The Chef Apprentice

No matter how humble they appear to be, nearly everyone who cooks likes to have their egos stroked.

Sure, cooking by itself is fun, but public appreciation is even better.

As Barbara Kafka once wrote, "Food is about loving and giving and performance and applause."

Yesterday, I cooked at a food event in Yolo County, where I knew there would be plenty of loving, giving and performance. I just wasn't sure about the applause.

Paul Canales, the executive chef of Oliveto, had asked me to fill in for him at a fundraiser for the Yolo Land Trust, a group that has been preserving farms in Yolo for more than 20 years.

My assignment was to make panzanella - tomato and bread salad - and grill a bunch of peaches.

It sounded fun. It also sounded scary. I had never grilled a peach before. I didn't know how many people would attend or line up at our booth.

I also learned I'd be facing some stiff competition -- including food from Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Waterboy, Mulvaney's, Grange and Lucca in Sacramento.

Fortunately, I had the faith of two loyal fans. Paul Muller, seen right, a founder of Full Belly Farm in Yolo and a longtime supplier of Oliveto, provided the peaches and a trailer grill.

My wife, Micaela, seen in the photo above, agreed to work as an assistant.

To our delight, the event was held in a shady walnut grove at the Elkhorn Basin Ranch, and the afternoon was as cool as an autumn morning.

The ranch itself is a story worth of a post. Several agencies and non-profits, including the Yolo Land Trust, combined to preserve the 1,500-acre tract and protect it from the development. The ranch sits east of Woodland, and a few miles north of Interstate 5, right across the Sacramento River from Sacramento International Airport.

When we arrived two hours before the event, Micaela and I thought we'd have plenty of time to prep our peaches and salad.

Of course, we didn't. People started arriving promptly at 3 p.m, hungry and thirsty. It was around then we learned that up to 500 people might attend.

"We can do this," I said to myself, trying not to panic. I brushed olive oil on the peach halves that Mickie had sliced, and started grilling them on a medium-hot griddle that sat above the flaming coals.

Soon there was a small line at our booth. Then it became a large line. Some people wanted to meet the Chef Apprentice. Others seemed attracted to the novelty of peaches on a grill, and wanted to know what I was glazing them with.

"Just a little mixture of peach juice, sugar, salt, cinnamon and sherry vinegar," I replied.

It was a line I repeated a few dozen times. People really were curious.

(Just for the record, I neglected to mention the secret ingredient. It was sweat -- dripping from my brow over the hot fire).

People also gobbled up the panzanella. The night before, I had torn up three loaves of Bella Bru Pugliese bread, mixed them with basil-infused olive oil, and then toasted them in the oven. At the event, I sliced up red onions and cucumber, marinated them in red wine vinegar, and then mixed this concoction with a mixture of Full Belly tomatoes and the golden croutons.

All in all, it wasn't a bad swan song for the rookie. My friends and customers were satisfied, as was my ego.

Food is indeed about loving and giving, performance and applause. On Sunday, I enjoyed a bit of all four.

For a recipe on grilled peaches, go here. For a recipe on panzanella, go here.

Top photo by Paul Deering, bottom one by Stuart Leavenworth.

My apprenticeship is entering its final days, but that isn't preventing my friend Paul Canales from throwing a few surprises my way.

Many weeks ago, Canales accepted an invitation for Oliveto to prepare a dish at "A Day in the Country," a fundraiser for the Yolo Land Trust. The yearly event, which will be held Sunday, brings together farmers, chefs, winemakers and others who are committed to protecting Yolo's fertile farm economy.

Paul often overcommits himself, and such was the case this time. Sunday is his day off, and he has family matters that demand his attention. Thus, on Wednesday, as I was returning from a backpacking trip in the High Sierra, I picked up a phone message from Paul asking if I will be manning the Oliveto food booth at the September 13 event.

"I was thinking you could grill some peaches," Paul said. "That should be pretty easy."

How many peaches? The chef didn't say.

As it turns out, I may need to grill a few hundred peaches .

There was no point in arguing. Paul needed my help, and I was more than happy to assist Oliveto in a charity event for the Yolo Land Trust. So I called Paul back and told him I would be there.

There's only one problem -- I have never grilled peaches before. Figs - yes. Peaches - no.

But it can't be that hard, right? You just slice the fruits in half, remove the pits, oil a hot grill and place them face down for a few minutes. Then you flip them and drizzle them with a reduction of balsamic vinegar and spices. Right? How hard is that?

If you want to find out, you can still get tickets for the event, which will be held at the beautiful Elkhorn Basin Ranch, right across the river from Sacramento. Mulvaney's, Waterboy and Masa's in San Francisco will be serving dishes, along with chefs from other restaurants.

The peaches I'll be preparing come from Full Belly Farm, an organizer of the event. I also plan to use some of Full Belly's produce to prepare a panzanella -- a tomato and bread salad.

Stayed tune for how it turns out.
 

My career as a cooking instructor has now ended before it started.

As of Tuesday, only three people had signed up for the cooking class I was scheduled to lead Friday at the East Bay Restaurant Supply store in Sacramento.

By mutual agreement, East Bay and I decided to pull the plug on the class.

I'm disappointed, but not hugely surprised. If huge numbers of people were to flock to a cooking class taught by a chef apprentice, an equal number would be sending their kids to driving schools led by a 16-year-old instructors.

But I am grateful for the opportunity that East Bay presented me. Perhaps in a few years I can rise to the occasion. And to the trio who signed up for the class - my apologies. I'd urge you to take your refund and spend it on Gianluca Varenni, a chef from Italy who will be leading a class at East Bay's Sacramento store on Aug. 14.

I hope to be there, doing what I do best in a kitchen - learning.

Sometimes life takes some serendipitous turns.

When I first arranged my apprenticeship at Oliveto, a blog wasn't in the works. But when Sacramento Bee Editor Melanie Sill asked me to write about my experience (or lack of it) in the kitchen, I could hardly say no.

This blog led to a simultaneous one for KQED. It also led to an invitation to be an assistant pit master at a barbecue competition. Then I was asked to be an auction item for a charity event. And this Friday, I'll be leading a cooking class for the East Bay Restaurant Supply store in Sacramento.

Full disclosure: I'm mortified by this most recent invitation. Although I've learned a tremendous amount at Oliveto, I am still at a low point on the learning curve.

But the folks at East Bay seem confident I can pull it off. My class kicks off a series called "La Cucina Italiana" that features various cuisines of The Boot. The organizers hoped I could impart some Oliveto tips and recipes in a manner that would inspire home chefs.

So here's the game plan: On Friday, Aug. 7, from 5:30 to 9 p.m., I'll demonstrate how to make three dishes. The highlight will be hand-made pasta with beef ragu, using an Oliveto method that I detailed in this post.

As I starter, I'll prepare tonnato with summer vegetables, another Oliveto speciality. The desert will be a peach tart with mascarpone cheese.

All the dishes will be paired with regional Italian wines. The class will be "hands-on," meaning that students will be encouraged to help in the preparation, and savor every part of the process.

More experienced instructors will lead the other classes. All will be held at the culinary center at the East Bay Restaurant Supply store, 522 North 12th Street in Sacramento. For more information and information on how to purchase tickets, click here or call Carolyn Kumpe at (916) 440-0623.

Friday, Aug. 7, 5:30-9 p.m. - The Chef Apprentice

Friday, August 14, 2009, 6:00 - 9:00 pm - Antipasti Misti with Gianluca Varenni
Varenni a native of Asti, Italy, will demonstrate how to prepare typical Northern Italian antipasti. Cost includes a serving platter for each participant. Gianluca's menu will feature Zucchini in carpione, Bagnet a Pezzi or 'diced dip', cipolle ripiene (onions stuffed with meat), crostini con gorgonzola e noci, and prosciutto e melone.

Saturday, August 15, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm - Gnocchi for lunch with Chef Carolyn Kumpe
Kumpe, the resident chef at East Bay, will lead a gnocchi making class. Learn the technique for creating perfect gnocchi every time. Enjoy a lunch of gnocchi and garden fresh salad and bring home your own potato ricer.

Wednesday, Aug. 26, 5:30-9:30 pm, Piemontese Cuisine with Chef Denise Pardini
Help prepare a delicious four-course Piemontese meal with Pardini, who owns and operates La Vita Vera Cooking School in an ancient castle in Sinio, Italy. The menu include Foccacia with Oven Roasted Tomatoes & Red Onions; Fire Roasted Sweet Pepper Rolls filled with Chilled Tuna & Caper Mousse, Aged Balsamico; Egg Maltagliati with hand chopped Duck Breast, Marsala & Green Olive Ragu; Fennel dusted Crispy Pork Tenderloin (or Sweet Breads) with Quince Vinaigrette; Shaved Fennel, Apple & Red Onion Salad; Peach Tart Tatin with Black Pepper Gelato & Basil Syrup.

Top photo, showing a cooking class at the East Bay Restaurant Supply Culinary Center, by The Bee's Renee Byer. Bottom photo by Stuart Leavenworth.

Ever since I took a leave from The Bee in April to work as a chef apprentice, people have asked me to tease out the differences between my old gig and my new gig.

To my surprise, the two jobs are remarkably similar.

Both newspapers and restaurants must confront daily deadlines that can be bent, but not broken.

At Oliveto, the Italian restaurant where I am interning in Oakland, the kitchen must complete all basic food prep by 5:30 p.m., when dinner service begins. Newspaper stories face a similar deadline.

Both jobs involve close collaboration with creative people who, by their very nature, can be temperamental.

To read the rest of this post, which appeared as a column in the print edition of The Bee on Sunday, go here.

In my column today in the print edition of The Bee, I recap my wacky Fourth of July weekend working as an assistant pit master at a barbecue competition in Stockton.

Now that the heat is off, I can offer a few final thoughts, pro and con, on what contestant Tim Mar (seen right) calls "this weird subculture of American society."

1. Barbecue pit masters are much like Italian grandmothers. Each is convinced that his or her recipe is the only way to prepare a particular dish.

2. Contestants at the Way Out West BBQ Competition, along with the organizers, were extremely focused on food safety. Every crew I visited was careful to keep surfaces clean, knives washed and meat stored securely with plenty of ice.

3. Most contestants at the Way Out West were there to win, but many also showed up for the comradery. If you get serious about competitive barbecue, you'll see the same folks every few weeks, makes friends and develop a broad network of BBQ buddies.

4. The quality of the barbecue varied at Way Out West. Too many pit masters were using bottled sauces, instead of their own concoctions made from fresh ingredients. Some of the BBQ I tasted was way too sweet and way too smoky. Of course, I've made this same point before.

5. Most of the big barbecue competitions in California are affiliated with the Kansas City Barbecue Society. That's understandable, because if crews want to compete in the big KCBS national competitions, they have to win at the smaller KCBS events.

The trouble is that Kansas City barbecue -- with its emphasis on smoked ribs, brisket, pork shoulder and chicken thighs -- is just one form of 'cue this nation has honed over time. Think of the the regional variations you can taste as you move from the Carolinas to Tennessee to Texas and then over to New Mexico and Arizona.

I'd love to see a California barbecue competition that was uniquely Californian, with special contests for, say, yakitori,  cochinita pibil or smoked cheeses or fish. Imagine the possibilities.

6. Sacramento needs to sponsor a major barbecue competition. Occasionally, the city or its suburbs are home to smaller competitions, such as the one at the Dante Club in June sponsored by the Western States Barbecue Association. But I am talking about a major event, designed to draw thousands of people.

The California State Fair would be the perfect local for a major contest, particularly one that would showcase all off California's ethnic barbecue. I'm not the first to suggest the state fair. Dave Hill of Oaks Hardware has been working on this for a few years.

Let me know your thoughts. Sactown shouldn't have to play second fiddle to Stockton, Modesto, Fairfield and other towns when it comes to barbecue throw-downs.

The judges at the Way Out West BBQ Competition have rendered their verdict:

Harry Soo, the scientific pit master from Diamond Bar whom I wrote about in a previous entry, swept every category and was named the grand champion.

Usually, judges at BBQ competitions spread the awards around for individual categories. This time, Soo (seen to the right) and his assistant Mark Tung swept all the individual contests -- chicken, pork shoulder, pork ribs and beef brisket.

"I don't know if that has ever happened before," said my pit master and trainer, Tim Mar, who came in seventh overall. "This is pretty big news in the BBQ world."

Soo, who owns SlapYoDaddy BBQ, uses a computer with sensors and fans to maintain temperatures in his two smokers. He also is very particular about buying his meats, although this time he nearly messed up.

Prior to the competition in Stockton,  Soo purchased three beef briskets, put two in the freezer and brought the other to the contest. When he got there, he realized he had purchased the wrong cut of meat. He then had to run out and had to find a real brisket in a local grocery store.

Yet it was good enough to win. There much be something in Soo's scientific smoking method, and the nature of his secret spices and sauces, that make for a winning competiton.

Congrats to Harry, who brings home $800 and a big trophy for his efforts. And thanks to Tim and Gina Mar for giving me a front row seat to the passionate and wacky world of competitive barbecue.

Photos by Stuart Leavenworth 

The cooking is over. The judges have examined and tasted all the chicken, ribs, pork shoulder and brisket.

Now we get to kick back, drink a cold beverage, and wait for the judges to render their verdicts.

If I were one of the official tasters, I would give high marks to Tim Mar's beef brisket, seen to the left.

It turned out tender and juicy, and not too smoky. That's a mean trick to pull off, because brisket is one of the toughest cuts to barbecue.Tim smoked two briskets, each about 11 pounds. He put them on his smoker at about 10:30 p.m. last night, at about 225 degrees.

He then stayed up most of the night, making sure the meat was at a constant temperature.

Tim's neighbor, Harry Soo (on the far right), had an easier night.

Harry and his buddy Mark Tung  cooked their meats with a pair of computer controlled smokers with sensors and fans.

The fans and sensors maintain the heat at constant temperature. "That allows us to get some sleep," said Mark.

Sleep is important. The meat has to be pulled off the heat at just the right moment, and then cut, sauced and plated with nice garnishes and some secret touches. Chefs I watched dabbed their meats with special salts and spices.

"You must make the judge's mouth smile," said Harry. "That first bite is very important."

Dave and Jenny Hill, owners of Oaks Hardware in Fair Oaks, are another team I will be rooting for.

Dave and Jenny cook their barbecue in a set of Green Egg cookers, using different woods in each one. Then they taste meat from each egg and send the judges the slices or pieces that taste best.

There are 22 teams competing in this cook-off. Anything can happen.

Check back after 6 p.m. tonight and I'll post some results.

The tension is mounting at the Way Out West BBQ Competition.

The contestants have turned in their first entries - chicken - and the judging has begun.

To the right, you can see the tray that Tim and Gina Mar turned in, on a bed of lettuce, garnished with curly parsley.

The contestants needed to turn their chicken trays by 11:05, or else they would be disqualified from that category.

The judges will now rank each entry based on appearance, taste and texture. You can see them the left judging the looks of an entry.

The next turn-in time is 11:35, for pork ribs. Tim has just gone to the bathroom and Gina is worried that he's been gone for so long.

"If he doesn't get here in five minutes, you will be cutting ribs," she said to me.

Yikes. Hope Tim gets back.

UPDATE: Tim made it back and we turned in the ribs in time, but just barely.

As a result, I didn't get a shot of the plated ribs, but let me tell you, they looked - and tasted - great.

A little smoky for my taste, but what do I know.

Here's Tim pulling the ribs off of his Tucker smoker-grill. Pork shoulder is next. I'll work to get a shot of the plated pork.

Happy Fourth of July! I'm here at the Way Out West BBQ Competition in Stockton, where a whole lot of meat is cookin.'

The pit masters fired up their meat on last night, just as fireworks lit up the sky from the nearby ball field in downtown Stockton.

I'm here with Tim and Gina Mar and their 12-year old daughter, Rachel (seen left) who are in their seventh competition in two years.

It's an all-night affair, at least for Tim.

Last night, he tended the brisket and pork shoulders he had laid into his 22-inch Weber smoker at about 10:30 p.m., as you can see below.

 After sleeping on his cot for "maybe an hour," he said, he got up at 5:30 a.m. to start the ribs.

"This isn't an atmosphere conducive for sleeping," said Tim, a graphic designer and part-time caterer from Marysville. "People are milling around all night."

By milling around, he refers to the teams who enjoyed a few beers, an essential fuel for some of the pit crews.

I missed out on that part of the party. But I showed up this morning early with coffee, pastries and parsley. Tim and Gina needed the latter for garnishes.

They don't have much time. Their plate of chicken must be turned in to the judges by 11:05.

Their next turn-in time is 11:35 -- for pork ribs. Pork shoulder must be turned in by 12:05 and brisket is due to the judges by 12:35.

All during that time, the public will be milling about. The gates to the "Taste of San Joaquin" open at 11 a.m, after a parade on Center Street that starts in a few minutes.

The public can then buy tastes of BBQ from competitors who are participating in the "People's Choice" contest, and then vote for their favorites. Sadly, Tim and Gina are not competing in that category. "Not this year," said Tim. "Maybe next time."

The judges will announce the winners at 5:15 this afternoon, and Tim knows he will face some stiff competition.

"There are a lot of great teams here," he said. "We could come in first, or we could come in last."

Okay. Enough blogging for a while. I need to put on my apron and help Tim win this thing.

Needing to broaden my culinary horizons, I am filing this dispatch from the Way Out West BBQ Competition in Stockton, Ca. I'll be for here two days, working as an intern for Tim and Gina Mar, rising stars in the barbecue competition circuit of California.

This is a big departure from the fancy white-tablecloth world of Oliveto, where I've been a chef apprentice for three months. Instead of working inside a crowded kitchen, I am outdoors, surrounded by scores of pit masters and assistants, trucks, trailors, grills and smokers.

The smell of smoked meat fills the air, and many of the competitors are sitting in chairs, drinking beer and enjoying the Delta breeze.

"This is one of the weird subcultures of American society," said Tim, who caught the barbecue bug a few years ago and started competing last year.

But it's a fun culture, he added. Competitors see each other every few weeks, traveling the state with their grills and gear. "It's a good group of people. We all get along," adds Tim, who won his first competition last year, in Modesto, and finished third last month in the state championships.

Tim and I connected after he read some of my initial blog dispatches and emailed me with an invitation (more accurately, a challenge) to work as his assistant for a day or two.

"I think this would be a great opportunity for your readers to see the sometimes serious,
sometimes wacky world of competitive cooking contests," Tim wrote.

How could I turn down such an invitation?

So far today, I've helped Tim inject a special seasoning agent into a pork shoulder. I've also trimmed a beef brisket and spread dry rub on it, and trimmed chicken. Ribs are next.  

Tim uses some special ingredients for his BBQ, which he disclosed to me but would prefer not to detail. After all, this is a competition.

"Basically, we are all a bunch of egomaniacs," he said. "Otherwise, why else would we do this?"

Some 22 teams are competing in the Way Out West competition. The longest journey was made by Harry Soo, owner of SlapYoDaddyBBQ, who lives in Diamond Bar, Ca.

Harry is an up-and-comer who was inspired by Mar's victory last year. His team competed against more than 160 competitors in Kansas City in May and came in second, quite an accomplishment.

"You probably never knew there was so many Chinese who were into competitive barbecue?" said Harry.

 "We are part of the Asian invasion," joked Tim.

So the fun is just getting started. A potluck has just begun, and fires are being stoked for brisket and other meats that need to cook overnight.

I'll be posting updates as time allows, today and tomorrow. Stay tuned, or better yet, stop by the Weber Point Events Center in Stockton tomorrow for the public tasting, which starts at 11 a.m.