Up Close and Personal with Renowned Chefs
New York Culinary Experience Offers Unparalleled Cooking Classes
Sep 17, 2009
Oysters and Chefs share what common trait? They imbue us with the sense of possiblity.
Nowhere is this more true than at the French Culinary Institute. And it might be more true one weekend of the year when they fling their doors open to the public. You too, can work side by side in groups of no more than a couple dozen students. Join these stellar chefs in small classes during the New York Culinary Experience (Oct 3 &4), cooking side-by-side with elite culinary talent.
- Just 6 tickets left as of 9-21! Discounts for two or more.
These chefs, the schools, chef-instructors-deans, they are an amazing group. Fingers on the pulse of culinary trends, skills rooted in tradition, humor firmly in hand.
Solid Skills, Thoughtful Curriculum, Quality Throughout
This is the art and the science behind one of the premier culinary schools in the nation.
In just a few weeks you could be cooking side by side with your favorite star chefs. Not sitting in an auditorium, not a studio audience, but really cooking, learning along side the top chefs, instructors and leaders of one of the top culinary schools in the countries.
Dorothy Cann Hamilton, interviewed here upon her induction into the James Beard Whos' Who, founded the French Culinary Institute and keeps its focus on practical experience and immersion. For the New York Culinary Experience she promises informative, interactive, intimate classes cooking along side some of New York's brightest culinary stars. As a bonus, fees from the weekend go to the scholarship fund for aspiring chefs.
Two of the French Culinary Institute's chef instructors share thoughts on what makes the New York Culinary Experience so unique. It's about cooking in small classes with top chefs and instructors, deans and alumni celebrities.
Nils Norén, VP of Culinary and Pastry Arts and Top Chef Masters Contestant
You may know Chef Noren as a contestant on Bravo's Top Chef Masters where judges raved about his fish. Did you know he's also deeply passionate about sustainable seafood and local, organic food? Here are ten fun facts you may not have known:
- He loves the New York state of mind - the openness New Yorkers have to new things, new cuisines.
- He's cooked on every continent but Antarctica.
- He loves Swedish Cheese Doodles.
- He fell in love with the idea of being a chef as a child, in Italy, eating Carbonara.
- His favorite cuisine might be found in Singapore.
- He discretely sidesteps questions about whether the Swedish Chef was a genius ahead of his time, the grandfather of Food TV, but he has met and toasted the Swedish Chef's creator, Marshall Brickmann (whose daughter attends FCI.)
- He likens the Swedish approach to food to that of the Japanese in its minimalism and aesthetic. He even knows the Gohan Society, a Japanese Culinary Cultural group.
- He is re-writing the curriculum to address sustainability issues.
- He works closely with farms in upstate New York to bring organic food to the city, and believes it's mid-sized farms that need our support.
- He came to the US to work with Marcus Samuelsson at Aquavit and was Executive Chef there for ten years. Before that, he worked at two Michelin starred restaurants in Sweden.
Cesare Casella, Dean of the Italian Culinary Academy
Also appearing on TV in Anthony Bourdain's Travel Channel show in Tuscany, Chef Casella is more recently known for his buzz-worthy boite of a restaurant - Salumeria Rosi. Chef Casella is also the Dean of the relatively new Italian Culinary Academy. His passion is apparent and his food is how he communicates. A recent "interview" consisted of dish after dish of passion on the plate. Tarte di Porri (leek tart), Prosciutto puff, Salad Contorno, Polenta, Barley Risotto, Shortrib, the famous beans of Tuscany, Caponata, Salumi platter, Melon soup...quite a conversation indeed.
The personality of the chef and soul of the school are perfectly illustrated by the photo album two sous chefs proudly share of their introduction to Italy with the Chef. Another recent trip included Casella and two VPs of the School, Chef Instructors all going to visit the various restaurants where the first graduates have been placed. The unique program is total immersion, language, as well as culture and culinary, then a stage in an Italian restaurant. It's not unlike the beginnings of Chef Casella's cooking career - learning side by side experienced chefs in his family's restaurant at age 14.
Another guest (and kindred spirit) is introduced, and we learn of the chef's involvement and support of a unique farm (The Center for Discovery) a farm and school for students with autism and spectrum disorders. Not only has "Chessie" gifted a herd of Tuscan cattle (the beloved Chia' Nina, he brought over from Italy) but he's also training the cooks that run the school and farm food service.
Good thing he needs little sleep, good for the rest of us who get to enjoy his generosity, his wonderful food and his charming hospitality.
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