The Secret of Bean-to-Bar Chocolate
These observations may be old hat to professional chocolate makers, but they are rarely — if ever — considered by chefs and consumers. Raw Beans Straight out of the bag, fermented and dried beans
Sweet Inspiration: A Back-to-School Reading List for Pastry Chefs
The autumn publishing season also means a shelf-load of new releases. Below are a few of those just-published books I am looking forward to, as well as one or two that I’m finally catching up on
Chefs You Should Know
Emily’s served as a creative incubator for the cooks who worked there. In our downtime, we swapped the latest books and magazines, mining them for techniques and flavors to infuse into the menus we
Learn to Build Breathtaking Sugar Showpieces
Tréand believes that anyone can create their own work of art if they put in the time. “Sugar work is not only for chefs, says Tréand. “It's for everybody. Hopefully I can fill up the class with
Bread That’s Worth the Wait
A patient mindset is just one thing students will learn during Chef Sim’s 200-hour Techniques of Artisan Bread Baking course at ICE. As the founding baker of Balthazar Bakery, London-born Chef Sim
Learn Whimsical Cake Carving with a Celebrated Cake Artist at ICE
ICE is excited to welcome back Karen Portaleo to teach the upcoming CAPS course Carved Cake: Ballerina Pig on June 2. Karen is a celebrated cake and chocolate artist who creates fantastical cakes at
Why I Tell Pastry Students 'Imagine Yourself as a Tiny Milk Fat Particle'
As a pastry chef, one might say that I’m already hard-wired to think a bit deeper about the composition and function of ingredients. I like to say that the primary difference between a pastry chef and
Putting in Solo Time: How Chef Michael Laiskonis Refines His Craft Alone in the Kitchen
My cooking career began at a tiny bakery in the outlying suburbs of Detroit almost 25 years ago. What started as “just a job” quickly became a compulsion: in cooking I found the satisfaction of manual
Mastering Danish Dough
For her first blog post, she takes us through a daunting pastry lesson: Danish dough. Tackling Danish dough was one of the most challenging things I’ve had to take on in culinary school so far. When I
8 Career Paths For Pastry Arts Grads
Here’s a snapshot of the many possibilities of what you can do with professional pastry training from ICE: Boost your kitchen confidence and enhance your resume as a food writer or editor like Lauren
Making Every Move Count: Cooking With Economy
Describing the kitchen as tiny would be an understatement — there was barely enough room for three cooks. The chef and owner, Rick Halberg, became my first important mentor. While I learned a lot from
4 Things this Non-Baker Learned During the Pastry Module
As many of my culinary-minded classmates could also tell you, baking and cooking are different beasts that require vastly different skills to master. Whereas cooking allows you to throw in a little of