TALK OF THE TOQUES
American Culinary Federation
Upper Michigan Chapter Inc.
November 2014
Couldn’t make it to the September meeting?
Here’s what you missed!
Chapter Officers
President
Robin J Holmes, CEC
Pacinos Food & Spirits
Vice President
Eric Juchemich
Lagniappe Cajun Creole Eatery
Secretary
Mike Chapman, CCC
Pacinos Food & Spirits
Treasurer
James Smiljanich, CSC
Elizabeth’s Chophouse
Sergeant at Arms
Nichole Durley
Lagniappe Cajun Creole Eatery
Come join us for our next meeting held on
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at The
Landmark Inn in the Harbor Room
downstairs. Chef Nichole Durley and Chef
Eric Juchemich will be presenting the
educational:
“How do you like dem apples?”
First on the agenda was the OSF dinner. Chef
Robin Holmes, CEC went over who was
assigned to what course and asked that
descriptions were emailed ASAP so he could
pair wines. The language on the By-Laws
has been updated and all changes have been
made. The board and chapter will be voting
on the By-Laws at the November meeting.
Chef Nathan Mileski, CEC along with Chef
Chris Sturzl, CEC, CCE, CSCE and Chef
Jeremy Pomeroy, CEC are traveling together
to go to a class where they will start the
process to become Chef Proctors for
Certification Exams. Chef Nathan explained
that you have to complete the class along
with proctoring four exams with certified
chef proctors in order to pass the
certification. Congrats and Good Luck
Chefs! Jack LaSalle had a big update on our
Dave Schonderschaffer scholarship. NMU
has offered to create a new scholarship for
our chapter to 100% be in charge of. They
are willing to give us $10,000 from the
current scholarship and start a new
scholarship for us. Jack said that NMU is
unwilling to write in an outside party as the
responsible person for determining the
current scholarship award. The board and the
chapter both agreed and a vote was passed to
take the money and create a new scholarship.
A committee will be formed in future
meetings to write out scholarship guidelines.
Chef Chris Kibit, CCE, CHE and Glenn from
Smokehouse Glenn’s in Ishpeming hosted a
great educational. Glenn brought lots of oils,
vinegars, and seasonings for us to try that he
sells in his store. Chef Chris utilized some of
his dry rub and BBQ sauce on delicious ribs
and some of his Polish sausage with
simmered cabbage. There was also a nice
shrimp salad using some of Glenn’s lemon
pepper seasoning blend.
President’s Letter
A letter from our Chapter President Robin J Holmes, CEC
Greetings following Culinarians:
Our summer break and fall have come to an end. It was nice to see everyone
at the September meeting and at the OSF event (which went fantastic by the
way.) Chef Kibit had a great educational at the last meeting. It was really neat to
sample all the different seasonings, oils, and vinegars. I really like the different
balsamic vinegars over ice cream. Who would have thought they would have
gone so well together. Thanks to Glenn from Smokehouse Glenn’s for having a
lot of product there for us to try and the information as well. I came hungry and
left with a head full of info and a stomach full of delicious food.
Epic Lobster Boil again this year! Big thanks to the Mileski Family for hosting
the Boil at their cabin on Saux Head Lake. Chef Nathan Mileski, CEC sure knows
how to throw a party. There was Lobster, Shrimp, Crab Legs, Oysters, Mussels,
Sweet Corn, Red Skins, and Steaks too. What I really enjoyed was the pot luck
part of the meal. Every time someone new showed up they usually had
something new to add to the table. Layers of delectable goodies! The oysters
were my favorite, no corn or potatoes for me, had to leave room for the seafood.
We had the boil on an earlier date and starting time this year, which I think was a
good idea. I actually made it home before dark. What did you think?
Congratulations to the newest Certified Chef in our chapter, Chef Chadd
Wellman CEC. This gives our chapter 7 CECs, 2 CCCs, 1 CSC, 1 CSCE, and 1
CCE. That adds up to our chapter having 40% of its members Certified. The
goal of our chapter to get members certified is starting to come to fruition. Chef
Spiro from Iron Mountain is next in line. He has passed with written test and is
practicing for the practical. Good Luck Chef. Also congratulations to Chef James
Smiljanich, CSC our 2013 Chapter Chef of the Year. Chef James has come a
long way since joining our chapter as a student. It has been an honor to watch
him grow in his culinary skin. From barely finishing in the Culinary Secrets
Competition to Winning it this year, the chapter face at the Regional Conference,
our current chapter treasurer, co-chair of the Certification Committee, to just
being all in for the Upper Michigan Chapter of the ACF, you can always count on
Chef James.
For those of you who missed the Chef of the Year Dinner, PHENOMENAL,
meal from our past Chef of the Year, Chef Eric Juchemich. From the first course
to the last, one surprise after another, great job Chef Eric. It was playful yet very
representative of what Chef Eric does as a Charcuterie Chef and his work at The
Gris Gris Specialty Shop. Thanks also to Chef Nathan for hosting the dinner at
NMU.
We will be setting up the 2015 meeting schedule and taking nominations for
chapter officers at the November meeting. Hope to see you there.
Chef Robin J Holmes CEC
The true beginning of an American Thanksgiving classic: Pumpkin Pie
The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large melon" which is
"pepon." "Pepon" was changed by the French into "pompon." The English
termed it "pumpion" which then became pumpkin as we know it today.
1621 - Early American settlers of Plymouth Plantation (1620-1692), might have
made pumpkin pies (of sorts) by making stewed pumpkins and by filling a
hollowed out shell with milk, honey and spices, and then baking it in hot ashes.
Northeastern Native American tribes grew squash and pumpkins. They roasted
or boiled them for eating. Historians think that the settlers were not very
impressed by the Indians’ squash and/or pumpkins until they had to survive their
first harsh winter when about half of the settlers died from scurvy and exposure.
The Native Americans brought pumpkins as gifts to the first settlers, and taught
them the many uses for the pumpkin. The early settlers of Plymouth Plantation
brought English cookery to the new world which allowed them to mash or cut the
pumpkin in different ways than the Indians knew.
1651 - Francois Pierre la Varenne, the famous French chef and author of one of
the most important French cookbooks of the 17th
century, wrote a cookbook called Le Vrai Cuisinier
Francois (The True French Cook). It was translated and
published in England as The French Cook in 1653. It
has a recipe for a pumpkin pie that included the pastry
*(note- all the following recipes have been loosely
translated):
“Tourte of pumpkin”
Boil it with good milk, pass it through a straining pan. It
will be very thick, and mix it with sugar, butter, a little salt and if you will, a few
stamped almonds; let all be very thin. Put it in your sheet of paste; bake it. After it
is baked, be sprinkle it with sugar and serve.
1670s - By the 1670's, recipes for a sort of "pumpion pie" were appearing in such
English cookbooks as the The Queen-Like Closet by Hannah Wooley and
Rumford Complete Cook - Expertly Prescribing the Most Ready Wayes,
Whether Italian, Spanish or French, for Dressing of Flesh and Fish, Ordering Of
Sauces or Making of Pastry by Lilly Haxworth Wallace. The following recipe is
from the The Queen-like Closet by Hannah Wooley:
Take a Pumpion, pare it, and cut it in thin slices, dip it in beaten Eggs and Herbs
shred small, and fry it till it be enough, then lay it into a Pie with Butter, Raisins,
Here are some
delicious facts about
Pumpkin Pie!
Currans, Sugar and Sack, and in the bottom
some sharp Apples, when it is baked, butter it
and serve it in.
* The type of pumpkin
pie we know today
was not made until
the 1700s. In early
colonial days, the
pumpkin was actually
used in the crust not
the filling.
Still strolling through the Pumpkin
Patch…
* A pumpkin is
considered a fruit!
*In 1929, Libby's
canned pumpkin was
introduced to
America. Libby's is
not actually pumpkin
but another kind of
squash called a
Dickinson that also
has orange flesh.
*Libby's has
developed its own
version of the
Dickison squash,
called Libby Select
No. 12. Libby’s owns
all proprietary rights to
the squash.
*Every year, 50
million pumpkin pies
are made using
Libby's “pumpkin.”
*The world's largest
pumpkin pie weighed
over 350 pounds and
was made with 80
pounds of pumpkin,
36 pounds of sugar,
and 144 eggs.
1671 – This recipe is from Rumford Compleat
Cook by Lilly Haxworth Wallace.
Take about halfe a pound of Pumpion and slice
it, a handful of Tyme, a little Rosemary, Parsley
and sweet Marjoram slipped off the stalks, and
chop them small, then take Cinnamon, Nutmeg,
Pepper, and six Cloves, and beat them; take ten
Eggs and beat them; then mix them, and beat
them altogether, and put in as much Sugar as
you think fit, then fry them like a froiz; after it is
fryed, let it stand till it be cold, then fill your Pie,
take sliced Apples thinne round ways, and lay a
row of the Froiz, and a layer of Apples with
Currans betwixt the layer while your Pie is fitted,
and put in a good deal of sweet butter before you
close it; when the Pie is baked, take six yolks of
Eggs, some white-wine or Verjuyce, & make a
Caudle of this, but not too thick; cut up the Lid
and put it in, stir them well together whilst the
Eggs and Pumpions be not perceived, and so
serve it up.
1796 - It was not until 1796 that a truly American
cookbook, American cookery, by an American
orphan by Amelia Simmons, was published. It
was the first American cookbook written and
published in America, and the first cook book that
developed recipes for foods native to America.
Her pumpkin puddings were baked in a crust and
similar to present day pumpkin pies:
Pompkin Pudding No. 1. One quart stewed and
strained, 3 pints cream, 9 beaten eggs, sugar,
mace, nutmeg and ginger, laid into paste No. 7 or
3, and with a dough spur, cross and chequer it,
and baked in dishes three quarters of an hour.
Chocolate- Covered Toffee with Pumpkin Seeds and Sea Salt
The Gramacy Tavern Cookbook by Michael Anthony
This toffee is the perfect after-dinner chocolate. Or make it for holiday gifts. You can use
the easy tempering method described below with a good bittersweet chocolate to give it a
good snap. To me, the crunch and savory quality of the pumpkin seeds makes all the
difference.
12 T (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed
1 c. sugar
½ t salt
1 t vanilla extract
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
¾ c. toasted pumpkin seeds
Sea Salt
Line a large baking pan with parchment paper. Put the pan on a flat surface and protect
the surface-because toffee is sugar cooked at a high temperature-with a trivet or towel
underneath. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, and 2 T water. Do not get the
sugar on the sides of the pan because it will crystallize. Bring to a boil over medium-high
heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil the mixture, stirring constantly, until it turns a
beautiful caramel color (about 295 F on a candy thermometer) about 7 minutes.
Immediately remove from the heat.
Add the salt and stir to combine, then add the vanilla and stir again. Be careful. The
mixture is very hot and will sputter. Immediately pour the toffee onto the parchment
paper-lined pan and with a heatproof spatula quickly spread it in an even layer almost to
the edges. Let cool completely. This is very hot so resist sticking a finger in it!!
Temper the chocolate. Using a double boiler, bring two inches of water to bare simmer.
Melt 2/3 of the chocolate in the top part of the double boiler until smooth. Remove the
bowl from the heat and stir in the rest of the chocolate until melted and smooth.
Pat the surface of the cooled toffee dry to make sure the chocolate will adhere properly.
With the heat proof spatula, spread the melted chocolate in an even layer over the toffee,
then quickly squatter the pumpkin seeds on top and sprinkle with sea salt. Let stand until
the chocolate hardens.
Break the toffee into large pieces. The toffee will keep, covered, for up to 2 weeks.
*Editor note* An excellent pair with some port for an after dinner or cocktail party
snack!
The 17th Annual OSF St. Francis Hospital and Medical Group Foundation
HEART OF GOLD: A CULINARY EXPERIENCE
Hosted by the American Culinary Federation, Upper Michigan Chapter
October 16, 2014
Amuse: Cajun Boudin
Autumn Apple Slaw, Sweet Potato, Creole Mustard and Fried Sage
Wine: Chateau Grand Traverse Gamay Noir Limited (MI) 2012
Chef Nichole Durley , Lagniappe Cajun Creole Eatery
Appetizer: Venison Medallion
Morel-Leek Cheese, Pistachio Butter, Spicy Micro Greens
Chef James Smiljanich, CSC , Elizabeth’s Chophouse
Soup: “BLT”
Crispy Pork Belly, Lettuce, Basil, Pea Puree, Heirloom Tomato,
Garlic Crema, Micro Greens, Rye Croutons
Wine: Brancia Tre Rosso (Italy) 2011
Chef Nathan Mileski, CEC , Director of Simply Superior NMU Catering and Events
Salad: Roasted Radicchio
Jicama, Orange, Olive, Hazelnut Vinaigrette
Chef Eric Juchemich , Charcuterie Chef at The Gris Gris Specialty Shop
Entrée One: Red Snapper
Caramelized Cashew and Citrus Crust, Champagne Dill Cream, Rustic Vegetable Ragout,
Fingerling Potatoes
Wine: Edna Valley Sauvignon Blanc (CA) 2003
Chef Chris Kibit, CCE, CHE
Northern Michigan University Hospitality Management Program
Sorbet: Flowering Crab Apple and Coriander
Chef Robin Holmes, CEC , Pacinos Food and Spirits
Entrée Two: Lamb Loin Chop
Sous vide braised Lamb, Root Vegetables,
Roasted Garlic Semi Sweet Potatoes,
Red Wine Demi Glace
Wine: Bogle Phantom Red (CA) 2010
Chef John Romps, CCC, Stonehouse Restaurant
Dessert: Red Velvet Cake
Beets, Pistachio, Chevre Ganache, New Holland Spirits
“Clockwork Orange Liqueur,” Salted Caramel
Wine: LaMarca Prosecco (Italy) NV
Chef Jeremy Pomeroy, CEC, Palette Bistro
Time to Talk about Turkey
*A turkey under 16 weeks is
called a fryer, while a young
roaster is five to seven months
old.
*Turkeys are the only breed of
poultry native to the Western
Hemisphere.
*Age is a determining factor in
taste. Old large males are
preferred to younger males. The
opposite is true for females. The
older the hen, the tougher the
meat.
*In 2010, retail sales of Turkey
reached $4.37 billion dollars.
*In 2011, more than 248 million
Turkeys were raised with an
average weight of 28 pounds. By
contrast, in 1970, only 105
million birds were raised with an
average weight of 17 pounds.
*One sixth of all Turkeys sold,
cooked, and eaten in the U.S.
happen at Thanksgiving time.
*A Giblet is the edible internal
parts of a fowl, including the
gizzard, heart, liver, and neck.
The gizzard is a part of the
turkey’s stomach that helps it
digest harsher items like seeds.
*The ballroom dance known as
the Turkey Trot was named for
the short and jerky steps a
turkey makes.
*Turkeys have great hearing but
no external ears. They can also
see in color and have excellent
visual acuity. However they have
a poor sense of smell but an
excellent sense of taste.
The Sensible Snob by Robert Rust
You don’t have to be snobby to enjoy wine.
However, if you are GOING to be snobby about one type of
wine, make it Port. Why you ask? Because if your goal is to
fake it until you make it as a wine aficionado, learning the
basics about Port will get you the most mileage and the most
bang for your buck! Serving a glass of Port before or after
dinner is a surefire way to impress a date or guests. Chances
are they have never had Port, let alone a Port that has been
selected, stored, and served properly. In spite of centuries of
prestige in other countries, Port has only recently come back
in vogue in the States.
Port, named for the eponymous Portuguese city,
Porto, was made popular in the 17th century by the British
who started drinking it because…well it is a long story but
in a nutshell they were mad at the French. Port fell off the
map for recent generations of drinkers due to its daunting
complexity. It is this very same complexity that makes Port
extremely rewarding. Port is wine that has been fortified
with the addition of a neutral grape spirit that stops the
fermentation of the wine which leaves residual sugar and
boosts the alcohol content. It is then stored and often aged
in barrels (you may have heard of 5 year or 10 year Port.)
There are several types of Port but the two most
common are Ruby Port and Tawny Port. Ruby Ports are the
cheapest and most extensively made. They are stored in
tanks made of concrete or stainless steel to prevent oxidative
aging and this also preserves the color. Ruby Ports do not
generally improve with age whereas Tawny Ports get better
with age. Tawny Ports are aged in wooden barrels which
exposes them to gradual oxidation and evaporation allowing
the Port to “mellow” and turn in color creating a nuttier
flavor.
Here is a Port in the right direction…
Sandeman Ruby Port- Smooth, ripe and cherry in flavor
making it an excellent accompaniment to any chocolate
dessert.
Warre’s Heritage Ruby Port- Rich, almost candy like in
flavor this Port has cherry and after dinner drink written all
over it.
Croft Tawny Port 10 Year- Powerful aroma filled with
dried mango, ginger, peaches, and apricots. A heady finish
with caramel and honey notes.
If you would like to have your newsletter emailed to you please let us know!
Email Nichole Durley @ [email protected]
THE BACK BURNER
CHAPTER CALENDER OF EVENTS 2014
Board Meeting @ 6:30
General Meeting @ 7:00
FIRE!
November 18th, 2014
The Landmark Inn @ the Harbor Room (downstairs)
Host: Chef Ryan Carstens
Educational: Chef Nichole Durley and Chef Eric Juchemich
ORDER IN!
We will be scheduling for our 2015 meetings at the November meeting.
Interested in hosting a meeting? Let us know! We still need to schedule the rest of 2014.
If you are worried about the educational aspect, help is available!
Happy Thanksgiving to all our ACF members, friends,
and family.
TALK OF THE TOQUES
ACF Upper Michigan Chapter INC.
P.O. Box 575
Marquette, MI
49855
TALK OF THE TOQUES
AMERICAN CULINARY FEDERATION
ACF email:
National:
Central:
Our Chapter:
NOVEMBER 2014
Important Internet Addresses
[email protected]
www.acfchefs.org
www.acfcenreg.com
www.acfupchefs.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/people/Acf-Upper-Michigan-Chapter
To submit information for the newsletter, please contact
Chef Nichole Durley @ [email protected]
For our website, please contact Chef John Eagle @ [email protected]