SPICE OF LIFE FUNDRAISER- JUNE 25 - PREVIEW OF SILENT AUCTION ITEMS

We are looking forward to hosting everyone at Liaison College Hamilton next week for h'ors d'oeuvres, live music, cash bar and silent auction. If you have called ahead to reserve tickets, you can pick them up at the door on Wednesday evening- CASH OR CHEQUE only please.

If you are still sitting on the fence about attending, maybe this preview of items and services from the silent auction will help you decide. We are also grateful for any monetary donations to Chef's family to assist in the cost of retrofitting their house so he is able to return home. Call us at 905-308-9333 for more information.

“Spice of Life” Fundraiser Event for Chef Bill Sharpe

June 25^th 2014: 7 - 11 pm

PREVIEW OF SILENT AUCTION ITEMS….

Let’s have some fun, raise some money and find some unique and fun items to take home…

(cheque or cash please)

Sandra Lee Baking Book with a set of Baking Tools.. (Value for Set $ 60.00)/Starting Bid $ 40.00

Master Class & Professional Cake Decorator Book Set (Value $ 165.00)/Starting Bid $80.00

Cooking Basics for Dummies & Summer Cocktails Book Set (Value $ 51.00) /Starting Bid $ 30.00

Gluten Free for Dummies & Cooking for Special Diets Set (Value $109.00)/Starting Bid $ 75.00

Elements of Desserts Book (Value $ 90.00) /Starting Bid $ 45.00

Professional Cooking / 8^th Edition (Value $120.00) / Starting Bid $ 60.00

Chef @ Home for 4… evening event.. Chef Steve Djelfi (Value $200.00) /Starting Bid $ 100.00

Chef’s Table for 6 in the Kitchen @ Liaison College with Chef Dan Notley (Value $ 300.00)

Starting Bid $ 200.00

A framed watercolour painting of the Laurentian Mountains and The Ottawa River, painted and donated by Bryan Raymond (Value $200.00)/ Starting Bid $ 75.00

“Mixed Media” painting by Linda Blakney (Value $500.00) /Starting Bid $ 200.00

www.lindablakneyart.com

“Sunflower” Acrylic Painting(a set/2) painted by Jan Gilbert (Value $ 300.00)

Starting Bid $100.00

Roy Timm Photography.. portrait sitting (Value $200) / Starting Bid $ 100.00

www.roytimmphotography.com

Helicopter Ride over Niagara Falls for 2 through Niagara Helicopter Tours  (Value $ 270.00)

/ Starting Bid $ऀ150.00  www.niagarahelicopters.calls.net/flight

Full Page AD Space in the Niagara Escarpment Views Magazine for the Autumn issue (including ad creation services) (Value $ 2399.00) / Starting Bid $ 500.00 (amazing value!!)
www.neviews.ca

Liaison College/Hamilton Boot Camp Workshop (10 weeks/1 night a week) for 1 person

(Value $1017.00/includes professional textbook) / Starting Bid $ 300.00
www.liaisonhamilton.ca/index.php?p=Classes

4 hours of Gardening Services from Katrina Simmons (Value $ 80.00) /Starting Bid $ 40.00

Pre-Teen/Teen Basket of Beauty Goodies donated by Shoppers Drug Mart (Value $15.00)

Starting Bid $ 5.00

A Beauty Brush Package from QUO..with Make Up Colours from donated by the Milena Kojic from Shoppers Drug Mart (Value $ 150 ) /Starting Bid $ 75.00

Bath Products from Shoppers Drug Mart (Value $ 50.00) /Starting Bid $ 20.00

Cooking Copperware by Alsace France…Baumalu Copper Fish Poacher donated by Mary Romeo (Value $700.00) / Starting Bid $ 200.00 (Amazing Value!!!)

A pair of Stratford Tickets for either King John or Mother Courage (your choice), plus an after-theatre meeting with star Seana McKenna at the stage door. donated by one of Stratford’s starring actors… Seana McKenna. (Value $ 175.00) /Starting Bid $ 85.00  www.stratfordfestival.ca

2 seats at the Go Cooking Chef’s Table Event, donated by The Hamilton Spectator (Value $ 100.00)

Starting Bid $ 50.00

www.gocooking.ca

www.liaisonhamilton.ca/index.php?p=Classes

Appies inspired by Ontario greenhouse veggies

Brett fills cucumber boats with bruschetta.

Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) hosted a competition between Liaison campuses in Toronto today. After preliminary rounds at their individual schools, five semi-finalists recreated their appetizer dishes at Cirillo's Culinary Academy on Dundas Street West.

The panel of judges included chefs Christine Cushing (of Food Network fame) and John Cirillo, CCC (owner of this state-of-the-art recreational cooking school), along with self-professed foodies Jim Veri (greenhouse grower and board member of OGVG) and Elmer Buchanan (former Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food, and chair of the Greenhouse Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee).

Our AM Cook Basic students made the trek into Toronto to cheer on their classmate Brett as he got the experience of his first (but likely not his last) culinary competition.

To see more photos visit our Facebook page.

Some of the classmates that came out to support Brett in Toronto -
Clockwise from back: Brett (with hat), Don,  Melissa, Deborah and
Elizabeth, with their instructor Chef Steve Djerfi (right) 

Chocolate - It's not just for dessert

Our A.M. Advanced class will be presenting their Chef's Table on February 6. With the date falling so close to Valentine's Day, they decided on an all-chocolate menu. This inimitable, bitter-sweet food of the Gods will appear in a variety of incarnations, in every course from amuse-bouche through dessert.

The students did a trial run today, serving lunch to their colleagues and chef instructors. The wine, fine linens and ambiance were missing, but the advanced feedback on seasoning, texture, flavour and presentation will be invaluable when they serve their final meal to invited guests in a few weeks.

Amuse-bouche: cream cheese with paprika & chives, layered with
chocolate and served with orange coulis.  

Pan-seared salmon with candied lemon zest. The sauce had a hint of white chocolate.   

Spinach and strawberry salad with feta cheese and berry vinaigrette, garnished with shaved chocolate.

Dessert was tiramisu, served in a martini glass, and finished with grated chocolate. 

Merry Christmas! See you in 2014.

Hess Street School Christmas dinner 2012

Our students and staff are gearing up to serve Christmas dinner to 400 students at Hess Street School on Thursday. We are all looking forward to this annual celebration to get us into  the festive spirit and start the wind-down to our holidays.  

There will be no Open House this week (December 17). We will be closed from December 20 through to January 12. Drop by for a visit during our next Tuesday evening Open House, January 14, 2014.

Merry Christmas! We hope to see you in the New Year.

Christmas 2012 at Hess Street School

The toughest job of all.....

Cook Basic students sit down with Chef Bill to sample a
10-course meal, and learn how to talk about food. 

It's not easy being a culinary student: weeks of studying theory, humbling test marks and the ego-busting reality of cuts, burns and burnt offerings when you finally get into the kitchen. The toughest job  of all, though, is actually learning to talk about food.

Cook Basic students are encouraged to taste everything that our Chefs turn out while demonstrating the fundamental techniques, so they will know how their own dish should taste. It's not often, though, that they are asked to give feedback on other students' cooking.

Last Thursday the afternoon Basic class sat down to a ten-course lunch, thanks to the PM Advanced class. The meal gave the cooks the chance to work as a team, turn out creative new dishes on a deadline and practice their plating skills. The lessons for the diners? Try every dish (fence-sitting is frowned upon), listen to the chefs at the table, and learn how to express their opinions on seasoning, presentation and flavour with confidence.

Sweet endings 

To view photos on the Advanced students in the kitchen, and the meal they served to fellow students, visit our Facebook page.  www.facebook.com/LiaisonCollegeHamilton

Alumni stories- A golfer in chef whites

photos by Terry Asma; 2020studios

Chef Fred Smith is relaxed in the kitchen at Paris Grand Golf Club, even as a tournament gets ready to roll out on the course. Despite his mature years, he doesn't look like a man ready to slow down. 

"I've always said I'll leave when it stops being fun," says the Executive Chef, a graduate of Liaison Hamilton. 

He had already worked a full career- thirty-two years as a production mechanic with American Can Company & Ball Packaging - when the Hamilton factory where he was working shut down in 2000. Being an avid golfer, his first reaction to layoff was to head to Glancaster Golf Course. He hit the fairways three days a week, not to golf, but to cut the grass. When the season came to a close, he decided to pursue another of his passions – cooking.

His strategy for getting connected in the culinary field? He enrolled at Liaison Hamilton, immersed himself in his studies, and jumped on every opportunity to help with errands and catered events.

“I would advise all students to volunteer for every benefit function they can. I received several job offers from chefs during these events. You don't earn pay but the experience is a gold mine. Other chefs see you perform, you gain experience, and networking is invaluable in this business.”

Despite his expanding network, he planned to go back to cutting fairways after graduation. 

“Gene (co-owner at Liaison) really encouraged me to find work in a kitchen. He kept telling me, ‘You’re really good at this. You should try it out for a while.”

Chef Fred graduated top of his class in 2001, and landed a breakfast cook position at Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville.

“It was my first time in a professional kitchen, and stressful to be thrown in with the wolves.” Once he found his footing, though, he moved to Scenic Wood Golf Club. He has been Executive Chef at Paris Grand now for five seasons, handling weddings, banquets, parties and tournaments with his kitchen staff, and taking advantage of the free golf when he gets a few hours off.

Reflecting on his second career with satisfaction, he credits much of his success to the chefs that trained him. Still he has some cautionary words for anyone new to the culinary field. “It’s long hours and a lot of work for low wages and little thanks. If you don’t love it, if you don’t have the passion for it, get out now.”

Click here to see our video on Chef Fred Smith. 

Tension, taste and technique

Chefs do a blind taste-test of the soup course. 

 All is quiet in the kitchen again at Liaison College Hamilton Chef School, and the air is heavy with concentration. Our Cook Basic A.M. class is in the midst of their final practical exam, creating a meal from soup through to dessert. Their timing is critical- chefs expect each course to be served at the exact time specified (no sooner, no later), and at the correct temperature (hot dishes served hot, cold ones still chilled).

Each course is blind taste-tested: students are assigned a number, delivering their food to the empty classroom before the chefs enter to sample from each dish.

James pipes decoration onto his dessert plate. 

Cole delivers his chocolate mousse to the test tables.

While the students work through their soup, main course, sauces and dessert, the chefs make careful notes on seasoning, taste, texture, temperature, and technique.

The dessert course offers an opportunity to explore garnish, presentation styles and sugar work. It also marks a drop in the intensity that permeates the campus on exam days.

Even when the last plate has been delivered to the tasting tables, students still wait on edge until their evaluation is complete. One by one they are called to discuss their meals with the chefs, emerging with relief or concern written across their face.

Chef Bill and Chef Dan finish their test notes before liaising with students. 

Join us at our next Chef’s Table!

Answers the following questions correctly, and we will enter your name in a draw for a pair of tickets for a gourmet, eight-course meal at Liaison College Hamilton.

 

These dinners are a private affair, and are not open to the general public. Our chefs share the table (and their stories and insight) with eight to ten carefully chosen guests. You could be amongst them.

 Our Advanced students plan the menu to highlight the cooking and presentation skills they have learned, then prepare and serve the courses one by one, from amuse bouche through entrée to luscious dessert.

How to enter:

1. Contest deadline is August 19, 2013
2. You will find the answer to each of the quiz questions somewhere on our website www.liaisonhamilton.ca.
3. Email your correct answers to us at katrina@liaisonhamilton.ca, along with your name and a phone number where we can reach you during business hours.
4. We will draw the winning entry on August 20.

(Sorry, students and graduates of Liaison College are not eligible. You must be 19 years of age or older to enter.)

Get to know us at Liaison College Hamilton. Answer these questions correctly for a chance to win a pair of tickets to our next Chef’s Table.

1. What is the name of our program that helps students with resumes and career planning? 

2. How many hours is our longest program?

3. Our Cook Basic students study eight major topics. Name three of these.

4. What kind of catering do we do?

5. Name one hotel at which Chef Bill Sharpe has worked.

Silence, and mis-en-place

Christina starts the Genoise sponge early in the evening so it can bake
while she prepares most everything else. 

“No talking!”

Chef Greg Singh is usually soft spoken, but his voice cuts across the thud of knives on cutting boards like the crack of a judge's gavel. I mutter my apologies to Chef and to the student that I have been chatting up, sinking back into silence as I snap photos of this part-time evening class. It’s their last week of studies, and the tension in the kitchen is near-tangible. The relative silence is both a blessing and a curse: There is no chatter to distract students from their mise-en-place; chopping, mixing, baking, preparing everything for their final, practical exam on Tuesday. But it also means they must rely on their kitchen bibles – the notes that they have kept throughout their hands-on lessons. No borrowing recipes. No last minute hints, tips or warnings of impending disasters. No talking!

Scott chops vegetables for soup, stock and main course. 

On Tuesday there will be no talking, no recipes, no kitchen bibles. The soon-to-be graduates will have to trust their memories and their own judgment to get them through the three course meal. They will need good timing and all the confidence they can muster, and it all starts today with silence, and mis-en-place.

For more photos, visit our Facebook page. 

Nourishing body and mind …

Chantelle presented on Korea, and treated her
 classmates to fiery kimchi (spicy pickled vegetables)
 and galbi (spiced beef). 

Before our Cook Basic students head into the kitchen for the first time, they are assigned the task of highlighting a country of their choice – its history, geography, socio-political environment, and of course, its culinary traditions. Some people build their project and presentation around their own country of origin, while others use the opportunity to explore regions in which they have a keen interest. Recent presentations from Chef Bill’s morning and afternoon classes have taken students on a virtual tour of the world, from the far east to the Middle East, with stops in Europe and the UK too. Feeding colleagues was optional - a much appreciated addendum to the spoken word, and a chance for students to share their passion for cooking. 

To see more photos, visit us on Facebook.  

Can you guess what sauces are cooking?

Daniel is working on a Chausser sauce.

 Tantalizing aromas routinely drift through the foyer, classrooms and office while the ovens and the stovetops are crowded with meats, soups, breads and pastries. Sauces, though, are a face-to-face affair, their finest qualities only revealed close-up.  

Their appreciation lies in the subtlety of texture, the layering of flavours, their complement to the main attraction, and the colour they add to the plate.

  They are a big part of French Classic Cuisine, so the first full week of Advanced Class is dedicated solely to building a sauce repetoire. 

Students review the five mother sauces,  and learn at least forty more small sauces derived from these basic building blocks. 

Take a look at some of the ingredients that were prepped for the first sauce test last month. Can you guess what type of sauces were in the works, and with which kind of food they would be served?

Mike reaches for the salt
 to finish off his cream sauce.

Susan separates eggs to start a Hollandaise.

Building a strong foundation with food...

At Liaison Hamilton, we’re all about food. For other businesses, what’s cooking in the kitchen comes second to what’s up in the workplace. But some companies know how to mix food and fun, and build a strong team in the process. Last Friday, staff and board members from The John Howard Society joined Chef Greg and some of our students in the kitchen for an afternoon of cooking and corporate team building. You can find one of the recipes here on our Recipe page. For more photos of the event, visit our Facebook page.    

The butchers, the bakers and the kitchen team makers....

Tom and Chuck learning
butchering techniques

Alec with Chef Greg 

Jacques making shells for
apple tarts in Basic class

Cook Basic students emerged from five weeks of cooking theory at the end of January. While the four novices filled the kitchen with the smell of freshly baked bread, the Advanced students were learning butchery skills. During their side-by-side lessons, the more experienced cooks broke down a leg of veal into steaks, cutlets and chops, at the same time that the Basic class was discovering the difference between lean and rich doughs, straight doughs and sponges.

Francesco making fruit tarts

Tom 

Our kitchen accommodates sixteen students at one time, so the size of one class is determined by the the other that shares the same time slot. Each level has their own chef-instructor and covers their required material on a pre-determined schedule, but they often have the chance to work together for special occasions, catering or community events. Their time in the kitchen together helps them build rapport, and gives the less experienced students early exposure to the concepts and techniques they will encounter when they move on to Advanced level.

fruit tarts by Francesco

Eat your greens: brussel sprout salad, cactus pads, broccoli soup and spinach fettucini

Team A served nopales (prickly pear
cactus pads) in a salad and on toasted pita. 

Team A students Chuck (L), Jessica(C) and
Tom (behind) tuck in to Team B's buffet.

Last week our Advanced students returned from Hamilton Farmers' Market with a small mountain of fresh veggies, pumped with the spirit of competition. It wasn't exactly an Iron Chef face-off - more like a friendly round of pick-up. Divided into two teams, their goal was to turn out the best buffet of vegetable-based dishes they could muster. They had to include six vegetable dishes and two meat dishes, and had the chance to prep everything a day ahead.

For two hours they cooked up a storm, but their participation didn't stop when the stoves were turned off. When the two tables were laid, each student sampled foods from the opposing team's buffet, writing a critique of each dish with reference to cooking technique, seasoning and creative use of the ingredients.

     

Chef Bill (L) and Chef Greg (R)
sample and mark the students'  efforts.

The spread offered a great variety of dishes, and everyone on campus - students, staff, and even the visiting computer technician - got in on the exercise. The newest Basic students, still engaged in the theory part of their studies, tasted and critiqued alongside the Advanced students.

Our chef-instructors did their own evaluation, sampling and marking each dish, but were also watching how the students functioned as a team, organized their time and workspace, presented their dishes, and marked their fellow students' work.

To see more photos, visit our Facebook page.

Team B's dishes: clockwise from top left: broccoli soup, vegetable sushi,
 curried potato croquettes, parsnip & carrot hash, rice pilaf, veal stir fry,
Waldorf salad and vegetable lasagna.

Gearing up for the final stretch

BEFORE: students' evaluation depends
on matching the dish to its rightful owner. 

AFTER: Chef has to try them all, but a
spoonful is all he needs to determine
if the soup is done right.

Gearing up for final, practical exams, Chef Bill challenged his Basic students with a couple of black box days, named for the culinary competitions that present competitors with surprise ingredients, and a short time-frame in which to produce a dish from them. Our students were kept in the dark about what they would cook, though they had already learned how to prepare the dishes at some point in their lessons.

Tom works with melted
chocolate for his mousse

As they set up their stations, ingredients were revealed: all the fixings for cream of mushroom soup and chocolate mousse with Genoise sponge. The deadline for the first – 45 minutes, no more, no less – presented hot, in a warm bowl. The timing for dessert: finished, ready to unmold and plate the following day, when they also had the challenge of producing a risotto and a main course of stuffed chicken supreme.

Joleen whips egg whites for her Genoise sponge.

These challenges were a lead-in to exams last week, both hands-on and written. As the last pen was laid down, the knives laid aside and the ovens shut down, silent tension made way for giddy relief. For better or worse, exams are over.