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It's a tight squeeze for
Leeward Community College
baking students -- and their
oven's broken, tooStars shine over Leeward skies
By Betty Shimabukuro
Star-BulletinON THE PLUS SIDE, conditions can be like this in the real world -- cooks squished together in a kitchen, producing cakes, pies, buns and breads while trying to avoid others' elbows.
Builds character, teaches a person to work efficiently in a tight space while respecting the needs of others. May as well learn it now.
On the minus side, it sure would be nice if the oven wasn't broken.
Leeward Community College's culinary program is like the poor cousin of the one at Kapiolani Community College, where the facilities seem palatial by comparison. KCC, with its well-respected Culinary Institute of the Pacific, has drawn the bulk of attention as a statewide center for chef training. But there is another school on Oahu, a freeway's drive away, also diligently turning out young cooks for the always-hungry restaurant industry.
It's time for this institution on the west side to speak up, and the first target of attention is its bakeshop.
"A Taste of the Stars" will bring 14 prominent chefs to the LCC campus on May 6 to serve up their restaurant specialities in support of the school's culinary programs. The goal is to raise $20,000 to $30,000 to expand the bakeshop and purchase some much-needed equipment.The fund-raising aspect of the evening aside, events like this rarely take place on the leeward side, providing residents a taste of the food of Alan Wong, D.K. Kodama, Russell Siu and more, without having to battle weekend traffic into town.
And to buy a ticket is to do a good deed for a needy program. To understand that, just look at the oven, broken since February and still awaiting repair.
The oven was already a bit creaky --the timer was out, for one thing -- but when it kept shutting off during baking, it was officially pronounced broken, says instructor Linda Yamada. "But we can still bake."
Students instead are using a convection oven, which has a tendency to dry out baked goods and forces adjustments in temperatures and baking times.
"We just work with it."
On a recent Monday morning, Yamada and instructor Henry Shun are keeping order in the bakeshop as students fill up all three worktables with their assignments for the day.
"When you see them all crunched together and having a hard time moving ... This is what they'll have to deal with in the industry, but it doesn't mean they should have to learn everything that way," Yamada says.
Two days a week, Yamada and Shun's classes overlap and two sets of students share a space that would be tight for one. This semester, there are 24 students in both classes, but that number can run quite a bit higher.Shun teaches the finer points of baking -- his lesson book runs from almond float to Yorkshire pudding. Yamada's students get the practical training of running the school's cafeteria kitchen weekday mornings.
The two share an office about the size of a small walk-in closet; to get in you have to squeeze past equipment stored just outside the door. They often must bring their own books and items such as pastry bags for their students to use.
Class seems to be running smoothly, although it is noisy and cramped. At one point, six students are lined up at a long sink with three faucets, trying to get their work done without colliding.
When space is tight, it's essential to clean up immediately -- someone else may need your counter and your mixing bowl.
Yamada says the students learn this dance of cooperation over time.
"You gotta learn with each other ..."
"Not against each other ... " Shun adds.
"Because everything gets moved," Yamada finishes.
Everything in perspective, though. Shun and Yamada emphasize that high-gloss surroundings aren't everything.
Shun learned to bake in the 1950s at the old Honolulu Vocational College -- now Honolulu Community College -- where baking classes took place in a Quonset hut. Yamada trained at KCC in the '80s, when it was on Pensacola Street. The memory of a tiny bakeshop, with its single worktable, makes the LCC facility seem spacious.
They both went on to successful restaurant careers. When she's not teaching, Yamada serves as executive chef at the Beach House on Kauai.
"I tell my students, it's what you make out of it," she says.
She looks around the bakery and repeats that many of these students will end up in crowded kitchens like this one when they enter the world of work. They'll need to master the art of efficiency in a tight space, Yamada says, and smiles.
"Ours should be really good at it."
A TASTE OF THE STARS
Featuring: A sampling of dishes by 14 island chefs (See below)
Stars shine over
Star-Bulletin
Leeward skiesA $65 ticket to Leeward Community College's "Taste of the Stars" provides open access to the foods of 14 chefs, including several from the neighbor islands.
Participating chefs are: Chai Chaowasaree (Chai's Island Bistro and Singha Thai), Fred D'Angelo (Palomino's Euro Bistro), Edwin Goto (Manele Bay Hotel), Wayne Hirabayashi (Kahala Mandarin Oriental), Randall Ishizu (Ihilani Resort and Spa), D.K. Kodama (Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar), George Mavrothalassitis (Chef Mavro's), Peter Merriman (Hula's Grill and Merriman's), Faith Ogawa (Faith and Friends, Kamuela), Aaron Placourakis (Aaron's), Russell Siu (3660 on the Rise, Kakaako Kitchen), Göran Streng (Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki) Richard Wagner (Oahu Country Club) and Alan Wong (Alan Wong's and Pineapple Room).
A silent auction, to include hotel stays and restaurant dinners, is also part of the May 6 event. Call 455-0392.
Money raised will support the bakeshop. This recipe from the bakeshop repertoire can be used on any chocolate cake to create that island favorite, Dobash Cake.
DOBASH ICING
2 cups sugar
3 cups water
1-1/2 tablespoons corn syrup
3 ounces bittersweet baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup water
6 tablespoons cornstarch
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon vanillaBring sugar, water and corn syrup to a boil. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients and mix well.
Keeping the first mixture at a boil, remove 8 ounces and add it to the chocolate mixture. Stir well.
Pour chocolate mix into the boiling sugar mixture. Lower heat, but keep mixture at a rolling boil, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover with plastic wrap touching the top of the mixture to keep a "skin" from forming. Cool. Enough to frost one sheet cake.
Nutritional information unavailable.
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