Volume 33, No.41
April 11, 2014
Alumni Spotlight: A Star in the Making
BY: Amy Zarichnak, AOS Culinary
Corey Siegel is a busy man.
In addition to his full-time sous chef job at the The Vintage Club, a country club in Palm Desert, CA, Corey is training on the 2016 American Culinary Federation (ACF) team. He will be competing in the Expogast Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup, November 22–26, 2014, in Luxembourg. In addition, he will be competing at the 2016 Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (IKA) International Culinary Exhibition in Erfurt, Germany, which is commonly known as the “culinary olympics.” A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, Siegel is not new to competition. He competed with Richard Rosendale, who at the time was the executive chef at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV, at the 2012 Bocuse D’or USA Finals, which was held here at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. They took first place, meaning that Siegel was at Chef Rosendale’s side as his commis chef for the 2013 Bocuse D’or competition in Lyon, France, where they placed seventh out of twenty-four teams. Siegel is just 23 years old. How does one accomplish so much at such a young age? Siegel was chosen for the ACF team not only on his ability to cook, but also because of personal drive and passion. Hard work, focus, and dedication are the keystones that have led to his success and rapid rise in the food industry. And planning. Knowing that he wanted to try out for the ACF team, he mapped out his plan while still at school. While at the CIA, Siegel says he didn’t party much, and just put his head down and learned to cook the best he could while attending school. He externed at Westchester Country Club under then-Executive Chef Ed Leonard, who was the captain for ACF Culinary Team USA from 1998 to 2008, winning 5 championships and garnering more than 30 international gold medals. While there, he learned that most of the sous chefs there were graduates of the Greenbrier apprenticeship program. One of them nicknamed Siegel “Rosendale.” The first time he was called that, Siegel responded, “What are you talking about? My name is Corey.” “Just look him up,” said the sous chef. “Once I looked him up, I said, ‘Whoa! I have some high standards to live up to now,’” Siegel says. It was an indication of things to come. After graduation, he was accepted into the Greenbrier apprenticeship program, and began his journey alongside then-Executive Chef Richard Rosendale. During the second year, he was headed to a demo with Chef Rosendale. Siegel was telling Rosendale about a competition he wanted to enter, and Rosendale asked him how old he was. When Siegel told Rosendale that he was 19, Rosendale asked him if he wanted to compete with him in the Bocuse D’or, where the commis chef is required to be under the age of 22. Of course, the answer was yes. That was the start of rounds of planning and practice. He didn’t initially realize the magnitude of what he signed up for with the Bocuse D’or competition. Overall, he knew that it
Culinary Culture
was going to be tough. He had a little bit of knowledge about the competition and what goes into competing, but the time investment, along with the organization of the logistics behind it, was a lot more work than he imagined. “During apprenticeship, you work your eight-hour shift, if not overtime, and then you stay up all night or as many hours as needed to work on all the training programs – the buffet platters, five-course, cold food competition work, then we would do our training practice,” Siegel says. “Mondays were my day off, so on Mondays, we would do full runs at practice. So, it was working seven days a week, and getting two or three hours of sleep a night,” he says. “Which was absolutely insane,” he adds. He did this for two years. “It’s an adrenaline rush, really. I would say that the last two years were an adrenaline rush. You just knew that you had a goal, and the goal was to stand on that podium over in France. Sleeping wasn’t going to get us there.” In the basement of the Greenbrier was a war bunker that was converted into an exact replica of the kitchen they’d be working in at the Bocuse D’or in France. Sponsors donated equipment, and Rosendale and Siegel trained with loud recordings of past competitions blasting loudly through speakers, so that when they went over to France for the competition, they wouldn’t be overwhelmed with all the noise. Across the hall, they had a room that they called the “war room.” It was their game plan and logistics area, where they would construct a platter or talk about planning all the trips. “We had a calendar that had all these things mapped out for us - the whole year. There would be an “E” for exercise, and a “P” for practice,” Siegel reports. There was a lot to balance. He learned from Chef Rosendale, a veteran of over fifty competitions in his careers. “He’s just an extremely organized chef,” Siegel says of Rosendale. “He taught me a lot. He even labeled his clothes for what day and cryovaced them when we traveled. ‘This is Sunday’s outfit, this is Monday’s, this is Tuesday’s…’” he says. “It sounds really OCD, but for us, it was a way of life. We had to balance our schedules like that.” They spent two weeks training at the French Laundry in California, and spent a week with Grant Achatz in Chicago. All of the training paid off. Winning the Bocuse D’or USA meant
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that they were going to France for the main competition. There, they placed seventh out of twenty-four teams. Now, working at The Vintage Club in Palm Desert, CA, he uses what he learned while preparing for the Bocuse D’or and applies it to his training on the ACF team. Every three weeks, they practice at a predetermined location. Often, he is flying to a different destination in the U.S. for practice, but the main practice location is located at the College of Dupage in Glen Ellyn, IL. The ACF pays for all the traveling, and the sponsors also support these activities. Food, travel, and lodging is all paid for by the ACF for the team members. They do not, however, get paid to be part of this team. Siegel says that getting time off work is one of the biggest challenges that you have when you’re on the team. He says that one has to work at a country club or a resort, because places like that have enough staff that they are able to allow team members to take time off for practice. “You can’t be at the French Laundry, and be on the team. They’d say, ‘You want three days off every week? No way,’” Siegel says. Siegel’s mother, Allison Siegel, is a CIA alumnae. Her father, Alfred Rosenthal, who is Siegel’s grandfather, is Photo Courtesy of Bonjwing Lee a Life Fellow of the CIA and has a long rich history with the school, although he did not go to the school. Siegel’s mother currently works for Aramark in Arlington, VA, in hospital foodservice. As far as what’s in store for him in the future, he’s not sure. “The competitions are just another step for me in learning. I think what I love about competing is the networking, the people that you meet, and getting to travel. In the last year, I’ve been able to go to Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and France – all on someone else’s dime,” he says. “Of course, at the same time, I’ve put in the work and personal growth,” Siegel adds. “Right now I’m looking at most of this as personal growth training so when I do figure out where I’m going to be, I’ll have the skill set that I need to succeed.” There is little doubt that Siegel will succeed, with all that he’s accomplished at such a young age.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
“Student Spotlight: Evan Brady”
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“Sweet Beans!”
“The Fog We Live Behind” ON CAMPUS
CENTER SPREAD
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“Dining With a Legend”
BACK PAGE
“All in Good Taste”
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