Recipe for Fun

Monday, Oct. 21, 2002 By LAURA KOSS-FEDER

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As the students worked on preparation, instructors interspersed demonstrations and pointers on technique. The sound of a gong that resonated throughout the kitchen at 7 p.m. meant it was time to stop cooking and start eating. Timing the meals and preparing them quickly, as restaurants would, was a major component of each day's lesson. After dinner, students returned to the classroom to review what was learned that day.

Back home, Owen is using her new, improved culinary flair to treat her employees. In between her accounting and managerial duties, she regularly cooks meals for the eight people in her company in a fully equipped kitchen in the office. "When I get to work, everyone asks me what's for lunch," says Owen. "Even if they hate the job, they love the food." (A sample menu: fillet of salmon with soy sauce, rice-wine vinegar and lemongrass, baked in parchment paper and served with rice pilaf.)

Harrison Branch, 55, a professor of photography at Oregon State University in Corvallis, says the two classes he has taken at the CIA's Greystone campus have given him a solid grounding in food preparation. He cooks for friends and family, does some catering on the side and has contemplated switching to a career in culinary arts. He learned how to prepare such meals as grilled shrimp with tomato and basil coulis, veal scallopini with asparagus and herb risotto and pork medallions. "This was the kind of experience that you could just immerse yourself in totally," Branch says.

Jim Bethel, 55, an Arlington, Va., architect and avid cook, has taken four Boot Camp courses at Hyde Park. His days started at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast, followed by 45 minutes of classroom instruction on a particular type of food preparation. Then, as part of a team of three, he went to the kitchen to prepare set menus, which varied each day. A sample meal in one of his courses, enough to serve six people: sauteed breast of chicken with prosciutto and mozzarella cheese, maple-glazed carrots and garlic mashed potatoes. Meal preparation was done by about 12:30 p.m., followed by lunch and cleanup. Next was a beer-or wine-tasting class and dinner at a CIA restaurant. The day ended about 8 p.m. "This was a great learning experience at this point in my life; I don't think that I would have appreciated it as much when I was 30," says Bethel, whose home features a 1,200-bottle wine collection. "This was like a fantasy camp for cooking."

The highlight of Terry Benca's week in the Boot Camp class in August was when one of the chefs complimented Benca on an apple-ginger sauce he made for a pork medallion entree. "I felt like a schoolkid; I was so excited," says Benca, 56, an engineer who lives in Allegany, N.Y. "I couldn't wait to tell my wife and son."

Six-time Boot Camp veteran Bruce Bogert, 79, of Rockport, Mass., says his science background kept bringing him back to the CIA. "As an engineer, I always like to know precisely how things are done. This is why cooking has fascinated me for years," says Bogert, who took several of the courses with his wife and two daughters. "These courses are like an adventure trip without the danger." And unlike an adventure trip, you can experience the same fun and excitement in the comfort of your own kitchen, once you return home.