Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

Pro Chefs Love This Pennsylvania Lamb Purveyor

aday — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 13:14:01 +0000

Pro Chefs Love This Pennsylvania Lamb Purveyor aday Fri, 11/01/2019 - 09:14 Jamison Farm is visiting ICE for a lamb butchery demo and event. November 1, 2019

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

John and Sukey Jamison own Jamison Farm in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where they raise organic, grass-fed sheep.

We met almost 30 years ago when I was the sous chef at Gotham Bar and Grill, where we used their lamb, and I love speaking with them. They tell great stories because they really love what they do and know a lot of the best chefs in the U.S.

John and Sukey were high school sweethearts who left their “regular” jobs and bought a 65-acre farm in 1976. Sukey started a 4H Project raising sheep and used the lamb for her small catering business with positive reaction to the product. Then they brought a larger farm in 1985, when they started a mail-order business.

Sheep at Jamison Farm

They were influenced by the introduction of intensive rotational grazing because of the increases in grain prices caused by the Arab oil embargo. This interest led to utilizing the great grass production in their area.

“We have always liked lamb so much because you can raise and finish the animal in a relatively short time of four to eight months solely on grass,” John explains. “The meat from these animals then has a clean and interesting taste directly related to the grasses, herbs and legumes they’ve been eating.”

The Jamisons learned from retail customers, and later from great chefs, that there was a market for the superior natural taste of grass-raised lamb.

John reached out to a chef friend in Pittsburgh and asked if he knew of some chefs to whom he could sell his lamb. One of the first chefs to become a client was the great French chef Jean-Louis Palladin of D.C.’s Jean-Louis at the Watergate. He initially bought the Jamisons’ baby lamb that was still on its mother’s milk for a special dinner he was cooking. The lamb reminded him of the lamb he worked with in France, where he became the youngest chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant.

The Jamisons worked with Jacques Pepin at a recent tribute to Jean Louis Palladin.

Chef Jean-Louis compared the lamb to the Sisteron breed in France, which is raised in the lower Alps at altitudes close to that of Jamison Farms. Like Sisteron, the Jamisons' sheep eat a lot of wildflowers and grasses, and the grazing techniques give a subtle taste and texture to the meat that cannot be found with lambs that stood in a feedlot with little movement, consuming a synthetic mix of corn, oats, barley and alfalfa pellets.

Over the years, John and Sukey built up a clientele of prominent chefs across the country while breeding hair sheep ewes, including Dorper, Katahdin and Dorset Horn rams in southwestern Pennsylvania, which they consider “the Napa Valley of sheep production” for its conditions. The lamb’s flavor changes throughout the year: garlicky from wild onions in the spring, sweeter from a wild carrot called Queen Anne’s lace in late August, fatty from cool-season grasses in September. Summer lamb picks up flavors of anise and other wildflowers. The Jamisons’ job is to grow and manage the grass.

I love their lamb because it is not as fatty and greasy as the other lamb raised in the U.S. It has a very clean flavor since it is only fed grass and still cooks up tender and juicy. I’ve used all the parts over the years and continue to use their lamb ribs, racks, loin and legs on my menus at Oceana.

John and Sukey hosted a lamb butchering demo at ICE's former location in 2011.

Sukey is a great cook. If you go to the farm’s website, you’ll see many of her recipes, their famous lamb pie (super delicious) available for mail order, and other products, including the couple’s memoir, “Coyotes in the Pasture & Wolves at the Door.” The book features 20 of Sukey’s recipes.

Sukey is also a great butcher, and while grass versus grain feed is an ongoing sustainability debate, butchering the whole animal is an important practice for reducing waste. The couple will join me for a demonstration at ICE’s New York campus on Nov. 13, when Sukey will guide me through how to butcher and use the whole lamb. John will share stories as part of this very important food history lesson that all aspiring chefs will want to hear. There will be plenty of lamb to taste, including a cassoulet, paprika, burgers and some cuts from the butchery demo.

Register to attend the lamb butchery demo.

Meat Demos & Lectures New York City

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Can Cooking Combat Invasive Species?

aday — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 14:47:07 +0000

Can Cooking Combat Invasive Species? aday Mon, 07/22/2019 - 10:47 Director of Sustainability Bill Telepan explores using green crabs in the kitchen to reduce their impact on the environment. July 22, 2019

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

Back in January, I got a note from our supplier of Nantucket Bay scallops saying the season was over. I couldn’t believe it. These are one of my favorite things to eat, and the season doesn’t normally end until March (it runs commercially from November to March).

The problem was warmer temperatures (climate change, anyone?), which allow the growth of a toxic algae and an abundance of green crabs. Algae aside, I am no marine biologist, and I was already hearing of this invasive species: the green crab, which is multiplying. This is very bad news for shellfish, from Long Island to the Canadian East Coast (it is also a problem on the West Coast). Green crabs eat the small larval species of scallops, as well as lobsters and other shellfish, and compete with the same food sources. They also feed on eelgrass, which is an important source of food for migratory birds and helps with erosion.

As many green crabs as there are, I don’t see any being sold at restaurants. They aren’t as well known as the blue crab, which has a history along the mid-Atlantic coast and produces the soft shell crab that’s served in the summertime along the East Coast. Plus, green crabs are small, so they don’t yield as much meat to extract.

The population growth has generated a lot of conversation about green crabs and their uses. In Maine, Green Crab Project is trying to help consumers understand how to cook with the invasive species and encourage producers of soft shell crab to get this new product to market. Executive Director Mary Parks and author Thanh Thái wrote “The Green Crab Cookbook” to combat the invasive species by exposing its uses in the kitchen. “The idea now is to eat the green crabs as a way to get rid of them,” wrote Florence Fabricant in The New York Times.

Two Brooklyn seafood destinations have been working with the Green Crab Project to help eradicate the predatory crabs. Chef Alex Raij hosted a Venetian green crab dinner at her restaurant, Saint Julivert, on July 15, and the team at Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Company has been serving specials featuring soft-shell green crabs, including the grilled green crab roll below, at its restaurant. “One of our goals is to serve ecologically friendly options to better support our [planet],” the company posted on its Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Green crabs are an invasive species that aggressively prey on shellfish like scallops and soft-shell clams. One of our goals is to serve ecologically friendly options to better support our 🌎 and thus we give you the Grilled Green Crab Roll. Available now until we run out

A post shared by Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co. (@greenpointfish) on Jul 15, 2019 at 4:28pm PDT

Purveyors and chefs have long led efforts to combat invasive species through dining, from lionfish in Florida and wild blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay to invasive plants in Hawaii, such as kiawe and waiawi.

Join me on Aug. 8 for a discussion about the history of green crabs and a demonstration on how to cook the invasive species at the Ģ��Ƶ. I’ll share how to make a wonderful broth to use in soups and sauces, how to prepare soft shell green crabs, which are very popular in Venice, Italy and Vietnam, and how to use the caviar. Guests will receive a free copy of "The Green Crab Cookbook."

Register for the green crab demo and tasting.

Sustainability Fish & Seafood Recreational Classes

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Culture

How to Serve Four Edible Flowers and Herbs

aday — Thu, 09 May 2019 18:44:33 +0000

How to Serve Four Edible Flowers and Herbs aday Thu, 05/09/2019 - 14:44 Director of Sustainability Bill Telepan shares dishes he developed at Oceana using plants from our hydroponic garden. May 10, 2019

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

One of the great things about being ICE’s director of sustainability is working with the hydroponic farm. It’s really wonderful when all the flowers and herbs in the garden are in full bloom.

When I started at ICE, one of my first tasks was to help create curriculum that provides students with more opportunities to interact with the farm. Now they are planting, harvesting and learning more about growing. Students also get a chance to taste their way through the plants they have harvested and ones that we grow, practicing how to think about creating and building flavors.

As a chef, I love being exposed to so many different flavors that I can use for dishes at Oceana. I’m exploring how to use some of these esoteric herbs, flowers and plants that we grow in the garden. Here are just a few that I have used at my restaurant.

Marigolds

The first time I tasted these leaves and flowers, my mind went right to oranges. They have a beautiful, sweet, citrusy flavor that is also floral. I didn’t think I could ever use these or know that they were edible. Now, the marigolds are fantastic in my wild striped bass crudo with oranges. I add a little lemon juice to help with the raw fish. These flowers are also tasty and colorful additions to salads.

Marigolds from ICE are featured with wild striped bass crudo and oranges at Oceana.

Huacatay

When I heard about this herb, I knew exactly how I wanted to use it. Known as Peruvian black mint, it is traditionally used in a soup or a cream salsa served with grilled meats. At Oceana, we pair it with a ceviche and aji dulce pepper, chopping the leaves fresh, which works beautifully. All the flavors are indigenous to Peru. It goes to show you that where things grow together they typically work together.

Oxalis

Tasting these purple leaves and flowers makes me immediately think of sorrel. These have a very similar sour (“oxalis” actually means sour), herbal flavor that I knew would work with any dish that uses sorrel. Here, we did a play on a vichyssoise soup with sorrel and salmon.

Oxalis from ICE's hydroponic garden is served with vichyssoise soup and salmon at Oceana.

Epazote

This is an herb I knew about before working in the farm. I had seen it a while ago in a Mexican dish of beans, so I was familiar with one application and was glad to see it available. It’s a uniquely flavored, very distinct and pungent herb. It has notes of oregano, mint, citrus and anise. You can use the leaves and stems, if they are tender, which is great for infusing flavor into a dish. I wanted to do a play on posole by cooking it with hominy, which added flavor well. Then I added some fresh epazote in right before serving the soup to give it an extra boost and that’s when the flavor became really pronounced.

Schedule a tour of ICE’s New York campus for a sneak peek inside the farm.

Plant-Based Guest Chefs

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Culinary Arts

How to Make Ceviche with Fish Scraps

aday — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 17:31:28 +0000

How to Make Ceviche with Fish Scraps aday Thu, 02/07/2019 - 12:31 Chef Bill Telepan serves halibut ceviche at Oceana. Director of Sustainability Bill Telepan shares his recipe for utilizing fish trim in ceviche and customizing the recipe with your own mix ins. February 19, 2019

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

I have talked a lot about how to use up the trim from fish at my restaurant, Oceana. We produce a lot of trim from various fish, so we find unique ways to use it. We’ll use the trim from salmon for our salmon burger, which we mix into Coho salmon. We’ll use a white-fleshed fish for a mousse that we mix into our crab cake. One of my favorite ways to use fish trim is in a ceviche.

I recently hosted a demonstration at an ICE First Friday in which I taught the class how to make ceviche. Now, you don’t need to use trim to do it. Ceviche can definitely warrant buying top quality fish to make it.

I never thought to make ceviche at home until recently, but it is certainly an easy and healthy dish to serve at your house. I am lucky to have a Greenmarket in my neighborhood that features a fishmonger. So I know that high-quality, fresh fish is available on the Sundays that they are there. Now, after being at Oceana for the past two years, I think about serving ceviche at home. It is a dish we like to eat, and we can get some great seasonal fish from the market.

If you eat a lot of fish in your home, another thing you can do is freeze your trimmings. While fresh fish is always best, freezing fish when it is fresh and using it later in ceviche works well. When you accumulate a pound or more, then it is ceviche-time!

The local fish that are generally available, like striped bass, sea bass and fluke, are perfect for it. Fish like halibut, snapper and grouper also work really well.

I’ve included a basic recipe to use and some ideas for mix-ins (like a Blizzard!). Choose the ones you like best, and try some other, similar ones you can think of.

Ceviche doesn’t have to be just fish. I’ve included a vegetarian (actually vegan) version that I've had before with sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) and kohlrabi. Vegetables like fennel, radishes and celery root would be interesting, too.

Be creative. And always, have fun.

Sustainable Ceviche

1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup orange or grapefruit juice
1 pound fish (halibut, striped bass, snapper, fluke or sea bass), sliced or diced
2 teaspoons aji Amarillo or aji dulce paste (optional)

Mix ins

I would always include these:

Scallion
Minced red onion
Chopped jalapeno, no seed
Cilantro leaves or mint

Then these are options:

Long green chili, cut in half, seeded, cut in strips
Red fresno chili, cut in half, seeded, cut in strips
French breakfast radish, thin-sliced long
Chive
Orange segments
Cucumber, diced
Sweet potato or squash, cooked and diced

Combine juices and fish and let sit for 5-20 minutes, depending how long you would like it “cooked.”
If using, add the pepper paste and season with salt.
Add a tablespoon of scallion, red onion and jalapeno.
Tear the cilantro or mint and add.
Add whatever other mix in you want.
Enjoy!

Learn more about utilizing often overlooked ingredients at Chef Bill's Zero Food Waste Brunch on March 2.

Fish & Seafood Recipe Sustainability

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Recipes Step 1 - Combine juices and fish and let sit for 5 20 minutes, depending how long you would like it cooked.; Step 2 - If using, add the pepper paste and season with salt; Step 3 - Add a tablespoon of scallion, red onion and jalapeno; Step 4 - Tear the cilantro or mint and add; Step 5 - Add whatever other mix in you want;

Bill Telepan’s Salmon with Balsamic-Glazed Endive

aday — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 22:24:33 +0000

Bill Telepan’s Salmon with Balsamic-Glazed Endive aday Fri, 01/04/2019 - 17:24 The executive chef at Oceana, Chef Bill balances a bitter vegetable with Balsamic Vinegar of Modena in a rich salmon dish. January 14, 2019

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

Ģ��Ƶ chefs are developing recipes with Italy's Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, and Director of Sustainability Bill Telepan incorporates the authentic ingredient into an indulgent seafood dish.

Endive is underused but really delicious when braised. I thought the balance of the Balsamic Vinegar of Modena would be a perfect way to help soften the bitterness of the vegetable. Also, creating a glaze with the cooking liquid helps cut the richness of the salmon, and the endive complements the salmon perfectly.

Salmon with Balsamic-Glazed Endive

Serves 4

4 filets cut from the head end of the salmon, 6 to 7 ounces, each skinned
4 sprigs rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs parsley
3 2/3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 endives cut in half, the long way, bottom in tact so they stay together
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar of Modena
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt to taste

Arrange half the herb sprigs on a baking sheet. Place fish, skinned side down on top of herbs. Scatter the remaining herb sprigs over fish. Cover fish with plastic wrap, molding the wrap around the fish to keep it moist and gently press herbs into flesh. Chill at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 450ºF. Remove fish from refrigerator and let it come to room temperature, about 15 minutes. Pick herbs off top of fish and set aside. Rub each filet with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and some salt. Turn fish over, removing herbs from beneath it and setting them aside. Rub another teaspoon oil and more salt into the skinned side of the fish (use a bit more salt on the skinned side). Lift fish up, spread herbs underneath it, and settle fish on herb bed.
Bake until just opaque, about 10 to 15 minutes (pry apart the flesh to check).
While salmon is cooking, place 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy sauté pan and warm on medium high heat. Place endive cut side down and brown for 1-2 minutes. Flip endives over and brown for another 2 minutes.
Flip endive back to cut side down and add stock, balsamic vinegar and salt. Place in oven for 5 minutes.
Take out of oven, place on stovetop and on medium-to-high heat, cook until the liquid has become thick and almost syrupy.
Remove salmon from oven and place onto four warm plates. Add parsley to endive and mix in. Top each fish with three pieces of endive and the balsamic glaze.

Learn more about Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and explore ICE's sustainability program with Chef Bill.

Fish & Seafood Ingredient Exploration Recipe Partners

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Recipes

Bill Telepan’s Zero-Waste Lobster Bolognese

aday — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 15:44:37 +0000

Bill Telepan’s Zero-Waste Lobster Bolognese aday Thu, 12/27/2018 - 10:44 Chefs are always taught not to waste anything and use everything up, from putting vegetable scraps into stocks to using bones for sauces. December 27, 2018

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

As executive chef of Oceana in Midtown Manhattan, I see many opportunities to use items that may be thrown away and make them into something delicious. For example, we always use the cooking liquid from our octopus dish in a vinaigrette. We’ll take the trimmings from our salmon and make a ceviche for our bar menu. Early on we’re taught how to be creative with everything we have.

There is one dish that I have been using for years that I didn’t realize was re-using potential waste: my lobster Bolognese. This is a very popular dish I served at my previous restaurant, Telepan, and brought with me to Oceana. It wasn’t until I became ICE’s director of sustainability that I realized the lobster was completely used for one dish. We use the bodies to make a stock that we use for the sauce. We cook and chop the claws and knuckles to put in the sauce. And we roast the tail and place that on top when we serve it. The lobster is completely used with no waste.

This is a great, sustainable dish to try in 2019, and you can feel good knowing nothing is wasted!

Lobster Bolognese

2 1 1⁄4 to 1 1⁄2-pound lobster
1 cup chicken stock or water
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 ounces extra virgin olive oil
1 14-ounce can tomato, squeezed dry and chopped very fine
4 ounces white wine
1 ounce white wine vinegar
6 ounces white lobster or chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons minced herbs, preferably tarragon, chervil, parsley, dill and/or chives

Ask your butcher to break apart the lobster into head, claws and tail.
Separate the tail and claws from the head and set aside.
Open up the head by pulling the bottom leg down halfway from top. Scrape away and discard the feathery lungs and insides from the head and using a chef’s knife, then chop the head into small pieces.
Place the heads in a pot with the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, set aside for 15 minutes, then strain and reserve.
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add enough vinegar to flavor the water and salt to taste like the sea. Let water return to a rolling boil, add lobster tail and claws, reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered. Watch carefully and do not let the water come to a boil again. The pot should bubble occasionally but not simmer. Cook lobster tail for 5 minutes and claws for 7 minutes. Remove from liquid and cool. Shell the tail, knuckles and claws.
Sweat shallots and garlic in extra virgin olive oil until soft, about 7-8 minutes.
Add tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add wine and vinegar until reduced almost dry, about 3-5 minutes.
Add stock, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Bring lightly salted water to a boil, add spaghetti and cook for 7-8 minutes. Add to sauce with butter and cook until butter is incorporated into sauce. Add lobster meat warm on medium heat and sprinkle with herbs. (To feel even better about the dish, grow your own herbs!)

See Chef Bill demo the recipe at ICE's "Waste Not" event with the James Beard Foundation in January and find more sustainability tips on DICED.

Fish & Seafood Recipe Soups Sustainability

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Recipes Step 1 - Ask your butcher to break apart the lobster into head, claws and tail; Step 2 - Separate the tail and claws from the head and set aside; Step 3 - Open up the head by pulling the bottom leg down halfway from top; Step 4 - Scrape away and discard the feathery lungs and insides from the head and using a chef’s knife, then chop the head into small pieces; Step 5 - Place the heads in a pot with the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, set aside for 15 minutes, then strain and reserve; Step 6 - Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add enough vinegar to flavor the water and salt to taste like the sea; Step 7 - Let water return to a rolling boil, add lobster tail and claws, reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered; Step 8 - Watch carefully and do not let the water come to a boil again. The pot should bubble occasionally but not simmer; Step 8 - Cook lobster tail for 5 minutes and claws for 7 minutes. Remove from liquid and cool. Shell the tail, knuckles and claws; Step 9 - Sweat shallots and garlic in extra virgin olive oil until soft, about 7-8 minutes; Step 10 - Add tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes; Step 11 - Add wine and vinegar until reduced almost dry, about 3-5 minutes; Step 12 - Add stock, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes; Step 13 - Bring lightly salted water to a boil, add spaghetti and cook for 7-8 minutes. Add to sauce with butter and cook until butter is incorporated into sauce; Step 13 - Add lobster meat warm on medium heat and sprinkle with herbs. (To feel even better about the dish, grow your own herbs!);

The Benefits of Market Visits

aday — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 16:46:24 +0000

The Benefits of Market Visits aday Wed, 09/05/2018 - 12:46 Chef Bill Telepan shares the importance of becoming familiar with local, seasonal ingredients and meeting farmers at markets. September 6, 2018

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

As director of sustainability at ICE, one of my objectives is to bring students to the amazing greenmarkets that New York City has to offer. I like tasty food and produce grown nearby that I can eat right after it is picked — it just tastes much better.
Taste is what drives me as a chef.

This all started when I worked with the legendary chef Alain Chapel in a small town outside of Lyon, France. Chef Chapel would personally cart the ingredients we used in his kitchen from the markets in Lyon every day, and we cooks would bring them to the refrigerators before prep. The epiphany for me happened one day when I noticed these beautiful strawberries that I carried in. I took one to my mouth and realized I’d never had anything like it. Then I ate the whole pint! It was that very moment that I realized the importance of ingredients: that the better the ingredient, the easier cooking would be for me as a chef. So I started to think about that more and about how Chef Chapel would change his menus monthly based on the best ingredients. And it made me realize that this was how I wanted to cook.

Now this was the early ‘90’s and I was returning to the States, where the most important part of cooking was how it looked. I started working at Gotham Bar and Grill as the executive sous chef, which meant I got to do all the buying. The chef, Alfred Portale, encouraged me to buy from the nearby Union Square Greenmarket. At that time, restaurants buying directly from farmers was a novelty.

Cooking seasonally meant you had to adapt to what was available – not asparagus or tomatoes in January or butternut squash in April. As you likely know, chefs have adapted. And many now cook seasonally and use locally grown ingredients.

ICE Director of Sustainability Bill Telepan leads students on a tour of the Greenmarket at Oculus Plaza.

We chefs also demanded more flavor, more diversity and more availability. Now there are purple carrots, purple cauliflower, purple sunchokes — even purple kohlrabi! Heck, back then we didn’t know about kohlrabi (a vegetable in the cabbage family), let alone purple kohlrabi. This was made available through the demands of chefs who wanted better ingredients to make their cooking better.

So introducing new cooks to the wonders of seasonal cooking is essential. I think that having the knowledge of knowing when a particular fruit or vegetable is in season and at peak flavor will help future chefs develop menus that are thoughtful, and most importantly, tastier. They will see why asparagus and morels grow at the same time, like winter squash and apples, and eggplants and tomatoes. These are some examples of why foods that are harvested at the same time taste so good together.

And not only taste. Just like grapes grown for wine, the soil (terroir) dictates what grows better on particular farms. This is why the black dirt of the Pine Island, New York, area is best for root vegetables, and the sandy soil in New Jersey is best for corn and berries. These are the details that young chefs can learn from visiting the greenmarkets and speaking with the vendors, details that can distinguish a good cook from a great one. The people who are selling the products at greenmarkets are the people who raise the products. That’s the best part for me: making the connection with the people who are part of the Northeastern food system.

Local apples are available in crates at the Greenmarket at Oculus Plaza.

So make it a point to visit the over 50 greenmarkets and 15 youth markets in NYC. You can literally see the seasons on the farmers’ tables. While every season is wonderful to watch, my favorite time of year is approaching – find out why on my next market tour.

ICE students can join me at the Union Square Greenmarket on Sept. 29 at 9 a.m., for a guided tour followed by a brunch at my restaurant, Oceana. And our next visit to the Greenmarket at Oculus Plaza will be on Oct. 2 at 1 p.m.

Read more about sustainability on DICED and discover ICE's career programs to pursue hands-on learning opportunities like Bill's market tours.

Sustainability New York City

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Culture

Eliminating Waste and Hunger Through Education

suzanne.zuppello — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 12:25:51 +0000

Eliminating Waste and Hunger Through Education suzanne.zuppello Tue, 07/10/2018 - 08:25 Fresh food access and cooking confidence are key. July 10, 2018

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

Recently, at a talk for the Greater New York Dietetic Association, I was asked to share my thoughts on food waste, access and education. I’ve focused on food waste in the past, but access to food is not something we talk about enough and I appreciated the opportunity to address it.

As chefs, we don’t always realize the hardship of not having access to food, let alone the ability to source fresh ingredients. You'd be surprised to learn how many urban and rural areas don’t have grocery stores. In urban settings, rent is prohibitively high, making it nearly impossible for supermarkets to open, or stay open. And many of these businesses choose not to go into low income neighborhoods because they don’t want the added burden of processing SNAP benefits. This creates what we call “food deserts” — places in which access to food is highly limited. The few stores that do open generally don’t sell fresh ingredients, making processed and canned foods the norm for families in these areas.

Incentivizing for stores in low income neighborhoods to sell fresh food, thereby increasing access, is one way to alleviate this problem. For this to work, state and local governments could subsidize these stores, or find a way for smaller stores to purchase fresh produce at reasonable prices. Perhaps this is where supermarkets could divert their “ugly” produce — fruits and vegetables deemed too imperfect for sale in chain stores, rather than wasting it.

There are ways in which organizational help can come into play, too. In New York City, for example, we have green carts. These are similar to hot dog carts, but instead of hot dogs and 'kraut, these are stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables. They're also mobile, which means they're not limited to a specific neighborhood, bringing access to a wider geographic pool. Here, we’re also fortunate to have greenmarkets, which are now opening in more low-income communities. All of the greenmarkets accept food stamps, and in some cases, they offer “double the dollars” for people purchasing fresh ingredients.

This is a good first step when it comes to food sourcing; then there is the issue of cooking. I remember when I went into rural Kentucky to give cooking classes to some of the teachers. I realized that many of them did not have basic kitchen skills themselves. I was showing them how to handle a whole chicken and when I asked for volunteers, only two people volunteered demonstrating a lack of kitchen confidence. But the class was a success – the teachers learned to roast a chicken and create different meals with the meat and carcass, therefore using the whole product. There was no waste and we created meals with more bang for the buck.

But you don’t need to know how to roast a whole chicken. Cooking can be simple, with just some trial and error. I taught my wife and daughter how to quickly sauté vegetables with a lot of flavor, and a nutritious pasta if they were in a pinch. You might remember home economics or learning to cook in school? I actually learned how to sew a button on a jacket that I still wear today in one of these classes. Where are classes that teach practical life skills now?

That leads me to another area of discussion: education.

Imagine if every family had the tools to create healthy dishes that could be stretched into multiple meals and require fewer ingredients. Teaching families how to both cook, which can be very intimidating, and to save money while doing so will help both the family budget and their control over the healthfulness of their meals. But how do you ask a single mom of two who may work multiple jobs to cook for her family when she has limited cooking skills, limited time, and there is no access to fresh ingredients at a good price? The problem is manifold, but there are things we can do.

It starts with education and changing the idea of food and eating on a societal level. We need to educate families on the importance of eating well, and seeing food as essential energy for living; every bite counts. We need to teach cooking skills, as early as possible, and ensure that all families have access to real ingredients. We need to understand that, as many studies show, children who eat well learn better and can be a more productive future workforce. We’ve seen the connection between rising obesity rates and the lowering school ranks as a nation — this correlation won’t change on its own.

We can definitely connect wasted food to these areas that need access. We also need to make cooking easier for all. As future and present culinary leaders, we need to raise awareness to these issues and to help when we can.

Talk sustainability with leading chefs like Bill Telepan in ICE’s culinary program.

Sustainability

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Culture

Learning to Love Leftovers

suzanne.zuppello — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 18:23:30 +0000

Learning to Love Leftovers suzanne.zuppello Thu, 04/12/2018 - 14:23 A Lesson From Chef Bill Telepan March 26, 2018

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

It’s hard enough to create a menu using different kinds of “non-waste” food at your disposal – but creating a four-course menu from leftovers is even more of a challenge. One goal of ICE’s Sustainability Club is to plan and prepare dinners using food that would otherwise be wasted. Aside from the economic benefit, we want to give students the chance to practice the creative process that goes into planning a meal using scraps.

This project made me think about my creative process, and the need to adjust last minute when creating a meal. Two examples come to mind. Recently, I helped Rick Moonen, a Las Vegas-based chef (and one of the first chefs at Oceana over 25 years ago) to prepare a lunch featuring bronzini from Spain. The importer brought not only bronzini but dorade as well, leaving us with way more than we needed. We had a hefty amount of fish that we needed to use quickly. That day after lunch service, we decided to steam the dorade and use it for dinner. We had to come up with an interesting sauce on the fly to sell the fish. I looked around the kitchen and decided on Asian flavors — something highlighting the umami flavor. We started by reducing mushroom stock to give us an intensely flavored base. Then, we mixed in garlic toasted in extra virgin olive oil and chili flakes, added some vinegar and ultimately achieved what I was going for: an interesting and flavorful sauce that would bring out the subtle flavors of the fish.

A second example happened after Thanksgiving. At Oceana, we always order our turkeys well in advance so that the farmer we work with knows how many to raise. One year we over-ordered, and I had to figure out what to do with the excess turkeys. I started by asking my butcher to debone the meat, then we froze it for a later date. A turkey burger seemed like a fun addition to our lunch and bar menu, but I didn’t want to serve just an ordinary burger with lettuce and tomato, so I had to think it through. Soon after, our sous chefs made crispy chicken sandwiches for family meal and served it with pickled veggies and a delicious chipotle, mustard aioli. That meal, which the entire staff thoroughly enjoyed, sparked inspiration for my turkey burger idea. I also wanted something to add an extra flavor punch like bacon, but I didn’t want to add bacon per se. Instead, we decided to smoke then roast thickly sliced onions. We finished it with a bit of frisée lettuce for crunch and there we had it: the Oceana turkey burger. Customers liked it so much that we started ordering more turkey!

While planning our first Zero-Waste Dinner at ICE, we began by discussing the possibilities. We asked Maria Tampakis, Director of Culinary Operations, what was leftover from meat fabrication class. After a tournée technique lesson, there were plenty of trimmings available. What could we do with them? And what about the leftover produce — what would we do with the ribs from Swiss chard? How could we use the whole lemon?

We bounced some ideas around. The first two we settled on were pretty simple: a charcuterie platter using leftover pork and a vegetable bread soup from the meat trimmings and old bread. The third idea, suggested by culinary students, was to use the trim from the fin of leftover halibut. We prepared that with some Japanese flavors and served it with leftover rice and mushroom trimmings. Maria had a fair amount of leftover lamb, so we agreed to use two techniques to prepare the lamb: sous vide and grilling. We also made an infused oil using herb stems, and a tabouleh with pickled Swiss chard leaves. For dessert, we chose a lemon meringue pie using leftover egg whites and cocoa nibs from the Chocolate Lab. And those squeezed lemons would be candied for the pie and infused for a pre-dinner aperitif.

It was the first of hopefully many successful practice sessions for our Zero-Waste Dinners. Students really got their creative juices flowing – not just for planning the perfect menu, but the perfect menu using what we had on hand.

I’m looking forward to the next meeting of ICE’s Sustainability Club.

Interested in studying at ICE? Learn more about ICE’s career programs.

Sustainability Culinary Arts

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Culture

What Chefs Can Learn From Farming Themselves

ohoadmin — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 12:30:01 +0000

What Chefs Can Learn From Farming Themselves ohoadmin Wed, 01/10/2018 - 07:30 Chef Evan Hanczor Explains January 10, 2018

By Bill Telepan — Director of Sustainability

In this interview, ICE’s Director of Sustainability Bill Telepan speaks with Chef Evan Hanczor, owner of Williamsburg's acclaimed brunch spot, Egg. Bill and Evan talk about Goatfell Farm, two acres of fertile Catskills land that founder and co-chef of Egg George Weld purchased to yield key produce and ingredients for the restaurant a decade ago. Since then, the duo has learned a tremendous amount about maintaining a successful farm-to-table operation.

Bill and Evan chat about the conundrum of what comes first: the produce or the menu, as well as the potential edge that agricultural knowledge affords up-and-coming chefs.

Bill: When did you first start farming for Egg?

Evan: George and his wife Jennifer bought it a year or two after Egg opened, and started to develop it into a place where it grew produce for the restaurant. This is about the tenth year, and it's been a really strong year for us.

George is up there [on the farm] most weekends with his family, but we have a hired farmer as well — our third since the farm has been in operation. In the past we've had folks with a background and interest in farming who transitioned from working in the restaurant with us to running [the farm].

Has it always yielded a successful harvest?

In the beginning, we didn't produce much. One year we tried to farm it by committee — which didn't work out very well. It seemed like most years we were trying to grow as much food as we could, and not looking ahead to how that would affect the next two or five years — which is how you really need to think about farming.

Then leading up to this past year we were busy with a number of projects at the restaurant, in addition to opening a space in Tokyo, so we made the decision to grow just a couple of things and more or less let the farm lie fallow for a year. We hired a farmer and made a plan towards long-term production.

This year we have a full-time farmer named Chuck who has a bunch of experience in different kinds of farming. He really knows how to plot a field. He's had quick rotations and set down beautiful produce even though he got a late start this year. It's been super productive — especially over the past two months.

Do you grow exclusively for the restaurant?

We were really overwhelmed with tomatoes in the past two months, so we were calling people up to see if they would take them, giving them out to guests and friends. But otherwise, all of the produce comes into the restaurant, and we find ways to work with it.

When we're doing it well, the idea is to have good communication and planning in advance between the restaurant and the farm so that we can get things that we might want — but also knowing what makes sense to plant based on the soil, what was being grown before, how much labor it will take and how much time the farmer has.

We're trying to find ways to use what makes sense to grow instead of farm what we want, if that makes sense.

Did you grow up with any farming experience?

Not really. I lived in central Florida until I was about 10 and I do remember visiting a farm. When my family moved to Connecticut we lived near a small dairy farm and educational center that grew some produce — it was where we would get our milk and eggs.

There were a few other small farms in the area, so I was exposed to a farm and some of the cycles of it, but I didn't have any experience working on one or understanding what really went into running one. T

he only sort of vegetable production experience I had at the time was some raised backyard gardening that started with my parents at their house in 2008. We put in a couple of beds, so I had a few years of trying to grow stuff in the backyard, but certainly not on the scale of even a small farm. Ours is six acres total, but we only grow on an acre, maybe an acre and a half — which is productive, if you do it right.

Do you ever spend time on the farm?

This year I haven't really, but in years past I've tried to go up every month or so. It's nice to get out of the city and be in a different environment, and it feels good to do some work.

I also try to get staff up there whenever possible. If a few employees have days off together and want to figure out a way to get up there, or if one of us is heading up we'll get a server or two up to the farm and they'll be able to get their hands in the ground and see the process.

That was always one of the goals for us. We didn't really know what we were doing or how to operate a farm in a way that made any economic sense for a restaurant, so we really wanted to learn and get the firsthand experiences of the challenges. When we go there with the staff they can see that when a farmer calls and says they're out of something that they were expecting and they're frustrated, this is why. It gives both parties more empathy and understanding, and it can make you a better and more creative cook.

Going into this with a farmer, how are you going to choose what to grow?

We thought we had a good understanding of what grew well after doing it for quite a few years. It turns out we were wrong about a few things. We thought we could never get cabbage or fennel to grow, but our farmer figured out how to get it to grow really beautifully, so we're still learning about the soil.

We had an idea in the beginning of the season that we'd love to have eggplant and kale. We go through so much kale at the restaurant, and if we could grow the bulk of what we use for a few months that could be really cool.

But in addition to what we want to have, we also have to ask what makes sense. If you're growing these ten things at the same time, what gives you enough time to do your harvest? What makes sense from a labor perspective? It doesn't make sense to grow things that are super labor intensive or time specific, so we're figuring out a middle ground but also responding to what is reasonable. Hopefully as the years go on we'll continue to learn what grows well in certain parts of the field, and how to better adjust and respond to that.

Do you think chefs should learn about farming and what it takes to grow something?

I do think it gives you certain advantages and deepens your understanding of products, especially if you're looking to work in a certain region and express particular qualities, rhythms or ideas of that area. If you're cooking locally, understanding what farmers are dealing with and also having a good sense of what you're going to have at certain times of year, when things are going to be at their peak and how to plan your menu that way can be helpful.

I get to see ingredients at so many different stages of their development, and that often gives me new ideas about how I might use them or what parts of the plant I might use. A lot of people don't know about nasturtium pods. They know the flowers and may know the leaves are useable, but don't know that third use you can get out of the plant: nasturtium capers, which we harvested our first batch of last week. You're exposed to really cool stuff when you learn about the farming process.

Interested in culinary training with an eye toward sustainability? Learn more about ICE’s career training programs.

Sustainability Culinary Arts Interview