystae Rohman, junior, of Basha High School, Kristen Voegtly-Mutch and Trevor Spoerle, both seniors and Andrew Swanson, a junior, all of Perry High School, Caleb Gallman, a junior from Gilbert High School, and Josh Hermann a senior from Mesquite.

“It’s trial, error – and practice,” says Chef Stutz, who also reminded participants to remember to taste their food as they prepared and before they presented their plates.

“You need to taste everything, and identify how you can make it better.”

Jill took time to review omelet technique with each student, noting that the classic French technique demanded by the competition is an exacting recipe in which timing is critical.

Even the bowl size, she says, becomes important since the final omelet needs to be a completely even color. “You can’t have white spots; the egg needs to be completely blended.

Explaining that the omelet needs to look and taste exactly right, she adds, “Often, during a job interview, a chef will ask an applicant to make an omelet. It’s a quick way to determine skill and competence levels. It even illustrates an ability to make a good-tasting dish from simple ingredients.”

2010 teachers’ workshop set for Sept. 11

from Jill Smith

I hope you had a great summer and are ready to start another exciting school year! In March of 2010, C-CAP awarded $544,000 to 30 Arizona High School Seniors!

This coming year looks promising to have an even greater amount of scholarship money available to your senior students. We will also have many opportunities for your junior students. This meeting will provide 4 hours of continuing education hours. Please come to our 2010-2011 C-CAP Teacher Information Meeting:

Saturday, September 11 10am – 2pm

The Chef’s Loft, 7114 E. Stetson, Suite 250, Scottsdale, 85251

Agenda:

10am – 11:30am C-CAP information

11:30-11:45am – Randy Kaas, POURfect products

11:45-12pm – Carlton Brooks, ACF Chef’s Association of Arizona President

12pm-12:30 – Lunch provided by Danish Chef Asta Pedersen

12:30-2pm – Nai Wang, Sous Chef 7

You are welcome to attend this meeting regardless if you are joining C-CAP. Come and find out what C-CAP has to offer you and your students!

Please RSVP to me by email – jsmith@ccapinc.org.

Please pass this email along to other culinary teachers who may be interested.

I am looking forward to another great year working with you and your students.

Jill Smith,

Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP)

Arizona Director