Culinary Arts News and Events: Food Network’s Robert Irvine visits Drexel’s Culinary Arts Students, February 4, 2008

View a slideshow of images from this event.

On February 4, world-renowned chef Robert Irvine, host of Food Network’s hit show Dinner: Impossible, worked with Drexel’s Culinary Arts students during a cooking session of the “Chefs’ Workshop,” an elective course designed to provide Culinary Arts majors with exposure to the varied styles and philosophies of industry professionals.

Chef Irvine conducted the class in a manner similar to Dinner: Impossible, in which he and his team face a variety of culinary challenges (for example, cooking a meal for 150 passengers aboard a luxury locomotive) and use their creativity to create a delectable meal within the time limit.  In what he called "Drexel: Impossible," Irvine broke the class up into four cooking teams, each with a designated leader.

He and the students then performed a walk-through inventory of the food storage areas and planned a menu based on product availability, time allotted and the students’ skill levels.

Then, under the tutelage of Chef Irvine, the groups executed the preparation, production, and final presentations for critique by the chef, classmates, and themselves. Each team was challenged to cook a salmon dish, a pork loin chop (with or without bone) dish, a tofu dish, and a vegan vegetarian dish, all with appropriate side vegetables and accompaniments.

After all of the plates were composed, the judges selected the team led by senior Erik Silverman (with Sally Roach and Rachel Orner) as the winner. The winning dish was comprised of hot smoked salmon with truffled cauliflower puree; sautéed tofu with a peanut crust and white miso, drizzled with soy caramel; and coconut lime sorbet.

Other dishes included: 

• Stuffed jerked pork chop with pineapple ginger filling and sautéed red cabbage
• Roasted pork loin rolled with spinach and pine nuts, whole grain mustard crust, garlic whipped potatoes.

Immediately following "Chefs' Workshop," Chef Irvine was the guest of honor for at a reception prepared and served by the students of Donna Maguire's catering class.