Rhode Island cred
They may not have heard of some of the local ingredients, but the 11 Toque d'Or finalists who visited a top catering school in Rhode Island, USA, were a hit with tutors. Diane Lane reports.
The brigade of 11 preparing a five-course lunch for VIP guests at Johnson & Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island, was almost unrecognisable as the rather nervous group of students that had embarked on a study tour two days earlier.
The representatives from Neath Port Talbot College, Cambridge Regional College, Glenrothes College and Southampton City College were chatting and joking with chef-instructor Scott Parker, yet executing their tasks with enthusiasm and precision.
Having spent a weekend at leisure in Boston, the students - all finalists in the 2001 Nestlé Toque d'Or competition - were following a specially devised three-day programme at one of the USA's top catering schools, the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University.
The first day, Monday 16 July, began with a tour of the campus by assistant director of culinary education, Keith Duffy, followed by an insight into Californian cuisine from Parker. "There were some ingredients we'd not heard of before," said Richard Woods, a member of the Neath Port Talbot College team, which was declared overall winner of the competition back in July.
Indeed, reference to a plantain had some of the students a bit foxed until Parker explained it was a fruit closely related to the banana, commonly used sliced and fried as a garnish.
Parker, himself a graduate of the university, was an excellent choice to take the group's lectures and proved to be someone the students, aged between 17 and 21, could relate to. "Chef Parker was wonderfully enthusiastic and gave everybody a sense of inspiration and achievement," said Southampton City College team member Claire Meader. "We couldn't have wished for a happier bloke," added Woods.
Parker also discussed the West Coast's love of seafood, including tuna varieties such as albacore, yellowfin, skipjack and bluefin that are harvested in Californian waters, and Dungeness crabs used to make cioppino, a fish stew popular in San Francisco.
Fish was to form a large part of the lunch menu, which was based on Californian cuisine and prepared by the students for 35 guests, including the directors of the College of Culinary Arts who were on campus to discuss revisions to the curriculum. Following Parker's recipes, the students were asked to produce a soup, appetiser, salad and three main courses with two accompaniments, in about three hours. Considering that the students had never worked together as a brigade, that they were in an unfamiliar kitchen and working with some new ingredients, it was no easy task and a degree of apprehension was evident.
Meader was working with Leander Daultrey and Hayley James to prepare the second course of mussels steamed with white wine, fennel, coriander, dill and spring onions, and the main course accompaniments of grilled asparagus, and linguine with tomatoes, olives, and goats' cheese. The challenge was a little daunting, particularly since Meader is training to be a pastry chef. "I'm feeling rather wide-eyed and scared," she confessed.
Derrick Cain was charged with preparing the soup - a seafood chowder with pesto crostini - and was much relieved he had recently completed a shellfish course at Cambridge Regional College. He felt quite at home with the scallops, mussels, littleneck clams and shrimps with which he was presented. "The shrimps I've worked with before have been frozen and much smaller, so it's a good experience to work with fresh ones," he says.
Catfish, a variety farmed in Mississippi and, according to Parker, the fifth most consumed fish in the USA, was also destined for the chowder.
The California cobb salad containing tomatoes, avocados, smoked turkey breast, lettuce, cabbage, blue cheese and crispy bacon, enabled Woods to practise his peeling, trimming, blanching and dicing skills.
Over on the main course, Billy Boyter and Tom Adlam tackled a salmon dish, while Craig Johnson and Lewis King worked with duck breast, and Kevin Hollman and Karl Szombara prepared lamb chops.
Although working to Parker's recipes, the students were encouraged to bring their own ideas to the dishes. This resulted in touches such as a herb and garlic crust on the lamb, a topping of orange zest, pistachio nuts and Japanese breadcrumbs on the salmon, and a cider and honey dressing for the duck. Once everything was ready for service, Parker praised the group for a "very nice job".
Reactions from other members of the Johnson & Wales faculty were also positive, with dean emeritus, Robert Nograd, declaring the standard "very good" and similar to that of the college's own students.
The college policy of letting students sit in the dining room to enjoy the fruits of their labour alongside lunch guests was welcomed by the whole group as an opportunity to be self-critical and to understand better the comments from lecturers.
The day's classes over, there was homework for the group. The students were divided into groups of two or three, given a list of ingredients - which included scallops, goats' cheese, red peppers, chicken, pork, porcini mushrooms, lemons, leeks, onions and potatoes - and allocated a course. They were then instructed to come up with ideas for Wednesday's graduation lunch for the VIP visitors.
Tuesday was spent wielding chainsaws and carving swans from 40in-high blocks of ice under the tutelage of Art in Ice's Louis Manzoni.
It was back to the heat of the kitchen on Wednesday, when the students had to deliver their own menu, written in consultation with Parker. It comprised a fresh arugula salad with cranberry vinaigrette and crispy goats' cheese, prepared by Hollman and Johnson; a leek-and-potato soup with onion croutons, by James and Daultrey; seared scallops with red pepper coulis on a fragrant lemon risotto, by Adlam and King; chicken and pork galantine with sweet potato pur‚e and porcini mushroom sauce, by Boyter, Cain and Woods; and a scented raspberry crème brûlée with a warm berry compote, by Meader and Szombara.
Karl Guggenmos, dean of the College of Culinary Arts, was among diners at the graduation lunch. He said: "It's a good standard. The plate presentation is excellent and you can see the European skills coming through. It was exciting to see the students bonding in the kitchen, all working towards a common goal and all wanting a piece of themselves to go out there."
The students
Richard Woods, Leander Daultrey and Hayley James (Neath Port Talbot College)
Derrick Cain, Lewis King, Craig Johnson (Cambridge Regional College)
Billy Boyter and Karl Szombara (Glenrothes College)
Tom Adlam, Claire Meader and Kevin Hollman (Southampton City College)
Calling all former Toque d'Or competitors
Nestl‚ would like to hear from anyone who has entered the Toque d'Or competition over the past 14 years and has gone on to work as a chef. Please e-mail: toquedor@barclaystratton.co.uk or phone Helen or Neil on 020 8877 8600.
Johnson & Wales University
The College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University was set up in 1973. Almost 5,000 students study in some 70 state-of-the-art kitchens in five campuses in Providence, Rhode Island; Charleston, South Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; North Miami, Florida; and Denver, Colorado.
Courses include degrees in Culinary Arts; Baking and Pastry Arts; and Food and Beverage Management. Class sizes average 18 students and a typical day involves an hour-and-a half of lectures, followed by lunch service as a brigade for 30-40 covers. The dining rooms are not open to the public, but students and staff only.
"It's an educational establishment and we want to educate the students in how to eat," says assistant director of culinary education, Keith Duffy.
