The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Craving Something New?
Turn your love of food into a career
The food world is hotter than ever, with Broadway shows like “Waitress” and “Fully Committed,” movies like “Julie and Julia,” the Long Wharf production of “The Most Beautiful Room in New York” and TV shows like “Chopped,” “Top Chef,” “Food Network Star,” “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and Hallmark Channel’s “Gourmet Detective.”
These and the neverending new food shows prove that food and cooking are on the front burner of our minds. Add to this the thousands of food blogs, new cookbooks published, and the plethora of food magazines, and people are eager to learn more about cooking.
Today’s food celebrities — Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, Giada, Mario Batali, Ina Garten aka “The Barefoot Contessa,” and Connecticut’s Jacques Pepin — are rock stars of the food world. Food television shows have elevated the awareness of the food industry as a viable profession. However, remember, television is entertainment, and it glamorizes the job to some degree.
Not everyone will become a celebrity chef, and don’t let “Hell’s Kitchen” make you think all kitchens and chefs are heated like what you see there.
Once August arrives, and school is back on people’s minds, I receive dozens of phone calls on how to get started in the food field. What is intriguing to me is the variety of the backgrounds of some of the new students; nurses, attorneys, teachers and retirees. Culinary and food service management programs, including the ones at Gateway Community College, where I am professor and coordinator of the hospitality management programs, have seen increased enrollments in recent years. Of course there are the traditional students right out of high school, however I have noticed many second-career seekers enrolling.
People want to know how to turn their love of food into a career. Irena Chalmers, author of “Food Jobs: 150 Great Jobs for Culinary Students, Career Changers and Food Lovers” (© 2008, Beaufort Books) and her companion book, “Great Food Jobs 2: Ideas and Inspiration for
your Job Hunt” (© 2013, Beaufort Books) gives you a peek into the food jobs class she taught at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. (By the way, did you know the CIA was founded in New Haven?)
The introduction of the book says: “I am the matchmaker. Students tell me what they love to do in their spare time (like riding a bike or playing the guitar or going shopping), and I try my best to find or invent a food job for them. The cyclist is now writing about food for a cycling magazine, the guitar player has been hired as a personal chef for a rock group and the student who likes to go shopping locates props for a food photographer. They use their culinary knowledge and combine it with a passion to do something that will make them happy.”
Descriptions of food jobs you probably never thought of will help translate your zest for flavor into a satisfying profession. As Irena said: “Culinary careers are as varied as they are fascinating — the only challenge is deciding which one is right for you.” Check out an interview I did with Irena at bit.ly/2x1HpZu.
“Cooking Up a Business: Lessons from Food Lovers who Turned Their Passion into a Career — and How You Can Too” By Rachel Hofstetter (© 2013, TarcherPerigee) and “Good Food, Great Business: How to Take your Artisan Food Idea from Concept to Marketplace” (© 2014, Chronicle Books) are books I suggest to students who have a “famous” sauce, cookie recipe or unique food product and would like produce it and bring to the store shelf.
Students ask what else they can do in the culinary and food industries besides working in a restaurant. Food trucks are hot and less costly than opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant. If you like to write, marry it with the passion for food by exploring food blogging, menu writing, writing a cookbook, or writing about food politics or food history. Do you have an artful eye and attention to detail? How about food videography, food photography, food styling or special event planner? What about working for an advertising agency that specializes in the promotion of food? If you like experimenting with recipes, a recipe tester or developer or working in a test kitchen for a food magazine, blog, or cookbook publisher might be something to explore.
One of our recent graduates, William Stewart, who received an A.S. degree in food service management and a certificate in culinary arts, is doing just that. He is a test kitchen assistant for Fine Cooking, a national food magazine based in Newtown (finecooking.com). I recently caught up with William. He was proud to show off his test kitchen where he makes sure all of the recipes published are fool proof. He also is responsible for purchasing the ingredients for the recipes.
He said sometimes it is a challenge to procure ingredients that are not in season. (Remember, the magazine is now working on the end-of-year holiday issue.) He wanted to share a couple of favorite recipes he tested that had been submitted by developers. For the recipe for Korean-style burgers, visit bit. ly/2uNf2wu.
The following recipe is by Anjali Patak, courtesy of Fine Cooking’s August/ September 2017 issue:
“Warm, tender plums topped with softly whipped mascarpone and a crumble fragrant with cardamom are a simple, fuss-free dessert that also happens to be plate-licking good.”
BAKED PLUMS WITH CARDAMOM NUT CRUMBLE AND CREAM INGREDIENTS
½ tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces 1-1⁄8 oz. (¼ cup) all-purpose flour 1tablespoon dark brown sugar 1tablespoon coarsely chopped hazelnuts 8ripe plums (or peaches or nectarines), cut in half, stones (pits) removed 2tablespoons raisins ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon cardamom seeds (from about 10green pods) 2tablespoons plus 2teaspoons honey 8ounces mascarpone
¾ cup heavy cream 1½ teaspoons finely grated lemon zest 1teaspoon fresh lemon juice Kosher salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and hazelnuts, and toss with your fingers to combine. Spread on a small rimmed baking sheet and bake, tossing once, until light brown, about 6minutes. Meanwhile, place the fruit cut side up on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. In a small bowl, toss the raisins with the cinnamon. Divide the raisins and any cinnamon left behind in the bowl among the hollows of the fruit halves. Sprinkle with the cardamom, and drizzle with 2tablespoons of the honey. Bake until the fruit has softened considerably but still holds its shape, 25 to 40minutes, depending on the fruit. Let cool slightly before transferring to a serving platter or plates.
In a medium bowl, combine the mascarpone, cream, the remaining 2teaspoons honey, half of the lemon zest, the lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Whisk by hand until very soft peaks form. Sprinkle the fruit with the nut crumble and dollop with some mascarpone. Garnish with the remaining lemon zest. Makes 6-8servings.
Some schools to check out
Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology, New Haven (203-823-9823); Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, New York (800-CULINARY); Gateway Community College, New Haven (203-285-2175); Johnson & Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island (800-DIAL-JWU); Lincoln Technical Institute, Shelton (203-9290592); Manchester Community College (860-5123000); Naugatuck Valley Community College, Waterbury (203-575-8040); Norwalk Community College (203-857-7000); University of Massachusetts Amherst (413-545-2535); University of New Haven (203-932-7413).
Other resources
• “Culinary Careers” by Rick Smilow and Anne E. McBride features exclusive interviews with both foodworld luminaries and those on their way up the ladder, to help you discover what a day in the life is really like in your desired field.
• “Love What You Do: Building a Career in the Culinary Industry” by Dorothy Cann Hamilton, founder of the French Culinary Institute, along with Lisa Cornelio and Christopher Pagani, Ph.D., assists you from the beginning stages of determining if this career is right for you, how to seek the right ed- ucation and the resources to land a dream job. A selfinventory uncovers your goals, passions, strengths and weaknesses.
• “Field Guides to Finding a New Career: Food and Culinary Arts” by Ken Mondschein features a selfassessment, “career compasses” that identify the most important skills and qualities required for the jobs you’re considering, “you are here” tips for repurposing current skills and gaining new ones, and “landmarks” that address key issues for career changers in different age groups.
• “Real Résumés for Restaurant, Food Service and Hotel Jobs” by Anne McKinney shows how to communicate skills by showing real résumés that have worked for real people. Nearly every résumé is accompanied by a companion cover letter. The book offers advice and insight gained by hundreds of job hunters.
• Are you one of the many people who dream of making a living selling your own homemade foods? “Start and Run A Home-Based Food Business” by Mimi Shortland Fix takes you through the process of starting and running a food business. Learn how to find your product niche, price, package and market your product. Setting up simple bookkeeping, scheduling and inventory systems is discussed. The CD-ROM included has resources and forms to assist.
• “Will Write For Food” by Dianne Jacobs covers the most popular genres of food writing: cookbooks, recipes, memoir, fiction, culinary travel, restaurant reviews and food blogging. The chapters, complete with skill exercises, cover everything from freelancing and writing pitch letters to constructing the perfect cookbook and enhancing blog posts with photography. Jacob shares interviews with some of the country’s most successful food writers, literary agents, cookbook editors and recipe developers.
• “Running a Food Truck for Dummies” by Richard Myrick helps you find your niche, create a menu, set prices, choose and outfit a vehicle, build a business plan, and use social media to market your food truck business.
One of these books is bound to lead you into the hot world of food. After reading some books, visit an advisor at a culinary school or program. I would be delighted to talk with anyone who wants to know how to turn his or her love of food into a career. Please see my contact information at the end of the column.
Desperately seeking
Pam Trepanier of North Haven wrote: “As an avid reader of your weekly column in the New Haven Register, I thought you might be able to help your readers and me with this recipe request. There is a new baking competition sponsored by King Arthur Flour at the 75th North Haven Fair in the beginning of September. The contest is for 1943 War Time Cake using King Arthur Flour.
“In some of your past columns you mentioned the old recipe books you collected over the years. Do you have any recipes for a War Time Cake that you can print in your column to share with your readers? The fair also has other 1943 baking contests this year too! Spoon bread, cherry lattice pie and peasant cookies. I thought this would be something you would be interested in. Many people have expressed excitement over the new 1943 contests.”
Pam, you asked the right person. As many of you know I collect vintage recipe pamphlets. I will look through my collection and publish a couple of appropriate recipes. Perhaps a reader also has a recipe they would like to share. Please send to me very soon, so it can be published prior to the fair.
Send us your requests
Which restaurant recipes or other recipes would you like to have? Which food products are you having difficulty finding? Do you have cooking questions? Send them to me.