International Chef's Congress

On Tuesday & Wednesday I spent my afternoons volunteering at the 1st annual International Chef's Congress put on by StarChefs. I was hoping to assist some chefs with their demo preparations. As it turned out, all the chefs came with members of their own staff and the majority of their prep completed. The volunteer coordinator over scheduled volunteers just to make sure they were covered because they didn't know what to expect. I was able to assist a vendor from Spain who was sampling about 8 different cheeses. So on Tuesday, for about 35 minutes I cut the cheese. I mean, I cut cheese. Ha ha ha...

The majority of the remaining time, I had the good fortune of being invited by the coordinator to watch panel discussions and chef demos. I was able to watch chefs like Jose Andres, Morimoto, Wylie Dufresne, Patricia Yeo, Pierre Herme, Frederic Bau and Ken Oringer. I listened to a panel discussion between Anthony Bourdain, Chris Consentino and Fergus Henderson about "Guts & Glory" - a discussion about offal. During the demos I helped when needed, mostly passing things out to the audience - these included bottles of Belgian beers (like Duval & Corsendonk), squares of cedar paper and a very few samples from what chefs were preparing. I guess I had thought that samples were likely, and thus that I would be busy chopping, dicing, plating and getting yelled at. I guess part of the problem was that the facility lacked a true kitchen. There were moveable electric ovens, flat tops and metal tables on stage for the chefs to use, but only a few items in the "kitchen" area which was directly beside the stage. The other issue was that many chefs chose expensive ingredients. I saw at least 4 demos with foie gras - and not just a few cubes - I'm talking pound plus lobes of the stuff!

Ken Oringer (of Boston's Clio & Toro) had an interesting demo. Definitely flavor interesting... he created a thick, gelatinous broth of chicken feet and smoked pigs feet and foie gras (along with other spices and seasonings - sorry I was wrapping my mind around the feets) which he cooked for many hours and then added a re-hydrated shark fin. He buys the shark fin dried, but after 2 weeks of soaking and changing the water daily, it is soft enough to be steeped in the gelatinous broth for a few more hours. He said that he's had a good response with the dish on his tasting menu, which he charges some where around $135 dollars for. He said if a dish like this was served ala carte, he'd expect the price to be around $85. So I guess it isn't too far of a stretch to see why he didn't plate up about 100+ little tastings for the audience!

Another demo I was fascinated by was Wylie Dufresnes'. He is the chef/owner of wd~50 on the Lower East Side. I really want to visit his restaurant now. He actually didn't actively demo anything on stage. He came well prepared to discuss a few techniques that were documented on a dvd he showed. He's using all kinds of scientific elements - like hyrdocolliods - to basically give forms to ingredients that you'd never expect. He showed a "bacon, egg and cheese" dish that he made by squirting droplets of egg whites into hot fat in a pan. They bead up onto little bubbles and then basically form a sheet, which after the oil is drained off, remains in a single piece with a very interesting bubbled texture and look. The cheese is to the best of my description, a parmesan cream, but he creates it with the same type of solution that is used to make fat free mayo - so he's basically giving the taste of parmesan with the texture and viscosity of a mayo, but essentially fat free. The bacon is represented by lardoons of pig back fat, crisped up and plated with ribbons of the egg and a quenelle of the cheese. Totally amazing!

There were two pastry demos that I watched and they were each so interesting. One guy - Sam Mason (former pastry chef of wd~50) used some "science-like" techniques to make creme brulee pebbles/droplets. Totally out there, but very interesting. The other chef, Pierre Herme, has one pastry shop in Paris and one in Tokyo. He creates, I guess what I'd describe as flavor profiles. He develops pastry items based on two or three flavor combinations. The flavor combination he presented was called Isphalan - raspberry, rose and litchi. I guess it had originally started off as only raspberry and rose and after tasting litchi he decided that it would complement them well. He takes these flavors and makes many permutations - cakes, galletes, tarts, petit fours, gelees, purees, frozen sorbets, he even made a cake on a stick called Mr. H - and gives them lovely names like "surprise" and "emotion." I just love how he simplifies his flavors down to a few complementary ones and then just runs with them. Most everything he makes is presented in some layered form, so you have a real idea (based on the color) what the flavor is. It was just very beautiful, sleek, simple and pure.

Anyway, overall an amazing experience. I'm truly so psyched that I get to go/volunteer at these "industy only" events. I'm so blessed, humbled and totally in awe. Some day, how cool would it be to be doing demos, mingling with chefs, cooking for (or even going to) VIP dinners and staying up until 4am at after parties - drinking, eating, laughing and sharing stories with these people?

Until then... I'll practice not being so shy... what do I say to these people? Probably start off with my name, and something like "it was a pleasure to see you demonstrate... i really was fascinated by (insert something here)... i was wondering about (insert something else related to their body of knowledge here)..." The only thing I think I pulled off during the conference was a few good dimpled smiles...