My Day at the Culinary Institute of America

When people talk about learning to cooking –seriously learning to cook– one of the first places that comes to mind for aspiring chefs is the Culinary Institute of America. With three locations, it spans much of the United States — from Hyde Park, New York, on the East Coast, to San Antonio, Texas, in the South, and Napa in California’s Wine Country.

My introduction to the CIA was on a crisp December day at the Copia campus  in Napa. The CIA has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1946 as a vocational training institute for returning World War II veterans. Originally called the New Haven Restaurant Institute, it had a faculty of just three: a chef, a baker, and a dietitian. And 50 students. The school was funded by Yale University.

It adopted the CIA name in 1951, and by 1969, enrollment had grown to 1,000 students. A year later the school moved to Hyde Park, New York, followed in 2008 by a second campus in San Antonio and most recently the CIA at Copia in 2016.

The Copia campus is located in a large modern building with a spacious lobby showcasing a curving staircase. One wall pays tribute to winemakers who helped make Wine Country world famous. Upstairs is a museum created by Chuck Williams, founder of Williams Sonoma, whose world-class cookware collection fills the shelves. My destination is nearby, the commercial kitchen behind a wall of windows showcasing where our class is taking place.

Step One: Introduction

We take our seats on stools surrounding an empty island. The chef of the day introduces herself, and we each share why we are here. The theme of the class is holiday entertaining, but it isn’t until we get the handout with our assignments that we discover what we will be preparing.

Step Two: Fire up the Burners

We are divided into four groups, and assigned three or four recipes per group. The goal is to juggle multiple dishes at once: grilling meat, pureeing vegetables, grating cheese, kneading dough.Our recipes are grilled lamb chops, palmiers with Parmesan and prosciutto, tk and tk.

In front of me are six beautiful grass-fed masterpieces begging to be browned. I fire up two burners on the massive gas stove and pour oil into large frying pans, then wait for the oil to heat. When the stoves are cranked up, they produce massive heat and the oil is hot quickly.  It is important to keep a pan of hot oil filled with meats or vegetables to reduce the chance of flames, since oil exposed to air at high heat could ignite.

The chops are beautifully browned, and I flip to the next recipe: palmiers. These dainty savories call for puff pastry dough, rolled out to a rectangle, then spread with tomato paste, sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, layered with prosciutto slices, and rolled inward to form a log. If the dough softens, we pop it back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Remove and slice the filled dough into spirals and bake on lined cookie sheets. My cooking mates make palmiers in lieu of pizza on casual Friday nights.

Step Three: Organized Chaos

The clock is ticking. We get the 10-minute warning. Our own Top Chef. Everyone scrambles to finish up, then plate their dish. No formal lessons on presentation, it’s somewhat instinctual. A little green for color, a little yellow for contrast. Soon, every platter is lined up on a long table and students grab plates to sample these goodies.

Seating is around the island, and we enjoy a glass of carefully curated local wine. The food is amazingly good. There are toasts.  We aspiring chefs have prepared our banquet. The world may never enjoy our talent There eal talent in this kitchen — talent that might never be discovered beyond the lucky family and friends who would enjoy the results at home. Of course, a few dishes missed the mark, but there were more than enough successes to compensate.

Step Four: The Birth of a Chef

By the end of the meal, we were full, happy, and ready to leave. The classes are intense and nonstop. You work alongside a team of strangers, all trying to create the best dishes and each student with their own way of doing things. When I finally stepped outside the building, I was grateful for the fresh air and beautiful surroundings. I carry a large doggie bag of leftovers to share with my patient and hungry husband, who had spent the day exploring Napa on his own but would now enjoy the fruits of my labor.