Classic Culinary Arts with Farm-to-Table Intensive

This first session acquaints you with key concepts in ecological agriculture so you can begin to build on the skills and practices you’ve learned in the past 600 hours of Classic Culinary Arts. What was the last thing you ate? Where did it come from? The first session will explain how these simple questions can have profound implications. Through conversations and activities with Chef Barber, Stone Barns Center’s leaders, and Blue Hill’s kitchen team, you’ll learn how chefs, farmers, and educators can work together to create strong coalitions and a delicious, ecological cuisine.

After your introduction, you’ll be off to the Stone Barns greenhouse for a harvest before Blue Hill chefs give you hands-on instruction in grinding, cooking, and baking with heirloom grains like emmer wheat and Wapsie Valley corn. How do such local sources and fresh ingredients differ from what most chefs use in their kitchens? The Farm-Powered Kitchen™ program guides you through the maze of today’s food system, from how industrial agriculture has influenced menus to ways that you as a chef can drive change by making more informed choices.

On day two, Chef Barber will give you the dirt on dirt, explaining how and why soil is the key ingredient in growing better fruits, vegetables, and grains. You’ll see how good soil, much like proper mise en place in the kitchen, is a prerequsite for excellent products. Stone Barns Center’s Vegetable Farm Manager Jack Algiere will reveal his innovative techniques for year-round farming in the Northeast. He’ll lead you to the vegetable fields to study crop rotation, cover crops, and pest management. Once you have gained insight into the vegetables you pick, you will return to the kitchen to identify flavor cues and prepare your harvest in five different ways.

Day two will also cover the benefits (and trials) of restaurant kitchen gardens. You'll learn directly from chefs and farmers how a well-run garden, in addition to a restaurant's menu, can improve operations and profit.

You’ll get a close-up view of the many benefits of humane, ecological animal husbandry from Craig Haney, Stone Barns Center’s Livestock Farm Manager. You’ll explore the Stone Barns pastures, where pigs feed on invasive plant species, sheep rotate to keep grasses healthy, and chickens have free range. As you learn what can affect flavor and nutrition in the pasture, Blue Hill chefs will help you meet the challenges of preparing grass-fed meats and using whole animals responsibly. You’ll learn the anatomy of pigs, sheep, and cows and their corresponding primal cuts from master butchers.

This session will conclude with a special demonstration and hands-on exercise introducing you to the art of whole-animal butchery—a unique chance to build upon the skills you learned in the kitchens of The International Culinary Center.

During your second pastured livestock lesson, you’ll visit Stone Barns Center’s chicken processing facility where you’ll be introduced to humane slaughter and have the option of taking part in the operation. In the kitchen, you’ll continue to explore whole-animal cooking and gain expertise in using offal and preparing sausage and charcuterie.

You’ll also meet farmers’ market representatives, food distributors, and chefs and take part in a discussion of how to best link restaurant kitchens to ecologically sound farms. This is a chance to see firsthand how chefs who want to stand out can build networks of exceptional suppliers to find exceptional products.

Now that you’ve worked the land and followed the ingredients from the fields and pastures to the kitchen, it’s time to attend to practical matters. How do you create a menu based on locally grown, ecologically sound ingredients? What is an effective restaurant sourcing strategy and how is it cost effective? In this final session, Blue Hill chefs will coach you on the best way to source responsibly while also keeping an eye on the bottom line.

Working in teams, you will create a dish featuring ingredients gathered during the morning’s harvest to present to the team of Blue Hill chefs and Stone Barns Center farmers.

The ingredients you choose and the flavors you develop will be a testament to how much you have learned during your six months as a student of The International Culinary Center’s Classic Culinary Arts with a Farm-to-Table Concentration program. This is a singular opportunity to use outstanding ingredients in the Blue Hill kitchen to prepare a dish that you’ll present to Blue Hill chefs and the Stone Barns farmers. They’ll not only taste your dish, but they’ll also ask you some tough questions: What were the philosophical, agricultural, and culinary choices you made as you prepared the menu? Everything you learned over the past six months will help you reach a depth of understanding and a level of excellence that will prepare you for many more achievements throughout your career.

Throughout your education at The International Culinary Center of New York, your classroom extends beyond the kitchen to gain a complete understanding of the breadth of Farm-to-Table resources in the local area. You'll visit a Long Island vineyard, a dairy farm in New Jersey, a Brooklyn rooftop farm, and a New York City greenmarket, in addition to making an introductory trip to Blue Hill and Stone Barns Center. You'll develop an understanding of our region’s agricultural landscape, observe how Farm-to-Table concepts are put into practice by leading experts, and start building an ecological approach that will support you as a chef and the creation of your lifelong cuisine.

Field trips are subject to change.