Culinary Institute of America "Boot Camp" Program -- anyone been?

[ipsedixit]

Has anyone signed up for the boot camp at the CIA in Hyde Park NY?

Thinking of taking a vacation and the progrma is intriguing, although it seems rather intense.

Any comments/feedback? Thanks.

Info here: http://ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/progra...

[kagoo]

Since you haven't gotten any replies, I'll jump in and bump you to the top. We stayed at a B&B in Hyde Park last summer, and one of the guests was taking the Boot Camp program at the CIA. She was up at dawn every day and exhausted every evening -- we barely saw her -- but she said she loved every minute of it, had a great time, and learned a lot. (If you go, take a couple of extra days to bop around the area -- it's lovely.)

[ipsedixit]

Hey, thanks for chiming in.

Yeah, the schedule is something like 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., daily. Yowza!

[blaze]

i haven't taken the boot camp altho i keep promising myself this is the year i will try it. i have taken some of their other adult education classes and enjoyed them. one course was 3 saturdays and the other was a 1-day dessert course. found the instructors to be knowledgable and friendly and happy to work with the students; the people taking the courses were mostly fun and friendly; and you got to take home what you made!

let us know if you decide to do it. i'd love to hear feedback.

[ElizabethS]

Here's a long trip report from 3 years ago - we loved it!

My husband and I attended "Boot Camp" at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in February 2002 - following is a LONG trip report.
(note the timing might sound funny as this report was written shortly after we returned)

For those unfamiliar with the CIA it's a culinary college located in Hyde Park NY, with approximately 1600 full time students. As part of its Continuing Education program they offer a 5-day course called "Boot Camp" for food enthusiasts. We love to cook (and eat!) and had booked the course last October and spent the intervening months counting down the days.

To say that the course is "intense" is an understatement. I haven't gone a day without reading at least one newspaper in my whole adult life - for 5 days I didn't see a paper or the news on TV - which saved me from learning about Nortel's dive until Saturday! (Good thing, too, because I had plenty of access to knives on Friday!)

Attendees can stay on campus in student housing, however we chose to stay off campus at a very nice B and B called Journey Inn (right across from the Vanderbilt Mansion - about a 5 minute drive). Those who stayed on campus were generally pleased, but reported it was a little noisy.

The average day splits roughly into 3 parts:

7:00am - 1:30pm - Lecture then Practical in the kitchen including lunch
2:00pm - 4:30pm - Wine Lecture/Tasting
6:30pm - Group Dinner at each of the 4 public dining rooms

The following are comments about each section.

Lecture/Kitchen Work

We were up bright and early Monday morning to be at the school at 5:45am for breakfast (looking VERY cool in our chef jackets and black/white checked pants that are part of the course package). While breakfast was very good, for the rest of the week we elected to sleep the extra hour!

At 7:00am we got underway. Our instructor - Chef Ryan - did a brief orientation - each day would start with a 2-hour lecture and then into the kitchen by 9:00am. The 15 participants were split into 5 groups of 3 - from 9:00am until noon each team prepared several dishes and at noon it all came together as our lunch (well, in theory it all came together!).

(Note on the group - there were 3 couples; 2 girlfriends; 3 single women; and 3 single men - not necessarily "single" but there without their spouses. For those of you counting - one person didn't show so one group was only 2 people - they were our heroes as they were a group of 2 doing the work of a group of 3! Cooking experience ranged from a lot to zero - it's a testament to the course that no matter your expertise you felt you got good value)

Monday was a "light day" - after a lecture on sautéing we hit the kitchens. (At which point we donned our "chef's hats" - for the first 5 minutes I felt really goofy but then forgot about it entirely - I realized how used to the hat I had become when I [unsuccessfully] tried to get in the car wearing mine!) Each team had a large work area, steam stockpot, and an industrial four-burner gas range with oven. In addition to the Chef, there were 2 students who helped out and keep the pots clean! (Definitely need that at home!). Monday, each team prepared a basic stock (veg, fish, chicken, etc), one large vegetable dish and we each prepared "Chicken Provencal" as our main lunch course.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the production ramped up each day. By Thursday our team's menu comprised 5 items (for example - an appetizer, a main dish, and 3 vegetables). Each group prepared one "demo plate" (for example - the main course and side dishes) and a "family plate" (5 additional servings presented on one or more platters - which we ate for lunch). After lunch we would return to the kitchen to evaluate the "demo plates" based on taste, presentation, etc. Up until Thursday, all of the menus/recipes/ingredients were provided to each team.

Friday was different. On that day we were expected to prepare our own recipes/menu for an appetizer, main course, 2 vegetables and one starch. On Tuesday each team had been assigned a "protein" for the appetizer and the main course (in our case Sole and Beef Tenderloin) so in addition to all the other activity we had to come up with our menu for Friday, figure out our other vegetables/starch, research recipes, visit the store room for ingredient ideas, present the final menu to the chef, order the supplies (God forbid you forgot something!) and develop a work schedule. Whew! You'll notice there's not a lot of time in a day's schedule to do all the above!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning were amazing - incredibly stressful and intense. While I'm an experienced cook, for the first couple of days I found myself second-guessing every thing I did. (I have never measured water so precisely!).

During each morning's production Chef Ryan would call a "demo" - if you had time you would go to a station and watch him pipe Duchess Potatoes, or make a "steam hat" out of parchment paper, etc, etc. We always tried to have one of us watch a demo - although sometimes that was difficult!

I'll return to our Friday menu at the end of the posting. (Ooooh, suspense!)
Wine Lecture/Tasting

This was an incredible bonus. While the web site and literature mentioned it - it wasn't particularly well explained. We've taken many wine courses, but these 3 two hour courses were terrific. Plus our instructor - Bill - was incredibly charming and funny. Each day we tasted at least 8 excellent wines (yes, there was a "spit" cup; no we didn't use it!) - sometimes a regional theme, sometimes a varietal/grape theme - but the most interesting day was the "food pairing" experiment". Bill provided foods representing the four tastes we sense - sweet, salt, bitter, sour - and we tasted them versus a number of varietals (both for contrasting and complementary notes).

Of course by the time the wine tasting portion of the day started we were all tired and giddy - so the 2 hours we spent with this delightful, funny man who dispensed great wine and knowledge were much fun!

Group Dinners at CIA Restaurants

The CIA operates four public restaurants on site - St. Andrews Café (Healthy Cuisine); American Bounty (American Cuisine); Caterina de Medici (Italian) and Escoffier (French). We ate at them in that order and the food got progressively better. St. Andrews was fine - American Bounty was OK but the food was overcooked; Caterina was excellent and Escoffier was tremendous. Bill joined us for the latter three - with even more great wines!

Other than American Bounty (where we sat at one large table) the group was split into tables of 4 or 5 - which gave an excellent opportunity to meet the group members you might not talk to during the day. Naturally at the beginning many conversations started with "how did you find out about the course" etc, but then the dinner conversation became very eclectic- due to the fact it was such a diverse group (politics, nationality - we're Canadian - background, etc) - we had many interesting conversations about gay marriages, genetically modified foods, health care, Gore/Bush/Clinton et al, etc, etc.

FRIDAY

All week, Friday looms. Teams are plotting, thinking, researching, and vying for Chef's time. I think by definition most people attracted to this course are competitive by nature.

Following is our menu:

Appetizer:

Ravioli Stuffed with Sole Mousseline and Lobster with 3 Sauces in the spirit of the Italian Flag (sauces: white: béchamel with roasted garlic; red: roasted red pepper; green: pesto)

Main Course:

Seared then Roasted Beef Tenderloin lined with wilted swiss chard, stuffed with Chicken Livers and rolled; served with a Veal Stock/Port/Red wine reduction with roasted Shallots; Wild Mushroom Risotto; haricots vert presented as a "wheat sheaf" (standing, wrapped with a scallion) and braised red endives.

When we presented our menu Ryan sat back and pondered - "well" he said, "this is ambitious". We did some prep on Thursday (after lunch) and hit the kitchen at 8:00am Friday morning - with service planned for noon. It was - to say the least - an experience.

By and large it all worked (with a great deal of help from Chef Ryan and the 2 students - particularly in the last half hour). Our workstation was a disaster at the end - but somehow we pulled it off! And the other groups' menus were equally adventuresome - at noon (OK, maybe 12:15) we had every dish in place and sat back and marveled at our collective accomplishments! Much toasting and congratulations followed - and gift presentations to Ryan, Bill and the two students TJ and Michael.

Then - we hit the sack for about 12 hours!

Would I recommend it? Absolutely! It's an incredible learning experience - and I feel I've made fast friends with the other people who took the course.

[ipsedixit]

What a great report!

Thanks so much.

[ElizabethS]

Are you considering going? It's certainly something we would recommend doing.....happy to answer any questions you may have

[laspencer]

Thank you so much for your report! I signed up in June for the Sept. Pastry boot camp...and then broke my foot (I'm rescheduling). Now I know what it's really going to be like (or similar to, since your class was Culinary). Was there much emphasis on basics like improving knife skills? I would classify myself as an experienced home cook and baker but have no back of the house restaurant experience.