May 1991 Graduation

I never thought it would be me

On the weekend of April 9 of this year I went to my 20 year reunion from the Culinary Institute of America. It was good to see old friends. After 20 years its is rare to find graduates still cooking. Many are in upper management now. I consider myself very lucky that I have a captive audience that pretty much tell me to do what you want, just do a good job! It was amazing to see how much the school has changed. In addition to a new building for the Caterina de Medici italian restaurant, there is a new bakery cafe with fresh baked goods and Olympic size pool,track and gym, a soccer field. Condos, houses and a new Hilton donated library. The place is amazing.  A new AOS in pastry program and a Bachelors in Culinary Arts with restaurant management. Many of the students are there for the 4 year program. The school has grown from the original Hyde Park,NY campus to a continuing ed campus in Napa Valley,CA and an all new campus in San Antonio,Tx, as well as the just opened Singapore location. I was most amazed by the student’s enthusiasm and professionalism.

When I was there 20 years ago, I was the lone guy from Queen’s and a couple from Long Island,California, Boston, the southerners etc.. All american guys who thought we knew a little bit about cooking. At that time you needed full service cooking experience before you could attend. These days, it’s girls and guys from all over the world. I think I met one kid from USA. The good news for the school and the bad news for us guys visiting after 20 years, was the ratio of cute girls to guys. They now say it’s 65% girls to guys. When I attended it was like 99% guys. The girl’s from Vassar or Marist, you wouldn’t have a chance in the world if you mentioned you went to Culinary. Now it’s cool to be a chef, then it wasn’t. At the time even in the early 90’s the only woman Chef Instructor we had was a big fat german woman named Lyde, she was a master chef,  just the sound of her name would make you run off and hide in your room. The school at the time was mainly European instructors. I think the topic of the weekend was our “skills d class instructor Dieter Faulkner” like many of the teacher’s,Dieter Faulkner preferred to call you by your number. Ill never forget , my Catholic birth name is “Peter”, I am the youngest of 5 boys and being from an Irish family I think they ran out of names by time my parents got to me. I was given this name because, Jesus said. “Upon this rock, I shall build my church”, at CIA I was #6 , stripped of humanity, just a number, forget everything you learned before.. now it is time to lear the right way. Well, Dieter is dead now and I couldn’t be happier, that man drove a lot of people insane. However he as was the source of some great laughs this weekend. No more turning up the consomme behind your back and failing you for it. Anyway, when I was in school I remember guys like me in their 40’s coming back to the school and saying, Man this place is awesome, I was here 20 years ago!! And would be like , yeah? thats great, now get lost… I never thought it would be me.. Funny stuff..

Caterina de Medici restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park,NY

Tom Derosa,Illinois,Gerry King,Texas,Pete Cooke,NY,Steve Gheselin,VA,

Well here it goes my first Spring menu even though its still cold outside, everything came out excellent, thanks to some gracious homeowners!

First course mixed  greens north fork farms satur rocket arugula  Spring roll with organic black trumpet mushrooms organic mango red and yellow pepper snap peas and shrimp
Lightly tossed with a miso vinnaigrette

Austrailan spring lamb with a Panko fresh thyme and Dijon crust, with pommes Anna , roasted asparagus and gruyere
The sauce is a red wine Demi with oven  roasted tomatoes

Desser is 2 tier  rustic banana tart with a crem anglaise base
Chocolate sauce and a homemade caramel and honey ice cream

Black sea bass will be running until the end of December. I love to cook this flavorful fish with local root vegetables, topped with white wine leeks and sauteed shittake mushrooms. Served with beet salad and Sang Lee tomatoes.

"black sea bass with leeks and mushrooms,root veg and beet salad"

Easy Asparagus

This summer I used asparagus because its elegant to use and pretty and if you mix in 1 bunch of white with a bunch or 2 of green it’s awesome. I cook it different ways depending on the client of what it is for. If its for kids or older people I may blanch it ahead, this is done by placing it in boiling water for for 88 seconds,straining and then placing it in an ice bath to cool completely before reserving it for service. However the right way and more flavorful way is to just saute in lightly. If the asparagus spears are thick, do not hesitate to cut them in half. Heat up a pan add a some olive oil and some irish butter, some diced shallots if you wish and just saute the spears on medium heat. For a little liquid I like to add good chicken stock or vegetable stock,finish with butter salt and pepper. Thats it, I know some chefs add a little lemon, but for me that would depend on the entree. There you have it, bon appetit.