Returning to New Orleans Roots - Culinary College Externship

Student Contributor: Laura Merrick
Culinary Arts Degree Program:
A.O.S. in Culinary Arts

New Orleans is a magical place overflowing with lively music, unique people, and creative food. Within this Louisiana city, shining brightly from the legendary French Quarter, is a diamond of a restaurant known as Stella! Stella! is perfectly situated in New Orleans, as it upholds the traditional values of the city (including good food and good times for all) while forging a new frontier in culinary creativity that has not been explored there. Stella!’s owner and executive chef, Scott Boswell, has created an incredibly diverse menu, perfect for increasing my culinary skills during my externship.

Having previously lived in New Orleans, I originally did not want to spend my externship there. Hoping to explore a new city, I investigated many other restaurants and did not find one that embodied all that I wanted to experience and learn. Upon reading Chef Scott’s menu and extensive biography, which details his worldwide training in various countries including France, Italy, and Japan, I realized Stella! was where I needed to be and immediately applied for an extern position. After a phone interview and job offer, I did not hesitate to accept one of the best opportunities I will ever be given. Between the high quality of products used, the interpersonal and technical skills learned, and the friendships and business relationships formed, my experience at Stella! has been life changing, and I am forever grateful.

The products at Stella! are always of the highest quality, arriving fresh and often. I had the opportunity to work with products I had only previously seen in pictures, and also products I was being introduced to for the first time. An example of the former is the beautiful rainbow chard, and one of the latter is the walu, a marvelous product from Hawaii that boasts a smooth, buttery, rich flavor. I also worked with satsumas, citrus fruits indigenous to Louisiana that are scattered throughout menus in New Orleans during their peak ripeness in the winter months.

An enjoyable activity at Stella! was preparing the various heirloom baby vegetables that came in a wide assortment of deep shades of purple, orange, and yellow, along with various kinds of arugula and bok choy. In addition, preparing the many types of wild mushrooms that flow through Stella! daily, such as the blue foot and lobster, added to my culinary skills. Working with shark’s fin for the first time illustrated the importance of not only the flavor but the mouthfeel of a broth—the fin adds a velvety, full-bodied aspect to the sea bass broth as it rolls inside the mouth.

The chefs from both the CIA and Stella! were imperative in giving me the skills needed to be successful at my job. The chefs at the CIA provided a solid foundation of knowledge on the proper care of general groups of food that my many teachers at Stella! were able to build upon when instructing proper preparation of specific items within the groups. For example, preparing the baby vegetables requires great care, and proper steps must be taken to maximize color and flavor that go beyond the steps routinely taught at the CIA. Chef Scott invests great attention to every detail in every aspect of every item on the menu.

As with most kitchens, Stella! is very diverse and showcases different personalities and different ideas on the best way to accomplish certain tasks. In this particular kitchen, however, one solid belief and value unites everyone: providing the best food possible in the manner the chef desires. This belief flows through each individual and, once service begins, it is the unifying factor that enables everyone in the kitchen to work together as one unit.

I am a very tolerant and open-minded individual who genuinely enjoys and appreciates learning new ways of accomplishing tasks and hearing feedback. I always felt comfortable asking questions during these times to further understand the “why” behind the methods used by Chef Scott. For instance, the various ways he plated cheese was one of many examples of how Stella! forced my mind to bend and rethink the presentation of a food product. Seeing the same elements on a plate presented in three different ways by three different chefs—while all maintained the same elegance and functionality—showed me how seemingly simple items can sometimes be overlooked. It is important to never let that happen, because each component will speak to the guest if the creator lets it or even encourages it.

This experience showed me how I need to start letting the items speak through me. During much of my externship at Stella!, I was learning and recreating Chef Scott’s creations. Then I focused my creativity at home and began utilizing the techniques I learned at Stella! to make my own creations.

The different approaches to cooking used by Chef Scott were ones that I generally favor over techniques learned at the CIA. One example is roasting russet potatoes to make mashed potatoes rather than boiling them. The flavor achieved by roasting is reason enough to follow this method, and the added benefit is zero water absorption and retention, which allows for a product that is never soupy. Another difference is the vegetable reheating process. Chef Scott uses white wine in place of chicken stock, resulting in a brighter, more exciting flavor as the acid and salt work together to help the flavor of the vegetable jump inside your mouth. A gorgeous glaze effect with no added color is also achieved when this method is properly executed. Lastly, during my last month at Stella!, Chef Scott began cooking items sous-vide. This method allows for a higher quality product of a more accurately temperature that retains more moisture as it encounters a minimal amount of dry heat. I enjoyed learning to temp meats in the oven, but this method provides such a superior product that I cannot articulate a reasonable argument against the use of sous-vide cooking.

I made many important contacts and friends at Stella! and had the privilege of learning from great teachers and working under very talented and knowledgeable supervisors. I hope to have this same privilege again in the future, but before that happens, I would like to gain more experience so I can provide Chef with a higher level of knowledge and skills that he can utilize however he needs. My externship at Stella! exposed some areas of my inexperience and is causing me to consider training in other areas that I have not previously had the desire to learn, such as hotel restaurants. I still want to travel the world and learn about cuisines from all cultures, and contacts at Stella! could potentially facilitate that goal. My experience at Stella! is helping me to breathe life into the skeleton of a career plan that is beginning to take shape and grow more every day.

If I had the chance to complete this externship again, I would spend more time working in the garden and familiarizing myself with the workings of the restaurant, the flow of purveyors, and the events Stella! is involved in that occur beyond the restaurant walls. Chef Scott is an incredible teacher and a joyful food orator. I enjoyed every moment spent learning from him and his well-trained staff, and I think Stella! is an excellent place for students to take their externship, if they care about food and have an unbending desire to learn. The most important attitude that Chef passed down and is to believe in yourself, that “you can do anything you want, you just have to make it happen.” Bringing truth to the statement that a great chef “puts himself on the plate,” Chef Scott and his food are unique inspirations to all who encounter them, just as his restaurant Stella! has been an inspiration to me.