One of the most important aspects of both the culinary and pastry programs takes place outside the classroom—trailing. Indeed, I learned a tremendous amount about technique and working in professional kitchens through my trailing experience. However, if you had asked me several months ago what "trailing" was, I would have assumed we were talking about hiking. In fact, a friend recently told me that she thought I had been misspelling “trials” when posting about my trailing experience on Facebook. While my spelling was accurate, my friend was not far off in her interpretation of the word.

ICE was thrilled to host Executive Pastry Chef Joseph Murphy for a demonstration and discussion of his desserts at 3-Michelin-star restaurant Jean Georges, or simply “JG”, as he calls it.

Last week, ICE was honored to have a true living legend visit our school – Chef Alain Ducasse. Along with his longtime collaborator and Corporate Chef Sylvain Portay, Chef Ducasse came to debut and demonstrate his new app – My Culinary Encyclopedia : Recipes and Techniques by Alain Ducasse.

For the past two weeks, the Ģ����Ƶ has had international students walking its halls. Students from ICE’s Russia campus were in New York City to learn the tricks of the trade from some of ICE’s best culinary management instructors.

Celebrated sommelier Michael Madrigale grew up in an Italian-American family in Pennsylvania. His first job was in a butcher shop, followed by a stint in marketing, which conclusively taught him that he wasn't one for a desk job. From there, he sought employment as a waiter, which enabled him to learn more about food. When he finally fell upon a position at a Burgundy-only wine shop in the West Village, he embarked on his lifelong love affair with wine.

On Tuesday, October 8th, ICE welcomed Guittard Chocolate Company’s Regional Sales Manager, Laura Tornichio-Vidal, and Harney and Sons’ Vice President, Michael Harney, to teach participants the art of a unique pairing: tea and chocolate.

If you can’t control the heat, get out of the kitchen. A month and a half into my Culinary Arts program at ICE, this is undoubtedly the most important concept that I feel becoming ingrained in my being on a daily basis. “Are you checking your heat?” Chef will holler to the class every five minutes. “Remember: YOU control the heat; the heat does not control you!”

This September, ICE hosted its bi-annual Career Fair and Networking Reception.

It's the day after the launch of her first cookbook, Desserts for Every Season, and Jenny McCoy's voice is a little hoarse. She’s trying to remember a story about Emeril Lagasse—one of her first jobs was working for the chef at Delmonico, his restaurant in New Orleans. As she reminisces about him, she chuckles, and when she does her eyes are bright, her friendly dimples more pronounced. “He’s been the best chef I’ve worked with. He made a point at the start of every night to walk up to every employee, from the person washing the pots and pans to the chef de cuisine to say hello. He’s so human, generous and approachable. Those are things I took away with...

When I was growing up, my dad used to make us pancakes for breakfast on weekends and feed us waffles for dinner when budgets were tight. So for me, breakfast foods are the ultimate in comfort food.