Cindy Hutson helped start the Caribbean wave that began its sweep of the nation nearly 20 years ago. But then as now, she was about so much more. Today, she’s proving it.

By Brent T. Frei

Cindy Hutson, who was born in New Jersey, thinks she might have been Jamaican in a past life.

She says that tongue in cheek. (Her ex-husband is Jamaican.) But for someone not from the islands, Hutson stumbled upon stardom virtually overnight as one of a small cadre of chefs in South Florida in the 1990s who showcased the region’s bounty on menus. In Hutson’s case, her approach had a decidedly Jamaican bent.

“All I did was really common, local food that you would find in Jamaica,” Hutson says. “But I did it a little differently. I didn’t Americanize it—I fine-tuned it on the plate so that it would work in a fine-dining restaurant.”

The best advantage of field trips is the range of learning that students acquire. Here are tips for maximizing their benefits.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed Evaluating Student Papers in Case Studies, the third in a series of Mayo’s Clinics on Case Studies (#23, Using Case Studies in Teaching; #24, Types of Case Studies and #25, Evaluating Student Papers in Case Studies). This month, we will discuss types of field trips, involving guest speakers in field trips, building on #19, Using Field Trips and Site Visits Effectively. One way to think about types of field trips is to consider four options—group field trips, individual field trips, planned field trips and serendipitous field trips.

Your students will want to reach for the tongs, spatula or spoon. Don’t let them. These six steps in class will effectively remove students’ fear—and enhance their thrill—of sautéing.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

For the last several articles I have addressed teaching business skills of our industry and teaching techniques. Now it is time to return to the teaching of specific cooking subjects. A cooking technique that both thrills and terrifies students is sautéing. To alleviate the fear, minimize the mess and cut back on food costs try the following six steps:

1. Teach What Is Sautéing. Sautéing basically means “to jump” in French. Tell your students that the different ingredients are cut into uniform size, and are added to the pan in the order of what takes the longest to cook going in first. The food is jumped, not stirred. In other words, the cook keeps flipping the food over in the pan so all sides of the food cook uniformly. Usually sautéing is done with a small amount of fat (generally oil or butter) in the pan.

An overview of soy oil and its role in foodservice applications.

By Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, HAAC. Courtesy of QUALISOY

Soy has a long and important history as one of the world’s most important crops. Every year, 44.07 million metric tons of soybeans are produced globally. In the United States, in 2009, we grew an estimated 3,359 million bushels of soybeans, and from these soybeans we produced 19 billion pounds of soybean oil. Of all the different edible oils produced in the United States, about 80% is made from soybeans.

How much more are consumers willing to pay for sustainable cuisine?

Consumers want and need to eat out, and the foodservice industry has a huge carbon footprint. Getting industry operators and consumers on the “green” bandwagon is necessary to minimize the impact that restaurants have on the environment in the future. But how willing are patrons to embrace this change?

According to a recent Mintel report, just more than half (57%) of respondents are willing to pay more for local and sustainable fare; however, the majority of those are only willing to pay a mere 1% to 5% more.

“Green and sustainable attributes pale in comparison to the leading restaurant decision drivers of menu selection, prices and convenient location,” says Eric Giandelone, foodservice director at Mintel. “However, these initiatives support the leading attributes to help a restaurant stand apart and will become more important as the green movement continues to progress.”

The Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ) is pleased to award its Endorsement Program seal to the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) Foodservice Toolkit, a comprehensive teaching resource.

With the Idaho Potato Commission Foodservice Toolkit, foodservice educators and their students can explore how Idaho® potatoes win culinary accolades for performance and consistency and why leading chefs across the country insist on the “Grown in Idaho®” brand. Contents include Idaho potato history and propagation; scientific distinctions and specification/purchasing basics; potato-cooking chemistry and problem solving; preparation how-to and typical cooking yields; “Potato 101” knife and cutting skills; and a cost-per-serving calculator.

The American Culinary Federation Education Foundation (ACFEF), the educational arm of the American Culinary Federation (ACF), the premier professional organization for culinarians in North America, recently granted renewal Quality Program status to all Job Corps culinary training programs across the United States, a total of 87. Approval was awarded Oct. 19 and is valid for five years.

Culinary Institute of America (CIA) students Fareez Dossani and Jason Williams are the two most recent recipients of The Jones Dairy Farm Scholarship Fund at the CIA, said Philip Jones, sixth-generation president of Jones Dairy Farm and a professionally trained chef.

Established in May 2006, the Jones Dairy Farm Scholarship Fund supports three scholarships each year. CIA juniors and seniors pursuing baccalaureate degrees in Culinary Arts Management can apply for the scholarship by submitting a short essay and original recipe using a Jones’ product. Awards are restricted to students with a demonstrated financial need and grade-point average (G.P.A.) of 3.0 or higher.

The Kendall College School of Culinary Arts announces the addition of Chef Eric Stein, MS, RD, to its faculty. As an instructor specializing in culinary nutrition, Stein brings a contemporary cooking style to Kendall that emphasizes nutrient-rich foods and global flavor profiles.

“Kendall College proudly welcomes Chef Stein to our teaching family,” said Renee Zonka, RD, CEC, CHE, MBA, dean of the School of Culinary Arts. “He arrives at a time when interest from prospective students in our nutrition concentration has never been higher. Chef Stein’s wealth of experience teaching in this relatively new, timely and eminent field of study will continue to distinguish Kendall College as a leader in culinary education.”

Prior to arriving at Kendall, Stein spent a year working in the kitchens of the AAA Five Diamond Award-winning Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., where he enhanced his technical skills under Certified Master Chef Richard Rosendale. He has also served as Colorado’s state coordinator for the American Dietetic Association’s vegetarian practice group as well as on the board of advisors for Cooking Matters Colorado, a program under the auspices of Share Our Strength that empowers families with the skills, knowledge and confidence to prepare healthy and affordable meals.

Sullivan University’s National Center for Hospitality Studies (NCHS) honored Chef Colby Garrelts of bluestem Restaurant in Kansas City with the prestigious Distinguished Visiting Chef award on November 10. As recipient of the award, Garrelts presented on-campus cooking demonstrations, book signings and question-and-answer sessions held exclusively for Sullivan University students.

Designed to connect today’s aspiring culinarians with industry leaders, The Distinguished Visiting Chef Series has been recognizing three top chefs annually since its inception in 1988. Garrelts is the 41st recipient of the award, joining an impressive roster of chefs that includes Bob Kinkead, Emeril Lagasse, Louis Osteen, Rick Tramonto and Marcel Desaulniers.

Garrelts, who has been nominated several times for Best Chef Midwest by the James Beard Foundation and was named by Food & Wine magazine as one of the Top 10 Best New Chefs in 2005, obtained his culinary education in kitchens across the country. A native of Kansas City, Garrelts cooked at two prestigious private clubs, the famed American Restaurant, and the legendary Stolen Grill while attending culinary school. He developed a taste for big-city cuisine, small-business acumen and the aspiration to see what culinary experiences he could acquire in larger cities. With all of this on his mind, Garrelts moved to Chicago in 1999, where he became the senior sous chef at the five-star, five-diamond restaurant TRU under nationally acclaimed chefs Rick Tramanto and Gale Gand. At TRU, Garrelts honed his technical skills, developed his culinary style and met his future wife/partner Megan Schultz.