Who says gourmet meals are restricted to restaurant dining only? Tune in as we unravel the secret to crafting restaurant-quality meals right in your comfort zone with the Louisiana Culinary Institute's very own, Chef Dave Tiner! Dave will introduce you to the affordable and delightful cooking classes offered by the institute, designed to suit everyone from beginners to culinary experts. Here's the cherry on top - you won't just learn to whip up delicious meals, you'll take home enough to feed a family of four!
Beyond the cooking classes, we plunge deeper into the world of culinary education at the Louisiana Culinary Institute, which offers degrees and certifications in international cuisine, charcuterie, and American regional. Chef Dave, like a true culinary gem, will share his invaluable tips for enhancing your cooking skills. So, if you're itching to push your culinary prowess up a notch, this episode is your perfect recipe! Grab your apron, and let’s get cooking!
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want – brought to you by Neighbors Federal Credit Union.
The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice.
Who says gourmet meals are restricted to restaurant dining only? Tune in as we unravel the secret to crafting restaurant-quality meals right in your comfort zone with the Louisiana Culinary Institute's very own, Chef Dave Tiner! Dave will introduce you to the affordable and delightful cooking classes offered by the institute, designed to suit everyone from beginners to culinary experts. Here's the cherry on top - you won't just learn to whip up delicious meals, you'll take home enough to feed a family of four!
Beyond the cooking classes, we plunge deeper into the world of culinary education at the Louisiana Culinary Institute, which offers degrees and certifications in international cuisine, charcuterie, and American regional. Chef Dave, like a true culinary gem, will share his invaluable tips for enhancing your cooking skills. So, if you're itching to push your culinary prowess up a notch, this episode is your perfect recipe! Grab your apron, and let’s get cooking!
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want – brought to you by Neighbors Federal Credit Union.
The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice.
Welcome to.
Speaker 2:Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want. Now here is your host, ms Kim Chapman.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another edition of Money Matters. I am your host, kim Chapman. You know the average American dines out about 5.9 times per week and, according to BLS data, the average household spends about $3,500 eating out every year, or just shy of $300 a month. Now, as a financial counselor that looks at budgets all the time, I can tell you here in Louisiana that number is a lot higher. But is there a more affordable way to enjoy restaurant quality meals at home without breaking the bank? Well, today we will discuss how you can learn to make delicious meals just like a chef, and do it without all the expense. So joining me today is Chef Dave Tiner with the Louisiana Culinary Institute. Welcome, dave, good morning. Thank you so much for joining me. I think this is going to be a fan favorite, because who doesn't love food here in Louisiana? Who doesn't love food period, but really to learn about our rich culture and some of the advantages of learning about cooking. So give us a little information about your role at Louisiana Culinary Institute.
Speaker 2:Right. So I am the director of the Culinary Institute. I oversee the program and the instructors and kind of help them in guiding the students in their education. So that's my role. I am an instructor. So right now I am doing one of my favorite classes, which is charcuterie, making sausages and those types of items. So, and we are at the school, we're focused on nothing but culinary and education is our main thing. But we do have a couple of side items that we that we do to help other people and to help us assist our students as well.
Speaker 1:And so of course, you're right here on airline highway, kind of tucked off to the side. How long has the Louisiana Culinary Institute been here?
Speaker 2:We were founded in 2003. We started in a building off of Essend Lane and then, 2009, we moved where we currently are. So we are celebrating our 20th year here in Baton Rouge. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:So you were given a little information about some of the services you offer. So definitely, of course, you know there is the educational side in terms of students being able to, you know, get certifications and what not. What other services does LCI offer?
Speaker 2:Well, we, for the public, we do leisure classes that will range from bacon and pastry to savory type cooking for those that that maybe they love to cook but they want to expand their knowledge and maybe improve their skills. We also have a catering company, which is bacon and fig catering, which I'm proud to say. We were just named the official caterer of LSU athletics, so we handle all the sports teams. And then we also have BRQ restaurant, which is we're all under the same umbrella.
Speaker 1:Cool. I did not know that. I'm very familiar with the BRQ. So of course you have, the holidays are right around the corner and for Louisiana definitely, that means you know food all day long. We have football season kicking off, there's tailgating, then there's going to be holiday parties and just being busy.
Speaker 1:It just seems like we're going to have opportunities to eat out a lot, and so I wanted to have you come in and talk about you know how can we stay at home, cook some of these meals? You know, maybe have a party at the house, throw a party at the office, but basically save some money by doing it ourselves and some of the other advantages, of course, that come with learning how to cook at home. So I wanted to ask you about the classes Are they based on your experience? Because of course you know you have people that can't boil water Right All the way up to you know charcuterie boards. You know they have that skill. So when we're talking about those leisure classes, are there classes specified for beginners, intermediate, advanced, or is it? You know, everybody come together and we're going to work with you, whatever your skill set is, that's it.
Speaker 2:Our leisure classes are set in a very relaxed setting. I mean, we're in a kitchen, you are using knives, you are around fire, so we say you know, did you get cut? Did you get cut so? But no, no skills are required. We'll walk you through it and when you leave there, you're taking home. Each dish that we prepare is enough to feed a family of four, and it's usually anywhere between three and four dishes that you're walking.
Speaker 1:So what should I expect when you're not going to walk in the door and you know I don't know how to do anything? Yes, of course I do, but I'm just going to pretend for this show. What should I expect from start to finish?
Speaker 2:Well, as soon as you walk in the door, you get greeted and you sign a waiver of liability and we give you your apron and your towel and your recipe book. We go to the kitchen, and the way I like to do my leisure classes is I demo everything that you're going to make, and so you get to see me do it. You get to, you get to see the processes, I explain what I'm doing, and so you get to ask questions about it, and then I send you to your station and then you prepare the same dish and myself and two assistants, which are students, are walking around and we're making sure that you're doing everything right, and if you mess it up, we're going to get you some more stuff and make sure that when you leave there, you're leaving there with the four meals that you're supposed to be making.
Speaker 1:And so you provide all the materials. If I'm coming for a class, I don't need to bring my own salt, my own bowls, utensils everything is right there.
Speaker 2:We have it all. Only thing I suggest for, especially for, like the pie classes and all if you have a container that you want to carry your stuff in, you're more than welcome to bring it, but we're going to have stuff for you.
Speaker 1:Who should be? Who should want to take a, you know, a leisure class, a culinary class? Oh everybody, everybody. So now are there any age restrictions?
Speaker 2:Well, there are some. I've had students that were the young as young as 12, as long as there's a parent with them, I'm fine with that. You can't just drop them off and leave. We do have. We do have services coming up because holiday season that we do For for kids. But but if you have a young child, actually a young teenager, that's interested in cooking and you're able to to attend the class with them, just for safety reasons, I'm perfectly fine with that.
Speaker 1:No, I have to ask. Of course I'm going to be in the class. You're going to be looking over my shoulder saying, no, no, no, stir it this way, Add a little more pinch of this. But then when I get home next week and I try this recipe by myself and it looks absolutely nothing like what we did in class. Is there a do over? Is there kind of like a rain check?
Speaker 2:There's no do overs, but you have my information, you can call me and I've had people email me and call me and say, look, I'm having this trouble, Can you help me? And I walk them through it. So, and I actually had a actually had a student participant that took my pie class last year and we did a sweet potato but an pie, showed him how to make the boot and showed him how to do everything from scratch bacon, the sweet potatoes, everything. And she contacted me, asked my permission if she could enter it into a pie competition. I said you have the recipe, best of luck. And so she was asking me questions. You know what about this? How do I do this? And I'm walking her through it. So I hope she takes the blue ribbon in this.
Speaker 1:Wow, that sounds pretty cool. So how often are the classes offered? And, of course, you just kind of gave us a taste of a sweet potato boot in. That's definitely original. What other types of classes do you offer in terms of the leisure classes?
Speaker 2:We do classes that are savory. So we have one instructor, colt Pottan. He likes to do the Cajun style classes, so he'll do Cajun 101, 102. He does he loves sushi, so he'll do a sushi class where you're rolling out the sushi, doing all different types. He does steak night, so you're grilling steak and you're making all the sides that go along with it. I am I like Thai is one of my, my favorite classes to teach and it's a popular one, and I love comfort foods. My pie class that I have coming up. I just posted it last week and it filled up in a week.
Speaker 2:So I saw that online. Well, they're posting it today, the week before on the 11th. I'm doing the same pie class, so it's a. You're getting close to Thanksgiving, so everybody wants to get in on that, on that.
Speaker 1:So is that sweet potato boot in pie going to be?
Speaker 2:That was not on there, we are doing bourbon chocolate, pecan pie, coconut cream pie and we are doing sweet potato pie.
Speaker 1:So what if I want to learn to cook something specific? Do you do private lessons? Can I get a group of my friends, Because maybe we want to host a party but we want to just do our derbs Can I get you to just work with us? Absolutely work.
Speaker 2:We need eight people to run a class. So if you contact us, say you know what. This is the theme that I'm looking for. I have eight or more people that want to do it. Can you create a menu and I can? We can create a menu for you and price it out and go from there.
Speaker 1:And of course I'm sure you know everybody's familiar with the cooking channel. I've watched it myself. Talk a little bit about what are some of the benefits of actually coming to a live class and doing a leisure class versus watching you know, a Rachel Ray do a meal in 30 minutes.
Speaker 2:Well, you get your hands on it. So you, you see what happens when you mess it up. You're able to get that immediate feedback from the instructor and the students that are helping me. You get to see it. You get to see it is one thing. Seeing and smelling is something else, because there's a lot, there's a lot of aroma that goes into cooking that you hear a lot of chefs say I wish they were smellivision. Well, you're able to smell it, you're able to see it. You're able to taste it, get your hands on it. You can't do that when you're just watching TV.
Speaker 1:Is there anybody that you would recommend not take the class? You know we kind of talked about the age restrictions and what numbers there. Any person that you would say you know a leisure class is just really not for you.
Speaker 2:People who just really don't like to cook. There's a lot of people that love to eat but they don't like to cook, and and we've had some people that tried leisure class and they just didn't like it, and which is perfectly fine. Eating is fun, cooking is work.
Speaker 1:I guess I have to ask do you think everybody is teachable in terms of cooking, or is it just is? Either you have it in you or you don't.
Speaker 2:I think everybody is teachable to at to some point. But then whether you want to learn, that's a different story.
Speaker 1:So, speaking, you know, kind of transitioning learning. So of course, louisiana Culinary Institute doesn't just offer leisure classes, it's actually, you know, a facility where you train chefs, you train cooks. So let's talk a little bit about that. What type of degrees or certifications, what can I get out of coming to LCI?
Speaker 2:We have three degrees that we offer. We have a degree in culinary arts with a concentration on savory. We have the same degree with a concentration on pastry, and then we have a hospitality culinary management degree and what's the difference between the?
Speaker 2:three. Okay. So the first, the way the school set up the first two semesters, the students take the same classes for all three, all three degrees. So you're dealing with, you're dealing with stocks and sauces, dealing with sanitation meats and you're getting involved with vegetables and all. Once you get into your third semester, that's when the culinary side, the savory side of it, starts focusing on charcuterie, international cuisine, american, regional, molecular gastronomy, advanced international. The pastry side will start working on dessert production. They'll also do cakes, custom cakes, then entremets, which are very small desserts, and then a class called advanced boulangerie and that's where they're doing like breakfast type pastries, croissants and all that. And then your HCM. In their fourth semester they will focus on the business side of the industry. So they're taking hospitality accounting, they're taking menu marketing and restaurant marketing. They're also doing they have a project that they have to do for small business development, where they present their product as if they're going to a bank to ask for a loan.
Speaker 1:So I have to ask are there any famous chefs that you know, names that anybody would know, that have actually come out of the Louisiana Culinary Institute?
Speaker 2:I guess the ones that people would know the most around here would be Sam and Cody Carroll, who own Hot Tales, and so they actually. They were the first class to graduate in our new building and they met at the Culinary School. They were married afterwards. They opened up Hot Tales and New Roads. Then they opened up the restaurant in New Orleans. It went all around the world cooking for dignitaries around the world, and they just opened their third Hot Tales in Zachary.
Speaker 1:And so, of course, louisiana Culinary Institute. When you think of cooking, even when you think of Louisiana, most people are very familiar with New Orleans. It's either for Mardi Gras or for food, and so, of course, here we are in Baton Rouge. Are there other just culinary institutes in Louisiana?
Speaker 2:There are just culinary. No, we are the only culinary institute that focuses just on culinary.
Speaker 1:Are your students primarily from the Louisiana area? Do you get students, international students or from all over the world?
Speaker 2:We get students from local here, but we also get students from all over the country as well. We just started a new class just about a week ago and we have students from Oklahoma, some from California, some from up north around Indiana, so we have students from all over.
Speaker 1:How does the Louisiana Culinary Institute rank among other culinary institutes?
Speaker 2:Personally, I think we're number one.
Speaker 1:Of course.
Speaker 2:There was a publication that came out and we were ranked in. One was number one, one we were number two. So I think as far as we're ranked, we are in the top tier just because of the way we're set up. We're set up like a family. We're focused on education. All we do is culinary. All of our instructors are either ACF certified or working on their ACF certification. That's a requirement that we have, and what that does is they have to take practical exams to prove their skill. They also have to do continuing education, stay on top of the techniques and the trends that are going on, so that we're able to give you not only the foundational cooking that you need, but everything that's popular, that when you get out of school, you're ready.
Speaker 1:And in terms of when they were taking classes, schools. Do they have to have an opportunity to maybe to specialize in Italian food, french food, you know, maybe even Cajun food, or do they get an opportunity to learn everything? They'll learn it all.
Speaker 2:They will learn it all. We have international cuisine, which will start in Mexico and will go all the way around the world and we'll end over in Russia. And then we have American regional, where we start in the Northeast and we end in Hawaii. And then we have Cajun Creole just by itself. Since we're in South Louisiana, that's three weeks of just Cajun Creole cuisine.
Speaker 1:You know, and I'm just thinking when I asked you earlier, you know, for the leisure class you get home and you know you think you have it and maybe when you start cooking not so much what about with the students? I imagine you know. Of course you could obviously flunk the written form, test things of that, but how bad. You know what would have make a student not pass culinary school in terms of their cooking skills.
Speaker 2:You know, not pass in the class in terms of cooking skills is not following instructions, not reading the recipe, not doing their due diligence being prepared. But you know most of the students that fell out of the culinary school. It has nothing to do with cooking, it's about attendance. So you've got to show up, got to show up.
Speaker 1:So, in terms of those leisure classes, what's the very basic thing? Or even just for a cook period, what is like maybe the top three or five things that every cook needs to know?
Speaker 2:Good knife skills, okay, good sanitation skills, good organization skills. That's the three main things right there. And then after that just develop a good palate, because there's a lot of things that go together that people really don't think of it as being complimentary to each other. And then there's some things that just don't really work, that like ginger and lemongrass both of them are great, but together maybe not so great. Fish sauce People are scared of fish sauce because they smell it and it's terrible. But when you eat something with fish sauce and you go, oh my God, this is amazing, because fish sauce is the salt for Thailand, just like soy sauce is the salt for China.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, again, we're a rich culture and it comes to eating and cooking and so, of course, there's lots of people that Really know how to cook. So somebody's looking and saying hey, I, you know, I can cook. Give me a recipe and I can do it. How do you how? What is the transition? How do you know? When you come to culinary school, what are you gonna learn? If I think I can cook at home already? You know I can bake at least jiffy cornbread. At this point, what am I going to learn at culinary school, basically, that I don't already know just from playing around in the kitchen?
Speaker 2:Well, one thing we tell all the students Everything that you have learned up until this point. Forget about it, because we're gonna make sure that you learn it the right way, and I Really like students coming in that have no experience at all, because they're they're like a blank canvas now. Now you can build upon it and and just really paint the picture, but we're gonna teach you the foundations, not only how to do it, but we're gonna tell you why you're doing it this way, because there's a lot of science behind behind cooking, and so we're gonna teach you the hows and the why's and we're gonna test you on that, not only in written form, but also in you. Get your hands on it and show us, and Then you're.
Speaker 2:Every class builds on each other class, so, and I tell students when I go into a class Alright, I'm telling you right now I'm going all the way back to sanitation. So get ready for me to ask you questions and Just to make sure that they're they're remembering it, because it's the things that they're gonna need when they get in the industry and, like I said, so many people just know how to cook.
Speaker 1:Are there certain characteristics that distinguish a really good cook from a chef?
Speaker 2:Not really. I mean, a chef is somebody who is organized, who is over the kitchen, that is, that is the chef. Chef has to have great organizational skills because they may not be doing Working in one position, but they may. They're overseeing all positions. A cook is somebody who is working in a on a position, whether it's a, whether it's saute or it's fry. I mean, at the end of the day, a chef is just a cook. It's just we're just have a lot of paperwork today as well.
Speaker 1:So you know, as an instructor, how can you pick out that diamond in a rough? How can you find those emerald agonises and Paul prude homes? You know how. How do you turn someone that's a student into a chef that's world-known? How do you, how do you go from that level?
Speaker 2:Well, I think the first thing you need is a good PR and marketing team to make that happen. But we do have students that come in and and they just shine. They I hate to use the term, but it's appropriate here they're just naturals. They have the skill set. As far as knife skills go, they have a great palette to build, to really work with, so they can build flavors and all of that. They have that eagerness to learn and that desire just to push forward and LC.
Speaker 1:Of course, this has even more services, so can you talk a little bit about that? I was surprised to know. You know, cookies seem to be a growing trend. I mean, you've got crumble, you've got all these places now, everywhere you look at cookies and I see that you even bake cookies.
Speaker 2:So can you talk a little bit about the cookie service, catering and whatnot we do we do cookies that we do for well, right now they're making cookies for the LSU tailgating groups for tomorrow. Some, some for businesses, some for individuals. We do wedding cookies. We have a food printer so we'll be able to print on not only royal icing but fondant we do. Most of the cookies that we do are sugar cookies that will put a a fondant disc on it. But we can do brown butter chocolate chip cookies, brown butter rice crispy treats.
Speaker 2:We also do cakes. As far as wedding cakes that can be done, they just have to be. You sit down with our pastry chef and her team to see if it can be done and if it's available. We also do events for kids. We have our I forget what it's called holiday workshop coming up in December, where we're going to bring the kids in, start them early, that's right, we get them. So the small groups they're going to be decorating Christmas cookies and doing the treats for Santa and all of that. A medium-range group is going to be decorating cupcakes, baking cupcakes and decorating them, and then the older kids will be making a full Christmas meal, and so all of that's going to be on a Saturday.
Speaker 1:Wow, do you do any food competitions? Anything like chop, like we see on TV?
Speaker 2:We have in-house competitions, so we just finished one, which is the home plate classic, where students that want to be involved in it they sign up. We pick the teams, we pick the rules and the ingredients and the timeframe, and the winner of the competition overall winner they get to sign a plate that goes into a cabinet and that's why we call it the home plate classic. Now we do encourage competitions so students can challenge other students, and those are always fun. So we just did one couple of weeks ago and the item that they had to make was Stromboli, which was funny, because neither one of them knew what a Stromboli was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see a lot of terms sometimes on these cooking shows that I have never heard of before.
Speaker 2:Right, so it was good. They enjoyed it. I had to explain what a Stromboli was and they made it through and they had a lot of fun and we had a lot of fun doing it.
Speaker 1:In terms of the leisure classes and going back and forth. Is there any time of the year where you see that the classes, kind of like the pie classes, fill up? You know more so than others. Is there a popular time of the year when people like to take these classes?
Speaker 2:In the spring when there's not a lot going on early spring in the fall, right after school starts, especially getting close to the holidays, that's when people start picking up and usually right after the first of the year we'll have kind of an influx. But there's no. Summertime is hard because lots of activities going outside. Of course this summer it's been a little bit easier because who wants to be out in 100 degree weather? But we do have. We try to schedule them around our schedule, like the leisure classes that we have going on right now are kind of around the LSU schedule, because we do so much catering with LSU that if we're needed we need to go over there and do that, and so we just do it in between when there's away games.
Speaker 1:So see, there you have it. The holidays are coming and you're thinking about all the money you have to spend. If you have to go out and buy meals, and go right there to Louisiana Culinary Institute. Learn how to cook, pick up some good tips, knife skills I don't know one knife from another, I just need one that can cut, and so it sounds like a great program. Anything else you need us to know about LCI before you give information as to how our listeners can reach you.
Speaker 2:Well, with the leisure classes, I'll tell you that we use ingredients that you can find at any store. So cost is always in the forefront, so we try to make it affordable so that you can go and you can buy these ingredients, the amount that you need to make these dishes. Also, with Louisiana Culinary Institute, I mean catering, contact us and we also do team buildings for companies that we can make it competition style or we can just make it, you know, have fun style.
Speaker 1:Alright, team building sounds like a really good idea, alright, and so give us maybe the website phone number information so that they can reach out to LCI if they're interested.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's lciedu. Phone number is 769-8820. And if you're interested, you can contact Charlie Rufalo, who does a lot of our bookings, but if he's not available there's somebody there that can take your call.
Speaker 1:And I tell you, you know we're going to get some cameras in here real soon and we may have to bring a little hot plate in here and do a demonstration so that we can show this on YouTube. But until then, thank you, chef J. This has been really really good information. It's been my pleasure. Learning to cook or improving your culinary skills can lead to savings by reducing reliance on takeout and ready-made meals, and the food part can also be a foundation for entrepreneurial endeavors like catering or food blocking. Here are a few tips every cook should live by Read recipes in full before you're starting.
Speaker 1:You need to understand the steps and the time involved to make good use of your time. Understand heat management Using the wrong temperature setting is an easy way to run what could be a really great recipe. You want to understand the roles of assets like lemon juice, vinegar and other flavor enhancers, and then use the right tools. Having the right utensils makes cooking easier and a whole lot safer, and for more information, check out neighborsfcuorg for a slash financial education to learn more on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want.