International Flavors with Chef John Barton

The following images are from a unique event I was fortunate enough to be invited to document. Culinary guru Chef John Barton, an amazing instructor at New England Culinary Institute, brought his class of high school students enrolled in the culinary arts program at Northwest Technical Center in St. Albans to visit NECI's Montpelier campus and interact with his B.A. Mod 6 students as they prepared final projects for their Asian Foods class.

Chef John Barton is an intensely articulate and dearly loved instructor with a fountain of knowledge that he passionately shares with his students.

At first the high school students were a bit shy, but with some mild prompting and introductions they felt more at ease and began to ask the B.A. students questions and a natural interaction followed.

I have to admit, it was a joy to witness the high school students come out of their shells and begin to develop a rapport with the BA students, get involved in the preparation, and experience a meaningful field-trip.

The high school students were able to get a glimpse of various steps in Asian food preparation and also meet some of NECI's international students.

The visiting high school students had a first hand opportunity to experience NECI's mantra "where you learn by living it" in action.

A collage of some of the various dishes prepared as final projects in Chef Barton's Mod 6 Asian Foods class.

 Shrimp Rolls: the Chef's Choice winner by Stefan

A duo of shrimp: the People's Choice winner, by Kimberly

At the end of the day, Chef Barton observed: "In the heat of the moment the students don't often see the quality of their work or the progress they have made. Nine weeks ago they knew next to nothing about Asian cuisine, now they are integrating specific cuisines into their cooking."

"The photos look great," he said. "Thanks for your involvement and expertise it brings these types of student events to a new level and allows the students to reflect on what a great job they did."

You're very welcome Chef, thank you for the opportunity to document the event..

Brunch

Bunch at NECI on Main is a wonderful treat, if not an indulgence. Besides custome-made omlettes, there's a hot-carved meat table, a bountiful selection of pastries, sweets and breads, plus a variety of savory items such as sushi!

Testing out my new pair of 500 watt strobes and softboxes, I managed this image of dishes prepared by Chef Doug's catering class:

 

 Guess what dish items we have here

Food Photography

At a food photography workshop I conducted recently, I explained the importance of understanding light and different techniques to create photographic exposures to make the subject look appealing and delicious.

After a slide show of my explorations in food photography with examples from my recent portfolio, we used a sheet of ice to experiment with creative lighting using colored gels, a simple work lamp and an off-camera flash unit.

Here are some example images of our improvisation.

Pumpkin Rising

Autumn season again, and that means many things; bountiful harvests, fresh apples and pumpkin pie!

Seen at brunch!

This is the Heady-Topper 4-pack!

To the great delight of beer enthusiasts in Central Vermont, the owners of the Alchemist Pub & Brewery in Waterbury have opened a 15 barrel, small production brewery specializing in fresh, unfiltered India Pale Ale.

John and Jennifer Kimmich built a state-of-the-art canning line to package in 16-ounce cans their flagship Double IPA - Heady Topper. Canning allows to package, preserve and protect the beer against the impact of UV light and oxygen.

Eight years after opening the Alchemist, which became a big success, and ushered in a renaissance in the dining & nightlight scene in downtown Waterbury, the region was hit by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene on August 28 which caused tremendous flooding and lots of property damage in the Northeast.


Many homes and businesses along parts of Rt 100 and Rt 2 in Waterbury suffered severe flooding, which left behind a coating of mud and debris. Plans call for the Pub & Brewery to re-open sometime in the next 5 or 6 months, or more - who knows. But, in the meantime, we've got the Heady Topper in a can!

 

Be sure to read the instructions first, ("Drink this beer in a can"), or be adventurous and enjoy from a glass!

Appreciation Dinner

Here are a few behind-the-scenes snapshots from inside a commercial kitchen at a culinary school preparing a classic French five-course dinner for nearly sixty guests; (students, faculty, staff and special guests).

Additional images may or may not be added at any time!

Francis Moran
photographer/writer

(Special thanks to NECI, Justin, Amy, Chef Paul and Chef Tom)

 

"Say cheese!"

One of the incredible things about Vermont is the vibrant and growing number of artisan cheesemakers, (it's official, no matter what the spell-checker says; cheesemaker is one word). There's even a Vermont Cheese Trail listing over 40 cheese producers to track down and explore.  I recently had the opportunity to visit the Bonnieview Farm in Craftsbury and meet with 21-year-old cheesemaker Joe Alstat.

The Bonnieview Farm is owned and operated by Neil and Kristin Urie. The land has been farmed by the Urie family for five generations, since 1890, when it was purchased by Neil’s great-grandfather. The farm now has over 500 acres.

The farm is home to 200 milking ewes which graze on lush green pastures from May to October. It is the delicious rich and creamy milk from these ladies that produce our award winning cheeses. The breeds of its flock, chosen especially for the quality of their milk, include East Fresian, Laucone, Tunis, and Dorset.

 

The rich and creamy milk from these ladies produce award winning cheeses.

Bonnieview Farm currently makes six varieties of cheese with unpasteurized sheep’s milk from it's flock.

"farm-to-plate"  Look for Vermont cheese next time you're out and about, or better yet, create your own cheese tour by purchasing a variety of cow, goat and sheep cheeses and serve up a sampler.

 Cheese plate menu item at NECI on Main