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

Basic Food Prep class

The basic food preparation class is starting to work it's way through the major cooking techniques.  Last Thursday the class prepared roasted chicken with pan gravy and plated it with pureed potatoes and sauteed yellow squash.  As often happens with this particular night of food production the class ran late.  But, I think the class will tell you, the end results were worth the effort.
Tonight, sauteed chicken breast with tarragon sauce.  Can't wait!
Until next time.
Happy Eating
Chef Bartosh, CEC, FMP
Alvin Community College
Faculty/Chair Culinary Arts
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

Soup does a body good

Last night we made thick soups as a part of the basic food prep class.  We made black bean soup, cream of carrot, split pea and potato and leek soup.  The students did a great job with the soups. 
It was a real treat to use the Vita-Mix Vita Prep 3 food processor on the soups.  The blender made short work of the pureeing.

Birthday Celebrations

Every once in a while we have the opportunity to share a special day in someone's life.  Their birthday.  On Thursday we were twice fortunate.  John and Zach shared their birthday with us.

Happy Birthday Guys!

Until next time.
Happy Eating

Vita Mix blender

The Alvin Community College Culinary Arts Program would like to thank Vita Mix Corporation for their kind support of our program.  Vita Mix donated a Vita-Prep 3 to our program.  It should see 1st use next week. 
The Vita Mix blenders are some of the strongest, most versatile, blenders available to the food service industry.
Once again, thank you Vita Mix for your support of our program and for the support you give the food service/ hospitality industry.
Until next time.
Happy Eating
Chef Leslie Bartosh, CEC, FMP
Faculty Chair, Culinary Arts
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

late photos

I discovered some photos on my phone the other day from the Spring open house at ACC.
So I thought I would post a couple of them.
We had a Texas theme for the open house so it was fitting that there was bull riding, (mechanical bull that is):

Here is Chris mounted on the bull.  Nice bull, nice bull........

Here is Chris still mounted on the Bull.......NICE BULL.........NICE BULL

Here is Chris about to be launched from the nice bull!

One of the things that happens with our open houses is that ACC gives away scholarships via random drawings.

Steven was lucky enough to be a winner!
Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time.

Happy Eating.

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

Registration for ACC Culinary Arts for Fall 2011.

As usual, there will be a minimal amount of seats available for the lab classes for the fall semester in the Alvin Community College culinary arts program.  This year I expect to have between 7 and 9 seats available.
If you are interested in enrolling in the program, the following steps need to be completed.

1.  Have official transcripts from any previous schooling mailed to Alvin Community College at the following address: 
Alvin Community College
Registrar's Office
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas 77511 2.  Complete the College's online application.  The application can be found at the following URL:
https://app.alvincollege.edu/Admissions/Intent/Index
3.  One your application has been completed and accepted.  You will need to make arrangements to take the placement test.  Placement testing information can be found at:
http://www.alvincollege.edu/advisingservices/testing/default.htm
4.  Meet with an academic adviser or myself regarding classes.
5.  Register!  Remember, registration for the fall semester will start on July 18.  With the limited amount of seats available be sure to register early.  I will set up a waiting list as needed to try and accommodate as many people as we can.
6.  Visit the book store to order your supplies.  We move fast in our program and you will want to have everything for the start of class.
7.  If you plan on using financial aid please take some time and visit the ACC financial aid information at:
http://www.alvincollege.edu/financialaid/

You may also wish the visit the Seven Steps to Getting Started which is set up by our student advising services.  The seven steps are located at:
http://www.alvincollege.edu/advisingservices/getting_started.htm

I hope this helps.

Please let me know how I can be of assistance.

Until next time:  Happy Eating

Chef Leslie Bartosh, CEC, FMP
Alvin Community College
3110 Mustang Road
Alvin, Texas  77554
281.756.3949
chef@alvincollege.edu

garde manger class 2011 continued

This was a platter from class.

Another platter from class.  This one for four people.

Another platter from class.

A platter from the end of year buffet.

Sarah, Maria, Rebekah and Rachel posing with a platter from class.

 Adrian and Steven with Steven doing the big thumb routine.  End of year buffet night.

The crew.   Rebekah is hiding behind the ice carving.

Well there you go.  I hope you have enjoyed the journey through this years classes.
I think it was fun for both the students and the faculty.

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

garde manger class 2011 continued

 

A fierce pineapple catfish under construction.

A platter of finger sandwiches.

One of the platters from class time:  beef kabobs, shrimp cocktail, chicken wings and fruit kabobs.

Another platter with similar components.

Another variation on the theme.

One of the platters from the end of the year buffet.

Garde manger class

The school year is over.  As usual our school year ended with Garde Manger.  The students did a great job in class.  The ice carvings came out great!  Chef Bland did a great job with the class.
The following pictures, from the class, are in alphabetical order.

Here is a shot of Adrian concentrating on his cuts.  Adrian developed some of the best knife skills of the whole class!

A dynamic trio if I ever saw one:  Alicia, Allen and Yvonne with one of their platters.

This angel fish ice carving was done by the team of:  Maria, Rebekah, and Rachel.  It was judged to be the best of the class by an outside judge.  You can see it displayed as a part of the class end of year buffet in the following photo.

An open face bacon and lettuce sandwich.

Roast beef and cucumber canape.

Buffet platter with chicken wings and stuffed mushrooms.

 Crudite with dip.

Fruit platter with fruit kabobs

More to follow

The rest of principals of healthy cuisine bon appetit

here is the 2nd installment today.  This should finish Principals of Healthy Cuisine.  There photos are posted in no particular order.  I hope you enjoy!

 As a part of the class we do a pizza night.  The cheese pizza, pictured above, is gluten free and vegan.

We also made a really delicious gluten free fried chicken.

Of course what is life with out dessert?  One of the desserts we made in this class is this fruit strudel with red wine sauce.

We know that Popeye was strong because of spinach; this spinach dish featuring lemon, garlic and mushrooms.

This salmon dish was quite nice.  It was pan smoked for a couple of minutes for flavor and then finished in the oven.  Yum!

Well this the end of the photos from Principals of Healthy Cuisine.  I hope you enjoyed them.  The class did a really good job of dispelling the myth that healthy food tastes like cardboard!

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