Better world for a international culinarian

I study at the culinary institute of america. It is one of the world's premiere college in culinary arts, baking and pastry. It is considered to be the harvard of culinary. Today was a special day for the all the future culinarians of the institute. We had our most awaited career fair. Being an international student at this prestigeous college, i had the previledge to meet representatives from various hotel's all over the world. It is not surprising to any student that about 80% of all the recruiting companies had a C.I.A (Culinary institute of America) graduate as the managers and directors. There was also a sad issue for a international student like me, having dreams to pursue a future in this country, has only companies that can offer a J1 visa or a H2b visa (these visas allow the recipient to work for the company for a short period of time 1 year) and head back to the home country. It is a tricky situation for any international student who has spend thousands of dollars just to get a degree form this prestigious college and not being able to even repay the loans let alone save some. It came as a surprise to me as one of the leading company in the entertainment, restaurant, tv station, movie production business (a name well known among the american public but ii would wish to keep it personal),came on campus for the fair had a strange approach towards me. Cheap labour is what would be the right word. I was adviced to work for one year with them have a name on my resume that i have worked with this property and need to leave the country after this one year period. There are thousands of students like me who face the same problem, Is this exploitation or a bias approach. You can be the judge.

Pate d Choux

This is a versatile recipe of pate d choux, which can be used for various uses in garde manger, pastry and stuffed pate d choux is something which we see in various hotels for display. As i was talking to chef Levy (the instructor for baking and pastry skills at the culinary institute of america), he jokingly told this would be a good test for any bakers or culinary professionals as this looks one of the easiest item to prepare but this includes a lot of skills to prepare. It is the right consistency that is required for the mixture to raise and leave the inside of the pate d choux hollow. The pate d choux can be stuffed with cream, marscapone, it is used in the filling of foie gras that is first prepared into a fine paste and then piped into the pate d choux. The techchiques have evloved from the past, the most intresting of the presentation with the pate d choux is the swan which has it's wings body and the neck piped sepearately and then once baked in the oven at 450*F for the the initial heat to brown the surface and then it is slowly cooked for it to retain the hollow shape. The different segements of the body,neck and the wings are then assembled together and held by the stuffing.

The recipe for making pate d choux is:

Water/diluted milk 1Pint
Butter 8oz
Salt 1tsp
Sugar 1/2oz
Eggs 10ea
Bread flour 11oz

These are the ingredients that are used in the production of pate d choux. As i had mentioned water or diluted milk is because, milk contains lactose which helps in the caramalization process and the pate d choux being baked initially at 450*F gives a dark brown color which does not enhance the eye appeal of the end product.

Method: Video 1 Video 2

• In a sauce pan pour the water add sugar and salt and bring it to a boil.
• Once it comes to a boil add the butter to the pan and let it melt and let is boil.
• When it is come to a boil add in the flour and immedietly mix it with a wooden spatula.
• Mix it thoroughly until the liquid in the mixture dries out.
• Transfer the dried dough to the mixing bowl and gently add the eggs one by one into the mixture until it gets a even glaze.
• Now the mixture is ready to be piped.

The other variation of the same recipe is Pommes d fin which is mashed potato mixed with pate d choux and fried in a deep fryer. This needs to control the amount of liquid being used accordingly as the potatos contain moisture.