With the annual tradition of homecoming weekends every fall at college campuses and high schools, it is a good time to spotlight a local culinary graduate who recently returned to his alma mater.
Johnson & Wales University and its famed College of Culinary Arts is consistently on the list of the nation’s largest culinary schools. The university welcomes back its notable graduates throughout the year, honoring them by awarding them the title of Distinguished Visiting Chef. There have been more than 180 chef alumni who have been named to this select circle. The 183rd was on campus in mid-October.
Chris Cosentino, a 1994 graduate and native of Portsmouth, has had a stellar career in restaurants. He has also established his own issue-focused philanthropy, supporting the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Chefs Cycle, which raises funds to fight childhood hunger. He shared his experience with current JWU students and fellow alumni.
Cosentino has cooked at some of this country’s most well-regarded restaurants. During his demonstration master-class cooking show in the JWU amphitheater, he focused on Incanto, the iconic San Francisco Bay Area spot where he was executive chef for 12 years, as well as Cockscomb, his current restaurant specializing in sustainable meats.
It was at Incanto that Cosentino mastered the art of handcrafted cured meats and whole animal cooking. This was also the subject of his latest cookbook, “Offal Good: Cooking from the Heart, with Guts.” It is an excellent look into how serious today’s chefs and restaurateurs are about “sustainability.” A front-burner issue in the foodservice business these days is food waste. The chef took it directly to the students, making eye contact with them and saying, “If you are going to commit to [preparing] the entire animal, you need to commit to eating the entire animal.”
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DISTINGUISHED CHEF: Chris Cosentino, chef of Cockscomb in San Francisco and a 1994 graduate of the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University, speaks to students and alumni while giving a cooking demonstration during his return to the school earlier this month, where he was honored as a Distinguished Visiting Chef.
/ COURTESY JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY[/caption]
He took his time during the afternoon lecture, preparing his grandmother’s recipe for “trippa” – a functioning part of the cattle but very much an old-world traditional dish. Cosentino related how he started sampling it at the well-known Mike’s Kitchen at the VFW post in Cranston. It was in marinara with parmigiana and as he recalled, “It somehow became comforting.” During his preparation, which involved more spice, more garlic and interesting ingredients such as orange zest and mint leaves, which added an appealing brightness, he referred to the main ingredient as “variety meats.”
Cosentino related his early professional experience just out of JWU when he was attempting to catch on as a cook in some European restaurants. He would call at the back door of a café in England and ask for day work. He dispensed sage advice such as, “You [chefs] are only as good as your last plate … and only as good as your last service.” He was effusive in his praise and related many fond recollections of the university’s culinary archives and museum, which was built on a donated collection of recipes and articles by famed chef and restaurateur Louis Szathmary.
Following his Distinguished Visiting Chef demonstrations before undergraduate students in the JWU Harborside Academic Center Amphitheater, Cosentino was presented with the traditional medal and joined in the applause when this year’s Distinguished Visiting Chef scholarship was presented to undergraduate student Brandi Schrott.
The founders of JWU, teacher-entrepreneurs Gertrude Johnson and Mary Wales, are identified as women’s rights icons. With the current increase in awareness of who is heading up restaurant kitchens and no less than the James Beard Awards announcing an initiative to focus on diversity in the “Oscars of the food world,” it is another distinction from one of the pioneers in culinary education.
Bruce Newbury’s Dining Out radio talk show is heard Saturdays at 11 a.m. on 1540 AM WADK, through various mobile applications and via smart speaker. Email Bruce at Bruce@brucenewbury.com.
