When celebrated chef Chris Galarza decided to pursue his executive chef certification, he knew he wanted to complete his test menu in an all-electric kitchen. "It was at Phipps Conservatory. They have a place called Botany Hall, which is their teaching kitchen," he told The Cool Down in a recent interview.
Galarza has made a name for himself not only through his cooking, but through advocacy for induction stoves and other electric appliances, which he has previously described as "just the best way to do this" when it comes to commercial kitchens.
Induction stoves run on electricity instead of the gas that powers many traditional ranges, and they're incredibly efficient. Not only do they use less energy than other types of stoves — saving owners money — but they also heat water faster and reduce cook times.
That accelerated cooking speed was essential to Galarza's executive chef examination, which had to be completed in under three hours. According to Galarza, his ambitious menu would not have been possible to complete in that amount of time on a traditional gas stove.
"I needed that stock to come to temp quickly; I needed my picking liquid to come to a boil incredibly fast, because every minute I can shave off, I needed to do so, because I was plating right up to the minute," he explained. "That was a lot of food to put out in a very short amount of time, so anything that I could do, I had to."
Galarza served his judges three courses, starting with a lobster bisque with snapper and lobster mousse, sunchoke brunoise, and a garnish of tarragon oil and lobster.
For the second course, he served endive and butter lettuce salad with roasted beets, a caramelized shallot vinaigrette, and pickled Swiss chard stems.
His third course was a duo of chicken: pave of chicken breast on one side with potato puree, carrot puree, and oblique carrots; and on the other side, a chicken fricassee with celery root, parsnips, mushrooms, and pancetta lardons, finished with sage and cream, and served with sauteed Swiss chard.
The unusually complex menu won the admiration of the judges, and Galarza successfully passed his exam to become an American Culinary Federation certified executive chef.
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Pursuing an executive chef certification was something that Galarza had delayed for some time.
"This has been a goal of mine since about 2015, when I first qualified to even attempt the exam. I just always kept putting it off," he said. "In 2022, I decided I wanted to do it."
That delay was caused by his other ongoing efforts in spreading electric kitchen techniques to the world. Just this year, Galarza launched the website for EcoChef, his certification program for eco-friendly kitchens. The program includes educational materials to get chefs started toward electrification, as well as standards defining several levels of EcoChef certification. The American Culinary Federation has also partnered with EcoChef to begin certifying qualifying kitchens in January.
"We are taking early clients before the new year," Galarza added.
The first kitchen to be certified is Chatham University's Eden Hall campus, which Galarza designed and built.
"It was the campus that all of this experience really came from," he said. "To me, it was almost poetic to take a thing that I've been working on for so many years, back to the place that inspired all of it and to have them be the first. … It was really important that I paid it back to a place that I consider a second home."
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