CKCA Presents the 6th Annual Kosherfest Iron Chef Competition

This year’s Kosherfest Iron Chef Competition promises to be more intense than ever!  Now in its 6th year, the stakes are high as Kosher chefs from some of the top restaurants compete for the coveted champion's trophy and grand prize of $1000!

We hope to see you at this unique event as part of the Kosherfest Expo, on Wednesday, October 30th, 12:10 - 1:40PM.  Creative juices are flowing and culinary experts, foodies and fans will be watching closely as our esteemed judges determine who will the the Champion Kosher Iron Chef for 2013!

The Challenge...

The chefs will be presented with a basket of secret ingredients. In honor of Kosherfest's 25th anniversary, this year's competition theme is Kosherfest, Then and Now. The basket will feature products representative of the early days of the show as well as more modern, contemporary products. The chefs will also be given top quality produce, meat, and other fresh ingredients. The chefs will have 30 minutes to create an entree from the contents of the basket and will be scored on taste, creativity and presentation.  

Our Host; Jamie Geller...
We are delighted to have Jamie Geller as our host for the competition this year! Jamie is of course the best selling cookbook author behind the Quick and Kosher series of books and the founder of Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller magazine and Joyofkosher.com. Her latest book, Joy of Kosher: Fast, Fresh, Family Recipes was recently published and is sure to be a best seller as well. 

Our Sponsor; Jack's Gourmet...
The competition will be sponsored for the third year in a row by Jack's Gourmet, who will also be exhibiting at the show. Jack's produces some of the highest quality deli meats, prepared sausages, and sausage blends available in the kosher market today. Chef Jack Silberstein, co-founder of Jack's Gourmet will be serving as a judge for the competition as well. 

Our Esteemed Panel of Judges…

* Philippe Kaemmerle, Chef / Instructor, The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts
* Jack Silberstein, Owner, Jack’s Gourmet Sausages
* Roberta Scher, Co-founder and Managing Editor, Koshereye.com

The Competitors...

David Teyf, Lox Cafe at The Jewish Museum, NYC:
David Teyf is the chef and owner of The Lox café on New York City’s prestigious museum mile on 5th Avenue. David comes from a family with nearly a century of epicurean experience. His grandfather, a well-known Matzoh baker, exposed David at an early age to the sights and scents of the professional food business. David has lived in Italy and received professional Japanese culinary training. His favorite ingredients are fresh fish, and local produce.  He describes 
 his cuisine as a unique marriage of familiar old world tastes and traditional favorites with modern twists and accents. http://www.loxnewyorkcity.com


Casey Colaneri, Execuive Chef, Sushi Metsuyan, Teaneck, New Jersey and Monsey, New York:

Casey Colaneri, executive chef of the Sushi Metsuyan family of restaurants, received his culinary training from renowned Johnson & Wales University, from where he graduated magna cum laude in 2009.  Despite his young age, Casey has already worked as a chef in a diverse collection of restaurants in Ireland, Italy, Arizona, New Jersey and New York City. His cuisine is inspired by the flavors of Italy and Asia and considers kosher cooking to be his career's most exciting challenge thus far. http://www.metsuyan.com

Jose Soto, Executive Chef, Basil Restaurant, Brooklyn, NY: Chef José Soto is the executive chef of the acclaimed Basil restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. Chef Soto has been cooking for more than 20 years in New York City's finest restaurants. He started his culinary career at the great Savoy restaurant in Soho, a training ground for several award winning chefs. From there he brought his talent to many other great restaurants including, Diner, Marlow and Sons, Oznot's Dish, Chestnut,  Le Barricou and Franny's. Basil is Chef Soto’s first foray in to kosher cooking, thinking of it as a home coming, since the restaurant Crown Heights location is where he grew up.  http://www.basilny.com 

Kosherfest will take place on October 29th and 30th at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ. For more information about the show, visit www.kosherfest.com. 

We hope to see you there! 

Bucharest's Bagel Frenzy! CKCA Teaches Romanian Entepreneurs the Art of Making New York Bagels!

A Fair Amount of "Chew"!

Imagine a food truck on the corner of one of the busiest street in Bucharest, Romania, selling New York Bagels.  Really?  Holy Bagels!  From the hills of the Transylvania to southern Romania's hub in Bucharest there was not a  bagel to be found and so our story begins....

A team of Romanian entrepreneurs looking to add bagels as a novelty menu item to round out their breakfast and lunch choices chose CKCA to teach everything bagels and bialys to boot.  Entrepreneurs, Alexandru Petrescu and Ioan Rusu intensely researched our country’s finest bagel bakeries and culinary schools and with CKCA as their training ground we are making bagel history in Romania.  It was especially exciting for CKCA to be a contributor to Romanian Culinary history with much of our Kosher community's roots stemming from Eastern Europe.  

BAGEL JOURNEY IN NYC...

Upon arrival to the United States, our Romanian friends visited and sampled bagels at many of New York's famous eateries and markets to determine the qualities they favored the most. They decided that a crust of medium thickness and good amount of “chew”, along with whole grain options would be most appealing for the launch of their signature bagels. 

 BAGEL BOOTCAMP BEGINS...

Bialy Blast!

Lynn Kutner, our resident expert on all things bread, ran an intense session, tackling bagel and bialy making from start to finish. Sweating through  four hours of rolling, baking and tasting, Alexandru and Loan were thrilled with their new skills and left for home with a flavorful variety of samples to take home and the plan to launch Bucharest’s bagel frenzy.

We at CKCA wish Alexandru and Loan  the best of luck with their bagel adventure and we will surely keep you posted on their progress. 

Bagel Bootcamp at CKCA

The Top 4 Reasons to Take the Pro-Culinary Arts Program!

Pro-Culinary Arts Program Starts Soon -- for your Career or for Passionate Foodies!

1. Convenient Part-Time Evening Hours
Our evening program is only 3 nights per week and starts late enough for those who work or go to school to attend. 

2. New Expanded Curriculum
With 12 new classes our program is more comprehensive than ever. The program will now include the following:

- A new unit on Charcuterie which includes sausage making, smoking, curing, pickling and more
- Expanded unit on banquet preparation and presentation
- Expanded unit on appetizers and hors d'oeuvres 
 - A new unit on commercial cooking for Shabbat and Yom Tov
- A new unit on Asian Cuisine

3. We are a direct pipeline in to the food business
As a student you will automatically tap in to our extensive network of restaurants, caterers, schools, camps, and others who rely on CKCA for their employment needs

4. Only Kosher Program in US
And of course, we are the only full-time kosher cooking school in the country!

For more information:
718.758.1339
info@kosherculinaryarts.com
Click here for more information

Space Is Limited! 

Register Now!