“Your job as a baker is to evoke the full potential of flavor trapped in the flour.” - Chef Peter Reinhart

One week, 26 sauces and my first burn later and I find myself picking up a sense of speed and urgency, hustling each morning to prep and make the day's multiple recipes. We kicked up the heat this week as Chef Ted guided us through the background and preparation for the French Mother Sauces as well as countless derivatives of classic and contemporary sauces. But before we could launch into emulsions, chutneys and relishes, we had to learn the basics of preparing a roux, a cooked paste of flour and fat that's used as a thickening agent in sauces, soups and stews.

Eight students from ICE’s Pastry & Baking Career Program took their culinary skills to the small screen today when they put their homemade pies on display for Martha Stewart’s Pie Show.

If you found yourself at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, DC, over the past few days, you’d find that the usual power suits on display were not pinstripes and wingtips, but chef whites and kitchen clogs. The reason? Women Chefs & Restaurateurs members were in town for the group’s annual national conference.

Kitchen 601 transformed into a butcher shop this week as we completed the last of our lessons on meat fabrication.

He’s the leading authority on all things sliced, diced and brunoised, and he's also the instructor of Knife Skills, one of ICE’s most popular recreational culinary classes. I had the chance to chat with resident knife guru Chef Norman Weinstein as he dished on the facts, the fears and the misconceptions about knife skills 101.

The Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) is part of The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. The group’s mission is to document, study and celebrate the diverse food cultures of the changing American south. Founded in 1999 in Birmingham by author and activist John Egerton, the SFA has been led since then by the affable and intelligent John T. Edge. On to the food ...

In late October, I ventured to Memphis and Mississippi to celebrate, learn and enjoy the rich mix of food, drink, cooking history and music that emanates from that part of America. The trip was timed so I could attend the Southern Foodways Alliance’s (SFA’s) annual symposium in Oxford, Miss. Here is some field reporting from the four days.

This past week I have filleted a fish, killed and dispatched a lobster, cleaned a squid, shucked an oyster, and disjointed a chicken and a duck - all for the very first time. But before we could tackle the culinary lessons in fabrication, we had the last of our longer lectures on food cost control management, the kitchen brigade system, and the culinary science behind oils, fats and heat.The lessons were leading up to the preparation of two dishes: Salt-Wilted Cabbage and a House Salad.

Ever wonder what it might be like to be a CEO of an award-winning vineyard or to make a career in wine? Well, students in ICE's Culinary Management Diploma program and other guests were treated to that and more this past Thursday, when the ICE Culinary Entrepreneur Series hosted Ted Baseler, President, and CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.