By Carly DeFilippo

It’s been barely two months since Seohyung Im faced off with three of her culinary peers to represent ICE at the Northeast Regional San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition. Since then, she not only met regularly with her chef advisor, James Briscione, to practice the various techniques required for her dish, but also mentally prepared for hectic media frenzy that would surround her in the kitchen.

Seohyung prepares her dish, under the watchful eyes of her competitors’ Chef Advisors.

This Wednesday, at the regional competition, Seohyung competed against seven of the most talented student chefs from culinary schools across the Northeast. Charged with preparing a “stylish and imaginative” entree, suitable for presentation at a fine dining establishment, students were judged on criteria including quality, originality, practicality, technique and personal style.

Seohyung plates, as the clock winds down, under the bright lights of the cameras.

In addition, competitors were evaluated on their ability to articulate their culinary perspective in front of a judging panel that included such renown chefs as Laurent Tourondel and ICE grad Missy Robbins, as well as numerous representatives from the mainstream food media.

Seohyung’s roasted venison with tofu and pine nuts.

Seohyung was the first student chef to present her dish, flawlessly finishing within the stringent two hour time limit. The bar was set extremely high, with each competitor producing what Dean of Students, Andy Gold, considered the most distinguished cuisine he had ever seen at the annual competition.

The esteemed panel of judges digs into Seohyung’s dish.

On behalf of the entire ICE family, I would like to thank Seohyung for her incredible talent, dedication and work ethic. We could not be more proud of your efforts, and look forward to seeing what you cook up next!

Seohyung and Chef Advisor James Briscione

For more photos from the Northeast Regional competition, including the dishes of the other student chefs, click here.

By Carly DeFilippo

It’s our first full week of classes post-Sandy, but students in the Culinary Arts program are more than making up for lost time.

Chef James Briscione taught an impromptu demo on pork cracklins.

Culinary students mastered signature dishes by Thomas Keller, including this salmon tartare tuile.

Hand-rolled pizzas were a highlight of the week’s bread courses.

Perfecting an American classic: juicy beef burgers.

In the pastry kitchens, students whipped up “Chelsea rolls”, topped with cinnamon, sugar and currants.

If you’re a student, let us know what you’re most proud of cooking this week! Send your pictures (with descriptions) to blog@iceculinary.com.

ICE Chef Instructors have long explored the world of modernist cuisine and sous vide cooking (Chef James Briscione has shared many of his experiments and adventures here with us on DICED). ICE now offers courses in this innovative cooking technique to students in our career-training programs hoping to learn the basics as well as recreational students hoping to try sous vide at home.

ICE sous vide classes seek to break down what can seem to be an intimidating process and make it accessible for anyone. In that spirit, we are excited to bring you an exciting contest to win a SousVide Supreme Prize Package valued at over $578 so you can begin your own modernist experiments to explore the possibilities of sous vide and create gourmet-quality meals with ease, including tender steaks cooked perfectly edge-to-edge, juicy chicken breasts, vibrant fresh vegetables and more. Enter to win this amazing prize brought to you exclusively by ICE and SousVide Supreme!

The Prize Package includes:
- SousVide Supreme water oven
- SousVide Supreme vacuum sealer + 10 cooking pouches
- Easy Sous Vide cookbook

See the contest rules and ENTER NOW at www.sousvidesupreme.com/icecontest

This is a one of a kind chance to win professional-level equipment that will allow you to explore sous vide and bring the amazing technique into your own home.

Contest closes July 31, 2012 at 11:59 pm PDT.  Open to residents of the US only.

Many think of sous-vide cooking as intimidating, scientific experiments reserved for restaurant kitchens. Last week, Chef James Briscione broke down the fancy French name meaning “under vacuum” and taught a class on sous-vide methods at home. Once you get right down to it, you simply seal food in airtight plastic bags and set in a water bath for a period of time under a controlled temperature that allows you to cook the item evenly. While the temperature controls can make it seem overly scientific, many companies are now supplying equipment that makes it easy for at home cooking.

Our recreational class was packed last week with at home cooks looking to stash the crock pot and make way for modern sous-vide methods at home. Chef Briscione highlighted recipes using meat, eggs, fish and vegetables so students got an idea on how to work with a variety of foods before heading home to try it on their own.

If you are interested in testing this cooking method, SousVide Supreme offers equipment that makes the process easy and the results great. Our next class focused on sous-vide cooking at home is August 19^th and you can sign up here.

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When ICE President Rick Smilow and Anne E. McBride wrote Culinary Careers: How to Get Your Dream Job in Food they discovered a plethora of food jobs they had never heard of before. Since the book’s release, they have been discovering even more interesting career paths in the food world. DICED shares some of them with you in a reoccurring feature, “Unique Culinary Careers.”

ICE alum Kristen Miglore is the Editor of food52, a unique food website dedicated to building a network and community of cooks. Users submit recipes to weekly contests, help each other solve food pickles and test each other’s recipes. In this spirit of support, the site has quickly become a hot spot for foodies to discuss and develop recipes and techniques. In fact, ICE Chef Instructor James Briscione’s recipe for Classic Southern Buttermilk Bathed Fried Chicken will be included in the first edition of the food52 cookbook, designed, edited and written by food52’s community. We talked to Kristen about how she transitioned from economic analysis to food, her externship experience and working in the new world of online media.

How would you describe your position?
I’m the Editor of food52.com, which really means I do anything that’s needed to help keep the site up and running — write, edit, test recipes, help organize the weekly photo and video shoots, maintain our social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and our weekly e-newsletter, and manage the community, which is so warm and well-mannered compared to other corners of the internet that it’s actually pretty good at managing itself.

What has your career path been like?
After graduating from college (with an economics major and professional writing/editing minor), I tried be prudent and found well-paying work in economic analysis. Not surprisingly, three years of data wrangling left me all the more certain that I had to find a way to work in food. I moved from California to New York and found myself at ICE. I did internships with a food writer launching a new business, at a trade magazine, at a flossy lifestyle TV show and in the test kitchen and editorial wings of a high-end food magazine. I wouldn’t be able to do my job well now without all of this humbling and eye-opening work behind me. More…

Last Sunday, our own Chef Instructor Chef James Briscione represented ICE at Harvest Feast, a dinner to benefit the shrimpers and fisherman effected by the Gulf oil spill. The event was hosted by Garden & Gun magazine and James Beard Award–nominated chef, Chris Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club.

Chefs from across Alabama united to cook up a seasonal and local dinner. The menu kicked off with Chef James’s Bacon Wrapped Venison Pâté, Pickled Fall Vegetables and Pork Fries (deep fried pork rillettes). The dishes from the other chefs included Whole Roasted Gulf Snapper, Pork and Grits (a whole hog that was smoked for 18 hours and served over grits) and Persimmon Bread Pudding with Pappy Van Winkle Hard Sauce and Hot Mulled Apple Cider. More…

Everyone loves a good sandwich. One of the best things about sandwiches is their versatility. In Chef Instructor James Briscione’s Culinary Arts class, the students spent an afternoon making no fewer than a dozen different sandwiches. From tea sandwiches and canapés, to open-faced sandwiches and grilled hot sandwiches, there are infinite sandwich variations and inventions. In the realm of sandwiches, if you can dream, you can do it.

Adding a few unexpected ingredients can take a sandwich to a whole new level. It’s hard to improve on the perfection of a B.L.T, but this version from the class comes pretty close. Here, the well-loved trio is updated to include a lovely salty caper mayonnaise and grilled salmon — a terrific twist on a classic.

Ingredients
5 ounces mayonnaise
1/2 ounce chopped capers
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 fluid ounce extra virgin olive oil
5 four-ounce salmon fillets
10 slices bacon, cooked
10 slices white bread
10 lettuce leaves
3 tomatoes, sliced thinly More…

It’s not everyday when respected industry professionals repeatedly use the term “gooey-factor” with a straight-face, but Chef Instructor James Briscione did just that during an evening of cheesy delight when he taught the Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwiches class here at ICE. Based off of his experience helping construct the Murray’s Melts menu at the famous Murray’s Cheese, Chef James lead us through the making of 10 different sandwiches all with different themes, such as The Southerner, which included Chef James’s FAMOUS pimento cheese; The Thanksgiving; and The Perfect Pear, a dessert sandwich that featured poached pears and mascarpone on brioche. YUM.

While grilled cheese is a staple of most people’s childhood, the perfect balance of melted cheese, crunchy bread and hearty fillings is not as easy to achieve as one might think. Here’s some great tips to help you make the greatest grilled cheese at home! More…