Chef Anna Ference from the California Culinary Academy was named the winner of the 2005 S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition held October 24–26 in Napa. This year’s competition featured three challenging culinary contests including the Market Basket (“Mystery Basket”), where contestants had only two hours to prepare a dish made from unique items (e.g., antelope) revealed to them at the start of the contest; the Signature Dish, in which contestants prepared their winning regional dish for 200 guests during a final tasting gala; and finally,the People’s Choice, where the 200 guests at the tasting gala voted on their favorite dish.

Ference won the regional contest at the California Culinary Academy with her signature dish of Seared Ahi Tuna on a Grilled Plum Salad and Horseradish Potato Rosti. This dish proved to be a favorite by judges again at the national competition, giving Ference the win for the Signature Dish award.

The S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition was created to facilitate mentoring and communication between established celebrity chefs, food media, and groups of top culinary students poised to enter the ultra-competitive culinary world. All entrée recipes from participating contestants and judges will be compiled into a cookbook to benefit the national nonprofit organization, Share Our Strength®, to help eliminate childhood hunger in the United States. As winner of the 2005 S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition, in addition to media training and publicity and participating in high-profile culinary events like the James Beard Awards and the Food Arts Share Our Strength BBQ, Ference received a trip to Italy to take part in a culinary program and numerous culinary products provided by Cuisinart® and Chef Revival®.

Former Cleveland Range president, V. Paul Lovejoy, 86, passed away last September. Paul began his career with Cleveland Range in 1963 as assistant sales manager. He also served as sales manager, VP of sales, and as president from 1977 until 1986. One of Paul’s greatest accomplishments was the introduction of the patented “Cleveland Convection Steamer” in 1974. His leadership was instrumental in developing the pressureless convection steam cooking concept. The Cleveland Convection Steamer helped expand Cleveland Range’s business into the restaurant industry and changed the way the world cooks and prepares food.

The Fit Frying program, created by experts at Frymaster, an Enodis company, educates foodservice operators on principles that ensure fried foods are prepared in a manner that delivers maximum taste while being as health conscious as possible. Fit Frying is based on four principles: the right fryer, the right oil, best practices or “right” cooking processes, and providing the right maintenance. For a free copy of Frymaster’s Fit Frying Executive Summary visit www.frymaster.com.

Remodeled Alto-Shaam Culinary Center is Hot
Alto-Shaam has no immediate plans to stage an “Iron-Chef America-type” cooking competition at its newly remodeled Culinary Center, but it’s within the realm of possibility.

“All A/V is tied into the network. We could perform live with streaming video and send it out,” says Executive Chef Robert Simmelink of the Culinary Center located at Alto-Shaam’s corporate headquarters in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Having officially re-opened in the summer of 2005, the Culinary Center is doing exactly what it was primarily intended to do: facilitate equipment evaluations, training, and education. Simmelink says time spent at the Culinary Center has proven beneficial for anyone involved in food, including chefs and cooks; food service directors; hospital directors; and corporate executives empowered to release funds.

“We’ve found that by getting out of their office and out of their kitchen and coming into our kitchen, they are better able to evaluate our equipment and see how it fits into their operation,” Simmelink shares. “It’s very beneficial (for them) to come in—for us and for them,” he adds.

Evaluating equipment prior to purchasing is essential for chefs and cooks, Simmelink points out. “We have chefs come and compare the cooking capabilities and see how we’re superior to other ovens they’re considering,” Simmelink says.

“It’s also important to offer hands-on cooking opportunities so the buyer is able to achieve full benefit of the equipment purchased,” Simmelink adds. The Culinary Center also lets Alto-Shaam reiterate its commitment to training and education.

Having recently returned from the remodeled Alto-Shaam Culinary Center, Daniel Barash, director of new product development for Raving Brands in Atlanta, says he’s impressed with the changes. He says he tries to visit a few times a year to evaluate equipment and/or test out new concepts, drawing upon the experience and expertise of Alto-Shaam's chefs as well as the performance capabilities of the equipment.

“During my recent trip, I tested Alto-Shaam’s combitherm smoker as I’m testing different smokers,” Barash says.

The major changes chefs like Barash will find at the Culinary Center include: incorporating modern technologies into the preparation kitchen; enlarging the prep kitchen while at the same time further removing it from guests; reducing the size of the presentation area and restricting capacity to 22 guests to make it more intimate; and increasing dining room size to accommodate 40 guests.

According to Simmelink, the remodeled Culinary Center also has become more versatile.

“It’s multi-functional. It can be used for photo shoots, research and development testing, and for corporate functions,” he adds.