Video I submitted for a recent award

Here is a video I submitted yesterday for the John & Suanne Roueche Excellence Awards. The video discusses the program for which I am the Program Director. 

http://youtu.be/HjKKXO1lsjQ

Part 2 of taking the C.E.C. Practical Exam

I completed my C.E.C. exam on January 5^th and successfully passed.  After planning and practicing for about three months I packed, repacked and loaded my truck on Friday January 2^nd; three days before the actual examine! I am writing about this in my blog for a couple of reasons; I wanted to share the experience to those who have never undergone a culinary practical and for those who are considering it in the future. 

The American Culinary Federation started accessing chefs in this format a number of years ago and when they first rolled out the concept they allowed chefs who have competed and earned a silver or better in the K category to count the competition as a practical exam. A few years later they changed it to an F-1 competition. The K category has the chef fabricating a protein, chosen from a list of proteins required in this category, and prepares 4 entrée portions from the fabricated protein.  For the competition I choose to use lamb; I encased lamb chops with lamb chorizo and earned silver with a 2^nd best in show.  I earned my C.E.C. after I completed my written exam and the required courses for this level of certification.  The f-1 is a single person mystery competition where the chef prepared three courses from a mystery basket.  I believe ACF made the change for certification because the f-1 was much closer to the requirements of the practical exam. 

When the notifications came out for the next level for approved culinary evaluators, ACE, I wanted to move to the next level and become a lead ACE.  “Lead Evaluators coach and supervise apprentices and Regional ACE Trainers facilitate trainings and refreshers.” http://www.acfchefs.org/ACF/Certify/ACE/ACEStatus/ACF/Certify/ACE/Status/

One of the caveats for earning this level is all applicants must have taken a practical exam. At first I thought my competition would be okay and I would still be allowed to apply.  This however was not going to be the case! My initial reaction after finding out was a bit of disappointment and disparaging to say the least. The later was due to my already busy schedule and knowing I would now need to find time to practice and plan for taking the CEC exam.  My job as a culinary instructor/program director often will have me assessing my students, and reviewing their skills, and part of what I do, involves getting students to recognize the importance of testing ourselves.  Customers will always be on the lookout for great food, yearning for well-crafted foods and spending their money in our restaurants. When we test ourselves it provides us with valuable insight on what we know and what we do not know.  Over the years I have heard complaints from chefs who feel the test(s) are irrelevant and do not have a realistic cooking environment.  They feel that culinary skills in the restaurants today are significantly different and much of what is being tested is not prepared today in the restaurant industry.  Although they may have a point in the criteria of foods, the types of sauces, or knife cuts currently found on some of today’s popular menus may not be the same as required by the exam; I would argue that the criteria is still about executing sound fundamentals in cooking. Our culinary program, like many others, stresses the fundamentals of cooking; these fundamentals are related to organization, knife skills, heat transfers and sanitation. Within the aforementioned fundamentals there are skills that involve culinary vocabulary, correct technique and developing working systems.  Chefs in general are responsible for a great many aspects of the restaurant and when any part of their restaurant comes to  a halt or slow down due to poor planning, the chef will experience a great deal of grief! The practical exam attempts to have the candidate work under microscope, showcasing each skill as they work. 

The first step towards taking the exam involves research and development; taking ideas for preparation and ensuring they have great flavor profiles, sound techniques and offer a level of skill appropriate to the exam. To do this I reviewed many different texts and notes from my years of experience.  I wanted to add a level of skill that would best represent my culinary skills and showcase what I have learned over the years. To do this I sought out my colleagues and had them review my menu planning.  They too have undergone this type of testing, whether it was in competition or from being part of the testing.  The advice I was seeking came with often times the importance of increasing the skill level. Thus my menu evolved as I added additional skills to each of my plates. 

To be honest I would have or wish I could have devoted more time to the exam and worked in more practice time.  Understanding what a practice means, however is the key, and finding the time needed to get a practice in can be a challenge! Often time’s chefs will fail due to the lack of practice and not realizing the importance of testing their menu and skills prior to taking the actual exam. This is why I wanted to write about the exam; after undergoing the exam it became clear to me the difficulties many candidates face when taking the practical.  I am very fortunate in my job, I work five days a week, I have holidays off and for the most part can fit into my schedule the time to practice.  That doesn’t mean it was easy! The day before my scheduled practice was spent gathering ingredients, measuring them, labeling and checking to make sure I had the equipment on my cart.  This was usually a three hour task in itself and I had help getting together my ingredients and equipment.  I offered students an opportunity to assist me and thus they would be learning how to go about preparing for a practical exam. Not all students thought this would be a great opportunity! I was able to find three who were willing, and believe me I was definitely grateful!  The day of my practice started at 7:30 AM, this was when I would start my day at school, and when I finished my duties as a culinary instructor, I would start my practice at around 4 PM (on a good day). Starting the practice meant setting up the kitchen, storing the mised food, and preparing any last minute prep that I had not finished.  Usually by that time it was closer to 5:00 PM and the test runs 3 hours with fifteen minutes to plate all three courses.  When all of my cooking was completed, plated and tested it was now time to clean up.  By this time you are knee deep in dirty pots, pans and other items, your only thoughts are, “why am I doing this?” For me the answer was more about sharpening my own skills and pushing myself to improve my work habits.  I also wanted my students to know that I too will test myself and stay current in my culinary knowledge.  I believe the latter is why our culinary program is validated and relevant; all of our full time faculty and most of our adjunct faculty have tested themselves in either competition or practical exams.  We have allowed ourselves to be judged by those in our industry who have the knowledge base and skills, which will push us into a better understanding of the material we instruct.  When our students see us undergoing this type of work, they know our test are a direct reflection of professionals and are not based on subjective whims of their instructors.

The other part of getting prepared for a practical is in writing the recipes, prep list, equipment list and photographing the finished plates.  This piece of the exam is an important part; it will be reviewed by the examiners and also be a part of the planning needed to succeed.  My written work was fluid because each week of practice I would make changes to the plan, or recipes as it evolved.  This part is important because I wanted it to be true reflection of what I was doing during the exam. The prep list was changed as I progressed to assist me in completing tasks efficiently and on time. Even after completing the exam, I know the prep list could have and should have been improved further.  Chefs know the importance of having a complete prep list and depend on writing one that will allow them to complete many tasks at the same time.  The prep list is what choreographs our work into a fine tuned operation.

Due to the campus, where I am employed, being closed for the holidays I needed to pack all of my food and equipment two days before the exam and take it home.  I booked a small hotel room near the testing site and the night before drove up to the city where I was to be tested.  The day before at home, with the help of my wife, I double checked all of my ingredients and finished any last minute prep.  Sara, my wife, was an incredible trooper in all of this, as she assisted me and made sure I had everything on my list.  She spent the entire day with me in our small kitchen and helped to make sure I did not miss any details.  I owe her big time for this! Once I had everything packed and loaded I headed out for my hotel. Did I mention it was minus 12 outside! My truck had been winterized but even in this type of weather you never know what to expect.  Once I arrived at my hotel I unloaded my food into my hotel room. I had four coolers, one for my chickens, one for my fish and two for my mised (click on the link to view the work of “mised produce) produce and dry ingredients. The word “mised” is short for misen place, which means everything in its place.   The hotel room had a small refrigerator that I could use for items I needed to stay fresh and safe. The ice machine in the hotel was also put to use as I made sure all of my ingredients were in the “safe zone” for temperature. I plugged my diesel truck into an outlet nearby and felt confident in my getting to the exam on time the next day.   The next morning I woke up and had breakfast in the hotel. I double checked my prep list, reviewed my recipes and again felt confident.  I went back to my hotel room and packed everything. Before loading my truck I wanted to get it started and warmed up. I went outside clicked to unlock the truck and realized the locks were not working! Okay, I thought, no biggie I will unlock it manually.  I got in turned the key to warm the glow plug, shut it off and did it again (in extreme cold it helps to really heat up the glow plug) and turned the ignition. Nothing happened! The battery could not turn the gelled diesel over! It was at this time I also realized I had swallowed a recently implanted crown in the middle of the night as I slept! My hotel neighbor happened to be in his vehicle and I tapped on his window to see if he could give me a jump. He agreed and we tried but that truck was not going to take a charge! Well by this point I am now frantic and extremely concerned on my next move; after all of the planning and practicing was it now going to come down to winter weather and my truck not starting?  I called the test site, explained what had happened and fortunately they sent someone to see if they could help jump my truck or get me to the test site.  After several attempts to jump the truck I gave up and we packed up the car sent to rescue me, and it took two trips to get everything to the campus of the test site! Plus he drove me to a garage, across from my hotel, and I was able to get them to tow my truck to the garage where they would get it started.  Really! This was not the way I wanted my day to start!

Needless to say I was pretty discombobulated by time I had unloaded all my food and equipment! By time I started to setup I felt a dull throb in my mouth from the swallowed broken crown! This day was not going to be a banner day.  Thankfully I had practiced, planned and prepared for this test! In the end it was not a gold medal performance but I had passed with some minor infractions.  Those infractions still haunt me as I write this but I know that under the circumstances it could have been a lot worse. The reviewers liked my food and liked the fact that I had put a very high level of skill into my food.  At one point in time one of them even joked as I was tourneing potatoes, “…are you glutton for punishment!”

My epiphany on doing this exam opened my eyes to a couple of very important facts; one every chef who takes this exam probably has undergone a tremendous amount of work to be there and two they are very passionate about their work.  As an evaluator it is of the utmost importance to give candidates a meaningful experience that will enhance their work and promote skills. This includes those candidates who do not pass; they too have put in some time or have undergone a great deal to be tested.  Some may not have put in the right amount of practice or their practice was not viewed by someone who could have corrected some key mistakes.  No matter the outcome we need to make sure all candidates walk away with a sense of accomplishment and education that will either assist them to continue to succeed or move to the next level.  What we say during the critique must be educational, non-subjective, and understandable.  Our words are significant to the candidate and everything we state will be deployed later on, either in retesting or in their daily work.  It is imperative we can back our statements with facts that ring true to the candidate and makes sense.  Beyond all of that we need to show an incredible amount of respect to the candidate; we have no idea what brought them to test their skill or what that journey was like to get there. 

The last important fact of taking on a test such as this can best be summoned by understanding the rigor of the test and the importance of wanting to prove to ourselves and those we work with, our commitment to excellence. This excellence is driven by ego, work ethic and the drive to be great at what we do.  No matter the reason, our willingness to sharpen our skills and manage our work is an important component to who we are as chefs.  Chefs are driven to please customers, management and instill a work ethic on our staff because we know we are only as good as our last plate of food.