she's fried

Graduation Day: a look back, and ahead

I’m not a typically sentimental person, but there are times when a moment demands a bit of mush and heartstring tugging. Not to mention a strong self-pat on the back.

Yesterday I graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education and I feel proud.

As noted many times and in many different ways in this blog, I have had conflicted feelings about attending culinary school. On the one hand, I never planned to become a restaurant chef which is what culinary school best prepares one to do. If anything, I have never felt clearer that my deepest pleasure comes from cooking at home, for my loved ones. Besides that, as food educations goes, I would have in many ways preferred to have embarked on some grand culinary experience overseas or even an intensive program somewhere closer to home. These are adventures I may yet take when my children are older.

I’m still not sure a culinary diploma will have a tremendous effect on my professional life either, though it certainly does make for a nice mark on a food editor’s CV. Wondering about my externship? While there were things I would have enjoying doing (and may yet), like working for an school food-focused organization like Wellness in the Schools or trying my hand at recipe development and testing, I just couldn’t find an opportunity I could manage along with the (increasingly heavy) demands of my job. Luckily, the time I already clock as a food editor managing digital content strategy on the Kraft Foods account for media big Meredith Corporation is able to count towards this 210-hour time commitment. 

But as I look back at what the past 9 months and tens of thousands of dollars have borne, I am reminded of something my father said to me when I was about 11, something that—in its negative association at the time—may have been the most positively affecting words I have ever taken to heart. 

My father, who was in his late 30s at the time, told me that he was too old to change. I don’t recall what made him say that but I do very clearly remember feeling that this was the most deeply sad and untrue thing for a person to ever think about their life. If you couldn’t change, then you couldn’t grow and be a better, happier, more fulfilled and, as such, more fulfilling, person. 

With each year a deeper sense of pride, gratitude and settled, self-satisfaction wins the day over those natural and expected and undoubtedly to-be-repeated bummer days (or weeks/months). Life challenges produce rewards that are sometimes, maybe often, unexpected. 

A few key takeaways: 

1. It is good for a mom to do something big for herself. There is no question that my relationship with my children was better this year than any other of my 14-1/2 years of motherhood. It’s quite simple: kids want to be proud of their parents, just like parents want to be proud of their children. Plus, when everything else in life is swirling crazily around you, there’s something lovely about coming home to children for a little grounding and a reminder that, while it’s essential for a parent to have independent interests and engagements, at the end of the day there are two (not so) little people who need you. 
2. I don’t mind being single, thank you very much. Don’t get me wrong, it would be really nice to have companionship from time to time, maybe all in a row. Maybe for a little while, maybe for a lifetime. But this deeply committed (and monogamous!) relationship I’ve had with myself for the past 9 months reassures me that whatever comes to bear regarding my love life, it will not color the fact that if I have to live with someone, it could be a lot worse than coming home to me every night for the rest of my life. I am fairly awesome, after all.   
3. It is not good to not exercise regularly for 9 months. Listen, I’m not kicking myself. Like dating, some things had to give. But you can be sure that one of my primary post-graduation goals is to get back into decent shape. I miss my regular runs around Prospect Park. Me and my favorite place on earth have some catching up to do.
4. My most creative culinary school accomplishment has been this blog. I feel a bit guilty that I haven’t had the energy to push through on regular posts for the past month or so, but still it has served to document most of the compelling moments of this experience. I have a few posts left to write yet (I know, I know, you want an update about what happened to some of the bigger class characters), which you’ll see as quickly as I can get to them. After that, though, She’s Fried will likely become a finished chapter of an ongoing tale.

My friend Teresa, a marathon runner, wondered if there would be a let-down period for me post-graduation like what she experiences post-race. Will I still have something impressive to talk about at dinner parties or around the proverbial water cooler? Will I actually “do something” with or as a result of the diploma? Too early to answer these questions.

For now, though, I feel good.

Spinach and Goat Cheese Gnocchi with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Pine Nuts and Lemon

This Mario Batali recipe was a big surprise to many of us who did not think we much liked goat cheese or sun-dried tomatoes. Goat cheese makes for a surprisingly light and tangy ricotta-cheese replacement and the tomatoes and lemon provided a bright counterpoint to the creamy gnocchi.

Mod 5: The Chef Chris Show

Image courtesy of Institute of Culinary Education

So much to report, dear readers, I hardly know where to begin (which is probably why one week off from blogging turned to four five in a flash).

By the end of Module 4, our class had garnered such a reputation for chaos—due squarely to the shenanigans of Big Bird and Bubba Gump, that ICE decided to send in the big guns. Chef Chris Gesualdi started poking around in our classroom toward the end of Mod 4, having us clean out the supply cage or underneath the tables, to begin giving us a taste for what lay in store. Chef Chris is, far as I can tell, ICE’s most commanding and formidable instructor. Prior to arriving at ICE, he was the longtime chef at Montrachet. He created what was to become the now-shuttered Tribeca French spot’s signature dish, Truffle-Crusted Salmon. In the 1980s, he worked with Thomas Keller at Restaurant Raphael and then at the first restaurant Keller owned, Rakel, all before Keller moved out West to make a big name for himself at The French Laundry.

Here’s what Ruth Reichl said about Montrachet, and Chef Chris’ salmon, in her 1994 review:

The kitchen is also well run: when Debra Ponzek, the talented young woman who had been chef since 1986, relinquished the range to her sous-chef, Chris Gesualdi, a few months ago, the transition was so smooth that few patrons were aware of the change.

This is probably because Montrachet has always had a style of its own, and each chef falls under the restaurant’s spell. The food is refined yet aggressive. Its strength lies less in technique than in the quality of ingredients and the finesse with which they are combined. The food, like the service, seems effortless.

Consider the salmon. It looks like an ordinary piece of salmon that has been beautifully cooked. But the top is dusted with a truffle crust that puts such a spin on the fish it does not taste like salmon with truffles but like some entirely new and utterly delicious creature. Pairing the fish with grilled fennel and artichokes encourages this new-flavor sensation.

I also unearthed this video series from 2006, Lucia in the Making, and this post—from ICE’s blog, DICED, Salami-Making with Chef Chris.

You get the idea. He’s serious.

We were all a bit nervous, if excited, to finally have a chef who would bring up the level of play. Turns out, while he is indeed demanding, he is not withering, Gordon Ramsay-style. His mantra, which he says repeatedly every class is “Keep it clean; make it beautiful.” 

He engages us to do our best work—this is more important to him than our speed or any culinary pyrotechnics. 

To that latter point, his favorite cautionary wag to us whenever we are given creative license is this:

“I may be a guinea, but I’m not a guinea pig.”

Under Chef Chris’ tutelage, we have had some of our most fun and edifying classes: cooking master chef dishes (Mario Batali, Ming Tsai, Daniel Boulud, Rick Bayless…would have done Thomas Keller but instead Chef tasked us with a 4-hour class devoted to improving our knife skills), hors d’oeuvres, sausage-making, terrines, pates, mousselines, gallantines roulades, smoked meats and fish.

We have also been charged with bringing our A game, every class. This, as you might imagine, is harder for some of us than others (more on that).

It feels like yesterday when I began this journey, which has turned out to be bigger than culinary trade training, but next Saturday is my graduation ceremony from ICE.

I’m sure you have many questions and curiosities. A look back, and ahead, to follow.