Whether we train with them daily in our teaching kitchens or simply enjoy the fruit of their creative labor, it's safe to say we're all fans of our in-house Chef-Instructors. But what do we really know about these culinary champions and their experiences before ICE? "Meet the Chefs" is an effort to discover the stories of the experts who keep our education on the cutting edge.

The first module in the Culinary Arts program at ICE takes you through all of the basics of vegetable, herb and cheese identification, fabricating meats and seafood, and making stocks. We then moved on to learn the five “mother sauces”; béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato sauce. These five are the basis of all classical sauces and each serves as the head of it’s own family of secondary sauces, which are used in many contemporary cuisines.

In addition to my standard share, every week my CSA offers “extras” for free. Often, these are herbs or chile peppers, but a few weeks ago they were giving away garlic scapes. The green, curling tops of garlic plants, scapes are usually trimmed off the plant in mid-summer, helping to produce a larger garlic bulb at harvest. Once destined for the compost pile, recent years have seen a growing interest in this seasonal product, and many chefs now use them in recipes as an alternative to garlic cloves.

I had the honor last month of conducting an intensive, three-day course on frozen desserts in the pastry kitchens at ICE, the latest in a long-running series known as the Center for Advanced Pastry Studies. The program - CAPS, for short - was initiated several years ago by pastry and baking instructor Michelle Tampakis, and the long list of illustrious pastry chefs who have brought their expertise to ICE in the past includes heavy hitters like Olivier Bajard, Laurent Branlard, Stephane Glacier, En-Ming Hsu, Michael Joy, Elisa Strauss, and Stephane Treand.

Aspiring to work in food television from a very young age, Eden hosts two shows on the Cooking Channel: " Eden Eats" and " Log On And Eat with Eden."

Andy Ricker, Chef-owner of a half dozen restaurants in Portland and New York (Pok Pok, Phat Thai, Whiskey Soda Bar, Noi, SenYai) provided a number of insights on ethnic food and the restaurant business in this week's edition of Meet The Culinary Entrepreneurs.

Before working at ICE, I had attended wine classes, but never had Lambrusco been on the menu. But after taking a class called “How to Love Lambrusco” with Joe Campanale, I feel cheated for never being given the opportunity to taste this unusual wine!

Oh, here we go again. Our beloved Mayor Mike is trying to make us all better, and the world a nicer place. We’ve snuffed smoking in restaurants and most public places; melted trans fats; listed calories: letter graded food businesses; drained giant sweet drinks; and now, the food police are back. It’s time to start voluntary (to become mandatory) composting programs.

25-year-old Jonathan Horn isn’t afraid of working hard—or taking risks. After dedicating 6 years to the pursuit of a medical career, he’s now logging long hours at ICE, as a dual Culinary Arts and Culinary Management major. Inspired by the joy his grandparents—both Holocaust survivors—brought to the table, Jon exudes an incredible passion and appreciation for the kitchen. We sat down with him to learn more about his path to ICE: