Is Culinary School bad for students?

"Chef Shawn Murphy is a graduate of Niagara College Culinary Institute............."

That is how my intro started for Iron Chef Niagara as well as the intro of my future competitor Mathew. There are quite a few chefs that I know that have gone to some kind of culinary program whether it has been at CIA, Le Cordon Bleu or community programs such as Niagara College. So if that is the case than why do I feel so bad about the state of our culinary programs?

If you ask chefs around the region I guarantee many would have good and bad things to say about these programs. The problem for me is this exact answer that I get all the time....."They know absolutely nothing". How is it that 100+ students can graduate from a class and be so lost in the kitchen. How is it that so many kids stop cooking after they see what a real kitchen is like. So my answer to that is this. Culinary Schools DO NOT prepare you for the real world. I have seen kids in the final year who still can not hold a knife, who could not tell you about mother sauces or even how to butcher a piece of protein.

My solution to this is one that Culinary Programs like Niagara College hate; Go the apprentice route. Sign on with the best chef you can possibly find and go through the programs for your mandatory stay. Unless you have a rich family I find CIA and Le Cordon Bleu too expensive for those not destined to be the best of the best. You are lucky to make $24,000 now a days in a kitchen when you first start out. Restaurants get breaks in taxes and incentives to take on apprentices and a chef can mold them. Canada is so different to how things are done in Europe, but I feel that if more and more students did this they would be more dedicated and prepared. Unfortunately education is big business, but as more and more kids waste their money on education I feel that they should put their money where it really matters. Classes in College are too easy and University has no hands on, so what are the next generation suppose to do. In a time where every kid has a degree of some sort a piece of paper is not enough. Life experience is the only way to succeed now. I would hire someone who has been working a real kitchen for 2 years vs a 2 year graduate from a culinary program any day of the week. I myself learned more in 6 month stays with Hillebrand and Inn on the Twenty then in 2 years at school, the only problem with fine dinning establishments in this area is the issue of seasonality.

So if you want to be the next top chef, culinary programs are far from the best and only option. The culinary world is a passionate and competitive business, so there is no room for "trying" your best. A failed dish is a failed dish in a customers eyes, they do not care what you try to do. Maybe it is up to the culinary programs to put more reality into the eyes of these young budding super stars. I currently have 4 young cooks that go to school and I look at what they do and give them pointers. If only more chefs in these programs would do the same, maybe the level of food and understanding of ingredients would be that much better. They are usually shocked when I comment on a dish. I don't just tell them it is bad, too much salt or good job. I tell them how to make it better and why doing something a different way benefits them. A young mind can be bended in any direction, so bend it in the way that all of them want to become better.

I am proud of my time at Niagara because I went the extra mile working directly with chefs to become better. The students that take initiative will succeed and often are the ones I see with culinary programs like Niagara College on their resume. If only the chefs would take that initiative and be specific on what is wrong with these dishes. Entrepreneurs like me are depending on them to create the next group of employees who are knowledgeable and skilled. Employees who can create, think and progress, not ones that are lost and need to be retrained.

So are culinary schools bad for students? I don't think that they are, but I think they are far from being the only path to this industry and the talent within it. Chefs are losing faith in these programs and that is the saddest sight of all.

Iron Chef Niagara Wrap Up

Made from the ends after forgeting to take pictures of the good ones. you will just have to trust that the plates actually looked better than this one.

It hasn't really hit me yet...We won and moving on to the semi-finals.

Our Dish:

Sweet Potato Mash: Sweet potatoes, butter, heavy cream, sour cream , buttermilk and chives

Beef Wellington : Striploin cuting in half with fat cap removed seasoned and seared. Cremini and Blue Cheese spread on the cooked and cooled loin, then wrapped in double smoked bacon, homemade pie dough brushed with egg wash cooked in wood burning oven.

Bacon Salt: Grey sea salt, dehydrated bacon, spanish smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, lemon zest

Polish Horseradish: Hard boiled egg, horseradish, red wine vinegar, Rosewood unpasteurized honey

Garnish: Frisée and mixed micro greens

Bacon Vinaigrette: Grapeseed oil, reduced riesling, white wine vinegar, Rosewood unpasteurized honey, Dijon mustard, rosemary, thyme

MIA: Fingerling Potato Chips tossed in the Bacon Salt

Lights, Camera....Perfection?

In about 24 hours from this post at Johnny Rocco's in Niagara Falls we should be serving the last dishes of Iron Chef Niagara. A charity competition that puts 8 local chefs against each other for bragging rights. No chef in this competition wants to lose and that is extremely true for myself. Not only am I the youngest chef in the competition but the most on the line. As an owner and a chef of Artisanal Palate it means a lot of me to win the whole competition.

The industry that I find myself, is also one of the most competitive and in pour economic times one that has taken a massive hit. All of these other chefs collect pay cheques, I have to create mine. So when it is my turn to plate this round (and possibly beyond) I am in search for perfection with every plate. I do not except less when it is for a paying client and I definitely will not except it at a charitable event. Their will be 150 people possible tomorrow night and that is a lot of people that will talk if you did well or not.

I am nervous and excited. I love what I do and it is competition like this that bring me to another level. If in the mean time we can raise a ton of money for charity then that is even more rewarding.

If you want tickets for Jan 26th for Iron Chef call 905-358-0004.

Slainte

How to Market Great Product

I know what your thinking.

A Chef writing about Marketing, what could he possibly tell me. I can tell you the most important thing possible when it comes to running a business and that is, GET AN EXPERT!!

At the end of this coming week Artisanal Palate will be 21 months old and the hardest thing is taking great product and getting it out to the public. I was once told by a mentor that it does not matter how good your product is if you can't sell it. So many companies are in existence because of their ability to sell and not necessarily because they have the best product. For an example look at Apple. A company that in many eyes, does not have the greatest products but they can sell you millions in apps and the newest iphone or ipod 2 months after you bought the latest addition. They have the ability to sell by creating excitement and creating a market.

Now look back at Artisanal Palate, a professional catering service. It is hard in my business as a chef to sell my products to clientele, especially in an industry that is deamed as a luxury. It is easy to know you have the best quality, value and/or product, but it is another to make a connection. Your competition often have larger budgets and time on their side. So after being invited to the Niagara Business Group and meeting some influential people in thearea I started working with a few of them. Mark Saxton from Elevated and Chris Sinclair from Brand Boulevard have acted as mentors with priceless information and help. So after spending countless hours working on aspects of business that are not my strength I have realized that working with experts makes a large difference.

In the end I am just a visionary and a great cook, it is working with experts like them that makes running a business fun again. So this coming month Artisanal Palate will be releasing our new marketing strategy and it will all start with the Iron Chef Niagara competition. Proceeds go to charity but for a young chef and business like myself it means a lot more than that to me.

The day I stop learning will be the day I quite.

Slainte everyone

Food for a Cure

There has been a lot of things going on with Artisanal Palate in the past few weeks so I feel its time for an update. I launched the prepared food and preserve label of the company called Gourmet Niagara. This label will be a mix of gourmet preserves, soups, pastas, and other prepared foods.

You can find the store located by the red tab at www.NiagaraCatering.ca or go directly to the store at http://apgourmetniagara.wazala.com. I did a soft opening last weekend but this week I am planning bigger and better things.

In exactly 6 months I am hoping to be riding into Niagara for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. With an extensive family history of Cancer this is a cause that truly is close to my heart. So while training this morning I came up with "Food for a Cure".

Food for a cure will run from January 13th to March 31st, where I will donate 15% of my total sales/bookings to the Ride to Conquer Cancer. So this is how it works, go to the site and order food, catering packages, cooking classes, anything from this company and I will give 15%.

Help me get to my $3000 goal in May to help out a cause and allow me to ride for a cause. You can also make direct donations on my profile page. So help me fill your bellies while you give others hope.

Slainte

Link to Ride to Conquer Cancer Profile
www.niagaracatering.ca/charity

Evolution

2010 was a year where Artisanal Palate Catering was trying to grow our brand and connect with past clients. Needless to say this was not as successful as we wanted. We made a lot of changes at the end of the year, creating a new website, business mentors and cutting the dead weight. We now have the team and business we want. Our evolution has been steady until this year where we plan on coming hard and fast out of the gate.

Starting January 7th, 2010 Artisanal Palate will have our Online Store going. So you will now be able to purchase food, food packages, tickets, local products and much more. Our Passion Experiments : An Evening of Passion was released New Years day and we look forward to releasing our other Dinner Series.

2011 will be Artisanal Palate's year so come find out what is going on in Niagara at NiagaraCatering.ca. Find out what AP plans on doing to change the landscape of the local Niagara culinary scene. Most of all let's have some fun, in 2011 rediscover the passion at your table.

Discover Artisanal Palate Catering

An Evening of Passion

After 5 years The Passion Experiments are finally here and ready to roll February 11th in Niagara on the Lake. This one of a kind dinner series combines food and relationships with each stage coinciding with a stage in a relationship. This large public event is the kick off to what will be an adventurous year for Artisanal Palate as we finally bring our various Dinner Series to the Region.

Click Here for more details:
www.niagaracatering.ca/events/an-evening-of-passion