« July 2007 Table of Contents 
Special Feature: Alaska seafood education
Greystone hosts the Alaska Seafood Seminar training event for culinary professionals
By Joan Lang
July 01, 2007
When it comes to chefs and menu development, three days
playing in the kitchen with seafood is like a dream come true.
And at The Culinary Institute of America, known as one of the
best culinary schools in the country country, no less.
The Alaska Seafood Seminar, a professional program sponsored
by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI), in
partnership with The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
in St. Helena, Calif., has become a semi-regular event that
encourages seafood menu development. This May, 16 chefs and
culinary professionals from chain restaurants and high-volume
college foodservice operations were invited to participate in
the program, the eighth of its kind since 1995.
"We started doing this program as a way to help educate
chefs and develop better relationships with them," says Claudia
Hogue, ASMI's foodservice marketing director. The debut seminar
was Greystone's first custom program, held just weeks after the
facility opened. "It's a great way to really delve deeply into
a subject - seafood - that can be pretty confusing, and to give
chefs some hands-on experience with the products so they feel
more comfortable working with them on their menus."
Indeed, research conducted in 2005 by The Hale Group on
behalf of ASMI indicated that 60 percent of consumers are more
likely to eat seafood in restaurants than at home, prompting a
growing number of operators to add more fish and shellfish
specialties to the menu. The strategy is paying off: At chain
restaurants in particular, 64 percent of patrons were eating
more seafood than they were two years earlier, according to the
Hale Group. Growing concerns about health - both of individuals
and the planet - further points to the wisdom of offering
seafood from wholesome, sustainable sources.
Wild seafood from Alaska is widely considered to represent a
model of sustainable seafood practices for the rest of the
world, a fact that has become increasingly relevant to
consumers.
"As we open more accounts and are getting more RFPs
[requests for proposals], we're finding that more organizations
are requesting information on our sustainability practices as
well as our food quality," says Roger Beaulieu, director of
culinary development for CulinArt, a Plainview, N.Y., provider
of foodservices in the business and industry, educational and
recreation and leisure markets. "When you've got that level of
immersion, you can really understand what the issues are. [The
Alaska Seafood Seminar] is going to help us meet our clients'
needs."
Over the course of the three-day event, attendees were given
ample opportunity to learn about Alaska seafood firsthand
through a variety of presentations, demonstrations and cooking.
The event was divided into three species subgroups: whitefish
(halibut, cod, pollock, sole, black cod and surimi); salmon
(covering the five varieties of king, sockeye, coho, chum and
pink); and shellfish (including king, snow and Dungeness crabs,
spot prawns and scallops). Samples of every species were flown
into Greystone by ASMI.
Morning sessions emphasized product information presented in
an overview format by Randy Rice, ASMI seafood technical
director, and Joseph Zalke, national accounts representative.
Both Rice and Zalke have spent their entire careers in the
seafood business, and have gained expertise in species
identification, product forms, handling and specifications and
harvesting methods and availability. CIA chef-instructor Lars
Kronmark led a series of discussions on global flavor-building
techniques, demonstrating ways to adapt Alaska seafood to the
spice pantries of Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean -
three regions identified as having the most on-trend
applications.
Other programs included a demonstration of Alaska seafood in
modern Vietnamese cuisine by Charles Phan, chef-owner of the
Slanted Door in San Francisco; a discussion of oils, breadings
and batters by Chris Loss, director of the Venture Foods Center
for Menu R&D at Greystone; and a seafood-and-wine pairing
presentation by wine guru
Evan Goldstein.
Each day included at least two hours of hands-on production
in the CIA's state-of-the-art teaching kitchen. Students worked
with all 16 varieties of Alaska seafood to produce recipes from
"The Alaska Seafood Spice Pantry," a new book debuted by ASMI
at the event. The final day's production showcased a market
basket, in which participants were asked to prepare a series of
dishes of their own devising, including their choice from all
the Alaska seafood varieties and an extensive array of ethnic
ingredients.
"Being able to work with the fish in the kitchen was
amazingly useful," says attendee Mark Miller, director of
R&D for Captain D's Seafood. "People are enthralled with
Alaska as our last frontier, especially with all the TV shows
like Planet Earth and Alone in the Wilderness. It's a great
time to be part of a groundswell to help educate our patrons to
make them more aware of how Alaska seafood is not only
great-tasting, but also sustainable."
Contributing Editor Joan M. Lang lives in Cape Elizabeth,
Maine