Chop Chat Chew

Join Chefs Jacquy Pfeiffer, Scott Samuel, and Alissa Wallers for their discussion on piping techniques. 

The chefs will discuss piping equipment and share common mistakes made when learning to pipe. Piping skills are important in cake decorating and this episode will be a great guide to perfecting your technique.

This 3rd online course was developed by a team of chef educators and master cake decorators at The French Pastry School, this immersive 180-day online course teaches the principles of cake baking science, as well as how to execute 80+ new recipes and techniques from the comfort of your own home!

We will review the key concepts presented in the course and discuss the recommended tools need to successfully create your own sculpted cottage cake as the capstone project.Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer's exceptional career began with an apprenticeship in Alsace at the famous Jean Clauss Pâtisserie. Following his apprenticeship in Strasbourg, Pfeiffer went on to establish himself as a leading figure in the art of pastry working with some world-renowned families and establishments. Some of these include the Royal Family in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the Sultan of Brunei; the Hyatt Regency, Hong Kong; a prestigious pastry shop in Palo Alto, California; and both the Fairmont and Sheraton hotels in Chicago, Illinois. These experiences led Chef Pfeiffer to teach and consult in numerous of the most prominent properties and companies worldwide, such as the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahamas, and the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

In 1995, Jacquy Pfeiffer along with Sébastien Canonne, founded The French Pastry School where their team is devoted to imparting excellence. Today, The French Pastry School is considered one of the leading pastry institutions in the world.

Spanning nearly 30 years, Chef Scott Samuel’s distinguished culinary career has included leadership roles in culinary innovation, instruction, operations and program development. Before joining Rouxbe as the Vice President of Culinary, Scott served as the Director of Culinary Innovation for Zipongo, a digital health company focused on making it easier to eat well. Prior to Zipongo Scott worked with The Culinary Institute of America as the Executive Chef of the college’s Strategic Initiatives Group and as an instructor in the culinary arts degree program where he coordinated the food operations for the culinary college’s industry leadership conferences, including Menus of Change, in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Scott earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel & Restaurant Administration from Washington State University and spent a summer studying at the Cesar Ritz Institute of Hotel Management in Switzerland.

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Onions are ubiquitous and endlessly versatile. They take the role of everything from foundational ingredients to the star of the stage as a charismatic focal point of a dish. 

Join Chef Barton Seaver to explore the diversity of this versatile ingredient category. Discover how different cuisines both build upon onions and showcase them. We’ll discuss the wide variety of onions and their preparations.

Barton Seaver is one of the world’s leading sustainable seafood experts and educators. He traded his illustrious career as an award-winning chef leading top seafood restaurants, DC, for traveling the world as an Explorer with the National Geographic Society. Barton translated his experiences into leadership in sustainable seafood innovations, garnering him positions with the United States Culinary Ambassador Corp, the University of New England, the New England Aquarium, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Barton works on initiatives to inform consumers and institutions about how our choices for diet and menus can promote healthier people, resillient ecosystems, more secure food supplies, and thriving communities.

An internationally recognized speaker, Barton has delivered lectures, seminars, and demos to a multitude of audiences. He has written seven seafood-centric books, including For Cod and Country and American Seafood and has contributed to dozens of publications, including Cooking Light, The New York Times, and Saveur, among many others. He has appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN, NPR, 20/20 and the TED Talk stage.

He is the founder of Coastal Culinary Academy, a multi-platform initiative that seeks to increase seafood consumption through seafood-specific culinary education for all levels of cooks.

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Join Vegan Pastry Master Fran Costigan in her virtual office as she welcomes all questions.

Fran Costigan is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Trained at the New York Restaurant School and Natural Gourmet Institute, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 20 years ago. A lifelong chocoholic and long time vegan, Fran’s latest book, Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy Free Desserts, (Running Press 2013) is for all who madly, deeply love chocolate desserts, whether or not dietary considerations are an issue.

Her previous cookbook, More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally (Book Publishing Company 2006) is the basis of the Costigan Vegan Baking Boot Camp Intensive®.

For more information, www.francostigan.com

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Join Chef and Author Barton Seaver in his virtual office as he welcomes all questions.

Barton Seaver is one of the world’s leading sustainable seafood experts and educators. He traded his illustrious career as an award-winning chef leading top seafood restaurants, DC, for traveling the world as an Explorer with the National Geographic Society. Barton translated his experiences into leadership in sustainable seafood innovations, garnering him positions with the United States Culinary Ambassador Corp, the University of New England, the New England Aquarium, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Barton works on initiatives to inform consumers and institutions about how our choices for diet and menus can promote healthier people, resillient ecosystems, more secure food supplies, and thriving communities.

An internationally recognized speaker, Barton has delivered lectures, seminars, and demos to a multitude of audiences. He has written seven seafood-centric books, including For Cod and Country and American Seafood and has contributed to dozens of publications, including Cooking Light, The New York Times, and Saveur, among many others. He has appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN, NPR, 20/20 and the TED Talk stage.

He is the founder of Coastal Culinary Academy, a multi-platform initiative that seeks to increase seafood consumption through seafood-specific culinary education for all levels of cooks.

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Join us for a conversation about food literacy, Black history, and Black food futures with Chef Njathi Kabui and Adante Hart, RD. This is the first of a series called Pull Up a Chair, featuring the Rouxbe team in discussion with various leaders in food-spaces on diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the broad landscape of food.

Njathi Kabui is a Chef with a passion for Food Justice, a Leading expert in Food Literacy, a Medical Anthropologist and an Organic farmer. He is actively involved in promoting food literacy as a Public Speaker, Writer and a Social Commentator. Chef Kabui appears regularly on one of the most popular radio stations that broadcasts in his local language in Kenya as well as international media. Chef Kabui has literally worked on almost all common sectors of food from the farm, marketing, food app design, to the consumer’s plate through his advocacy and eclectic food workshops and dinners on farms, Non-profits, museums, academic institutions and corporate events.

Chef Kabui has designed his own cuisine which he calls Afro Futuristic Conscious Cuisine as a more healthy option that deals with Climate Change, Health and Food Justice. He has promoted this cuisine in Africa, Europe, USA and in the UAE, at numerous educational institutions, corporate companies, nonprofits and embassies.

Chef Kabui has set up a food literacy and sustainability center in Kenya which has a village branch and an urban branch for the purpose of promoting food literacy, demonstration farm and creation of content. The center has both local and international attractions and collaborations. Chef Kabui is ranked as the top chef in sustainability in Africa.

Chef Kabui has presented at numerous conferences and panels such as SASS Conference in Milan Italy (2021), Kenyatta University, Kenya(2021), U.N Food Systems Summit (2021), Africa Week in Berlin (2020), SOAS Food Summit in London (2019), The Smithsonian (2018) in Washington D.C. He is also a notable Public Speaker at various gatherings such as BCAGlobal in New York (2020), the Males Place (2018), CFSA (2020) in North Carolina, Kenyatta University (2021), Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (2021), SASSInternational Conference in Milan Italy (2021) and Alliance of Leadership Fellows (2021) \. Chef Kabui believes that the best African food is in the future.

Adante Hart serves as the Health Programs Manager, leveraging his experience in public health and nutrition to inform and optimize many of Rouxbe’s culinary and wellness initiatives. He is also a Registered Dietitian, nutrition educator, and speaker who strives to improve public health through advancing food sovereignty. He brings to the Rouxbe team a wealth of experience working in and around food, from academia to agriculture and farming, hospitals, restaurants, non-profits, and nearly everything else in between.

Drawing from this wealth of experience working around food in various capacities, Adante regularly speaks and leads classes/interactive workshops that reside at the intersection of nutrition, foodways, and health.

Adante holds a Master of Public Health from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor in Biology from The Johns Hopkins University. He also serves or has served in a formal capacity with Oldways Preservation Trust, the Southern Foodways Alliance, and the National Organization of Blacks in Nutrition and Dietetics (NOBIDAN).

He currently resides in North Carolina, and spends his spare time exercising, gardening, and gaming.

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Join Chef Dan Marek in his virtual office as he welcomes all of your questions. From cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Dan tackled all variety of questions!

Links for this episode:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/dp/1250066115

https://thekoreanvegan.com/the-korean-vegan-cookbook

https://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-Choices-Happiness/dp/193207354X

https://miyokos.com/

https://www.rebelcheese.com/

Dan Marek is a chef educator who has been teaching vegan and vegetarian cooking for over 15 years. At Rouxbe, he is our Director of Plant-Based Culinary and Development where he helps develop content, classes and builds courses for many of our partners.

Dan is a board member of Slow Food Austin, the Institute of Child Nutrition, and Conscious Capitalism. He has earned his BA in Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and holds certificates in Nutrition from Cornell University.

Prior to his role with Rouxbe, Dan worked with Whole Kids Foundation training teachers and food service at schools across the country on nutrition and culinary best practices. He also worked as a Healthy Eating Educator at Whole Foods Market’s flagship store in Austin, TX, was a personal chef for some of Austin’s elite business people, taught classes in culinary techniques at Austin Community College, The Natural Epicurean, and Le Cordon Bleu.

Dan also regularly volunteers cooking or speaking about nutrition for the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Marathon Kids, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas.

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Join Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, Chef Alissa Wallers, and Chef Scott Samuel for a discussion of decorating cakes with fondant and using gum paste applications.

The chefs will discuss making sugar pastes from scratch and applying them for cake decorating.  Learning the tips and tricks of successfully using sugar paste is an excellent way to elevate your cake decorating skills. 

This 3rd online course was developed by a team of chef educators and master cake decorators at The French Pastry School, this immersive 180-day online course teaches the principles of cake baking science, as well as how to execute 80+ new recipes and techniques from the comfort of your own home! 

We will review the key concepts presented in the course and discuss the recommended tools need to successfully create your own sculpted cottage cake as the capstone project.Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer's exceptional career began with an apprenticeship in Alsace at the famous Jean Clauss Pâtisserie. Following his apprenticeship in Strasbourg, Pfeiffer went on to establish himself as a leading figure in the art of pastry working with some world-renowned families and establishments. Some of these include the Royal Family in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; the Sultan of Brunei; the Hyatt Regency, Hong Kong; a prestigious pastry shop in Palo Alto, California; and both the Fairmont and Sheraton hotels in Chicago, Illinois. These experiences led Chef Pfeiffer to teach and consult in numerous of the most prominent properties and companies worldwide, such as the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahamas, and the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

In 1995, Jacquy Pfeiffer along with Sébastien Canonne, founded The French Pastry School where their team is devoted to imparting excellence. Today, The French Pastry School is considered one of the leading pastry institutions in the world.

Spanning nearly 30 years, Chef Scott Samuel’s distinguished culinary career has included leadership roles in culinary innovation, instruction, operations and program development. Before joining Rouxbe as the Vice President of Culinary, Scott served as the Director of Culinary Innovation for Zipongo, a digital health company focused on making it easier to eat well. Prior to Zipongo Scott worked with The Culinary Institute of America as the Executive Chef of the college’s Strategic Initiatives Group and as an instructor in the culinary arts degree program where he coordinated the food operations for the culinary college’s industry leadership conferences, including Menus of Change, in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Scott earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel & Restaurant Administration from Washington State University and spent a summer studying at the Cesar Ritz Institute of Hotel Management in Switzerland.

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Root vegetables are the star of cold-weather cooking; hearty standbys that are in peak season now. 

Join Barton Seaver to explore this versatile category and discover some fresh ideas to keep your cooking lively. We’ll discuss the wide variety of root vegetables and their preparations. 

Links from this episode:

https://bit.ly/3sLD9eP - All of Rouxbe's Plant-Based Burgers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_root_vegetables

https://www.amazon.com/Onions-Etcetera-Essential-Cookbook-scallions/dp/0997211318

https://www.forksoverknives.com

https://food52.com/recipes

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fermentation-Depth-Exploration-Essential/dp/160358286X

Barton Seaver is one of the world’s leading sustainable seafood experts and educators. He traded his illustrious career as an award-winning chef leading top seafood restaurants, DC, for traveling the world as an Explorer with the National Geographic Society. Barton translated his experiences into leadership in sustainable seafood innovations, garnering him positions with the United States Culinary Ambassador Corp, the University of New England, the New England Aquarium, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Barton works on initiatives to inform consumers and institutions about how our choices for diet and menus can promote healthier people, resillient ecosystems, more secure food supplies, and thriving communities.

An internationally recognized speaker, Barton has delivered lectures, seminars, and demos to a multitude of audiences. He has written seven seafood-centric books, including For Cod and Country and American Seafood and has contributed to dozens of publications, including Cooking Light, The New York Times, and Saveur, among many others. He has appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN, NPR, 20/20 and the TED Talk stage.

He is the founder of Coastal Culinary Academy, a multi-platform initiative that seeks to increase seafood consumption through seafood-specific culinary education for all levels of cooks.

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Valentines Day is for everyone, couples, singles, adults and kids. 

Join Vegan Pastry Master Fran Costigan for her annual Valentines themed live event!

Chef Fran will discuss her favorite Valentine’s desserts. Chocolate is heavily favored but other flavors will show up too.

Fran Costigan is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Trained at the New York Restaurant School and Natural Gourmet Institute, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 20 years ago. A lifelong chocoholic and long time vegan, Fran’s latest book, Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy Free Desserts, (Running Press 2013) is for all who madly, deeply love chocolate desserts, whether or not dietary considerations are an issue.

Her previous cookbook, More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally (Book Publishing Company 2006) is the basis of the Costigan Vegan Baking Boot Camp Intensive®.

For more information, www.francostigan.com

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.

Join Chef and Instructor Eric Wynkoop in his virtual office as he welcomed all questions for this episode of Office Hours from February 1st, 2022.

Eric Wynkoop previously served as a founding faculty member at The International Culinary School, instructor in anthropology at Portland State University, and Senior Instructor at the Le Cordon Bleu program at Western Culinary Institute, in Portland, Oregon. He holds Master’s Degrees in postsecondary education and cultural anthropology, as well as credentials in Ayurveda wellness and cooking.

Eric has spent more than twenty years in the food and beverage industry. His experiences include banquet management, catering, personal chef, winery cellar hand, educator, textbook contributor, consultant, and ethnographer. He also brings food and cultural insight from nearly a decade of residence in Japan, studies in Mexico, and research in India as a Fulbright Scholar. After graduating from the University of Oregon with a dual degree in Japanese and Asian Studies, he went on to receive his formal culinary training at Western Culinary Institute, in Portland, Oregon.

Eric’s role with Rouxbe is central to enhancing the student experience through quality course content and new course development at Rouxbe. Eric is also the lead instructor in Rouxbe courses, a role which he has enjoyed since 2016.

You can watch the original video version of this episode on Rouxbe.