On October 29, hotel and country club chefs from across America made their annual pilgrimage to the 3rd annual Club Chef’s Institute at The Greenbrier Resort, tucked away in West Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains. For two days attendees participated in myriad workshops, focusing on club restaurant applications as diverse and simple as how to make a quenelle, the basics of sous-vide and using hydrocolloids.

StarChefs was thrilled to be invited to the event, learning much about the specific challenges club chefs face and remaining eager to participate in the unique and thriving realm of private club chefs.

To kick-off the CCI festivities, Chef Peter Timmons and the Greenbrier Culinary Team prepared a beautiful buffet dinner. The dining room was decorated a monochromatic white for the occasion and was stunning in its stark simplicity.

Day 1:

Richard Rosendale John Johnstone Chef Johnstone's captive audience

Richard Rosendale (Rosendale’s, Columbus) focused on the delicate balance of flavors necessary to complete a successful dish. He drew on his medal-winning experience in the Culinary Olympics to highlight innovative techniques that help enhance great flavor combinations. One such technique demonstrated in his Beef Three Ways involved using lecithin in poaching liquid, which renders the liquid stable and excellent for plating. In the Culinary Olympics, participants need to conceive each dish from the bottom up, as each color, flavor and texture is important to the final product. Chef Rosendale uses ideas and flavor combinations from the competitive setting of the Culinary Olympics to add creativity and luster to the equally competitive realm of the restaurant kitchen.

John Johnstone (The Ritz-Carlton, Naples) talked about the chef’s duty to cook for the guest and not for himself. Which in practice for Chef Johnstone means that approximately 75% of a menu should be dedicated to user-friendly dishes, items guests are familiar with and sure to like. But a small portion should be treated as a kind of culinary sandbox, where chefs and guests get to play. Through featuring both traditional and esoteric dishes a chef can expect to achieve a balanced and lucrative menu that is pleasing to everyone. Chef Johnstone prepared Short Ribs sous-vide with Rosemary Gnocchi and Sunchoke cream as an example of this kind of chef and crowd pleasing fare.

Olivier Andreini Shirley Corriher

Olivier Andreini (The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park) prepared canapés and finger foods to illustrate the importance of garde-manager in increasing revenue. He demonstrated several spoon presentations and how to make a quenelle.

A Brazilian Buffet Lunch was sensational, simple in its menu of classic South American fare. The menu featured Feijoada, Salada de Palmito com Maracuja and Acaraje. Greenbrier chefs worked with local Brazilian chefs resulting in an authentic and creative departure from tired and blasé buffets.

After lunch, Shirley Corriher (Cookwise) discussed sous vide, unami and browning through a scientific lens. She broke each method, flavor and process into its smallest parts, empirically illustrating why proteins brown, where flavors come from on the molecular level and why meat tastes good cooked under vacuum. She added a refreshingly lively and jovial element to an ostensibly boring subject matter.

Arnaud Berthelier

Rounding out the afternoon, Arnaud Berthelier (The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead) gave a thorough and informative presentation of squab, cooked sous-vide. He combined the squab breast with coffee essence and stuffed the leg with foie gras. He showed that sous-vide is more than fancy, flashy, expensive technique, because it produces the most succulent, moist and flavorful food possible.

To finish a long and informative day filled with much talk about food, CCI participants relaxed to a great dinner. The Greenbrier team designed an intense and romantically red dining room for the occasion, offering a fresh and dramatic idea for club chefs to take home.

Day 2:

Antoinette Bruno

StarChefs’ own Antoinette Bruno opened the second day’s events with a discussion on current American culinary trends. Where 2005 was known for technological innovation, 2006 marked a return to an emphasis on flavor. Across the country and throughout the world there is a renewed focus on the purity of taste and how to best harness an ingredient’s innate flavors. Science in the kitchen is still big – a full quarter of chefs report having experimented with chemicals – but chefs are focusing on natural and organic techniques at the same time. They are also experimenting with hydrocolloids and gums with the aim of altering shape and texture while leaving flavor intact. Meanwhile, “local” and “organic” ingredients have led to “sustainable,” and the number of chefs who actively support local agriculture continues to grow. At the end of the day, though, revenue is the bottom line. Small plates and tasting menus continue to be the two most popular means for boosting revenue in restaurants across the country.

Michael Voltaggio

Michael Voltaggio – (Greenbrier Tavern Room – White Sulphur Springs) gave an excellent presentation on various hydrocolloids and their culinary value. From the relatively commonplace pectin and gelatin to the more adventurous agar and methylcellulose, these chemicals can accomplish a whole range of textural feats. And, perhaps counter intuitively, fortifying sauces, pastas, sponges and powders with these chemicals allows their natural flavors to flourish in a whole range of new forms and textures.

We at StarChefs.com had a wonderful and informative experience at CCI 2006 and look forward to sharing the insights we gained about club chefs with the world wide web at large. Our JobFinder is an excellent way to seek employment in the private club sector and we are excited to publish several club chef related features in the future.