Everyday I receive emails from high school students and young adults interested in getting into the food service industry asking if culinary school is right for them. I usually direct them to my Culinary School Resource Center where there are articles, interviews with professional chefs, grant and scholarship information as well as a directory of schools by city and state.

Protecting Your Culinary Arts Education Investment

Most of the top culinary schools today are expensive. Even the two-year community college programs aren’t cheap so I urge you to read my new article called Protecting Your Culinary Arts Education Investment. It offers some basic areas you’ll want to consider before making a commitment to any culinary school program.

The article suggests you “consider your goals” and make sure the program you sign up for matches your career goals. It also reminds you to learn everything you can about a school and to “crunch the numbers”.

Don’t forget to “seek financial assistance”. The article shows where to look including my directory of culinary school grants and scholarships.

And lastly, read about “private school alternatives. Yes, there are loads of great learning opportunities at state and community level schools.

According to the National Restaurant Association, there will be 945,000 locations serving more than 70 billion meal and snack occasions by 13.1 million employees in 2008. That is a lot of opportunity for anyone interested in getting into this industry. Just make sure you have everything you need to know to Protect your Culinary School Investment.

I adapted this pan roasted sea bass recipe from one of my favorite cooking magazines, Fine Cooking. The original recipe calls for Halibut but I found some nice looking Chilean sea bass at the market but you can substitute any mild white fish like cod or grouper.

Great tasting local tomatoes are not available yet but you can find cherry or grape tomatoes that have lots of flavor at most supermarkets. I pick up a big container of them at Costco each week and my daughters eat them like candy.
This technique for cooking this dish is what I call “Pan Roasting”. Fine cooking calls it “Sear-Roasting” which may be more accurate, but I like the sound of pan roasting. You start by browning (searing) the fish in an ovenproof skillet and finishing in the oven. This is how they do it in many restaurants and a great technique for lots of your favorite recipes.

Pan Roasted Sea Bass with Tomato & Capers

Ingredients

1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and halved
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and chopped
1 ½ tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons of good quality balsamic vinegar (aged balsamic is nice if you can find it especially since you are using so little of it.)
Salt and pepper
1 ½ pounds of thick skinless Chilean sea bass filets or substitute some other thick white fish cut up into 4 pieces
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, sliced thin

How to Make at Home

Preheat your over to 450F.

Combine the tomatoes, capers, oregano, balsamic vinegar, ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper in a mixing bowl.

I like to season the flour with salt and pepper and then dredge the filets in it. Be sure to knock off any excess flour from the filets. If you don’t, the fish will stick and the flour will burn and make a mess in the pan.

Heat an ovenproof pan, large enough to hold all the filets without touching, over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering hot. Add the fish filets being sure they are not touching or crowded.

Cook until the fish browns and no longer sticks to the pan, about 3 minutes. Don’t play with the fish while it is browning or you will pull it apart. When the fish sears, it should release easily from the pan.

Flip the fish over using a wide fish spatula if you have one. Add the garlic to the pan and continue cooking until the garlic starts to brown but don’t let it burn. This should take all of 30 seconds.

Add the tomato mixture to the pan but not on top of the fish. Stick the pan into the oven and roast until the fish is perfectly cooked. How will you know when it is perfectly cooked?

When it is firm to the touch and opaque in the center. This may take anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.

As with just about everything you cook, let the fish rest a few minutes before serving with the tomato, garlic mixture spooned over it.

A survey was taken this year by students enrolled at The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes who were asked where they thought the future trends were going in the culinary industry. Some of these students just may be responsible for what we will be eating in our favorite restaurants a few years from now so what they say is interesting.

The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes is the largest culinary school system in the United States and graduates many top chefs of the future. The survey was conducted with the help of 128 culinary. Here is a sampling of what they thought.

68% chose Italian cuisine as their future specialty over 53% French and 47% Spanish cuisine.

84% felt they might entertain fusion cuisine with 17% leaning toward French/Japanese and 16% leaning toward Thai/Mexican.

97% think going green is the wave of the future and will influence their menus’.
75% want to cook with locally supplied ingredients and 55% of these students expect those ingredients to be organic.

52% of the students surveyed thought they would study abroad to learn more about European cuisine.

81% want to someday open their own restaurants as chef/owners and 40% of these students expect to open upscale establishments (fine-dining). The rest are interested in being in charge of mid-scale restaurants.

96% of the students believe the media has a huge impact on their culinary lives.

The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes currently have 28 schools in the United States and a couple of more in Canada. Their curriculum involves 25 world cuisines and is based on classical French cuisine as well as Asian and Latin culinary techniques.

You can see a list of all The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes here.