Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Pierpont Culinary Wins State Championship



Members of the Pierpont Community & Technical Colleges’ Culinary Team competed in the state American Culinary Federation (ACF) WV Jr. Hot Food competition Monday, and earned a berth to the ACF Northeast Regional to be held in Boston, MA in February 2009.
Amanda Emerson, Ted Hastings, Joe White, Kellie Smith, Sarabeth Cox (alternate), Kristina Baker (alternate), and Coach Jay Mahoney, CEC went head-to-head with Marshall Community & Technical College in a one-day dual competition held in Beckley.
During Phase I of the competition teams competed in an 80 minute timed skills relay. Individually, the competitors performed one of four skills. Ted Hastings began the skills with precision vegetable cuts. He was followed by Kellie Smith who fabricated a whole chicken, and Joe White who filleted a Dover Sole. Amanda Emerson anchored the team by finishing under the 80 minute mark with her pastry skills.
First time team member, freshman Kellie Smith said, “At first I was nervous, but excited, and after the event it felt really good to know that our hard work had paid off. My teammates were really supportive, and helped me to keep my spirits up. The experience and energy of the event was really great.”
Phase II the team prepared a four course meal for four people. The menu included: the prescribed classical dish Paupiettes de Sole a la Trouvillaise; second course Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Salad with Autumn Apple Vinaigrette; third course Roasted Saddle of Rabbit, Whipped Potatoes, Tourne Vegetable and Truffle Sauce; dessert Nutty Buckwheat Cake with White Chocolate-Mascarpone Mousse. The four person team had to prepare and serve the entire meal in 90 minutes.
The highly acclaimed judging panel for the event included two Master Chefs: Peter Timmins and John Johnstone and the former US Culinary Olympic Team Captain Keith Coughenour, CEC. Following the competition Kellie Smith said, “I liked the judges’ critique. They identified what I could improve upon. The judges showed me a technique that will make fabricating my chicken so much easier.”
Team Coach Jay Mahoney said, “This is an opportunity for the students to perform in an environment very similar to the Iron Chef show seen on Food Network. It also gives a new perspective for the definition of teamwork. I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts, now we’ll have elevate and perfect our dishes to compete at a regional level in Boston.”
Program Coordinator, Brian A. Floyd, CEC said, “It is a great testament to the teams’ effort. The students have been working very hard, and Jay Mahoney is just such an invaluable asset to our program.” The Pierpont Culinary Arts and Pastry & Baking Arts programs both received national accreditation earlier this year through the American Culinary Federation Accrediting Commission.









Team Members (l to r)Amanda Emerson, Joe White, Kristina Baker, Kellie Smith, Ted Hastings, Sarabeth Cox. Chef Mahoney pictured to right.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Pierpont Culinary Students Riding That Train

Pierpont students and chef instructor Jay Mahoney join the West Virginia ACF chapter for local fundraiser. Eight students from PC&TC cooked on the New River Train Excursion from Huntington, WV to Hinton, WV over the 24th and 25th of October. Over eleven hundred folks were taxied by 28 assorted railroad cars comprised from all over the country. Staffed by a variety of folks from abroad as well as locally. The 16 hour trip followed the CSX line traveling up the New River Gorge stopping in Hinton for a stroll through the street fair in celebration for the event. Culinary students from Marshall University, Mountain State University, Carver Career Center and Pierpont Community & Technical College joined together with ACF West Virginia chapter members to prepare the culinary delights for many of the travelers. PC&TC students involved were: David Carson, Ashley Gill, Rachael Harris, Joseph Woods, Kenny Poling, Jessica Dash, Lucinda Vance and Michael Cottingham.




Feast from the Fields

Chef Mahoney was recently featured as a guest chef in the "Feast from the Fields," dinner hosted by Gourmet on the Gorge.

Joy Marr, owner of Gourmet on the Gorge, has been living in West Virginia for the past 30 years as a professional outdoors woman, a caterer, innkeeper, and culinary tour guide. She has been working and cooking in the outdoors professionally for over 25 years. Her passion, enthusiasm, and love of the active lifestyle is evident in her fun and flavorful cooking, which explores the regional cuisines of Italy, Mexico and other far reaches as well as Appalachia and traditional Southern fare ~ E.W. Massey~

The menu started with a canapé created by guest Chef Jay Mahoney; just smoked WV trout served on a bit of toast with mustard aioli and sweet onion relish, alongside was the marinated goat milk Feta from farmers Darlene and Joe. These were served with a bright Riesling and a sturdy Goat du Rhone red (yes, we mean the pun!) down by the pond just before sunset.

Chef Mahoney's students at the Pierpont C&TC Culinary Program generously donated the pancetta, made from WV pigs, that we used in the sweet-n-sour dressing.

Read more about this really cool event...

Bridges International 10th Anniversary Celebration

First year students: Joe Woods, David Pyles, Jessica Dash, Dave Carson, and Blayze Haught (not pictured) participated in a catered event celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Bridges International.
Bridges is a non-profit organization that supports and encourages missionaries around the globe. Bridges President, Thomas Aitken said, "This was one of our most successful events. The food was wonderful."

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Viewing Party a lot of Fun

About 20 students, faculty, and friends showed up to watch the Food Network debut of Kenny Poling and Lucina Vance (1st year Culinary and Pastry & Baking students). The crowd cheered when they first caught a glimpse of their classmates on the big screen TV in the Falcon Center.

Everyone watched intently to see if they could make dinner "possible" for approximately 500 people. The menu consisted of Italian and Greek favorites selected by the mother of Michael Symon, the show's star.

Kenny spent most his day making the apple crumb dessert. Lucinda helped make some of the 600 meatballs needed for the day. Lucinda said, "It was very exciting, because the chef (Michael Symon) was literally one foot away from me, and Marc Summers was in the production crew." Kenny said, "I'll never get that experience again. It was once in a lifetime, and I'm quite excited it got to happen."

You can learn more about the new Food Network "stars" by clicking on the What's on the Menu section of this blog and viewing the WBOY story.

Congrats to Kenny & Lucinda!

Friday, September 5, 2008

2008-09 Culinary Team Named

Congratulations, to the 2008-09 Pierpont Culinary Team. Tryouts were held Friday, September 5th and the following students have been selected for this year's team: Ted Hastings, Amanda Emerson, Joseph White, Kellie Smith, Sara Beth Cox (alternate), and coach- Chef Jay Mahoney, CEC.

The team will immediately begin training for the state competition, to be held at Mountain State University on Monday, November 10th. The winner of the state competition will go on to represent West Virginia at the American Culinary Federation Northeast Regional Conference to be held in Boston, MA February 7-9, 2009.
Good luck to each of the competitors on their quest toward a national championship.






Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Four Students to Appear in Dinner: Impossible

Four students in Pierpont's Culinary and Pastry & Baking programs will appear in an up-coming Dinner: Impossible television program to be aired 10pm September 10, 2008.

Kenny Poling and Brooke Lafferty (Culinary Arts), Lucinda Vance and Tashina Spring (Pastry & Baking) are first year students who have been accepted to Pierpont's selective enrollment programs. All four students are from Taylor County's ProStart program.

The group participated with Food Network's Michael Symon in Dinner: Impossible episode IE0504. Mother's Day Madness sponsored by Teleflora Flowers was filmed at the International Mother's Day Shrine in Grafton, WV.

The event was a Mother's Day picnic for 150 Mothers and their families. Approximately 500 people attended the event, and the students were among those who helped to pull off the mission to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Mother's Day.

Read more at this link to the Food Network:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ie/episode/0,3151,FOOD_28496_59321,00.html

Friday, August 29, 2008

Pierpont Culinary Announces Chef to Lead 2009 Cast Iron Cook-Off in Charleston, WV

Pierpont Culinary announced today, Chef Caleb Taylor (a 2007 graduate of Pierpont's Culinary program), apprentice chef at The Greenbrier, will be leading the Cast Iron Competition team in Charleston, WV January 2009.

"Chef Taylor is a shining example of the potential of our graduates," said Chef Brian Floyd. "He lead our team to very competitive finish in the 2008 competition, and we cannot think of a better person to represent our institutioin."

Taylor, with his sous chef, will lead a team of eight amatuer cooks as they prepare a four-course meal ultilizing some of West Virginia's best ingredients. Chefs from around the state will vie for prizes such as: Best use of WV Ingredients, Most Creative use of Cast Iron, and of course, the Grand Champion's Skillet.

"The Cast Iron Cook-Off is one of the state's premier culinary events. We are particularily proud that some of the event's proceeds are used to help sponsor scholarships." Floyd said. "We feel fortunate and honored to be one of the teams chosen to compete."

The 2009 Cast Iron Cook-Off will be held at the Charleston Marriot Town-Center January 23rd-25th.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Welcome Back Students


It's been an exciting week.


The new Culinary and Pastry & Baking Arts students have received their new uniforms and knives. Second year students are settling back in after a summer of internships all over the state and country.


The first labs have happened, there are several bandaids to prove it. Food has been delivered in. All the pilot lights have been checked. The dishmachine is already working hard as ever.


Faculty have all been Faculty Developed. Syllabi have been created, discussed, passed-out, and posted. The semester game plans are coming together.


Books have been purchased. Schedules have been corrected. Course overrides have been faxed. Assignments have been received, they'll be done tomorrow.


It's good to be back in the kitchen......let the semester begin.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Pierpont C&TC Culinary Arts Receives National Recognition

Pierpont C&TC Culinary Arts and Pastry & Baking Arts programs recently received accreditation through the American Culinary Federation Foundation Accrediting Commission (ACFFAC).

Evaluators from Columbus and Cincinnati, OH, and Fort Wayne, IN came to assess the program’s curriculum, facilities, and faculty this past November. The three member team was made up of an industry professional, a culinary education coordinator, and a representative from the ACFFAC.

The Culinary Arts program had received its initial accreditation in 2004. However, with this latest review the program’s accreditation was renewed for another 5 years.

Chef Brian A. Floyd, CEC is the coordinator for both the Culinary Arts and Pastry & Baking Arts programs.

“This review is a tremendous validation for our programs. We have been incrementally increasing the quality of our programs and this substantiates our work,” Floyd said.

Stacey Dent, a first year Culinary Arts student from Parkersburg, said, “This program has been a good experience for me. I have learned a lot that I don’t think I could have learned somewhere else. I have tried a number of things that have pushed me beyond my (culinary) comfort zone.”

The Pastry & Baking Arts program was established in 2005, and has been gaining steady momentum since. The Pastry & Baking Arts program also received an initial accreditation of 5 years.

Devin Young, a Pastry & Baking Arts student who attended Putnam Career & Technical Center, hopes to eventually open her own bakery. While she was in the kitchen preparing some fresh croissants she said, “Now that the school has demonstrated that it has met the national standards, I know that I can meet them too.”

The Culinary Arts program added Chef Jay R. Mahoney, CEC as a full-time Chef-Instructor, and the Pastry & Baking Arts program added Pastry Chef Kristen Cirolia as an adjunct faculty in January.

“I truly believe the addition of this high caliber faculty put us over the top,” said Floyd. “All other components were in place. We have grown from 15 students to 75 in the past five years. In fact, we have gone to a competitive enrollment system to manage our growth and raise the quality of our student graduates. Our facilities are kept immaculately well. Chef Mahoney and Chef Cirolia provide the missing links to our continued success.”

Floyd has already moved past the accreditation and has been working with city officials to assess the market and financial feasibility of opening a student operated bistro in downtown Fairmont. He expects the study will be complete by spring and will make a decision then whether to continue to pursue to the project to establish the Culinary program downtown, a project which he hopes will attract other restaurateurs to follow.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Welcome to the Pierpont Palate

Welcome to the official blog site of Pierpont Community & Technical College Culinary Arts and Pastry & Baking Arts. This site is intended for students, faculty, alumni, program friends, and anyone who shares our passion for great food.