By Adam Weiner

Chef Weiner continues his advice for students on knife selection and maintenance. This month: properly using knives.

Over the last two months, these articles were written in handout format for your students regarding how to buy knives/how knives are made, and how to hone and sharpen knives. Again, as a handout, this month’s article is about using knives. Next month, the last part of this series, will be on how to care for knives.

Using Knives
Here’s the bad news: You can’t learn how to use a knife from reading a handout, any more than you can learn how to drive a car by playing a computer game. With that said, there are a number of good Web sites on the subject, such as www.hertzmann.com, particularly, “The Three Aspects of Knife Skills.”

Educators, chefs and farmers gathered in Chicago to learn how to increase, Improve, market and teach sustainable meat production.

Meat was on the menu on November 17 as hundreds of farmers, distributors, restaurant professionals and culinary students gathered at the Harold Washington Library Center and Robert Morris University in Chicago to discuss sustainable meat and find out exactly what it is, what it tastes like and why to buy it.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Less easy than it might seem, there’s a strategy to forming small groups that makes group activities in class more effective and enhances student learning.

Last month, we discussed ways of expanding the range of activities in a classroom by using pairs. This month, we discuss small groups and small-group work. Most of us have developed a series of individual, small-group and large-group activities that work for the courses we teach, and we are always looking for more ideas. This Mayo’s Clinic may help you think of some new ideas.

To make small groups successful, we must consider how we create the small groups, what we ask them to do, and what resources they need.

By Michael Riggs, Ph.D., CEC, FMP

Part 1 of a two-part story of an educator’s learning excursion this past summer.

Over the summer of 2010 I was given a unique opportunity to spend 14 days in England at Oxford University studying the history of European cuisine. First let me say that what took thousands of years to develop could not be researched in 14 days even with the 100 miles of books at the Oxford Bodleian Library. But what I did learn and experience came in the form of the best kind of research, eating and having conversations with chefs, restaurateurs and the people of the countries I visited. Let’s begin my journey …

London
Truly an “international cuisine city” with more than 100 cuisines being served in some of the finest restaurants in Europe. London has gone through a culinary explosion in the past decade, according to Geoff Booth, assistant principal (vice president) of the oldest culinary school in London, which was established by Chef Auguste Escoffier and Hotelier Cesar Ritz, two of Europe’s leading industry icons of the 1900s at Westminster Kings College of Hospitality.

Educators and students were among the 38 finalists who rose to the occasion in the California Raisin Marketing Board’s final bake-off.

The California Raisin Marketing Board, the state marketing order that represents nearly 3,000 California raisin growers, announced 13 winners in its third-annual America’s Best Raisin Bread Contest held recently. The “bakers’ dozen” winners rose to the top among a total of 85 initial entries submitted by professional and student bakers from throughout the country.

“This year’s formulas exceeded our expectations by featuring diverse California raisin-inspired breads and bakery products—from savory Raisin Focaccia Bread with goat cheese and caramelized onions to sweet Raisin Pecan Caramel Rolls,” said Larry Blagg, senior vice president of marketing for the board.

The mission of the America’s Best Raisin Bread competition is to recognize and celebrate aspiring and working bakers for their skills. To allow the bakers more creativity and to broaden the range of products, this year’s artisan and commercial baking categories were expanded to include raisin rolls, pastries and other breakfast breads.