Ken's Culinary Career Quest
Final Days at the Culinary Institute of America
November 25-26, 2003
I was asked to participate in a cooking contest for our graduation speaker, Rocco Dispirito. You may have seen his reality show "The Restaurant" on TV. The winner of the contest was offered the opportunity to work in Rocco's restaurant during the filming of the second season. I accepted the challenge of the competition and participated on November 25, 2003. The ingredients were not revealed to us participants in advance so we went to the competition without recipes or planned menus. The ingredients turned out to be a whole chicken, root vegetables, haricots verts and a few other seasonal vegetables. I decided to prepare pressed chicken, marinated with lemon, garlic, rosemary and olive oil along with root vegetables in a cream sauce and haricots verts with julienned red peppers. Chef Charles Rascoll was the CIA faculty proctor. While everything started smoothly, I was a bit nervous cooking for a celebrity chef in front of TV cameras. At one point Rocco declared that while we had one hour left in the competition, he wanted our finished dishes to be presented to him in 30 minutes. I panicked and made a big mistake. I forgot to wipe the excess oil off of my chicken before placing it on the grill, thereby creating a spectacular display of flame and smoke. Chef Dwayne LiPuma always stressed the importance of wiping off the oil of items to be grilled, but I forgot about it during the heat of the competition. Great effects for TV, but embarrassing for me. Anyway, I ended up presenting the dish on time but the appearance was not too good.... half of the skin was off of the chicken. The chicken tasted very good, the root vegetables in cream sauce were excellent and the haricots verts were OK.
The episode aired in early May. Out of the 3+ hours that they filmed, I received about 30 seconds worth of air time.
My graduation on November 26th was a wonderful event. My wife, son, daughter, mother, son-in-law, granddaughter, nephew and my mother's companion all came to see the ceremony. I received the Culinary Award for the highest GPA (grade point average) in kitchen classes. I missed the award for the highest overall GPA by .01 points out of 4.0. I finished with an overall GPA of 3.87, Francis Lam finished with a GPA of 3.88.
President Tim Ryan introduces the graduating class just before awarding cordons to the graduates.
(photo courtesy of Parker Reynolds Jr.)
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| Photo courtesy of Sonia Surasky | Photo courtesy of CIA/Lorna Smith |
Pictures of me receiving the Culinary Award from Chef G. Fatigati.
Picture of me receiving the Cordon of the Culinary Institute of America. (photo courtesy of Sonia Surasky)
Rocco Dispirito and his mother were both presented with awards from President Tim Ryan.
Mama Dispirito receiving an award from President Ryan. (photo courtesy of Beverly McDyer)
After the graduation ceremony, the family and I went to the Justin Thyme Cafe in Croton-on-Hudson. My friend Scott is the owner and chef. Justin Thyme's food and beer are consistently excellent. Scott graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978.
Ken relaxing with Scott at Justin Thyme restaurant after Ken's graduation.
This document maintained by ken@mcdyer.com.
Material Copyright © 2003 Ken McDyer