VOL. 6 NO. 8 • AUGUST 2019 • COOK LIKE A PRO FREE COPY
ENROLL TODAY CULINARY SCHOOLS & CLASSES
CHEF BRYAN’S ZUCCHINI BREAD P. 42 HOME BAR BASICS, P. 47
Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 1
2 Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019
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2578 Bengal Blvd. Cottonwood Heights (801) 666-6918
4536 S Highland Drive Salt Lake City (801) 274-0223
10 E Broadway Salt Lake City (385) 420-4114
SICILIAMIAUTAH.COM Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 3
Contents
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SLCC
10 Chop & Shop
Harmons Cooking School builds confidence, skills and a healthy appetite BY MIKA LEE AND CAIT LEE
16 Cook Up a Career
Park City Culinary Institute offers something for everyone BY CLAIRE MCARTHUR
20 A Slice of Life
It takes just 12 weeks to complete SLICE’s professional certification course BY HEATHER L. KING
22 A Matter of Degrees
Utah college programs prepare culinary students for cutting-edge careers BY DARBY DOYLE
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31 The Spread
Gygi Culinary Arts Center BY CAROLYN CAMPBELL
32 For the Health of It Learning to cook plantbased cuisine BY AMANDA ROCK
34 We’re Asking You! Chefs take on the cook’s little dilemmas BY AIMEE L. COOK
36 Turnaround Café
Utah County Jail’s culinary program helps offenders land jobs on the outside BY MERRY LYCETT HARRISON
38 Learn From a Pro
Following her passion, Sharon Liapis became a teacher, school cook and personal chef BY CAROLYN CAMPBELL
40 Plate It
Mindful Cuisine BY ALEX SPRINGER
42 Devour This Recipe Zucchini Bread
BY CHEF BRYAN WOOLLEY
47 Spirit Guide
Bar Basics: How to outfit your home bar BY DARBY DOYLE
50 Last Bite
Real food vs ‘food-like’ products BY JOHN RASMUSON
Be
FEARLESSIn The
Kitchen
Now, Anyone Can Attend Culinary School! Get certified in as few as 6 Weeks In Salt Lake City - Small Class Sizes Convenient Schedules. Call for more information! #1 Best of State in Culinary Education
1484 South State Street, Salt Lake City | pcculinary.com | 801.413.2800 Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 5
Contribu tors STAFF Publisher JOHN SALTAS Director of Operations PETE SALTAS Edi torial
Editor JERRE WROBLE Copy Editor CLAIRE MCARTHUR Contributors CAROLYN CAMPBELL, AIMEE L. COOK, DARBY DOYLE, HEATHER L. KING, CAIT LEE, MIKA LEE, MERRY LYCETTE HARRISON, CLAIRE MCARTHUR, JOHN RASMUSON, AMANDA ROCK, ALEX SPRINGER, CHEF BRYAN WOOLLEY
Heather L. King writes about food and culture in Utah and beyond. She is the founder of Utah Ladies Who Lunch and a proud Great Dane owner.
Production
Art Director DEREK CARLISLE Graphic Artists SOFIA CIFUENTES, SEAN HAIR, CHELSEA NEIDER
Business /Office
Accounting Manager PAULA SALTAS Office Administrators DAVID ADAMSON, SAMANTHA HERZOG Technical Director BRYAN MANNOS
Alex Springer has been writing about local food and entertainment for the past seven years. He’s a member of the Association of Food Journalists, and his work has appeared in SLUG magazine and City Weekly, where he is currently the publication’s resident food dude.
Marketing
Director of Events and Marketing SAMANTHA SMITH
Circulation
Circulation Manager ERIC GRANATO
Sales
Magazine Advertising Director Sales Director, Events Digital Operations Manager Senior Account Executives Retail Account Executives
JENNIFER VAN GREVENHOF KYLE KENNEDY ANNA PAPADAKIS DOUG KRUITHOF, KATHY MUELLER KATIE GOSS, MIEKA SAWATZKI
Amanda Rock has been writing about Salt Lake City’s vegan and vegetarian food for more than a decade. She’s lived in Utah all her life and can’t imagine living anywhere else. When not thinking about food, she’s got her head buried in a book. Find her on Instagram and Twitter as @amanda__reads
Correction: The July 2019 cover image of Devour Utah was taken by Jim Cox of Palisade, Colo. Another photographer was inadvertently given credit.
Cover photo by John Taylor: A student-prepared meal made at Ogden-Weber Technical College Distribution is complimentary throughout the Wasatch Front. Additional copies of Devour are available for $4.95 at the Devour offices located at 248 S. Main, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 • 801-575-7003 • DevourUtah.com Email Editor@DevourUtah.com Advertising contact: Sales@DevourUtah.com
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Copyright 2019 All rights reserved
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Chef Bryan Woolley is the TV chef you see on weekday cooking segments at noon at Salt Lake City CBS affiliate KUTV Channel 2. He also hosts a weekly half-hour cooking show, Cooking with Chef Bryan, on KUTV 2 and KMYU digital channel 2.2. Chef Bryan is a trained operatic tenor, so don’t be surprised if he bursts into song while serving his zucchini bread.
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From the Editor
Never Quit Learning
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n my kitchen, within minutes of starting a complicated dish, I tend to fill every available inch of countertop with raw ingredients, cutting boards, cookbooks, mixing bowls, sauce pans, serving dishes and a glass of wine that inevitably is spilled before I finish drinking it. Suddenly, there’s no space left in which to work, and I start wishing I had a different kitchen and ponder moving. Turns out what I really lack is … skill. Technique. Organization. All of which can be learned. Imagine the Nauvoo bell chiming at Temple Square. That’s what I heard repeatedly while reading the many features in this month’s issue. Yes, Virginia, you can learn to be a kick-ass cook, right here in Zion. Not only do we have accredited schools for professional certification but any number of classes for home cooks longing to up their games. But what about Paris? What aspiring cook doesn’t want to travel in the footsteps of Julia Child and study at Le Cordon Bleu on the banks of the Seine? Maybe someone who doesn’t have $50,000-plus to spare for a grand diploma in cuisine and pastry—lodging and French lessons not included. (Note: The U.S.branches of the esteemed school closed their doors in 2015 after students filed suit alleging the U.S. schools misrepresented the quality of education.) OK, so let’s say you remain stateside and travel to Hyde Park, N.Y., to the respected Culinary Institute of America. That program will only set you back around $33,000 per year (plus lodging), which in 2019, for a four-year degree, will total $132,000. This is not to disparage these excellent institutions. Some would argue having such a school on your resume (and the illustrious connections that come with it) are crucial for a career in the field, while others contend most graduates will earn modest wages at best, so be wary of going into massive debt at the Harvards and Yales of culinary education. That’s where our local culinary institutes and colleges come into play. Here, students looking for their calling and direction in life often find it while chopping onions and sautéing mushrooms. They learn to crack the genetic code of a great meal and combine proteins, vegetables and spices so that the mouth explodes with joy. They delve into the “holy trinities” of spices that lend optimal flavor and bring a dish to life with a squeeze of lemon, a shot of soy sauce or a grate of hard cheese. And they don’t mortgage their future to learn it. If all of this is ringing bells for you, then find a school that speaks to your level of commitment. Even if we don’t have careers as cooks, we all need honed culinary skills on a daily basis, if only to keep from spilling wine on our favorite cookbooks. ❖ —Jerre Wroble
THE PATIO IS OPEN!
3176 E. 6200 S. • Cottonwood Heights, UT 801.944.0505 • banditsbbqutah.com Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 9
COOK LIKE A PRO ISSUE
Harmons Cooking School builds confidence, skills and a healthy appetite
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Story and photos by Mika Lee & Cait Lee
omemade dinner. Not only are the flavors satisfying, but you have total quality control and can customize any dish just the way you like it. But for many, home cooking is a daunting task. After a long day at work, cooks must deal with the grocery store maze while scanning their phones for recipes and ingredients. Once home, home cooks need to wield a knife without cutting themselves (or others) and prepare a meal that might not turn out as planned let alone be palatable. Finally, they need to summon the energy to clean up the kitchen while in a food coma. In short: cooking at home can be overwhelming. So what could possibly reduce the amount of “whelm”? That’s where Harmons Cooking School comes in. We signed up for classes at Harmons in-store, state-of-the-art kitchens and discovered how easy food prep can be. We learned skills. We practiced technique. We now feel like the Top Chef of our home kitchen after taking just four fabulous courses. With seven cooking schools across Utah (and several more to come), Harmons hosts a roster of classes that rotate monthly, taught by chefs who personalize lesson plans. “Each fulltime chef is creating a customized experience,” Tyler Kofoed, director of Harmons Cooking School and Catering, says. “They dream it, plan it, build it and see the results—teaching up to 29,000 students a year.” Harmons chefs and sous chefs bring impressive and varied backgrounds. Plus, the chef-inspired recipes are sure to live on forever in your kitchen. Above all, classes are fun and hold a high entertainment value. To sign up for a class near you, visit the website below.
Knife Skills
H
Harmons Cooking School and Catering HarmonsGrocery.com/classes
Chef Freyka Nuñez Del Prado sautés freshly sliced veggies Chef Freyka demonstrates how to sharpen a knife
Author Cait Lee learning the art of onion slicing
This class comes highly recommended if your knife skills could use a little sharpening. If you’ve ever worried that slicing onions could send you on a trip to the ER, this class is for you. It’s also fantastic for anyone who is comfortable around knives but has never received formal training. Don’t know how to core a tomato? Chef Freyka Nuñez Del Prado has you covered. The best part is you get to keep the knife you’ve been practicing with. Harmon’s offers Master Knife Skills on Aug. 6 at Traverse Mountain, Aug. 8 at Bangeter Crossing and Aug. 14 at City Creek. $75 includes meal and knife.
Sliced right: Harmons chefs Shane Symes, left, and Freyka Nuñez Del Prado, center, with author Mika Lee
The finished dish: Grilled steak and bell pepper sandwich with batonnet cut fries and coleslaw
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Hasta La Pasta Developed by chef Casey Bowthorpe, this “datenight” class is for Italian food lovers (age 21 and over) who want to go easy on the pasta. Unheard of, you say? I’d never heard of American wagyu steak saltimbocca. Or tried broiling veggies instead of roasting. Or added cheese rinds to enhance a gravy. You can buy all the ingredients to recreate this special dish at Harmons Grocery after class. Class fee: $75. Meal includes wine pairings as well as non-alcoholic beverages.
Harmons steak saltimbocca uses American wagyu steak Wagyu steaks ready for seasoning, below, with ingredients for a Parmesan red-wine pan sauce
Chef Casey Bowthorpe with the plated dish
Drink pairings include a freshly made strawberry lemon shrub, left, and Italian Squadra Rosé
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Cait Lee caramelizing shallots for pan sauce
What the Pho !
For this training, Chef Casey uses the modernday kitchen mainstay: the Instapot. With innovations such as this one, the setit-and-forget-it method makes cooking a breeze. Cooking time for previously daunting tasks, such as making stock for pho, can be reduced from 12 hours to only 2. You’ll go home with delicious recipes to impress your family and re-create the magic. Don’t pho-get to sign up for this Instapot class on Aug. 8 at Station Park. $60 Thinly sliced beef steak over stick rice noodles Trestled banh mi sandwich with cured Italian mortadella and capicola, home-pickled carrots and radishes
The Instapot greatly reduces cooking time for pho broth
The addition of hot bone broth cooks the noodles and meat in the bowl
The finished bowl of pho, garnished with lime, hoisin and sriracha to taste
Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 13
SPICE UP YOUR SUMMER! Coconut Shrimp Tempura Roll: Crystal Shrimp, Cream Cheese, Shredded Coconut and finished with a Sweet Chili Sauce ONLY AT SIMPLY SUSHI
Off the Grill Chef Freyka teaches the art of using a grill at home, making it fun and easy, regardless of the weather. The indoor/outdoor class utilizes heat and fire for the perfect char-grill look. From grilled salads to grilled/roasted spatchcocked chicken, after just two short hours, you’ll know how to release all the flavors of your meats and veggies like a seasoned grillmaster. Let Chef Freyka take your skills to the grill at the Traverse Mountain
This Spanish-style panzanella salad, one of four sides made by our group, features roasted peppers, chorizo, smoked paprika and is topped with Manchego cheese
location on Aug. 2. $60 ❖
Proudly serving SLC and the valley for over 12 years. Endless sushi, a la carte, take out and to go options available 7 days a week. A fun, casual, affordable experience for the whole family.
Downtown Salt Lake City 400 South 200 West Salt Lake City, UT
Testing chipotle chicken for internal temperature of 165 degrees. After grilling, we finished by roasting chicken in the oven
Smith’s Shopping Center 7117 S. Redwood Road West Jordan, UT Open Daily from 11:30am to 8:30pm Open Sundays at 12:30pm
Covered bricks are placed on spatchcocked chicken to ensure even grilling
Preparing side dishes after cooking the main course Grilling avocados for an arugula salad
Finished side dish: Charred corn made with Cotija cheese
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one of oasted topped cheese
TONA tonarestaurant.com SUSHI BAR AND GRILL 2018
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(801) 466-9827 | HARBORSLC.COM | 2302 E PARLEY’S WAY SLC, UT
Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 15
Cook Like a Pro Issue Park City Culinary Institute offers an accelerated culinary program to get students kitchen-ready
From professionals to hobbyists, Park City Culinary Institute offers something for everyone Words and photos by Claire McArthur
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f Park City Culinary Institute founder and director Laurie Moldawer could tell you one thing about her school, it would be this: It’s for everyone. For the high school grad looking for a path. For the home cook hoping to improve. For the 60-year-old wanting a career change. For the couple in search of a date night. “Because people are so familiar with the community college and state school model for culinary school, they think that it’s just for 18-year-olds or that you already have to know how to cook,” says Moldawer. “Half of our students are over 40, and you can come with zero skills. Once they realize that, they enroll.” Like many of her students, Moldawer did not have a direct path to her culinary career. After years of working as a tax accountant in New York, all while nurturing a love for dining out, she decided to take a year off to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris at age 29 with next to no cooking experience. When she returned to the U.S., Moldawer
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continued working as an accountant by day, and at night, she’d slip into her kitchen uniform and work the line at a restaurant. “I didn’t want to give it up,” she says. In 2012, Moldawer decided to shake things up again — this time with a coast-to-coast road trip in search of the best ski town to call home. “I drove into Park City and when I came to Main Street and saw all of the lights and the energy, I was like, ‘OK, I can see living here,’” recalls Moldawer. “I called the moving company and said, ‘ship my stuff out’ and stayed.” After seeing firsthand the need for qualified, trained employees in Park City’s restaurant industry, in 2013, Moldawer took the first step to get her culinary institute off the ground and began offering 2- to 3-hour recreational courses while gaining support for a more comprehensive program. “I could walk into a restaurant, talk to the chef and tell him I was opening a culinary school, and everybody wanted to be involved. All of the chefs offered to teach and were really passionate,”
Moldawer says. With the help of a growing team, Moldawer crafted an accelerated culinary program that had students trained and kitchen-ready in at most four months versus the more common two-year track seen at other culinary schools around the country. PCCI was modeled after the “boutique” institutes in Europe with class sizes no bigger than 16. Today, the award-winning faculty lineup includes notables like long-time baker Roy Olsen, who opened Bake 360 and is a multi-time winner of Best of State; Derek Gherkins, former chef at Park City’s Grappa and Ghidotti’s; prolific chef instructor Cheryl Schaefer who worked at Utah restaurants like Faustina and Forage; and Jordan Miller, chef at the Lodge at Blue Sky, to name a few. A rotation of visiting chef instructors impart their area of culinary expertise, too. Two and a half years ago, PCCI moved into Salt Lake City to accommodate the growing number of students commuting from the valley. With a
PCCI says it can’t keep up with the industry demand for trained cooking professionals
Park City Culinary Institute founder and director Laurie Moldawer
Students learn how to cook fish using the French technique, en papillote (“enveloped in paper”)
more convenient location, the school graduated 120 students this past year, compared to the 30-45 annual grads it saw while in Park City. “We’ve seen this overwhelming growth in the restaurant industry. We get five times as many calls from employers as we do from students,” explains Moldawer. “We can’t graduate enough students to meet the demand. It’s everything from restaurants to nursing homes. It’s hotels and bakeries.”
Successful Grads
To date, PCCI has graduated more than 300 students from across the country. And within the burgeoning restaurant scene of northern Utah, its grads are making waves. PCCI grad Kayden Petersen-Craig was working as a corporate trainer for a mortgage company when he suffered a spinal cord injury that left him in a wheelchair. “I had a lot of time in the hospital and at home to reflect on my life and what I wanted to do with it,” says Petersen-Craig. “I wasn’t going
to keep wasting away my days doing something I didn’t love to do.” He grew up cooking and had always dreamed of owning his own restaurant, so when he drove by PCCI, he decided to go in and see if it would be possible. “Laurie [Moldawer] was so enthusiastic. She said, ‘We’ll get you a ramp and build you a table,’” recalls Petersen-Craig. “So, they built me a custom prep table, and I graduated culinary school in my wheelchair.” Post-graduation, Petersen-Craig faced a lot of rejection as he applied for jobs in restaurants. “None of the spaces were conducive for a person in a wheelchair,” says Petersen-Craig, who was in physical therapy relearning how to walk. But he persisted, and this past June, Petersen-Craig bought his own restaurant in Ogden, Cafe VilleBella, where he serves up breakfast and lunch. “To my knowledge, I am now the only transgender gay restaurant owner in the area,” says PetersenCraig. “Culinary school gave me the
reality that my dreams can come true regardless of disability or limitations.”
Something for Everyone
After graduating high school, now-PCCI alum Jonathan Price wasn’t sure what to do next. “I grew up cooking and loved baking,” he recalls. “So when I heard about Park City Culinary Institute, I thought it sounded like a good fit.” After graduating, he landed a job as a pantry cook with Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Park City. Just four years later, at the age of 21, he became the restaurant’s executive chef. “I never imagined I’d be promoted like I have,” Price says. “I went into school knowing very little about the culinary world, and it was a great opportunity to learn the basics without having to devote two years of your life to it.” For others, like PCCI instructor Todd Gormley, the road to life as a chef was less direct. After a back injury derailed his construction career at 32, he spent 12 years working in senior management Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 17
Cook Like a Pro Issue Instructor and chef Derek Gherkins demonstrates how to open fish en papillote
PCCI’s kitchen is home to multiweek programs as well as onenight cooking classes
Class sizes at PCCI do not exceed 16 students
at Lowe’s Home Improvement before deciding to spend his evenings pursuing his passion for cooking at PCCI—all while continuing to work. “We have people that want to be better home cooks, people that already have careers that want to learn how to cook, people who want to go into the industry, people who are looking to reshape their lives. It’s a good mix of all of that,” says Gormley. “I think that makes for a great experience here at the school because you have so many different influences from so many different backgrounds.” Today, Gormley teaches the recreational classes at PCCI, 3-hour courses pairing international cuisine with on-theme drinks, like tamales and tequila, wine and cheese of Spain, and ramen and sake. The school also offers workshops open to the public featuring prominent figures in the food industry, including 18 Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019
PCCI alum and founder of Kodiak Cakes, Jon Clark. Clark will lead a discussion on Oct. 7 about how he created Kodiak Cakes and what it took to bring a food product from inception to market. “We’re programming over a dozen community classes a month. We’re always evolving,” says Moldawer. “I didn’t go to culinary school ever thinking it would turn into a career like this. I didn’t have a plan of ever owning a culinary school, but it’s been an amazing journey.” Undoubtedly, the hundreds of PCCI grads working in kitchens and opening restaurants in Utah and beyond would agree. ❖
Park City Culinary Institute 1484 S. State, SLC 801-413-2800 ParkCityCulinaryInstitute.com
Discover Your Culinary Path
Interested in cooking school, but unsure about committing to a multiweek program? Dip your toe in with one of Park City Culinary Institute’s 3-hour community cooking classes (ParkCityCulinaryInstitute.com/ cooking-classes). Learn about everything from cast-iron cooking and Chicago deep dish pizza, to pickling and Moroccan cuisine. PCCI offers 228-hour professional certificates in the culinary arts, 120hour cuisine certificates and 108-hour pastry and baking certificates, with tuition ranging from $5,900 to $10,975. PCCI also provides free 15-minute consultations if you’re interested in learning about the different options you have in programs and future careers. It’s the perfect way to test the waters before jumping into a course (ParkCityCulinaryInstitute.com/careeradvice).
Taste the Tradition Pioneering Fine Chocolates Since 1938 801.485.1031 | 2057 East 3300 South | finecandies.com
We have moved to the newly restored to glory Historic Eagle Building.
Italian Cuisine 404 South W Temple ´ Salt Lake City, Utah 801-364-8833 ´ www.caffemolise.com
Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 19
Cook Like a Pro Issue
A SLICE of Life
Diane & Rich Sheya, SLICE founders and institute directors
COURTESY PHOTO
It takes just 12 weeks to complete SLICE’s professional certification course BY HEATHER L. KING
S
mall class sizes, proper equipment selection and an opportunity to love the food you make and eat are all hallmarks of the Salt Lake Culinary Education (SLICE) experience in South Salt Lake. SLICE offers instructor-led cooking experiences for every skill level—from the beginner who is interested in knife basics, to the home chef looking to spice up their meals, to the emerging culinary professional seeking a career in the industry. While foodies and home chefs have been honing their skills through SLICE for years, the opportunity to expedite a professional culinary career is among the newest offerings from the institute. The 12-week professional certification course will prepare students to step onto the line in any hospitality environment with the confidence, skills and certification needed to keep commercial kitchens running smoothly. SLICE prides itself in its designation as an American Culinary Federation (ACF) Education Foundation Quality Program. “What this means,” Rich Sheya, SLICE owner and institute director, says, “is that our program is recognized by a third-party organization as having a quality program and when the student passes out of this class and passes the exams, they have a national certification that a chef anywhere in the world would recognize.” The SLICE Professional Certification Course teaches valuable skills beyond the line as well. From kitchen profitability and pricing systems to menu creation processes
Cook with SLICE in August
Aug. 15, 6 to 8 p.m. Brews & Bites: Kiitos Brewing, $40 Join Kiitos Brewing for an evening of craft beer sampling complemented by small plates created by SLICE executive chef Greg Reith. SaltLakeCulinaryCenter.com/classes/brews-bites-kiitosbrewing-2
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and networking skills, students will have the opportunity to consider the entire breadth and depth of restaurant operations. In addition to 180 hours of hands-on time in the kitchen lab under the direction of chef and institute director Greg Reith and 25 hours of recipe-planning instruction, SLICE professionals will also spend 15 hours visiting local food artisans and purveyors to learn about their specialties. Another 40 hours are devoted to mini-internships in working kitchens where they will interact and network with culinary professionals in the field. They also have the opportunity to stage a Chef’s Table—a weekly experience held at SLICE Wednesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., designed to test and teach students and entertain guests who attend the lunch for just $10. Chef Reith will put together a basket of mystery ingredients and the students go to work to craft a meal for strangers who can watch their every move and ask questions—as might be the case in a real restaurant environment. But the true purpose of the stage is to further hone each student’s best skills. “We want to find out who’s the bread maker, who’s the saucier,” Reith explains. “It allows me to do the litmus test to see where these people are going to go.” With 315 total hours of multi-disciplinary culinary curriculum, the SLICE certification program also supplies students with everything they need to start work in a restaurant once they finish, including a set of four Wusthof knives, pair of chef pants, two embroidered chef coats, a
Aug. 17, 6 to 8 p.m. Passions & Pairings, $85 Chef Drew will take class participants on a wine tour through Tuscany’s majestic reds and Campagna’s white varietals. Wines will be paired with Drew’s Italian pinwheel bread, antipasto, olive and onion salad, chicken Milanese and dessert. SaltLakeCulinaryCenter.com/classes/passions-pairings-
Aug. 24, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Basic Knife Skills, $80 This fundamental skills class taught by SLICE executive chef Greg Reith is designed for beginners or those who are looking to refresh their knife skills. Participants will learn how to choose the right knife for the job; keep a sharp edge; and master slicing, dicing and mincing.
tuscan-campagna-wines
SaltLakeCulinaryCenter.com/classes/basic-knife-skills-5
COURTESY PHOTO
Executive chef & institute director Greg Reith
chef’s hat and an apron. “Experience shouldn’t be expensive, but it should be impressive,” Reith says about the value of the SLICE certification course. “We are providing very impressive experience in 12 weeks.” Local restauranteur Manoli Katsanevas, owner and chef at Manoli’s, proctored the first semester’s final exam. “I was impressed with how much they learned in 12 weeks,” he says. “The most important thing was that they had decent knife skills and good sanitation practices—which are the biggest things I look for in a new cook.” Six students have completed the certification course to date and begun working in the culinary industry, and Reith expects the institute to become an incubator program for local businesses looking for trained professionals who can be productive members of a kitchen staff on Day 1. =
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To learn more about the program, make a reservation to attend the Chef’s Table by calling 801-464-0113 and visit SaltLakeCulinaryCenter.com/institution-course. Cost: $9,800 Timing: Application deadline for the fall semester is Sept. 3 Process: Fill out an enrollment form along with a $60 application fee. Applicants will be interviewed prior to acceptance. A $2,500 deposit is due upon agreement; the remainder is due two weeks before the program starts. ❖
Aug. 27, 6 to 9 p.m. Wellness Lifestyle Cuisine Series, $90 Hear from Sinead Urwin, functional medicine nutritionist, as she and SLICE executive chef Greg Reith discuss intermittent fasting and how to create a healthy, vibrant lifestyle. SaltLakeCulinaryCenter.com/classes/wellness-lifestyle-cuisine-series-3
Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 21
Cook Like a Pro Issue UVU Culinary Arts Institute students learn from award-winning instructors
Utah college programs prepare culinary students for careers on the cutting edge By Darby Doyle
T
he hospitality industry is booming in Utah, which means that there’s a steady demand for qualified culinary professionals at all levels. “We have been desperately trying to recruit more staff in restaurants,” Michele Corigliano, executive director for Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association (SLARA), says. “Restaurants are scrambling.” As an example, a quick search of the Utah Department of Workforce Services notices for food preparation jobs with the keyword “cook” listed more than 650 openings. Gastronomy Inc. director of operations Fred Boutwell agrees that it’s an incredibly competitive employee-driven market, especially for jobs as dishwashers and line cooks. “Once people come on staff, we have very good retention of our employees,” Boutwell says, noting many staffers move up through the kitchen hierarchy with in-house training if they have the initiative to do so. “Our challenge is recruiting new staff,” he says, acknowledging a national shortage of
22 Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019
hospitality employees. Boutwell often works with teenagers interested in culinary careers through the Utah Restaurant Association (URA)’s ProStart program. He recommends that before students invest time and money in advanced culinary education, they have realistic expectations of what working in a busy restaurant kitchen is like. “I tell them to come into a kitchen and watch during a busy Friday or Saturday night,” Boutwell says. “Take the opportunity to observe the reality of a bustling crew and the physical demands of standing for a 10-hour shift.” Catherine Burns, Gastronomy’s human resource director, also cautions that newly minted culinary-school graduates shouldn’t expect to get competitive executive chef positions or land jobs with a lot of creative control right out of the gate. She suggests that those considering a culinary career work for a year or two in a restaurant kitchen as a dishwasher or line cook before they invest in culinary school. “It behooves a person to make sure they have [actual restaurant] experience
and know if they are going to like the industry,” Burns says, before committing to the rigors of the culinary world. Boutwell agrees, noting with wry understatement, “It’s not like a cooking show on TV.” With these caveats in mind, we surveyed a handful of northern Utah’s culinary education programs to see how they are preparing the next wave of curious cooks. When talking with program administrators, they noted that students in their programs come with a wide range of professional and personal goals. From dreams of operating their own food trucks to filling steady (and relatively wellpaying) jobs in hospital or retirement home food service or reaching for a five-star resort position, it all starts with the basics.
Utah Valley University Culinary Arts Institute There’s some serious star power coming out of Orem, Utah. Last year, Utah Valley University Culinary Arts Institute (CAI) department chair chef Todd Leonard won the coveted title of
To earn an AAS degree in the culinary arts, students attend a minimum of five semesters
UVU Culinary Arts Institute chair Todd Leonard
The Orem cooking school has produced several award-winning students and instructors
PHOTOS COURTESY OF UVU
2018 National Chef of the Year at the American Culinary Federation (ACF) national convention. Since joining the CAI a dozen years ago, Chef Leonard has overseen a program that has brought national acclaim at multiple levels: At the same competition, a team of UVU chefs competed in four different culinary categories and brought two national championships back to Utah. Additionally, CAI faculty and students have been racking up the awards. As one of Utah’s most famous bakers, former CAI instructor chef Adalberto Diaz—owner of Fillings and Emulsions pastry shops in Salt Lake City and Provo—has won multiple Food Network competitions, including the 2019 “Bake You Rich” winning title. And this year marks the fourth straight year that a UVU student was named Western Region Student Chef of the Year, with two previous winners going on to win the coveted national student chef of the year award. In February 2019, first-year UVU CAI student Emma El-Farra won the ACF Western Region competition in Las
Vegas, and she’ll compete in the “Final Five” showdown for the national title in Orlando in August. Her winning dish? Fresh Arctic char in several preparations: pan-seared salt-rubbed Arctic char with a roe beurre blanc, crêpe stuffed with char mousseline and king crab, and a smoked char belly “bacon” with spring vegetables. In an interview for UVU press, El-Farra described the competition as “intense.” Even with extensive preparation leading up to the competition, she said her nerves were on edge with judges standing over her, watching her every move. To complete the Associate of Applied Science Degree (AAS) in Culinary Arts, students must participate in a prerequisite semester of classes covering kitchen basics (such as culinary math, sanitation and introduction to hospitality), which most students complete during the summer before starting full-time enrollment. The AAS degree program consists of an additional 68 credit hours completed in a minimum of five semesters, with most of the 140 or so students taking 12-
18 credit hours per semester. There are full day and evening classes available, and with the UVU program being in such high demand, the campus recently added three new state-of-theart instructional kitchens. “Students get a lot of hands-on experience,” says CAI academic advisor Tina Ostler, with opportunities at the university cafe, at the fine dining Restaurant Forté in the UCCU Center and at the CAI catering division serving parties of up to 3,000 people per event.
UVU Culinary Arts Institute 661 E. Timpanogos Parkway, Orem 801-863-8914 UVU.edu/culinary
Degree: Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Culinary Arts Credit hours: 68 (minimum five semesters) Tuition and standard fee costs (full time, UT resident): $2,910 per semester Additional costs (approximate): course special fees (avg. $1,500/ semester), tool kit ($550), uniform ($60/ set), kitchen-approved shoes and books Scholarships and financial aid available: Yes Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 23
Cook Like a Pro Issue
Salt Lake Community College Culinary Institute
Located at the Salt Lake Community College Miller Campus in Sandy, the Culinary Arts Program has been led for the past two and a half years by chef Jeffrey Coker. Formerly at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Los Angeles, Chef Coker joined the SLCC program seeing an opportunity to strengthen and build on an established culinary curriculum and to improve his family’s quality of life with a move to Utah. “I’d been looking to get out of Southern California since 2009,” Chef Coker says of the hectic environment. “Coming to Utah added years back to my life,” he says with a grin, noting that having motivated, talented and well-rounded students has been a highlight of his work with SLCC. An average of 140 students are enrolled in a full- and parttime basis at SLCC’s Associate of Applied Science degree in Culinary Arts. They may choose an emphasis in baking and pastry or culinary arts, and there’s also an AAS degree in hospitality management. “Our Culinary Arts degree is programmatically accredited by the American Culinary Federation,” says Coker. Students who choose to add this ACF offering receive a professional industry certification as a Certified Culinarian by demonstrating proficiency in several knowledge and skills concentrations. In addition to the professional kitchens, the SLCC Miller campus recently added a student-cultivated kitchen garden, which is fertilized with composted produce collected during cooking instruction. They’ve made conscious efforts to reduce food waste and emphasize sustainable sourcing. Coker says that the program is best known for “offering excellent training and develop[ing] educational opportunities for our students at a very affordable cost.” But Coker says that the certifications on paper are secondary to the individualized professional and personal support students receive at SLCC, where the department actively integrates input from industry partners. “Current trends, techniques and skills that our students need to know when entering the workplace,” are considerations he notes from the collaboration with hospitality leaders such as the Little and Grand America, Hilton and Marriott. “As an administrator and chef, I get to know the students. They go on to successful careers in fine dining, retirement communities and resorts,” meeting the high demand for skilled cooks in Utah.
SLCC professor Franco Aloia instructs students
Students also cultivate a garden, which supplies some of the ingredients used in the kitchen
SLCC professor Cynthia Alberts demonstrates a pastry technique
SLCC Culinary Institute 9750 S. 300 West, Sandy 801-957-5334 SLCC.edu/culinaryarts
Degree: Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Culinary Arts or Hospitality Management Credit hours: 65 (minimum five semesters) Tuition and standard fee costs (full time, UT resident): $3,468 (2 semesters) Additional costs (approximate): tool kit ($135+), uniform ($75-$85/set), kitchen-approved shoes Scholarships and financial aid available: Yes 24 Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SLCC
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Cook Like a Pro Issue Ogden-Weber Technical College chef Jose Rodriguez instructs students
The program takes around 10 months to complete
Ogden-Weber Technical College program advisor/chef Jose Rodriguez
Approximately 50 students enroll annually
Ogden-Weber Technical College program director Nallely Ruiz
PHOTOS BY JOHN TAYLOR
Ogden-Weber Technical College Culinary Arts Program
Popularly called the “Otech” Culinary Arts Program by Utahns, the Ogden-Weber Technical College culinary program is best known for “providing hands on training in a fun environment,” says program director Nallely Ruiz. Students learn the basics of food safety, sanitation and food service and get plenty of experience working at the Campus Grille under the direction of program advisor/instructor chef Jose Rodriguez. Rodriguez also manages the in-house catering department where students further develop their craft. “Culinary students in our program learn by practicing their skills in a real production kitchen, working alongside their instructors,” Ruiz says of the approximately 10-month certificate of completion program. Many of the 26 Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019
approximately 50 students enrolled annually are high school students, and as they are typically attending Otech part-time, it takes them a bit longer to finish the certification. All students complete a standard culinary skills foundation during the first part of the program (about 70% of the total coursework), and then can choose between an advanced culinary track or advanced baking and pastry. “The program can be customized based on student interest,” Ruiz says of the different track options, including an emphasis on specific cuisine types or honing a specific skill like charcuterie. Acknowledging an industry emphasis on more in-house preparations and increased student interest in the subject, the college purchased a new smoker and is adding more curing and smoking techniques to the roster. The baking and pastry track includes sweet and savory applications,
laminated pastry like croissants and several types of bread making. “We find that this creates a great balance of engaged active learning and independence, while providing enough guidance and support for students to perform skills correctly,” Ruiz says of the varied curriculum.
OTech Culinary Arts Program 200 N. Washington Blvd., Ogden 801-627-8357 Otech.edu/culinary-arts
• Degree: Certificate of Completion, Culinary Arts • Program duration: 10 months+ • Tuition and standard fee costs for adult students (high school students attend tuition-free): approximately $2,600 for 10 months • Additional costs (approximate): tool kit, uniform, books, course materials and supplies = $350 • Scholarships and financial aid available: Yes
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Cook Like a Pro Issue
University of Utah Lifelong Learning
“As the number of places offering cooking classes has risen in Salt Lake City, we’ve moved away from the ‘How to Cook This Cuisine/Dish’ model,” says University of Utah Lifelong Learning program coordinator Mïa Vollkommer. “We are instead focusing on the cool things local food and beverage businesses are doing.” In selecting course topics and instructors, Vollkommer says that getting to the root of a person’s passion is engaging and successful as an instructional model. “Once I can identify what a business is passionate about, then it’s just about guaranteed that everyone— students and instructors alike—will have a fantastic experience together in class.” Vollkommer notes that enrollments have been great for all of the food and beverage classes, which range from exploring tea, homebrewing beer and making fruit wine to camp cooking, making dumplings, cake decorating and touring Red Butte Garden in search of edible flowers. A popular twosession photography class focuses specifically on capturing mouthwatering images of food, with pro tips on food styling, lighting and advertising secrets. “The focus on local businesses has been a really successful programming strategy for Lifelong Learning,” says Vollkommer of their class model. “I think that individual businesses are reaping benefits from teaching for us as well.” Vollkommer says that developing programming is an exciting two-way street, with students requesting particular topics and Vollkommer’s team reaching out to new community collaborators for ideas. “When I’m seeking out new partners, I turn to every kind of media I can get my hands on,” she says, mentioning Devour and other media outlets, “and my very favorite resource: Instagram!” Always on the hunt for people who are enthusiastic about sharing their talents, Vollkommer loves to hear from prospective instructors saying, “If you have an idea, definitely hit me up.” Visit their website (below) or follow on social media @ uofulifelonglearning ❖
U of U Lifelong Learning offers culinary classes in tea-making
Learning the art of dumpling making
Searching for edible flowers at Red Butte Garden
U of U Lifelong Learning 540 Arapeen Drive, No. 210, SLC 801-585-5442 Continue.Utah.edu/lifelong PHOTOS BY BEN LEIMBACH
28 Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019
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Cook Like a Pro Issue The class setting includes a communal countertop
Heather Smith, culinary director for Gygi Culinary Arts Center
Students focused on pastry arts
Gygi Culinary Arts Center offers a range of cooking classes, including a kouign amann class
The Spread
PHOTOS COURTESY OF GYGI CULINARY
Gygi Culinary Arts Center BY CAROLYN CAMPBELL
P
reparing to teach Gygi’s hands-on kouign amann class, instructor Richard Port cuts two cubes of butter to create a 7-by-7-inch square. He places the butter in a 10inch square of dough, then folds the dough over the butter. He rolls the dough out, folds the mixture, stretches the dough, and then lets it relax before repeating the fold twice more. “I knead it until it’s a nice smooth dough,” he says. It appears his labors are worth the effort—kouign amann is a heavenly dessert whose name means “butter cake.” From Brittany, France, the pastry is a denser version of a croissant, and is layered in buttery, flaky dough and a generous amount of sugar, according to Heather Smith, culinary director and great granddaughter of the founder of Orson Gygi Company. When students arrive at the class, tools and supplies are ready at their stations. They don a Gygi apron, then roll the kouign amann dough a fourth time. “My students always make the dough by hand, so they know how it is supposed to feel,” says Port. “The fourth time, we roll the dough in sugar, instead of flour, and add a little La Fleur de Sel, an imported French finishing salt.” Students then cut the dough into 12 squares, bring each corner to the center and press them into sections of a large muffin tin that’s been buttered and sugared. They let the mixture rise before baking. “Once the hot air hits it, it creates steam and lifts it,” Port says. The
finished kouign amann is a deep golden brown. To access it, “You have to turn the muffin tin upside down, because there is so much sugar, they would adhere to the tin if you let them cool,” adds Port. The finished kouign amann boasts a delicate crunchy top above a many-layered center. Students take home their apron, six finished kouignoù amann, plus a ball of dough they have rolled twice. They receive a coupon for 10% off of Gygi products. Gygi evolved from a restaurant supply store into a onestop specialty shopping experience for anyone looking for anything for a kitchen. Port, who instructs the kouign amann class, specializes in nostalgic cookery—homemade candy canes, butter mints and sourdough breads. “If you didn’t grab these recipes from your grandmother, you can revisit them in our classes,” says Smith. With high-end appliances, top-of-the-line cookware, and experienced chefs who have a passion for cooking and teaching, Gygi’s goal “is to provide a truly enjoyable, entertaining, and educational experience for everyone who steps foot into our Culinary Arts Center,” Smith says. ❖
GYGI CULINARY ARTS CENTER 3500 S. 300 West, SLC 801-268-3316 GygiCookingClasses.com Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 31
The Green Scene
For the
of it
LEARN TO COOK PLANTBASED CUISINE
DREAMSTIME IMAGE
BY AMANDA ROCK
W
hen the documentary Forks Over Knives premiered in 2011, the term “plant-based” became much more trendy. Not only that, but people who viewed the film were much more willing to leave meat and dairy off their plates. The documentary, along with Vegucated (2011) and What the Health (2017), claim a plant-based diet made of unprocessed, whole foods can help prevent, and possibly reverse, chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
One of the physicians interviewed in Forks Over Knives was Dr. Neal D. Barnard, founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM.org). Besides advocating for ethical treatment of animals in the medical field, PCRM started Food for Life, a plant-based food program designed by physicians, nurses and registered dieticians. Backed by scientific research, Food for Life offers classes to help people improve their health through their diet. It also offers a certification class for those who want to teach these classes in their communities. 32 Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019
Food for Life C lasses
Alisha Barker is a Food for Life instructor based in Salt Lake City. She has taught two cooking classes through the Lifelong Learning program at the University of Utah: Kickstart Your Health, which teaches the basics of the whole-food plant-based diet, and the Cancer Project class, which gives students the tools to fight and prevent cancer through food. Barker wants to empower students to take control of their health and to see their bodies as “disease fighting, healing machines.” As a registered nurse with 10 years of critical-care experience in preventive cardiology, she’s encountered many patients with preventable diseases like heart disease, diabetes and even cancer. “When you eat a whole-food plant-based diet, you bathe your cells in phytonutrients and antioxidants that help your body to fend off and, in some cases, reverse chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and more,” she says. “Eating plant foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes fills your diet with fiber, which helps rid your
body of excess toxins and hormones that promote cancer and inflammation.” Besides boosting her confidence in the kitchen, becoming a Food for Life instructor has taught Alisha to cook simply without compromising flavor. Roasted veggies, sautéed or steamed greens, beans and whole grains make up her favorite meals. To keep it interesting, she adds nacho cheese made from cashews, enchilada sauce or a spicy chimichurri. Colorful and tasty fruit salads are another go-to, either eaten as a meal, or used as a topping for oatmeal or dairy-free yogurt. I asked her for some tips for the vegan home cook, and she said that having a decent knife and cutting board are critical. “There is more food prep involved in cooking plant-based, so dedicate some time to planning,” she says. “Chop fruits and veggies in batches beforehand and store them in the fridge or freezer.” She also encourages people to take advantage of online resources to learn about plant-based cooking.
Learning online
The Almost Vegan Cooking School, taught by Debbie Devore, is suited for beginners and seasoned vegans alike. Besides offering free recipes and classes on YouTube, her six-part Introduction to Plant-Based Foods course is only $60 and covers a breadth of topics and recipes. Her advice for the home cook includes the importance of good knife skills and an organized work area, pantry, freezer and refrigerator, claiming it “clears the mind to help create great tasting food.” AlmostVeganCookingSchool.com Patty Knutson wants you to play with your food. “If you’re doing it right, plant-based cooking is fun,” she says. If you spend a few minutes on her website, VeganCoach. com, you’ll see her point. Her method of “freestyle cooking” teaches people to think outside the concept of recipes. “If you want to cook like the pros, learn all you can about working with seasonings and how to balance flavorings,” she says. Focusing on whole foods, Knutson teaches you to work with the food you have on hand to create healthy, delicious meals. She offers free cooking classes online and is available for one-on-one coaching. VeganCoach.com Devour Utah • AUGUST 2019 33
Cook Like a Pro Issue
WE’RE ASKING YOU F Chefs take on
How to keep a cake from falling
Chef Tom Woodbury, former TV chef, now with Compliance Mate: “Leavening, anything baked with baking soda or baking powder, tends to fall when you bake it at elevation. If you are making a cake from scratch, an easy solution is using just 75% of the leavener the recipe calls for. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of baking soda, use just ¾ of a teaspoon. There is less vapor pressure on the cake when it is in the oven at a higher elevation. When you over-leaven your cake, which was probably developed at sea level, the leavener acts ungoverned, causing it to raise quickly and actually overrise, and then it falls. It has nothing to do with kids bouncing around in the kitchen or making too much noise; the reality is we are at a different environmental barometric pressure.”
How to prevent limp veggies
Chef Anny Sooksri of Fav Bistro, Chabaar Beyond Thai, Siam Noodle Bar and Tea Rose Diner: “At our restaurants, we know what goes in the pan first and what goes in last. If you cook broccoli, bell peppers or mushrooms, they go into the pan last. Bamboo and baby corn both need to cook a longer time. In fact, no matter how long you cook bamboo, it will come out the same—it is a weird thing. Blanching your fresh vegetables in water before you add to a pan to stir-fry also helps. I always put tofu in last, you don’t want it to break it down. Zucchini, I don’t cook much, but carrots have to cook longer. If they are ‘young’ carrots they take less time, while ‘older’ carrots have to cook a bit longer.” FAV BISTRO, 1984 E. MURRAY HOLLADAY ROAD, HOLLADAY 801-676-9300, ASOOKSRI.COM
34 Devour Utah • august 2019
JOHN TAYLOR
JERRE WROBLE
COPURTESY PHOTO
BY AIMEE L. COOK
CAROLINE HARGRAVES
the cook’s little dilemmas
rom gummy pasta to undercooked chicken, being a chef in your own kitchen can be challenging. I asked some professionals for solutions to common cooking dilemmas and learned several new things myself. For example, did you know in Utah, due to our elevation, liquids boil 10 degrees cooler than in lower elevations? That helped me understand why my pasta water takes forever to boil. From baking a cake that doesn’t fall to cooking vegetables “tender-crisp,” these local chefs share some great tips to make your next home cooking adventure go off without a hitch.
How to cook the perfect pasta
Chef Justin Shifflett of Stoneground Kitchen: “Dry and fresh pasta cook very different. The key to cooking any pasta is to add the pasta to water that is already boiling and salty. It does not matter if you add the salt before or after the water boils, but salted water does come to a boil faster. Make sure you put only enough pasta in for how much water you have; people tend to add too much and end up with gummy pasta. You have to remember that all that starch is being released into the water. When I am cooking pasta, I will have my sauce ready and finish my pasta off in the sauce the last minute or two. This also helps the sauce stick to the noodles better. If you are cooking pasta in a bundle, I will stir the water as I am adding the pasta to break up the bundles. Fresh noodles should be stirred into the water as well, otherwise they could end up cooking into a large ball of noodles.” 249 E. 400 SOUTH, SLC 801-364-1368 STONEGROUNDITALIAN.COM
How to cook chicken just right
Chef de cuisine Amanda McGraw of Provisions: “I recommend everyone get organized before they begin— mise en place—the French term that means ‘putting in place’. Have all your bowls of ingredients all set up before you start. No matter what piece of chicken you are cooking, always make sure your chicken is dry first. You can always use the thermometer method, making sure the internal temp is at 160 degrees. In restaurant cooking, we press down near the bone and if is squishy and soft, it needs to cook longer. If you are cooking a half chicken, cook it skin side down, you can even throw a weight on it, like a brick, and sear it over medium/low heat to get the skin golden brown and crispy. Flip it over and put a little chicken stock in the pan and put it in the oven to finish it off, around 10 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is. This will make the chicken moist and tender and completely done.” ❖ 3364 S. 2300 EAST, SLC 801-410-4046 SLCPROVISIONS.COM
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35
Cook Like a Pro Issue
Turnaround Cafe
Deputy Jason Heidel, administrator for Utah County Sheriff’s Office Food Services Division, helps inmates gain kitchen skills
Utah County Jail’s culinary program helps offenders land jobs on the outside STORY AND PHOTOS BY MERRY LYCETT HARRISON
T
he Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork has a successful culinary program for nonviolent male offenders to learn skills that will help them get a job in food service when they are released. Many of the participants who enter the program know little or nothing about cooking, even how to boil water. So, to be considered for the job, they need to have filled out an application, been interviewed and watched training videos on how to get into the program. The 30 workers who make the cut rise at 3 a.m. to begin their 13-hour day in the kitchen. Everyone starts as a dishwasher and can progress to food prep, line cook and service. They learn to follow recipes; use knives properly (with blades that are always tethered); make soup from scratch; bake bread, donuts and pastries; roast meat in six huge Rational Ovens; load blast chillers; use fryers; tilt skillets; operate mixers; steam vat kettles and use conveyor dishwashers. They mop and clean up. The facility scored 100% on the last two county inspections! And don’t kid yourself: The jail’s operation is huge, producing 1,500 meals a day for the county’s senior centers and Meals on Wheels program plus another 1,800 meals for the inmates. Deputy Jason Heidel is the administrator for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office Food Services Division. He grew up working in his family’s restaurants, got a culinary arts certification and then worked as executive chef for the Marriott, Wyndham Hotels and Ranches Golf Course. Later, with a family to raise, the regular hours and
36 Devour Utah • august 2019
benefits of the police force interested him. He was a deputy for several years until he was invited to oversee the culinary program at the jail that started in 2017. Additional facets to the program include the inhouse Code 7 Cafe, named after the police scanner code meaning “out to lunch.” The restaurant serves staff and law enforcement officials who stop by for lunch. There is always a salad bar and daily a la carte menu of burgers, wraps and sandwiches posted on a blackboard along with a display of sweet, fresh-baked goods. On Wednesdays, inmates get to create a buffet with a theme. With 30 nationalities under one roof, there is no shortage of ideas, including Carnival, Korean, Portuguese and Greek. The Hawaiian buffet offered more than a dozen choices of meat, vegetable, fruit and pastry selections. They even tried Keto, and it was a hit. Deputy Heidel’s program gets catering requests for events like a sheriff’s
retirement party, the SWAT school and even nearby public venues like the golf course, which he is happy to integrate into the planning. Heidel and staff are always working to streamline, refine and improve quality. The food and ingredients are sourced from a variety of places such as Correctional Food Services and from “opportunity buys” that Heidel is notified about from a network that tracks when a party has more than they can use. The summer kitchen is also supplied by a huge garden on the prison grounds tended by the inmates. Any surplus goes to food pantries. They also take care of beehives that provide the honey used in recipes. All menus are planned well in advance and reviewed by a dietician to assure proper nutrition. The inmates are paid a small amount that goes toward an account they can collect when discharged. Sometimes, their newly acquired skills are the only
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ones the men have when they leave and look for work. “In this good job market, they find it,” Heidel says. Heidel also notes that the kitchen interaction with the jail staff is often the only positive encounter the inmates have ever had with law enforcement. Ironically, Heidel says his greatest problem is that he doesn’t have enough time with inmates, as many get into the program when they only have 30 to 90 days left on their sentence and often end up leaving before they can master their skills. Turnover is a challenge. In the future, he hopes to work with an accredited culinary school so that successful participants can leave jail with a certificate of accomplishment to show potential employers. “It’s about much more than just food,” Heidel says. He hopes the participants will take the cooking and life skills they learn and utilize them outside of prison, even if that just means cooking for their families.❖ Devour Utah • august 2019
37
Devour This | Recipe
earn L
o r P
Quinoa fritters
QUINOA FRITTERS WITH SMOKED SALMON
TDK
a
Following her passion, Sharon Liapis became a teacher, gourmet school cook and personal chef
Makes 12 2-ounce servings
Sharon Liapis
BY CAROLYN CAMPBELL
S
haron Liapis’ first food memories include traveling with her parents and dining at fancy restaurants where no kids’ menus were available. She recalls her father telling her, “You will love this chicken. It is sweet and delectable.” The “chicken” was actually lobster. That experience started her love of food and fancy restaurants. At age 40, she returned to school to pursue a degree in culinary arts from the now-closed Art Institute in Salt Lake City. “It was the best thing I ever did for myself,” she says. “It was also the hardest thing, but I’ve never regretted it.” The expertise she acquired furthered her knowledge and love of cooking and increased her desire to teach cooking classes, which she began in 2000. Today, her wide-ranging culinary career involves cooking at least five days a week. Once a month, she hosts “Cooking With Sharon in Pepperwood” in the Pepperwood home that she inherited from her parents and remodeled with the help of her husband, Matt Liapis. Class topics have included healthy and delicious offerings such as Asian fusion, 38 Devour Utah • august 2019
tapas and wine pairings. She also teaches cookbook classes featuring recipes from chefs such as Julia Child and Marcus Samuelsson. “People of all cooking levels come to the class,” she says. “They have many questions, and my feeling is that no question is a dumb question.” A mix of 50 students and staff from Blessed Sacrament School subscribe to her school lunch offerings such as teriyaki pineapple meatballs, chicken tetrazzini and shepherd’s pie. “It’s amazing that some kids actually love coleslaw,” she says. On Monday nights, she offers a “reheat and eat” gourmet meal delivery of entrees such as Asian turkey meatballs with spicy slaw and Greek chicken pot roast with pilafi. “I’ve made as many as 165 meals on a Monday night. Even if I cook for the school, I still come home that night and cook for my husband.” She herself requires gluten-free food and adds, “I can prepare food gluten free and people don’t even know it.” Her secret dream is to someday open “a small café that serves breakfast and lunch—a small gathering spot.”
FRITTERS INGREDIENTS 1 cup quinoa 2 cups water 1 cup grated feta 2 large eggs ¼ cup gluten-free breadcrumbs ¼ cup all-purpose gluten-free flour ½ teaspoon chipotle chili powder ½ small red onion, finely minced 1 teaspoon kosher salt Vegetable oil for frying SAUCE INGREDIENTS 2/3 cup mayonnaise 1 teaspoon lime zest 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice ½ to 1 teaspoon dill ½ teaspoon garlic salt 1 tablespoon sliced green onion, green tops only 6 ounces smoked salmon, thinly sliced fresh squeeze of lemon, for garnish PROCESS For the fritters: Place the quinoa in a colander and rinse under running water until liquid runs clear. About 1 minute. In a dry, medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, add the quinoa and cook, stirring constantly until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Add the water. Using a wooden spoon to stir, increase the heat to high and bring liquid to a boil. When liquid is boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until
liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. In a large bowl, whisk to combine cheese, eggs, flour, breadcrumbs, chili powder, shallot, salt and white pepper. Using a silicone spatula, stir in quinoa, being careful not to over mix and make quinoa sticky. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, make into evenly sized patties, 2-3 ounces each. Wet your hands to keep the mixture from sticking as you shape them. Place large nonstick skillet over medium high heat; add enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the pan about ½ inch deep. When oil is heated, carefully add the patties in batches being careful not to over crowd. Fry on both sides until crispy, approximately 3 minutes per side. Transfer fritters to paper towel-lined plate and season with salt while still warm. For the sauce: In a small bowl use whisk to combine lime zest, lime juice, and mayo. Taste and season with salt and pepper. To serve: Place cooked fritters onto plate. Top with teaspoon of the lime mayo (or crema) and then arrange smoked salmon on top of fritters. Serve immediately. COOKING WITH SHARON MEALSWITHSHARON.COM 801-918-7142
PHOTOS BY CLAIRE MCARTHUR
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Cook Like a Pro Issue
Chef LINDA Elbert’s curry is in no hurry
Green Thai curry with chicken, vegetables and rice
Plate it
Mindful Cuisine
“Y
ou can do a lot of things in your life,” chef Linda Elbert says as she welcomes the evening’s class into the rustic chic kitchen space of her Silver Creek home. As someone who left the world of clinical psychology to graduate from culinary school and found Mindful Cuisine, the proof is most definitely in the pudding. Or, in our case, it’s in the clouds of coconut meringue.
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STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALEX SPRINGER
Said meringue clouds are the dessert course of tonight’s class, which boasts a menu that includes Thai garden salad with tamarind dressing; tom yam kung, a hot and sour soup made with shrimp; and green Thai curry with chicken, vegetables and rice. The ease of Chef Elbert’s provided recipes makes all the difference—I teamed up with a bachelorette party in town from San Diego to chop and
blend the shallots, galangal, cilantro and toasted spices that would be the foundation of our curry sauce, and I am proud to report that there were zero casualties. At precisely the moment when it became too difficult to bask in the tantalizing scent of simmering curry any longer, Chef Elbert announced that it was ready to eat. Both the soup and salad packed a welcome but unexpected kick
Tom yam kung, a sweet and sour soup
Chef Linda Elbert
DA ’s is o ry
Coconut meringue for dessert
of heat—that lovely burn that knocks the breath right out of the back of your throat. The green curry was everything we hoped for—a resonant balance between sharp kaffir lime leaves and creamy coconut milk. Wrapping the evening up with the crispy marshmallow of coconut meringue bridged the gap between savory and sweet with a citrus-infused passionfruit glaze. Those who want to cook like a pro while
enjoying the company of likeminded food nerds will want to check out Mindful Cuisine. It’s an evening of education, socializing and eating set against the picturesque mountain backdrop of Silver Creek. ❖ Mindful Cuisine 354 Aspen Lane, Park City 949-328-7131 MindfulCuisine.com
Cooking up a passionfruit glaze for dessert
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Devour This | Recipe
Zucchini Bread STORY AND PHOTO BY BRYAN WOOLLEY HOST OF COOKING WITH CHEF BRYAN
H
omemade zucchini bread was a staple in my house while growing up. I was fortunate to enjoy three generations of zucchini bread from my great grandmother, grandmother and my mom. I would go out to the garden on a treasure hunt to find zucchini among the plants. As a kid, this was a grand adventure that involved grasshoppers, spiders and, yep, an occasional water snake. As with any recipe, there are some important tricks to be successful. This particular zucchini recipe is really better when mixed by hand. Machines can really work up that gluten in the flour causing the bread to be tough, so mixing it by hand alleviates the (potential) over-development of gluten. Quick breads like this should also cool in the pans before you remove them. These types of breads will break apart when removing them from the pan if they are too warm. One of my favorite ways to enjoy this bread is toasted with butter and peanut butter on it. I know that may be different, however, I like the sweetness of the bread with richness of the butter and peanut butter. Another delicious way to enjoy this bread is by the slice with butter and jam or simply plain. I also enjoy baking this recipe into small loaves for the neighbors or into muffins for an easy breakfast option. Fill your home with the delicious aroma on freshly baked zucchini bread. Baking with cinnamon and sugar creates a total comfort aroma and definitely brings people to the kitchen with a smile on their face. Fresh baked goods are an essential food; feel free to adapt this recipe however you need for your dietary needs.
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OLD-FASHIONED ZUCCHINI BREAD Ingredients 3 large eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 2 cups shredded zucchini 2 cups sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 cups flour 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
PROCESS This recipe is best made by hand in a large bowl. Combine eggs, vegetable oil, shredded zucchini, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and mix everything together until well blended. Add the remaining ingredients (cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, flour and walnuts) into the bowl and mix everything together until incorporated. Spray two bread pans (2-pound loaf pans) with vegetable spray and divide the batter between the two pans, filling each pan about 3/4 of the way full. Bake in a 340-degree oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Every oven is different, so cook according to your oven. Remove from the oven, and let the zucchini bread cool in the pan. Once cooled, remove from the pan, serve and enjoy! â?– For this and other recipes, visit CookingWithChefBryan.com
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Spirit Guide
Bar
Basics
Utah spirits experts dish advice on outfitting your home bar
2 ounces white rum (Wray & Nephew preferred) ¾ ounce simple syrup (sugar dissolved in a 1:1 ratio with water) ¾ ounce fresh lime juice Shake with ice until very cold. Strain into a chilled coupe glass; lime wedge garnish.
BY DARBY DOYLE
etting up a new home bar can be a daunting task, whether your space has room for a designated full wet bar or a spiffy bar cart. In either case, the foundations of a great bar are twofold: figuring out what you like to drink and efficiently supporting your general style of entertaining. If you tend to like classic whiskey drinks like Manhattans and Old Fashioneds, selecting flexible bourbon or rye and some quality bitters is a great starting point. Love zesty daiquiris and margaritas? Ditch the syrupy store shelf mixers and make time to squeeze fresh juice. My grandmother Audra Belle Shenk, a frequent hostess, often advised that it wasn’t what type of spirits you kept on hand that was important, but that guests felt like they were sincerely welcome by a happy (i.e., not stressed out with mixing everyone’s drinks) host. Her go-to was festive punch served in chilled pitchers and a guest DIY set-up for two ingredient drinks like gin and tonics or Cuba Libres. Local cocktail expert Chelsea Nelson shares a similar sentiment. “I love how people come together to connect over a libation or two,” says Nelson. “A good cocktail is just an exclamation point on a great conversation.” Cutting to the boozy chase, we asked some of our favorite spirits aficionados how they approach stocking their home bars.
COURTESY CHELSEA NELSON
S
DAIQUIRI
Chelsea Nelson CHELSEA NELSON, WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER AND COCKTAIL NERD Always in stock: Beehive Jack Rabbit Gin, Campari, a good bottle of rum As a craft cocktail chronicler and food writer of over 10 years, Devour contributor Chelsea Nelson has plenty of opinions on setting up a home bar. “I am an avid home bartender,” says Nelson, as her 11.7K+ followers on Instagram can attest. She strives to make craft cocktail recipes less intimidating for home bartenders and engagingly shares her own personal story of each drink presented with gorgeous photographs. “The ritual of cocktail making, and the people and community cocktail culture brings together, are my main inspiration,” she says of the craft. Nelson is a big believer in a baseline of the best
ingredients you can afford, such as craft bitters, making your own simple syrup and creating space for making/storing clean neutral-flavored ice. “Don’t ruin your cocktails with bad ice,” she advises. “A freezer dedicated to cocktail ice is not a luxury, but a necessity.” With summer in full swing, Nelson suggests ditching fussy umbrella drinks and getting back to simple, classic cocktails, such as the daiquiri. “If you’re thinking of a huge, sugary, frozen poolside cocktail—you’ve got it wrong,” says Nelson of the stereotype. “This classic hails from Daiquiri, Cuba, where it was first created to ward off Yellow Fever,” she says of the origin. “But nowadays, we just drink it for sheer pleasure.” Find Chelsea Nelson @ritualandcraft or visit RitualAndCraft.com
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Spirit Guide
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ALL HANDS ON DECK
Utilizing two of Hall’s favorite spirits, the “All Hands on Deck” is a smoky mezcal variation of a gin-forward “Don’t Give Up the Ship” cocktail. 1 ½ ounces Wahaka Espadin mezcal ½ ounce Fernet-Branca ½ ounce Cointreau ½ ounce Carpano Antica (or other sweet vermouth) Stir all ingredients with ice; strain into a chilled tulip or coupe glass. Orange twist garnish.
DARBY DOYLE
MIRIAM LEBARON, BARTENDER LAKE EFFECT Always in stock: Angostura bitters, sweet vermouth, Luxardo cherries From her earliest bartending days at a beer-only dive bar in St. George to jobs in Nevada, Hawaii and her most recent stint at Lake Effect in Salt Lake City, Miriam “Mimi” LeBaron says the best part about bartending is hospitality. “I really fell in love with the interaction with my customers and being behind a bar,” she says of bartending. And of spirits, in particular, she says, “It’s incredible how many stories can come from one bourbon or one beer.” In addition to the elegant classic cocktail, components she includes in her “always in stock” list, LeBaron is partial to whiskey in her cabinet, namely Glenlivet French Oak 15 year Scotch and Eagle Rare Kentucky Bourbon. “Whatever flavor or booze you prefer, there’s a simple and delicious cocktail out there,” she says. She continues, “Don’t worry about not having the proper glassware or bar spoon; there are tons of amazing drinks” made with a minimum of technique or equipment. Case in point, she built a classic Old Fashioned in the glass with some of her favorite ingredients at her fingertips, sweetened with a bit of that cherry syrup goodness from the Luxardo jar in place of sugar. Lake Effect 155 W. 200 South, SLC, 801-285-6494, LakeEffectSLC.com
Jacob Hall
Miriam LeBaron
BOURBON OLD FASHIONED 2 ounces Eagle Rare bourbon 1 barspoon Luxardo maraschino cherry syrup 2 dashes Angostura bitters
To an Old Fashioned glass, add bourbon, cherry juice and bitters; stir to combine. Add a large ice block and stir down. Garnish with a Luxardo cherry and orange zest swath.
DARBY DOYLE
JACOB HALL, CO-OWNER ALIBI BAR & PLACE Always in stock: Fernet-Branca, Campari, Cointreau “To be honest, I really don’t keep much of a bar at home,” says Alibi co-owner and bartender Jacob Hall. With a career built in developing top-notch cocktail bars and cocktail catering, he says that now, “this is my home bar,” indicating Alibi’s lively SLC Main Street digs with a tip of his glass. His go-to off-the-clock choice? A short glass of Fernet-Branca, a bitter Italian amaro colloquially known as “the Bartender’s Handshake” for its revered status as an industry insiders’ favorite. When Utah native Hall first started working at Bar X seven years ago as a bar back, Fernet, along with a bottle each of vibrant Campari and sweet citrusy Cointreau, formed the backbone of his small home bar. “With those ingredients,” he says, “I knew I could learn to make a lot of different cocktails” when mixed with classic base spirits like bourbon, gin or rum. With this limited stock at a home bar, “you can make almost anything,” he says with a grin. “The Fernet is for sipping while you make the cocktails.” Alibi Bar & Place 369 S. Main, SLC, 385-259-0616
Stirring glass
Jigger
TOOLS OF THE TRADE It doesn’t take a ton of expensive equipment to outfit a home bar in style. Here are the basics:
STIRRING GLASS AND BAR SPOON A must for all-alcohol potions like Manhattans and Sazeracs; any straightsided glass will do, such as a beer pint glass. STRAINER A Hawthorn strainer (engineered to snare citrus pulp) works for most preparations, but consider yourself lucky if you find a vintage julep strainer.
Spoon
SHAKER Options (and opinions) abound about a “proper” shaker. The three-piece cobbler shaker works for most homebartending situations. CITRUS PRESS Always use fresh juice. Always. JIGGER Until you’ve mastered the metering of a free pour, measuring to ensure proper proportions is key to making great cocktails.
Strainer
Shaker
Citris press
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Last Bite
DARCEY BURTON
Nutrient-enhanced water is healthier than soda, but what would Grandma say?
Keeping It Real
It takes effort to steer clear of ‘food-like’ products BY JOHN RASMUSON
“D
on’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” Thus spoke food maven Michael Pollan in Abravanel Hall in 2008. The “edible, food-like products,” alien to grandma’s experience, are arrayed along the middle aisles of the grocery store, he explained to a rapt, foodie crowd of 2,000. Avoid the interior, he said: hew to the periphery of the store. Along the outside walls of the modern supermarket you typically find dairy, bakery and meat. Produce, too, an overflowing cornucopia where everything seems “to be in season, sprayed, burnished, bright,” as novelist Don DeLillo wrote in White Noise. It’s a fair description of most big grocery stores in Salt Lake City, but it is the scaled-down one, Emigration Market, which always brings Pollan’s words back to me. In the section designated “tropical” there lies a Dr. Seuss-inspired assortment of fruits, some with hedgehog skins, one with red anemone spines. Would you, could you eat a kiwano or a cherimoya or a rambutan or a pitaya? As inedible as they appear to be, Google has your back. A barbecued slab of jackfruit anyone? Would my great grandparents try it? I believe they would. As pioneers in Sanpete County in the 1850s—“hard times for bread,” wrote Parley Pratt—my Danish-immigrant forebearers ate unfamiliar plants like pigweed and sego lily whether they looked edible or not. The supermarket’s middle-aisle precinct is worth 50 Devour Utah • august 2019
examination. Most of us are so inured to the processed food found there that we cruise the middle aisles looking but not seeing, filling our basket with impulse. Google isn’t much help. An Internet search of “Cheetos” yields this about the “fun, much-loved cheesy treats”: “You just can’t eat a Cheetos snack without licking the signature ‘cheetle’ off your fingertips.” A side of cheetle with the grilled jackfruit anyone? A bottle of Dragon Fruit Vitamin Water to wash it down? Vitamin Water would baffle my great grandmother. Not just because “vitamin” wasn’t coined until 1912 but because no one with good sense would pay for water in a bottle. The ultimate absurdity for her would be bottled alkaline water. After all, for a subsistence farmer on the edge of the Great Basin in the late 1800s, alkalinity was a threat. Another threat was crop-denuding swarms of grasshoppers. She would have been smart to have cooked them for dinner as the Indians did—as the Oaxaca restaurants in Central Mexico still do. But would she, could she eat some bugs? Or Hamburger Helper, Cheetos or Cheese Whiz? Take a swig of a “flavored, nutrient-enhanced water beverage”? The question is beside the point. Pollan is not telling us to follow a conjured, 19th-century woman into the middle aisles of Smith’s so as to register her reaction to Fruit Loops, Marshmallow Fluff, Jell-O, Cup Noodles and their ilk. Rather, he intends that we identify “edible, food-like products” in the store and forgo them. Pollan has spoken thusly: “If it comes from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.” ❖
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