Intermediate Food Preparation

This class covers many things including breakfast cookery, sandwich cookery, table service and butcher yields.

The photo above shows some of our students working on boning their chickens for butcher yield tests.
The photo below shows one nicely boned and portioned chicken.

As a part of the sandwich cookery section we make corned beef brisket and our own sauerkraut so students can make Reuben Sandwiches.  They use both the products that they make and store bought products so they can compare the quality.  Pictured below are two of the breads the class made for Sandwich Time.

This is a very nice light rye.  Followed by a split top Pullman loaf.

This will probably be close to last post until January.
I hope your holidays are blessed with good friends, family and good food.

Until next time
Happy Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu
Facebook: AccChef
Twitter: @Acc_Chef

trial

trial to work out the bugs

Breakfast with Santa

This year the culinary arts club participated in the breakfast with Santa event held here on campus.  Approximately 500 people were able to have a hot breakfast.  The kids got to visit with Santa, go home with a toy and the family took a food basket home too.  What a great day and great event.  We were really happy to participate.  As always I had camera at hand so here are some photos from December 3.

Zach working on some of the 70 doz eggs we cooked.

Savannah with some of the 2000 or so pancakes served that morning

The full contingency of kitchen elves with Mr and Mrs Clause:  (Left to Right:)  Zack, Savannah, Michelle and Stephanie.
A fun time was had by all.
Comments overheard during the event included:  I didn't know Chef knew how to do dishes. We are eggsperts, eggzactly and much much more.

Until next time:
Happy Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh, CEC, FMP
Alvin College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu
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Twitter:  Acc_Chef
Facebook:  AccChef

Student Culinary Arts Club

I am pleased to announce that the students have formed a student culinary arts club.  They have set some lofty goals for themselves, this year.  Last week, Tuesday, the club held it's first fund raiser.  Even though the weather was less than cooperative, they still managed to raise in excess of $80.00!  A job well done, indeed.
This week on December 3, the club will assist with the annual event: Breakfast with Santa.  This should be an outstanding, and very rewarding event for the club to participate in.  I will try to post some photos from the event next week.

Until then.
Happy Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

Dress Code

This post is for all current and future students.

A quick reminder, the dress code for the culinary arts program is full uniform in lab: white long sleeved double breasted chef jacket, check cook pants, full length white bib apron, white skull cap or beanie and black non slip shoes. 
The only jewelery allowed in lab is a plain wedding band.  No bracelets, watches etc are allowed.  No earrings or visible piercings with studs, etc are allowed.  Painted finger nails, acrylic nails, inlays on nails  and artificial nails of any kind are strictly forbidden.  These guidelines are in compliance with the Texas Department of Health guidelines.
All instructors in the program will be charged with enforcing the dress code starting January 2012. 
If anyone has any questions regarding this policy, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Chef Bartosh

Other Photos

Sometimes in the course of business we get photos that are not class related.
Such is the case with these two.

In this photo, Erick and Kim are showing off the Vitamix food processor that was donated to the program.  This photo was used in a local press release.

Flame On!  John, flamin', for a publicity shot for the program.

Until next time.
Happy Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

A couple of more photos for Saucier class

Saucier came to end last week Thursday.  As always seems to happen, I spent most of this week almost catching up.  Here are the last three photos from the class.

We make salsas as a part of the class.  The one above is a black bean based salsa.  It was pretty good, even though the onions were cut a little big.
We also had a fruit based salsa; Caribbean salsa.  It was nice, light and refreshing compared to some of the hot salsas the class made that night.

And in the class room sometimes things happen.  Imagine how the student who made this Hollandaise Sauce felt.............

I hope to have some pictures up in the next week or so for Intermediate Food Prep.

As we rapidly approach Thanksgiving, you may wish to visit the information we posted previously on safely preparing a juicy turkey.  There are also many phone numbers to different help lines for those who need a little assistance.  The information can be found at the following url:  http://alvincollegeculinaryarts.blogspot.com/2010/11/tips-for-safe-and-juicy-thanksgiving.html
Have a happy and safe thanksgiving.  Share food and fellowship with those you love.

Until next time.
Happy Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

The Simpsons "The Food Wife,"

This is a humor alert.  Sunday 11/13/11 The Simpsons episode will be titled the "Food Wife".  It will star Mario Batali, Tony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay, among others.  This should be quite a hilarious situation.  I hope you enjoy.
Makes me wish I had a dvr!

Until next time
happy eating and happy laughing
Chef Leslie Bartosh, CEC, FMP
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

Netherlands Antilles

On October 31, 2011, a visitor from the Netherlands Antilles, visited our blog.  This marked the 100th country to visit.  I can only say thanks for coming by.  It seems just a short time I ago I was writing in Praise of Poland.

It truly is a honor to be visited by some many, from so many different countries.  If you visit and you see photo of a recipe or dish that you would like the recipe for please let me know.  It would be my pleasure to help you with your request.

The act of sharing food, is one of the universal truths of mankind and sets us apart from the animals.  Please share food with someone you love and even with someone you don't.  It is a unique opportunity to reach out and make someone feel good.

Until next time.
Happy Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh, CEC, FMP
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas  77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

Saucier

Those of you who have followed this blog know i post photos of the classes.  This year I am trying to take some photos with students in the shot as well as some pictures of dishes we have not posted before.  But before I post any photos, I have to tell you:  The class made some really nice fish mousseline last Thursday.  When coupled with Sauce Nantua, my!  My taste buds were singing.


So, here we go.  This is the first batch of photos from the 2011 Saucier class.

One of the things we do in this class is make a mother sauce and turn them into leading sauces.  In the following three photes you can see three different small sauces being served with sauteed chicken breast, duchess potato variations and broccoli with beurre blanc.

 Poulet Roulade aux Provencal:  Chicken roulade provencal was the star one evening along with fresh egg pasta.  The next two photos show the roulades being seared, followed by a plate.

Compound butters are one of the things we make.  You can pack a lot of flavor into these versatile butters.
Pictured below, clockwise from top left, is:  Shallot Parsley Butter , Marchand du Vin Butter, Bearnaise Butter and Maitre d'Hotel Butter.  They are wonderful melted on top of grilled Moo Cow.

 As a part of the class we cleaned some fish so we could make fish stock and then use the fish in some dishes.  Here Kim and her fish are seeing eye to eye.

 Stephanie did a great job of filleting her fish.

 As mentioned earlier, we made fresh egg pasta to go with the poulet roulade aux provencal.  Savannah is shown here cutting some of her groups dough.

 Ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise are among the sauces we make in this class.  Monse is running some ketchup through the food mill.

 Of course, we had to make ravioli with to go with the pesto sauce.  Young Zach was kind enough to do the honors for his group.

When we made Coq au Vin, to learn how to use the thickener, Beurre Manie, we made spaetzle as an accompaniment.

So, there you go.  The photos speak for themselves but can not do the quality of the food justice.
The class has done an outstanding job, so far.  I hope to have a few more photos to post later this week or early the next.

Until next time
Happy Eating

Chef Leslie Bartosh, CEC, FMP
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas  77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

more fundamentals of baking photos

We have just finished the second week of Saucier.  The food has been pretty good for the most part.  A few "accidents" with salt but overall not too bad.  I have taken a few photos that I hope to start processing next week.
In the meantime these are the last photos from this year fundamentals of baking.  Hope you enjoy.

Until next time:
Happy Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

1st Photos from Fundamentals of Baking

The fundamentals of baking class is now half way through and I have some first photos from the class to post.
I hope you enjoy.

So there you have it photos from the first 8 class days.  I am looking forward to the photos from the next 8 days.

Until next time.
Happy Eating.
Chef Leslie Bartosh
Alvin Community College
Faculty Chair Culinary Arts
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas  77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

American Culinary Federation National Conference

Last summer, I was fortunate and was able to attend the National Culinary Federation national convention in Grapevine, Texas.  It is quite an experience to spend four or five days immersed in food.  The seminars were simply outstanding.  It was good to see some of my old friends from the Texas Chefs Association.
I took a few pictures at the conference and thought I would share them with your all.
One of the key note speakers was Alton Brown.  I found him to be informative and entertaining at the same time.  His presentation was quite good.  The photos is not great.

Lately has has been promoting Diamond Crystal salt.  So it was fitting that there were several huge salt crystals at the door as we walked into the ball room.

Lest you thing it was all work and no play.  The opening night icebreaker featured among other things a clown walking around making balloon hats for people.  You know, of course, that things are bigger in Texas.

I am not sure how the young child that was wearing this "hat" could even carry it.  It had to be as tall as he was.
One of the more interesting seminars was on bread sculptures.  I managed to take a couple of decent photos of the demo piece.  Very nice work and a great seminar.

Some of you may remember that I was nominated for the Central Region Chef Educator of the Year award.  I did not receive the award.  But, I did have the pleasure of watching the chef who did, present their "lesson."  She did an outstanding job!  This is the dish she prepared as a part of her lesson.

The following photos were taken at the "trade show" were all the competitions took place.  The work was all done by team USA.  What an outstanding job they did!  I hope you enjoy these few pictures of state of the art culinary competition platters.

Until next time.

Happy Eating

Chef Leslie Bartosh, CEC, FMP

Alvin Community College

Faculty/Chair, Culinary Arts

3110 Mustang Road

Alvin, Texas  77511

281.756.3949

chef@alvincollege.edu