Culinary Institute of America Training 2024

Chef Instructors Phil Crispo and Chris Muller began each day’s session with classroom instruction and then staff moved to the kitchen for hands-on work. Day one session reviewed knife skills (Bâtonnet, Concassé, Slice and Mince) and then teams prepared recipes that required practicing these skills. Day two included recipe review and preparation, creating four entries determined by the CIA Chefs.

Day three was the competition. Teams received a market basket with a set of core ingredients. Each team had to prepare a 2-course, 2-dish menu for 10 people. The baskets included a whole chicken, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, corn, tomatoes, garlic, and scallions, as well as brown rice and cous cous. Teams were allowed to add other ingredients from the pantry, but had to feature the basket ingredients.

Final dishes prepared included: chicken rollatini, rotisserie chicken, fried chicken, jerk chicken and chicken mole.

The CIA Chefs judged the team’s work over the course of the three days and in the final competition itself. This training enables Columbia culinary teams to continue to hone their skills and is part of our commitment to continuous learning. And in the end, we hope it contributes to a more delicious meal for all our students! Thank you, Chefs!

Photos by Diane Bondareff