A blog about food and cooking by Chris Norris

CIA Boot Camp: Top Ten

CIA Boot Camp: Top Ten
10/3/2007

Here are my own Top Ten lessons from CIA Boot Camp week:

•    The measuring cups are all gone.  Now what?  I just laid down that whisk, where did it go?  And, Dang! That stove is HOT!  I have an entirely new appreciation for ‘mise en place’

•    An education at the CIA is three years spent in a commercial kitchen environment.  At engineering school, you take a few labs to complement the academics.  At Culinary school, you take a few academic courses to complement the labs.

•    The Chefs have a philosophy of food that shows in their cooking and instruction.  Biases in methodology, awareness of the environmental implications of food sourcing, regional interests, ethics of proteins, etc.

•    Who would have guessed that precise temperature control is so important in all things?

•    What was I thinking?  I never even considered partially cooking food ahead of service in order to deliver an entire meal hot and on-time.

•    I’m ashamed to use Swanson chicken broth.  I won’t stop; but I’m ashamed.

•    Mirepoix no longer seems like a foreign word.  It rolls right off the tongue.

•    It’s not the recipe, it’s the method that matters!

•    Managing a restaurant has always appeared to be hard work.  I think it is waaaay harder than any of us could imagine.

•    Fire!

– Chris



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