DICED has been sharing an interview from The Main Course, our school newsletter, between Editor Kiri Tannenbaum and The Spotted Pig Chef April Bloomfield about her restaurant and her new book, A Girl and Her Pig. Last week, we told you about April’s life in the kitchen and now we are sharing her thoughts on running a successful restaurant.

Even now that you have three restaurants, how are you able to be in the kitchen?
I try and be in the kitchen every day. Obviously, it’s hard because I’ve started to do a few more interviews for my book. I can’t obviously be in different ones at the same time, but I try and touch on them all at least once a day.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing chefs today?
Keeping on top of things, persevering and sourcing. Sourcing is really a challenge sometimes.

Do you have an in-house forager?
We used to, now my chefs have started to go to the market a little bit more.

What’s your number one priority in the kitchen?
I have many. To be professional all the time. To taste. That’s really important–it’s number one. To be clean, organized, efficient, and to communicate. All those are priorities. If you don’t have those, then it’s not a smooth machine. And treat the food well.

What is important for you when you are hiring your staff?
Firstly, that they know what we’re about. And to hire people that are like-minded. That’s why trails are so good, because you really get to see who they are and they get to see who you are as well. It’s less about the interview process; it’s more about the connection– whether they fit into your kitchen, whether the other people work well with them. More…

ICE publishes an issue of The Main Course, our school newsletter, every April. In addition to info about our programs and our recreational cooking class listings, it included an interview between Editor Kiri Tannenbaum and The Spotted Pig Chef April Bloomfield about her restaurant and her new book, A Girl and Her Pig. We’re sharing the interview here on DICED. Earlier this week, we told you about April’s experience writing the book. Now, we are sharing her thoughts on life in a successful restaurant and finding inspiration.

Your restaurants have been known to attract celebrity clientele, how does that change what goes on inside the kitchen?
Nothing. We treat them as regular customers. I don’t go to the tables. I don’t do anything special.

You’re not nervous?
I get more nervous when chefs come in, but they’re probably more celebrities than celebrities.

What about President Bill Clinton?
That was a nice experience. I got to meet him and it was nice to have that experience of him coming to your restaurant and the restaurant being very quiet when he walked in. That was kind of exciting.

You know he’s a vegan now?
That’s what I heard.

I guess he wouldn’t be eating the burger this time around?
No. Probably not. He has been in recently and I’m not going to disclose what he ate.

When you think back on when you first started out, did you ever imagine you’d be in New York City with three restaurants cooking for presidents and celebrities?
Not at all actually. I’m not one to look ahead and project what I might be doing in five or ten year’s time. I took one restaurant a year at a time, or two years at a time, and then figured out where I wanted to go. So, that was never in my future at all. More…

Every year, ICE publishes three issues of The Main Course, our school newsletter. In addition to info about our programs and our recreational cooking class listings, it is jammed packed with news and articles about trends and professionals making headlines. In the April edition, Editor Kiri Tannenbaum spoke with The Spotted Pig Chef April Bloomfield about her restaurant and her new book, A Girl and Her Pig. We’re sharing the interview here on DICED. First up, a look at what it’s like to take experience as a restaurant chef and translate it into a book.

British-born chef April Bloomfield has been credited with starting the “gastropub revolution” in New York City.She and restaurateur Ken Friedman launched The Spotted Pig in February of 2004 and since then the eatery has earned one star from the Michelin Guide for six consecutive years. In 2010, the duo expanded their restaurant empire inside the Ace Hotel, first with The Breslin Bar & Dining Room, and later with the John Dory Oyster Bar, which earned a glowing two-star review from The New York Times.

Even though her illustrious career seems like it was meant to be, Bloomfield accidentally fell into her career after missing an examination to begin training as a police officer. So instead she followed in her sister’s footsteps to culinary school at Birmingham College and eventually went on to cook at London’s acclaimed River Café. Under the guidance of Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, Bloomfield learned that good ingredients speak for themselves.

Nearly a decade after leaving her mentors, her first cookbook, A Girl and Her Pig hit shelves in April 2012. The Main Course met with Bloomfield upstairs at The Breslin to discuss her book endeavor, her thoughts on being a chef and restaurateur and that oh-so famous burger.

How long was your cookbook in the making?
It was a whole year to write it, to test recipes and tell the stories. It was a great experience and working with JJ [Goode] was amazing. He’s such a good writer, very talented, and we worked well together. [You can read about JJ’s career as a collaborative food writer here on DICED.]

In the foreword to the book JJ referred to you as “vegetable savant.” What do you think about that?
Did he? That’s a good thing… I think. I love cooking vegetables. They’re just fun to cook and they’re so versatile. We’re planning on doing a vegetable book together, which is very exciting. More…

Every issue of The Main Course, ICE’s school newsletter, includes a glimpse at the life of students in ICE’s career-training programs. We’re sharing the interviews from the most recent issue here on DICED. First up, Culinary Arts student Dasheen Ellis.

Dasheen Ellis
Culinary Arts
As a high school track star in Rockland County, Dasheen Ellis, dreamed of one day attending culinary school. But no matter how ready he was to begin his career, it was important to him to first pursue a college education at SUNY Cortland. In August 2011, he enrolled at ICE and now at 21, he is wrapping up his externship at Perilla, Top Chef Howard Dieterle’s modern-American restaurant. Dasheen finds cooking to be not just an art form, but therapeutic, and plans to continue to follow his passion with a career in the kitchen. After graduation he hopes to grab his backpack and discover first-hand the flavors of Italy before securing a job. When he’s not cooking, you can find him coaching track and field at North Rockland High School.

Three times a year, ICE publishes a new issue of The Main Course, our school newsletter and recreational course catalog. Every issue includes an article about a budding food trend with input from the industry experts at ICE. For the most recent issue, Editor Kiri Tannenbaum tackled the world of ceviche. We shared the first part of the article on ceviche’s history and evolution here on DICED last week. Today, we’re bringing you a look at the science of ceviche and how the dish is made.

While many consider this prepared fish to be cooked in the acidic citrus juices, in fact, it is not. Mike Schwartz, ICE Chef Instructor and owner of BAO Food and Drink explains, “Ceviche is basically denaturing the protein so it looks opaque or cooked.” To denature, in culinary terms, is to change the appearance and the texture. In this case, the denaturing process affects the fish in such a way that it has the appearance of being cooked. “However, it is much more tender then if you were to cook it,” says Chef Mike.

When selecting a fish, a white fish is preferred and the less oily the better. Chef Mike suggests using any fish or seafood you would normally eat raw — mostly ocean fish and generally the same selection you would find for Japanese sashimi or Italian crudos, but definitely not flounder. Salmon, fluke, and hamachi work well, but as Chef Mike warns, the latter is endangered. It is essential when making ceviche to first chill the fish before the prep even starts. The best way is to tightly wrap the fish fillets in plastic and let them rest in the freezer for 30 minutes until the fish is firm and no longer malleable. The firmness will make the fish easier to cut. More…

Every April ICE publishes a new issue of The Main Course, our school newsletter and recreational course catalog. In addition to containing over 900 new recreational cooking classes, it always includes a great article about a burgeoning food trend with input from the industry experts at ICE. For this issue, Editor Kiri Tannenbaum tackled the world of ceviche and the dish’s surging popularity. Here on DICED, we’re bringing you the article in two parts. First up, the history of ceviche and the spread of the dish from Peru to New York City.

Walk down any street in Lima and you are sure to come across ceviche — raw fish or seafood that has been ‘cooked’ in citrus juices. This popular food, also spelled seviche or cebiche, is Peru’s national dish and Latin America’s answer to sushi. Much like the sushi bars that dominate Tokyo, today there are over 2,000 cevicherias in Lima alone.

Ceviche is native to Peru, but its origins are up for debate. Some purport that ceviche dates back to the fourteenth century during the time of the Incas who had inhabited the land for hundreds of years. In this version, the Incans used available citrus fruits and salt in order to preserve their daily catch. However, according to Linda Civitello, author of Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People, it wasn’t until the Spanish conquistadors arrived nearly two hundred years later that the dish was born. In 1532, Francisco Pizzaro and his troops arrived to conquer the Americas. From 1540 to 1550, they brought foods from Spain and cultivated them in Peru’s soil. Grape vines, olive tree cuttings, figs, pomegranates, wheat, coconuts, and citrus fruits among other foods were planted. Yet a third belief is that ceviche came with a wave of Japanese immigration that began in 1899. Once in Peru, the Japanese adapted their traditional sashimi to include local ingredients and flavors.

Today, the storied yet simple dish can be found on menus all over South America, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, in the Yucatan Peninsula, on the islands of the Caribbean, up the Eastern seaboard and all the way to the concrete jungle that is New York City. Like any other traditional dish, this one has been modified and modernized over time, but at its core the process for making ceviche remains the same. More…