Artists Collaborate

by DENISE SHAVANDY

Two great culinary artists collaborated to create a magnificent meal at the Buffalo Gap Food & Wine Summit this year.  Steven Pyles and Najat Kaanache brought their creative talents together to create items such as Compressed Melon with Nitro Mascarpone & Proscuitto Dust, and Lamb Obulato, Osso Busso-Cocoa Cappuccino, Spring Peas, & Blood Orange “On the Rocks.”

Compressed Melon with Nitro Mascarpone & Proscuitto Dust

Not only was every element flavorful and visually enticing, but each course was thought provoking.  Squid

Ceviche & Tumbleweed of Squid, Mustard Greens, Chocolate Gorgonzola Donut, Beet Sponge, Candied Yellow Rose

was presented both as a velvety ceviche and a crisp freeze-dried tumbleweed.  Liquid polenta had been spherified and appeared like a bleached egg yolk on a plate of “West Texas Red Clay.”  Osso Bucco was a trompe l’oiel of  cappuccino, that created a certain expectation by appearance, and a completely unexpected experience upon consumption.

Lamb Obulato, Osso Bucco-Cocoa Cappuccino, Spring Peas, Blood Orange "On the Rocks"

The opportunity to watch the two artists collaborate as they worked

Chef Najat & Chef Kyle working with liquid nitrogen to make the squid tumbleweed

through the finishing touches for the presentation was a treat.  Seeing the team of chefs, sous, apprentices, and students work together to assemble 224 plates six times over totaling over 1300 plates assembled, and delivered is truly impressive.  All of this taking place in a large tent in West Texas surrounded by red dirt, and longhorns, with tables set in silver and Reidel crystal, is almost surreal…

Friday Night Closing Crew from TSTC Culinary Institute

Tri-Color Panna Cotta, Marasca Cherry-Italian Cream Soda

Homer Jones, Protein & Food Safety Specialist, SYSCO West Texas

by DENISE SHAVANDY

Homer, a cow & a pig made for a great day at TSTC Culinary Institute.  For our Meat Fabrication class, guest Homer Jones, deftly wielded his knife in a 6 hour demonstration of fabricating different cuts from a half of a cow.  He slowly disassembled the hind quarter, and then the fore quarter, taking his time to share how he could tell the age, gender, grade, and breed of the cow from clues in the carcass.  With years of experience in the meat industry, and a Master’s Degree in Meat Science, the six hour demonstration and discussion, only touched on his true depth of knowledge.

Homer’s research on pork led to the recent USDA’s approval of the new minimum cooking temperature for pork.  For many years pork’s “safe” temperature was considered to be 160 degrees.  At an internal temperature of 160 degrees, pork is dry and grey inside, something chefs and pork consumers have know for years.  Even though there hadn’t been a case of trichinosis in decades the USDA took years to approve the new safe internal temperature of 145 degrees.  At 145 degrees pork is lightly pink, moist, juicy, and delicious.  Some consumers are still wary of pink pork, but it is safe, has now been approved as safe, and is a far better product than 160 degree pork.

This was a great learning experience for our students, and Homer’s enthusiasm and passion are contagious.  Thank you Homer for making it a great day at TSTC Culinary Institute.

Pantry supplies for the Cook-Off

BY DENISE SHAVANDY

Executive Chef Otto Borsich-Central Market, Executive Sous Chef Frederic Angevin-Four Seasons, Executive Chef Christof Syre-Four Seasons, & Me

There was a lot of heated competition this year at the Kids Who Care Celebrity Chef Cook-Off!  This year’s line up included Anthony Felli of Del Frisco’s Steakhouse, Molly McCook of Ellerbe Fine Foods, Christof Syre of Cafe on the Green, Blaine Staniford of Grace, and Mark Hitri of Saint Emillion to name a few!  Many of us chefs like to come prepared, and are known to be just a little bit competitive (ha ha) so they had to change the rules this year.  A few chefs have

my favorite kitchen tool!

been known to bring equipment like ice cream machines  to help edge out the competition, so this year it was “old school”.  By that I mean, we couldn’t use an electrical or battery operated equipment.  Now I will tell you, it was a lot easier to pack, but I felt like I had a hand tied behind my back- what do you mean- no immersion blender!

So here’s the rules- #1 You get a “sous chef” assigned to you.  Yes, I put “sous chef” in quotes because this is actually the notable Texan that is assigned to you and their sous chef-ing skills range widely. It’s like a box of chocolates! To give you an idea this year’s

chefs at work!

notables included Mark McLemore, Mayor Betsy Price, and Actress Janine Turner.)  #2 You can use any of the ingredients at the pantry table.  See the beautiful array of

goodies donated by Ben E Keith above.  #3 You only have 45 minutes to prepare two identical plates incorporating all 3 of the mystery ingredients.  (You can make other dishes for bonus points or just to show you can!) #4

Mayor Betsy Price & Executive Chef Molly McCook

NO outside food can be brought in (now that was tough- chefs have been known to bring black truffles, Iranian saffron, or even prepared sauces) and NO electrical or battery operated equipment.  #5 Only your sous chef can leave the station- you must man the station for the entire 45 minutes.  This makes it interesting because if you send your sous chef to the pantry for quinoa and they don’t know what quinoa looks like, hmmm.

So, I was paired up with Chris Klein from Ben E Keith, and

The Judge's Table- Joseph Vincelli – Saxophonist, Flutist, Author, Clinician and co-originator of the first Cookin’ for Kids Jon Bonnell – Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine Sonny Burgess – Singer, Songwriter Kathleen Hicks – City Councilwoman,

ding ding goes the bell.  Chris collects our mystery basket and this year’s mystery ingredients were (drum roll please…) beef hanger steak, guajillo chiles, and salsify?!  The clock is ticking, counting down from 45 minutes.  I send Chris to the pantry table to collect a long list of goodies including baby beets with greens, quinoa, asparagus, basil, poblanos, sweet bells, tomato juice, mango.  I was going for the shot gun effect, figuring if he

our creation

brought back enough stuff it would develop into something good.  So we started cooking with no direction in mind.  Here’s what we ended up with…

Salad of Roasted Baby Beets, Beet Greens, Asparagus, with paprika dressing, and goat cheese rolled in crushed pistachios

Curry Crusted Seared Hanger Steak, Caramelized Salsify, and Quinoa Pilaf with Guajillos, topped with Mango-Roasted Poblano Pico de Gallo

It was fun! We raised money for a great cause and brought home the award for Best Culinary Technique (one of only three awards given!)

Mayor Betsy Price & Me

with Executive Chef/Owner Jon Bonnell, one of the judges

fresh baked goodness!

working hard!

Come out and support our students and take home some fresh baked goodness!  We are selling cupcakes, cookies, dessert bars, custards, pies, cakes, and breads from 12 noon till 3 pm today (or until we sell out- whichever comes first!)  We are in the T & P building in downtown Abilene at 901 N First Street.

take some home!

getting everything ready

The simple joy of fresh pasta!

BY SANDY DAVIS

Join me next Tuesday March 6th, for a hands-on lesson in making fresh pasta at home.  Unlike baked goods, pasta dough isn’t fussy, instead, it is simple and forgiving.  Yeah!  Isn’t that good news?  It’s basically only two ingredients: flour and water.  Of course we can add more stuff like eggs, flavorings, and use different kinds of flour, but it is more about the technique.  Once you discover the simple joy of fresh pasta, you’ll be slurping fresh noodles nightly!

Learn the basic techniques to roll out pasta sheets and make a not-so-ordinary white lasagna with kale & walnuts, a sumptuous mushroom ravioli, and cut pasta into thin strips for linguini.  We’ll make fresh fluffy pillows of gnocchi,  that would make any Italian grandmother proud.  As fabulous as fresh pasta is, we will make it more delectible with three classic sauces as well as a vibrant basil pesto.   Fresh pasta is so versatile, once you discover these basic techniques you can use your skills to experiment at home with interesting flavors, fillings, and shapes.  Make fresh pasta for your loved ones and they’ll be singing- That’s Amore!

Click here to see details and register for Pasta Making Class.

Gnocchi- Mamma Mia!

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the humble beginnings of Hollandaise, yolks

BY DENISE SHAVANDY

Most chefs and cooks will probably agree on this, if nothing else, Hollandaise is the most challenging sauce to master.  You have to build a strong emulsion, in other words, get oil and water to stay mixed.  Mayonnaise is a strong emulsion using basically the same ingredients, so why should Hollandaise be difficult? One word- HEAT.

Hollandaise is a hot emulsified sauce, and when we add the heat factor, it makes the emulsion much more difficult to control.  Get your yolks too hot, and they over cook.  Let your yolks cook to fast and they coagulate.  Don’t cook your yolks enough, they don’t emulsify well.  Of course all this complicated business could be easily solved with a sauce packet mix, right?

Wrong!  There is nothing else quite as decadent and rich as a true Hollandaise from scratch.  Our students made Hollandaise this week.   I am proud to say, we had to crack a few eggs, but every student finished the week having prepared a successful Hollandaise sauce!  I have posted the recipe below for you to try at home, but first, a few pointers…

Make sure your yolks have no white, and you remove the chalazae (that little white string attached to the yolk). This will help to have smooth yolks.

Make sure to have all your “mise en place” ready.  This means “everything in its place” and will allow you to keep whisking.  Time is of the essence, and you don’t want to step away to get something.

Be sure your water is not boiling.  It should be “like water for chocolate” and barely emit steam, without actually boiling.

Cook your yolks.  Many people take the yolks off the heat before they are done, because they are afraid to overcook them.  They should change color from vibrant yellow, to a soft pale yellow (just the right color for a baby’s nursery).  The consistency will change too.  It will become thick, and pudding like.  One student was quoted as saying it looked like banana pudding.

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

mise en place for Hollandaise

makes about 1.75 cups

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

1 cup butter (can be clarified or not- clarified butter makes a stronger more stable emulsion, regular melted butter has a better flavor)

1 lemon, juice only (you’ll need at least 1 ounce of lemon juice, up to 2 ounces, but you decide how acidic you like your hollandaise)

salt to taste

paprika to taste

about 2 ounces water, warm between 100-120 degrees

optional: dash cayenne pepper, dash white pepper

Equipment:

1 small sauce pot

1 small stainless bowl (should comfortably fit on top of the pot as a double boiler)

1 piano wire whisk

wet towel to help hold the bowl in place (make a nest on the counter with the wet towel to stabilize the bowl)

Directions:

Fill small pot 1/3 full with water and put on stove top on low heat till water begins to steam.

Put the yolks in the bowl and whisk till smooth.

Place yolks in bowl over steaming water and whisk while they cook.  (Yes this could take a while and your arm will get tired.)  Be careful to keep scraping the bottom and all sides of the bowl so the egg yolks stay in motion.  Don’t let they stay stuck to the bowl, as they cook into lumps.  Lumps are not good for our Hollandaise.

You will start to be able to see the bottom of the bowl as you whisk because as the yolks thicken.  Keep whisking and cooking.  Yolks are ready when they are pudding like, and light yellow.

Remove from the heat and add a drop or two of the melted or clarified butter.  Whisk it in.  Add a couple more drops and whisk.  If it gets very thick, like mayonnaise, and a drizzle of the lemon juice to soften it up.  Continue adding the butter, but slowly drizzling it in as you whisk.  Be patient and add the butter slowly, to ensure a strong emulsification.  The more butter you have added, the faster you can drizzle it in.  Every time the sauce gets too thick to stir easily add a dribble of lemon juice, until you have added about 1 ounce.  Then if it gets too thick drizzle in some water.  (This way the sauce isn’t too acidic. You can always add more lemon juice at the end.)

Continue to whisk and drizzle, until all the butter has been incorporated.  You should have a smooth homogenous custard looking texture.

Now season to taste.  Add salt, paprika, and cayenne.  If you need a little more twang, add some more lemon juice.

Serving suggestions:

Serve over eggs Benedict, fresh steamed asparagus, grilled or poached salmon, steamed broccoli, seared or poached chicken, steamed artichoke, or pan fried potatoes.  It’s butter and lemon, it goes with just about anything!

Fruit carvings

by DENISE SHAVANDY

Fun with fruit!  At Veteran’s Discovery Day TSTC Culinary Institute brought some tools and carved melons, apples, and made tomato roses. Our students will learn fruit carving  and other exciting culinary artistry techniques in Garde Manger class.

There is nothing more comforting than a steaming bowl of soup on a cold winter’s day.  Sometimes it’s just an easy meal- open a can and heat it up.  But there are some great and easy soups you can make from scratch in just a little more time than it takes to heat up that canned stuff!

Soup can be the most delightfully simple food on earth or the most complex creation of flavor, color, and texture that exceeds all expectations of a comfort food.  Most of us enjoy the familiar and comforting flavors of an aromatic Tomato Basil Soup, a rich velvety Lobster Bisque, a piquant Tortilla Soup, or the subtle smokiness of Split Pea Soup with Ham.

This week at TSTC Culinary Institute our students are just getting started on a year long culinary journey.  Today they will taste one of each category of soups: cream soup, clear soup, puree soup, bisque, and specialty soup.  The last category of “specialty soup” includes those regional specialties that seem to defy the classic categories.  Some of my favorite soups are those that defy! A good Sausage & Shrimp Gumbo and a thick and creamy New England clam chowder are rebels of the soup world.

How did this happen, you ask?  Well the classic soup categories were defined by the French that elevated cuisine above and beyond household cooking, but many regions of the world had already developed their own traditions, flavors and cooking methods.  The classic categories couldn’t cover every type of soup in the world, so they created an “other” category that covers everything other than the soups the French were cooking.

All this talk of warm delicious soups making you hungry?  Well get cooking with the recipes below for some steaming bowls of comfort…

Spicy Moroccan Butternut Soup

Butternut Soup

This soup is delightfully rich from the puree of butternut and potatoes.  You would swear it is a cream soup but it is a great low fat dish packed with lots of flavor.  The recipe uses harissa, a hot Tunisian chile paste infused with spices, to spice it up.  You can click here for a great harissa recipe from Clifford A. Wright or substitute another hot chile paste or even Tabasco, but of course it’s not quite the same.

2 Tbsp butter

1 large onion chopped

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 tsp fresh ginger

2 # Butternut squash, peeled and diced

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 ½ tsp cumin seed, toasted, ground

1 ½ tsp coriander seed, toasted, ground

½ tsp cayenne pepper

4 tsp brown sugar (treacle)

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

4 Cups Chicken Stock

1 Tbsp harissa* Tunisian chili paste

Salt to taste

Fresh lemon

Yogurt and fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions

Chop onion, garlic, ginger, and sauté in butter until soft

Add spices, butternut and brown sugar and saute for 3 more minutes.

Add chicken stock and harissa.  Cook for 40 min or until soft.

Puree with immersion blender. (You may need to add more stock or water to achieve the proper consistency.)

Add salt and fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste.

Garnish with plain yoghurt and fresh cilantro leaves.

Number of Servings: 10

Adapted from Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user BISCUITMAKER.

Miso Soup

Miso Soup     serves 4

This is a quick and easy soup and most of the ingredients last a good long while.  I enjoy this as an prelude to stirfry or sushi meal.  It makes a great light lunch and the tofu and miso pack some powerful protein for the calories.

1/8 ounce         dried wakame seaweed (less than 1/4 cup)

4 ounce            soft or silken tofu

14 fl oz            ichi ban dashi stock* see recipe below

3 Tbsp             miso (Aka miso- red miso, Hatcho miso- all soy miso, Shrio miso- white miso are all good choices depending on personal preference)

2 each              spring onions or green onions

Shichimi togarashi or sansho, optional to serve

Soak wakame in large bowl of cold water for 15 minutes.  Drain and cut into 1” x 1” pieces.

Cut tofu into small cubes ½” x ½”.

Bring strained dashi stock to a boil.  Ladle 2 ounces of hot stock from the pan into the miso and whisk together.

Reduce the heat to low, and add 2/3 of the miso stock mixture to the dashi. Taste and add more miso if desired to taste.  Add wakame and tofu.  Just before the soup boils add the spring onions and remove from heat.

Serve immediately with shichimi togarashi or sansho sprinkled on top (optional).

Dashi Stock

4 in square       kombu

2 ½ cups          water

¾ ounce           katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (about 1 cup)

Combine kombu and water in pot and soak for one hour. Heat to near boiling, but do not boil. Remove and reserve the kombu for second dashi or condiment. Add katsuobushi and heat on low without stirring.  Just before it begins to boil, remove from heat.  Allow flakes to sink to the bottom of the pan.  Strain and reserve the katsuobushi flakes for second dashi.

Cream of Celerac & Kohlrabi

Celery Root Soup

This soup was inspired by Creme du Barry, a cream of celery soup named after the countess Madame Jeanne Bécu Du Barry, a famous French beauty.  I adjusted it to what was on hand, but you can always revert back to cauliflower.

Serves 6

2 Tbsp butter

2 medium sized leeks, washed, chopped

1 small celery root (approx 1 ½ cup peeled, diced)

1 small kohlrabi (approx 1 ½ cup peeled, diced)

1 small bakers or russet potato  (approx 1 cup)

6 cups chicken stock or chicken bouillon

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup heavy cream

salt and white pepper to taste

chopped parsley or chives to garnish

In a medium soup pot, melt the 2 Tbsp butter, then add the chopped leeks. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, or until the leek starts to soften (without browning).

Add prepared celery root, kohlrabi, potato, and chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining ¼ cup butter and whisk in ¼ cup flour.  Cook while whisking over medium heat about 5 minutes.  Mixture should have the consistency of wet sand.  This is the roux.

Once the vegetables are tender, process with an immersion blender or transfer to a table top blender in batches, and puree till smooth.  Return soup to the pot.  (You may need to add more stock or water to achieve the proper consistency.)  Whisk hot roux into hot soup until smooth and even in texture.  Strain the soup through a chinois (fine mesh strainer) for a very refined and smooth effect.  Stir in heavy cream and season with salt and white pepper to taste.

Serve warm topped with finely chopped parsley or snipped chives for garnish.

For some additional soup recipes (that can be prepared in 30 minutes!) check out this link to cooking.com

By DENISE SHAVANDY

Who loves tacos?
Who loves Korean Food?
Have you actually eaten Korean food?
Everyone knows and loves the taco! Not everyone knows and loves Korean food.  So think about this… if I put some Korean food inside a tortilla and call it a taco, I bet you’ll try it, because after all, it’s just a taco!
So I decided to try out my theory at the Texas State Fair. For the past ten years I have had the opportunity to cook at the Celebrity Cooking Stage at the State Fair and I always try to cook something different and a little adventurous.  After all, folks are out there eating fried butter, fried coke, and who knows what else.  This year it was Korean Bulgogi Beef Tacos with Gochujang Aioli, Queso Cotija, and Quick Pickled Vegetables.  Very few in the audience had ever tasted Korean food, but after a bulgogi taco bursting with flavor we had over 150 new converts that now like Korean food.  That doesn’t mean they are ready to go toe to toe with Andrew Zimmern, but they tried and enjoyed something out of their comfort zone!
I can’t take credit for uniting these two cuisines.  The Kogi Taco truck in LA got this thing started, I just think we can put darn near anything in a taco and it is the ultimate “beginners introduction” to foreign foods.
If you are ready to break out of the mold, try my recipe below…

Korean Style Bulgogi Tacos

With Quick Pickled Veggies, Cotija Cheese, and Smokey Spicy Aioli

Bulgogi is Korean BBQ beef.  Traditionally bulgogi is eaten wrapped in a lettuce leaf with gochujang (bean paste hot sauce), or served over a bowl of steamed rice.  Today we will be making a modern fusion dish of Korean style tacos with bulgogi as the meat.  Your imagination is the only thing limiting your topping options.  Try your Korean taco on corn or flour tortillas, with kim chi, pickled cucumbers, avocado.  You can also add your favorite fruit salsa, spinach, shredded cabbage, micro greens, or just about anything else you can dream up!  Serve with a side of steamed rice, Asian cole slaw, noodle salad, cucumber salad or an Asian style potato salad.

To Make Tacos prepare all ingredients below and allow each diner to build their own!

8 flour tortillas

1# cooked Bulgogi beef  *recipe below

6 ounces cotija cheese (queso Chihuahua or Monterrey Jack would also be good!)

8 Tablespoons Gouchajaun Aioli   *recipe below

2 cup quick pickled vegetables   *recipe below

¼ cup sliced hot peppers, jalapenos, serranos, or habaneros depending on how hot you like it!

Bulgogi Meat and Marinade

½ cup Asian pear, peeled, cored, and grated

2 Tbsp Onion, minced

¼ cup Green onion, thin sliced on bias

2 Tbsp Mirin (Japanese cooking wine) If not available, you can substitute dry sherry or white wine

1 Tbsp Garlic, minced

2 Tbsp Sesame oil

2 tsp Sesame seeds

1 tsp Black pepper, freshly ground

2 Tbsp honey (or granulated sugar)

1# Beef top round, partially frozen and sliced very thin

Combine all ingredients except the beef and stir well to combine.    Add beef to marinade and toss to coat completely.  Marinate for 1- 3 hours.  Drain meat and cook on a hot grill pan, or grill over charcoal.

Daikon and Carrot Quick Pickle (Vietnamese Do Chua)

Try this daikon and carrot pickle recipe once and then tweak the recipe to your liking. You can make it sweeter, or add some chili paste to make it spicy.  It is a great condiment, or can even be served as a salad on the side.   Makes about 3 cups

2 large carrot, peeled and julienne
1 pound daikon, peeled and julienne
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
½ cup rice wine vinegar
½ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

¼ cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

Prepare carrot and daikon.  In a separate bowl, combine salt, sugar, and vinegar to make dressing.  Add carrots and daikon to dressing mixture.  Just before serving, add cilantro and mint.

Smoky Spicy Aioli

1 Egg Yolk
2 cloves Garlic, chopped
Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
Pinch of Salt
1/2 to 1 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup Gochujang
1 TBS Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Corn Syrup

Put the egg yolk, garlic, lemon juice and salt in a bowl and blend with a beater.

Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while blending.  The goal is to make it thick like a mayonnaise.

Gently fold in the gochujang.  Add the smoked paprika. Taste and adjust.

Add the corn syrup. In the end you want something sweet and smoky with some good spicy bite with some brightness from the lemon and a hint of garlic.

Students Erin & Justin in the kitchen with Jacques

Chef Jacques Pepin

by DENISE SHAVANDY

Every profession has its grand masters, icons, and pioneers.  This chef is all that, and so much more.  He is a legend in his own time.  Back when Chef Jacques Pepin decided to work for Howard Johnsons instead of the White House, chefs were not seen, nor heard, they were only behind the scenes.  There were no rock star style chefs icons, no TV chef series.  He and a small handful of chefs including Julia Child, and Martin Yan, are the pioneers that brought chefs out of the kitchen and into the limelight, as brilliant artists and skilled craftsmen.  We would not have Food Network, Iron Chef, or Top Chef without these innovators.  No one would have heard of Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, or Cat Cora  if not for the dynamic personalities that paved the way for future chefs to become TV stars.

I have met many famous chefs over the years, but meeting Jacques Pepin was like coming face to face with your most treasured mystical hero- downright dreamy.  What a momentous experience for our students that have been in culinary school only four months, and have met a master.  I had to wait twenty years!  One student, Brianna, was pleased as punch to be asked to peel an

Chef Jean Claude Szurdak shares a moment with students in the horse trailer kitchen

onion for him, another, Erin, was honored to keep a careful eye on the soufflés and apple tart in the ovens.   His lifelong friend Chef Jean Claude Szurdak spent time chatting up the students, asking questions and inspiring them with his culinary philosophies and insights.

The best part- I got to sample a couple of items that were actually prepared by Jacques Pepin, personally!  For their lunch, Jacques, Jean Claude, and Claudine enjoyed a plate of Perini’s famous fried chicken, ohh-ing and ahh-ing over the delightful crunch.  Alphonso Acevola shares his photos of Perini’s fried chicken luncheon, and Claudine Pepin sabre-ing the top off the champage bottle.

Wine Tasting with Guy Stout

Meeting Chef Jacques was certainly the highlight of the Buffalo Gap Food & Wine Summit 2011 but not the only significant part of it.  Master Sommelier Guy Stout  was mc of a 5 flight wine tasting in which

Stephen Pyles' Foie Gras Mousse with Candied Bacon

Friday night students and instructors participated in plating the meal prepared by Stephan Pyles in honor of Jacques Pepin.  A five course plated meal for 200 means that a total of 1000 plates were prepared, assembled, and served!  Check out this link to see photos and view the menu with wine pairings from D Magazine.

Student Rob working at Stephen Pyles' tasting station

The “dine around” was Saturday night at the lower grounds of Perini Ranch.  Notable chefs from the metroplex brought unique dishes that were paired with wines from Texas, California and France. Guests wandered from tent to tent sampling Thai Beef Salad from Chef Jason Dady, Spicy Gumbo from Chef Jon Bonnell, Diver Scallops with Sous

Students Marc & Brianna working at Chef Dady's tasting station

Vide Egg from Chef Stephen Pyles, and Smoked Rabbit & Waffles from Chef Matt Martinez, to name a few fo my favorites.

TSTC Culinary students had an opportunity to get involved by helping out at the chef’s tasting stations, pouring wine, cleaing up, and setting up.  Some made such a good impression they received job offers for post graduation.  Way to go!

Part of the charm of the whole event was the juxtaposition of a tented dining room with chandeliers and Reidel crystal, with a Texas red dirt floor, winds up to 50 miles an hour swirling the red dust in the air, and Longhorn grazing nearby.  Overall, it was an incredible and remarkable food and wine event, in such an improbable and remote location.  Buffalo Gap may not be marked on your map (yet!) but it sure made an indelible impression on me and my palate.

One of the longhorns sampling a different vintage