Baking not for me?

i found a recipe for spicy cookies... what caught my attention when i read the ingredients was that they used  Mexican  Hot Chocolate like Abuelita or Ibarra ...and do i love Mexican Hot Chocolate.

for those of you that have never heard or had  Mexican hot Chocolate , it is the most yummy thing ever. There are a few types out there, the best 2 brands out there are "Chocolate Abuelita and Chocolate Ibarra. we have tried other brands but it's just not the same.

So I attempted to make these cookies and Heck no , no deal... these cookies were not what I imagined ...I guess this is why I do not like baking, you have to follow the recipe and measure to perfection not my thing at all. I like to make things my own and the only thing that I want to measure is the amount of seasoning that I will make the dish taste to perfection.

well here is how they turned out , and as soon as I can find the recipe I will post it and see if you bakers can give it a try and let me know how they turn out for you.

Nestle Professionals Minor's Challenge 2011

I received an email from Jill Smith the C-CAP AZ President , with an invitation to enter this Cooking competition. the same month that i received it my Cousin Irene was talking about running a Marathon in San Francisco.... I was all for going with her and running this marathon with her. but....MY MOTHER, had to push the culinary competition on me and  goes and tells my Chef , and my chef is all Excited

Sorry Irene, I really honestly wanted to spend a weekend with you and Run this Marathon along side you, plus enjoy some yummy food in SF...Oh well ...Maybe Next time!!!

here is a snip of what the competition is about...I had to incorporate 2 of their products into my dish, i could make 1 - 3 courses , and i would have 1 hour to cook and present. the products are Base , beef to chicken to even seafood ...they had so many it was hard for me to decide which ones i wanted to use.


2 weeks before i head out to to New York (ill post about The new york Thingy in a bit) i submit the recipe for the Competition in hopes that i get to cook....since i won't be able to go run a Marathon. i decide with the help from my chef to make ....Roasted Halibut ( and use the Minor's Seafood base to make the crust and also season it)  with Summer Squash and Crab Risotto (use Minor's Crab base), Heirloom Tomato and sweet corn salad

the week that i am to leave to New York , i receive an email from Chef Dragos (he's the one running the event) stating that i was supposed to incorporate a beef base and a chicken base in my recipe..."WTF...I don't have time, Chef has me working every day and i leave to NY on Saturday Morning...Oh well i guess i wont be competing"  i should have just told my cousin Irene I would go with her!!!!!! 

on July 19 , I had a dentist appointment and my mother was taking me, she arrives at the house to pick me up and tells me that I have an email from Chef Dragos.....we open it up and reads "congratulations Chris, Can you start at 9:15 on July 30th at Arizona Culinary Institute for the Minor's competition?"""  HECK YEA!!!!!!   so i replay right away and tel them yes that the time would be perfect ...my mom Text mrs' piper and i later send Jill an email stating that I have been chosen to compete. later that day i call Chef and tell him that they choose my recipe...he was just as excited as i was.

a few days before competition i find out that the Crab Base was not going to be available for me to use, no problem ill do something else. I later go pick up all the products that i need to use for my recipe, they gave me Seafood base, herb Provencal base , and a chicken stock base, they also gave a new product to try out...Frozen Parmesans Risotto...FROZEN RISOTTO...this is a slap in the face to Chef's ...wow ..they asked me to take it and test it out and see what i thought of it ....i guess ill just have to test it out.  3 days before the competition i test the risotto at home and i have to say not bad at all...for the home cooks , this is perfect, will i use this , not if i want to show that i can cook a good risotto. 

week of competition, i do a test run of the dish at the parlor  , made risotto about 20 million times...i can now say my risotto skills are 100% .

day of competition, Running late ...we had to go to the Parlor to pick up fresh  oregano as we could not find any at the stores.

we arrive at the Arizona Culinary Institute , Chef Dragos greets me shows me to my work station and gives me my times, tells me who I'm competing against. WHO AM I COMPETING AGAINST....CAN YOU SAY THAT AGAIN PLEASE!!!!!!!   WOW...I'm competing against Chef Lenard Rubin ( i later find out that he has won the last 3), executive chef of the Hyatt in Phoenix, and a few other chefs ....I was the only high school student...WOW...I have no chance in hell to win.

i prep my area and start, i notice that i do not have enough time to cook the risotto and decide on using the Parmesan Risotto that was given to me. ...50 minutes later and i am done cooking my fish looks absolutely beautiful , the crust looks so golden and just perfect, the seasoning on the risotto is great and the salad with the grilled corn looks and taste great...off to present my dish. 

Simple but Delicious!!!!

when i took the dish to the judges , i was nervous , i should have told them that i had to change the recipe since there was no crab base, and all it was was the summer squash risotto, I  had no idea that I  was going to talk to them.

after i go and clean my work station take all my dishes to get washed and pack my things ...I am done , now time to wait for everyone to present and then for results.

i am really thinking about my dish, these other competitors all plated between 2 - 3 dishes, some of them even made drinks with the bases... i even turned to my mom who was sitting next to me and tell her  "this was dumb...there is no way I'm going to win anything, i should have just said no and gone to work and get paid to cook!!"  i was really, really, really, bumbed out...there is no way my dish has a chance against these chefs, just no way!!

Chefs waiting as well.

RESULT TIME!!!!


chef Dragos gave a little speech , telling us that if we don't win let this be an experience to better our techniques and presentations, to keep in mind what the judges tell us about our dishes.

oh and i had no clue we all were going to take home money....as he calls out names he also calls out amounts , the first 2 were $75.00 , then $100., then $150.00 , and then he calls out 3 rd place winner ...CHRIS ANDRADE $300.00  ...WHAT!!!!!  did he just call out my name ????? ...3rd PLACE...are you for real.......I have to say... i was perplexed, shocked, and so many other emotions running down my body....Thanks MOM ...for telling me what you did right before the results.  ...2nd place winner won $500.00 and 1st place won $1000.00  ...I have already made up my mind that i will compete next year and try for first place.

I WON....$300.00  WOW!!!!!!!!!

my name announced for 3rd place ...notice the guy next to me ...doesn't look happy...3RD PLACE!!!!!!!

WOW...never imagined i would take 3rd place !!!

after the awards were passed out , judges talked to each of us about our dishes, only 2 bad comment- the risotto could have had a bit more seasoning and the salad a touch more of oil , but the Fish had a nice color and the risotto to perfection. ..they said had i seasoned the risotto just right and added that touch of oil to the salad i would have taken 2nd place. 

after the awards i go talk to Chef Rubin , get some tips from him and really pick his brain about what i can do to improve . he then tells me to give him a call and come by to his restaurant, he also gave me his menu and tells me to practice making some of his sauces and start there.

These are Chef Rubin's Dishes , that won him first prize , he sous-vide the Duck... man it was so tender

and in case your wondering what Sous-Vide ...is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath, The intention is to cook the item evenly, not overcook the outside while still keeping the inside at the same 'doneness' and to keep the food juicier.

2nd place winner

Class Demo

Valley Vista had a Career day , and Mrs. Piper asked me to to do a Cooking demo. I told her i had a recipe that would take about 30 minutes to make , and if she would allow me to demo it. "Cod and Tomato Chowder"
how did i come up with this recipe?   I received  Gordon Ramsey's Healthy Appetite Cookbook from my parents for Christmas. I had already made the chowder at home a few weeks prior. i followed the recipe but added my own twist to it. she partnered me up with Luis, he helped me by cutting up all the veggies while i sauteed them and proceeded with the demo . it was pretty cool , to have an audience and that there were a few parents that asked questions , and that i was able to answer.  the Chowder came out pretty good, we had a few of the audience come up for seconds.

Ingredients:

*  olive oil
*  butter
* 4 medium tomato, diced
* 1 medium onions, peeled & roughly chopped
* salt & black pepper  (i suggest you use Kosher salt in all your cooking)
* 2 large carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
* 2 large waxy potatoes, peeled & roughly chopped
* 1 sweet yellow pepper, cored, seeded & roughly chopped

* 14oz can chopped tomatoes ( i didn't use canned tomatoes ...I refuse to use canned anything, that is why i used 4 med size tomato's, )
* thyme sprigs
*  bay leaf
* 3 ½ cups fish or chicken stock (I stock chicken)
* green beans, cut into short lengths (I used frozen ones)
*  zucchini, roughly chopped
* Few dashes of Tabasco sauce (I omitted this, i used Pepper flakes)
* 2good size cod fillets, skinned & pin-boned
* 1 pound of shrimp, ( I had a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer , buy the shelled and deveined kind).
* Bunch of Italian parsley, roughly chopped ...use FRESH

* i stick of cinnamon

Directions:

Heat the olive oil and butter in a med size stock pot, Add onions, celery, and some seasoning, and cook, stirring over medium heat till soften and onions are clear. Add the carrots, potatoes, sweet yellow pepper,  herbs and Cinnamon and saute until the vegetables are lightly golden.

Add chopped tomato to the pot and pour in the stock. Cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender. put the green beans and zucchini in pot, give the mixture a stir, and simmer for about  three minutes. at this time you should be tasting your chowder..if all is good add your pepper flakes to your desire...i suggest maybe a tsp , just to give it a little kick.

Lightly season the cod fillets and lay them on the vegetables in the pot,  add shrimp. Cover Pot and simmer for about three minutes until the fish is opaque and just cooked through. (Don't over-cook the fish. It will cook just sitting in the broth after you turn the heat off.)

Using a spoon, gently break the fish into large flakes.serve in a bowl and add chopped parsley over chowder.

enjoy

amazing cook book , he has some really healthy recipes , easy for the home cook to make.

We have a high tech  Culinary class,  Mrs. Piper is passionate about cooking , and she makes sure that she has everything that will make  teaching Culinary  a great experience not only for herself but for us "her students" as well.




Notice the screen above me and Luis, we have 3 screens in our class



we have industrial ovens and a stove

see the other  screen on the left of Luis , the 3rd screen is on the right of me, above Mrs. pipers desk 

i sued a butane stove , to be able to get a view of what i was doing on the screen.

enjoy the video

Devoured Food Festival

its 6am and my mom wakes me up ...What the Freak MOM...I Don't Have to be there till 8AM!!!!!!!
she ironed my Chef Jacket ...Thanks!

we head to the restaurant , i get dropped off , while I'm getting directions on what to load up Chef goes and speaks to my parents to let them know what time i would be getting back.

I help load up the truck , Ice chest , a hibachi grill , a few tables and canopy , and some other things that we will need for the event.we headed to the Phoenix Art Museum.

we get there and WOW...there are tons of restaurants that are setting up , pulling in with big trailers and huge griddles and refrigerators and we show up with a Hibachi grill?????

we set up our area get the grill going and Chef tells me to go with him and walk around to check out the other booths. while walking around i notice that everyone knows Chef, they shake his hand and offer him samples and talk with him for a few minutes second really because we have a ton of ground to cover . i was surprised on how everyone knew chef .

so what was on the menu for the Parlors Booth ...we grilled Peppers Onions and the Octopus


this was the first time i had ever tasted Octopus ...and i am now a lover of this amazing creature.

there were tons of People I had no clue we would be in something like this.

I later found out that  Howard Seftel handed out a Gold medal to The Parlor for his dish .

after the festival we headed back to the restaurant, as we get there Chef asked if i was ready to get in the kitchen...Man oh Man...was i ever , i said YES...are you kidding me an opportunity to work side by side with this amazing chef...heck yeah., so i called my mom and told her what was going , she tells me yes we already know chef told us before you all left that if it was okay for you to work in the kitchen..and they told him YES..."man ....put me on the Grill Chef ....I'm ready to COOK!!!!.

man i left that day so Tired i had been up since 6 am and arrived home at around 10pm , the one goof thing i ate some amazing food that day.

can't wait for next year!

forgot to mention , he Offered me a job, he spoke to my parents and they said yes that i could work for him.


 Thanks Chef for an amazing Experience!!!!

The Phone Call

while in school i received a call from some unknown number. after school i check my voice mail and low and behold ...it's chef , calling to see if i can help at Devour Culinary Festival ...man i was supper excited, called my mom and told her if i can do it, she said YES....!!!

a few days latter i called Chef and asked him for all the details , He tells me it's on Saturday March 11th , to be at the restaurant at  8 am

NICE...getting my foot in the door.

The Parlor

After preliminaries my parents and i decided to go have lunch at "The Parlor" ...let me go back to October of 2010........ C-CAP hosted an information workshop at a  Restaurant supply store. here they spoke to us about what is expected of us as students and competitors, we heard from 2 C-CAP alumni , one of the guys that spoke to us had earned a $5000. scholarship  and was currently attending a culinary school here in Phoenix, he also demonstrated the competition salad ( my mom and i thought he took way to long to make it) the other person was Jared Porter, he too was awarded a scholarship  i believe it was for 2 years...( many years ago)  he is now the executive chef of  The Parlor , he spoke to all of us about his journey and what made him decide to be a chef, he later explained to us how to make Pizzas, everyone that was there was allowed to make pizzas , we even got to take some home. My Father Auggie spoke to Chef Jared Porter about the Industry and if he can explain to me that it's not all Glitz and Glamour like TV Network Portrays Chefs to be. Chef Jared explained that it's hard, long hours and simply no time for family of personal life , that the restaurant life consumes every part of your personal life. he handed us his business card and invited us to his restaurant and to call him before we head to the Parlor.

Chef Jared Porter, explaining to us about the dough

Teaching us how to  stretch out our pizza dough

 now let me fast Forward to February 2011.... so my parents and i go to the parlor after the C-Cap competition to have lunch at the Parlor. we called in advanced and unfortunately Chef Jared was not in. We get to the restaurant and get seated and we ask the waiter if chef was in , he said yes and that he would let him know we are there. we place our order, minutes later chef comes over and speaks to us, he remembered us from the workshop(auggie must have left a big impression , big bald guy ...how could he forget him), asked how i did , explained to him that we won't know for about 2 weeks. we just start talking for a while, he leaves we get our meals and the food was fantastic, home made pizza's, Cheese, pasta's , breads, they also have a garden outside at the 'entrance of the restaurant . i believe the best part of all was that he sent over a few complimentary dishes ...something we were not expecting , he even sent us deserts yummo.

after we have our dinner he once again came over asked us how we enjoyed our meal and ...MY MOTHER opens her big mouth and ask if they were hiring ...URGHHH...i could just die...Chef say's to fill out an application and if something comes up he will call me...i fill out the application and we head out ....Lets Hope he calls. 

C-CAP Banquet

Results.... Gotta love Mrs. Piper...she called my mom the moment she received the email and told her i made TOP  10 ...and that we were going to the Banquet.

At the Banquet , they award 3 of the top 10 Juniors a trip to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY) Johnson and Whales, or to The Arts Institute of Phoenix. Mrs. Piper told me she knew i had made top 10, she did not doubt my cooking and my ability to impress the judges,now it's just about finding out if i made top 3. 35 seniors were invited to the banquet , they will all receive some sort of scholarship ranging from $2000.00 to $130,000.


Day of Banquet... Grandma Lupe and Peter came to AZ to have breakfast and to join us for the award ceremony. They served us breakfast , a muffin egg, potatoes and fresh fruit and muffins .

after the breakfast they start with all the Juniors . they call up all top 10 juniors and introduced us , lets everyone know what school we go to. then they award the summer scholarships, this year was the first time ever that they awarded a summer culinary scholarship to all 10 juniors, 8 of them were awarded  to go to the AI of phoenix for their summer program, one of the other juniors was awarded a Johnson and Wales  summer program ( i really wanted this one) and i received the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) summer program scholarship.  we were all super excited , especially my mom and mrs' piper.

once they gave all the juniors their summer program scholarships , they awarded all the seniors their scholarships , their was over $750,000 dollars awarded in scholarships.

 note to all ....C-CAP does not give out scholarship just for cooking...one has to hold a GPA of 3.0 or higher, NOT only do we have the  capability to cook.... were also Smart !!!

Richard Grausman  (founder of C-CAP Careers through Culinary Arts Programs) and Jill Smith (president of the Arizona Chapter)

Chef , helped me on my ACF recipe

a little bit about Richard Grausman.....he is the Founder of C-CAP, he studied at the Cordon blue in Paris alongside with James Beared , for all you foodies YES The James Beared...for all you who are unaware of who James Beared is  , he is a master of 5 star Restaurants, many chefs and restaurant owners try their hardest to earn a James beard award, to try to earn a 5 star award.  one day I will make my way to eat at a James Beared award winning restaurant and i will let you know the difference from a regular restaurant and a James Beared award Restaurant. He started C-CAP to help students to prepare for college and careers  opportunities in the restaurant and hospitality industry,he has awarded over 4,000 , scholarships valued at over $3.2 million to Students to attend Culinary schools and universities. in 1997 he was awarded the Presidential service award by President Bill Clinton. he is an Amazing Chef and person.

Mrs. Piper...she is an Amazing Culinary Teacher !!!

Can't wait for next year... i will continue to Practice making French Omelets , a Cucumber Salad, for Preliminaries, and begin to to practice the Senior dishes , i will have to Tourne a potato, cook a chicken French style, make crepes, and a chocolate sauce....not only will i have to cook but also plate for presentation.

if you all have any ideas on how to plate crepes...send them my way