Chef Mark Mattern, MBA, CEC

With Passover beginning next week, we thought it would be nice to provide a little background on food typically found at a Passover Seder. Matzah- Matza is the substitute for bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover, when eating chametz (bread and leavened products) is not allowed. Eating matza on the night of the seder is considered a positive mitzvah, i.e., a commandment. In the context of the Passover seder meal, certain restrictions additional to the chametz prohibitions are to be met for the matza to be considered "mitzva matza", that is, matza that meets the requirements of the positive commandment to eat matza at the seder. Maror and Chazeret- These bitter herbs represent the bitter life the Jews led as slaves in Egypt. They're eaten twice during the Seder-once by themselves and once with matzah. Horseradish is often used for maror and romaine lettuce for chazeret. Charoset- This represents the bricks and mortar the Jews used to make Egyptian building, so it ...

Passover begins today, I thought it would be nice to provide a little background on food typically found at a Passover Seder. Matzah- Matza is the substitute for bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover, when eating chametz (bread and leavened products) is not allowed. Eating matza on the night of the seder is considered a positive mitzvah, i.e., a commandment. In the context of the Passover seder meal, certain restrictions additional to the chametz prohibitions are to be met for the matza to be considered "mitzva matza", that is, matza that meets the requirements of the positive commandment to eat matza at the seder. Maror and Chazeret- These bitter herbs represent the bitter life the Jews led as slaves in Egypt. They're eaten twice during the Seder-once by themselves and once with matzah. Horseradish is often used for maror and romaine lettuce for chazeret. Charoset- This represents the bricks and mortar the Jews used to make Egyptian building, so it should be mad...

Chef Mark Mattern and the ACF chapter to explored the lastest discoveries the world of molecular gastronmy. This workshop will be hands on and exploratory with chemicals and new products and ideas with molecular gastronomy. Here are some web sites to review: http://www.ideasinfood.com http://khymos.org http://cookingissues.wordpress.com http://alineamosaic.com

We are so Proud of Chef Baskette and ICS @ AIJX I am pleased to announce that Chef Baskette was awarded Chef Educator of the Year form (WACS) congress while in Santiago Chili this week! Two of our own students Kristine Eagan and Bert Roberts are part of the first delegation of junior chefs with WACS. They will be the first ACF/WACS junior members to represent this international forum of culinarian. The experience in Santiago Chili has been awesome and continues all this week. Look for photos! We are so proud of our students and Chef Baskette of the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida! Please click here to download the WACS 2010 Congress Programme

10 steps to Deep Fried Turkey 101 Chef Mark Mattern, CEC, MBA Step One: Get a turkey! 12- 15 pounds is a good size for most deep fat fryer pots. Find a very large cooking pot and some cooking oil. You can use vegetable oil, but it's better if you use peanut oil. However peanut oil is very expensive and you are going to need several gallons of it. Step Two: Prepare the turkey. It MUST BE defrosted and washed and make sure there are no pop up tender timer devices or anything left inside. You will also need to truss the turkey, meaning you need to secure the legs, neck flap, wings and tail to the body of the turkey. A Frozen turkey in hot oil is a BOMB! BE CAREFUL! Step Three: To determine the perfect amount of oil you are going to be using, place the turkey in the pot and add water until the turkey is completely covered plus an inch or two. With the turkey and the water there should still be several inches of room between the oil and the top of the pot. If it's a close call, then...

This quarters culinary theme: Leadership is Servitude The Culinary Arts serve the needs, wants, and desires of others. Great Leaders learn that serving others actually also serves the goals of the team, creating strength, inspiring and fostering creativity and empowering the passion to get the job done! The step to that success are: Enter Inquire Exceed Exit Follow-up

This quarters culinary theme: Leadership is Servitude Enter Inquire Exceed Exit Follow-up The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those served grow as persons: do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived? (Greenleaf) Essentially, one leads by serving others in supporting their life-long personal growth and while striving for and meeting common goals. Larry C. Spears identifies ten character traits of a servant-leader as essential for leadership development. Listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community (Spears) are characteristics that can be measured objectivel...