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October 18, 2016

talian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Fall – Lesson #7 “Food Wholesaler Visit”

Today, students visited a food wholesaler. They had to gather very early in a chilly morning for this visit. This wholesaler is located in the middle of Italy, which means fresh vegetables from all over Italy get delivered here. Soaking up plenty of sunshine, Italian vegetables grow deep in color and firm in texture. Students learned many reasons behind how professional chefs decide which vegetables to purchase, how wholesalers rank vegetables, why chefs come all the way to food wholesalers, why some individual farmers come directly here to sell, and so on. One of the students commented, “It was such a valuable experience to see what the food wholesaler was […]

October 17, 2016

Italian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Fall – Lesson #6 “Mediterranean Cuisine and Seafood 1”

Surrounded by the ocean, Italy is known for its delicious Mediterranean cuisine using seafood. Seafood soup adds a hearty flavor to the pasta sauce. Mussels are already salty, so one must be careful not to make the sauce too salty. Students found out that it was a bit too salty with the first tasting, so they adjusted it with the professor’s advices. Prof. Francesco told his students, “It is a chef’s responsibility to taste the food before serving.” Everyone, including students without cooking experiences, has been learning to take responsibility as a chef through every lesson. 2016.10.11 Ota

October 14, 2016

Italian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Fall – Lesson #5 “Southern Italian Cuisine”

Today, students made filei pasta from Calabria region. Around 10 students worked on the pasta making. Each student was at first making pastas in various sizes, but as Prof. Francesco advised them, “A little bit bigger!” “A bit shorter!”, students eventually learned to make them in even sizes. Oil soaking vegetables must look colorful in the bottle, so students felt like they are creating some kind of artworks. “It’s so easy and fun,” many students enjoyed this work a lot. Every dessert dish was presented with care; that sure proves their professionalism. 2016.10. 8 Ota

October 13, 2016

Italian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Fall – Lesson #4 “Northern Italian Cuisine 2”

September 2016 Chef Training Course had another cooking practice, “Northern Italian Cuisine 2”. Just like they did in their last cooking practice, students learned to make another kind of fresh pasta called “tagliatelle”. A student with Italian cooking experience handled the pasta machine efficiently to beautifully flatten the dough. And then another experienced student cut it up into equal widths. What a great teamwork they showed! Meat for cutlet was tenderized by lightly beating it. Students then flatten the meat. The meat is very big so it is important to cook it carefully and evenly. Every group shows a great teamwork in every cooking practice. It’s one of the valuable […]

October 11, 2016

Italian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Fall – Lesson #3 “Northern Italian Cuisine 1”

Chef Training Course (September 2016 class) had its third cooking practice, “Northern Italian Cuisine 1”. Students started to make Gnocchi Piemontese. There are particular kinds of potatoes that suit making gnocchi. Shaping process was quite hard and time-consuming, so students who had finished their own roles helped other students to fasten the process. Concentrated students eventually got used to this shaping process. Tasting is mandatory. Professor explained how to adjust the taste when it’s too salty or sour. Here Prof. Francesco was giving advices to Anna who was trying to toss gnocchi in the sauce to mix well. Although the pan was quite heavy, Anna was making a good effort. […]

October 7, 2016

Italian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Fall – Lesson #2 “Tuscan Cuisine 2”

Chef Training Course (September 2016 class) had its second cooking practice, “Tuscan Cuisine 2”. Students learn cooking using their five senses; checking taste, aroma, temperature and brownness of the food. Students were eagerly asking questions to the professor during and after the practice. Roast Veal Shank As Tuscan cuisine is famous for its meat dishes, today’s main dish was Roast Veal Shank. Prof. Francesco said, “Make sure you tie the string firmly. Roasting it slowly at a low temperature makes the meat more tasteful.” Hungry students could not take their eyes off from the tender and juicy cut of chunky meat on the table. Students also got excited about the […]

October 6, 2016

Italian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Fall – Lesson #1 “Tuscan Cuisine 1”

Our new Chef Training Course (September 2016 class) has just started out with 24 students. There may be many ups and downs ahead of them, but we believe they can all make it through! On the third day, they had their very first cooking practice, “Tuscan Cuisine 1”. Although some students seemed nervous at the beginning, all of them concentrated very well on what Prof. Francesco had to say during the practice. Some took pictures and others jot down important points; they sure learned so much for a day. Beginners and experienced students were all working together in each group. It was amazing to see that every group presented excellent […]

September 30, 2016

talian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Spring – Lesson #21 “Making Sausage/Sausage Dish”

Today students had a cooking practice on “Making Sausage/Sausage Dish” lesson. Sausages are very popular throughout whole Italy. In this lesson students worked with 3 different kinds of sausages from Toscana, Abruzzo and Napoli. Napoli sausages taste hot and look very reddish in color. The farther south you go in Italy, hotter dishes are preferred in order for people to endure the hot weather. Abruzzo sausages contain a small amount of herbs, adding distinctive flavors to them. Toscana sausages have neither hotness nor herbal flavors; they are naturally flavored in general. At restaurants, sausages around 1.5 meters are twisted into smaller sausages. At factories, sausages as long as 10 meters […]

September 22, 2016

Italian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 Spring – Lesson #12 “Southern Italian Cuisine”

Today’s cooking practice was “Southern Italian Cuisine”. Students cooked pasta dish with tomato sauce using “Nduja”, a hot sausage. As Italian cuisines usually place much value on bringing the best natural taste out of the ingredients, you don’t encounter this kind of very spicy Italian dish that often. Nduja gets spicier as you eat it, adding a flavorful zest to this pasta dish. These fresh short pastas are rolled into the shape of long and skinny tubes. Students need to work fast to roll dough using a wooden skewer. When soaking artichokes and eggplants in the oil, swiftly close the lid after pouring the oil to the almost overflowing level […]

September 13, 2016

Italian Cuisine Professional Chef Training Course 2016 – Interview with Prof. Francesco #1

Q. What are the characteristics of today’s dishes? A. Today’s dishes are “Special Dishes for Special Occasion”. These traditional dishes are gathered from all over Italy. Since it takes a long time and a lot of efforts to prepare this full-course meal, you need to calculate the preparation time for each dish accurately to finish everything at the same time. At least 1 month of basic training is necessary to prepare this full-course meal. 1-week students can never complete it. You need to apply all the basic knowledge and techniques you learned in the previous month’s training. 2016. 5. 9 Hatakeyama