Starting a career in baking means you’ll have to learn all about the different ingredients commonly used in baked goods. Aside from chocolate, there’s one particular item that has grown in popularity among cake lovers and bakers alike: cheese.

Predating recorded history, cheese was invented by accident. It was born from the early human practice of storing milk in containers made from the stomach of animals. Over the years, this dairy product has become widely popular as the perfect partner for wine products and an ingredient for cooking.

In fact, it is not unusual to find such ingredients in bread and other baked products. As proof, below are three classic recipes that use cheese either as a key ingredient or as an added twist to an all-time favourite.

1. Cheddar Cheese Puffs

Made using a pâte a choux dough, cheddar cheese puffs are mouthwatering bites of cheesy goodness that both children and grown-ups will surely love. This recipe yields about a dozen cheddar cheese puffs, making it perfect for picnics and afternoon snacks.

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons or 4 ounces of butter
• 1 cup of water
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• 4 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme or rosemary, chopped
• Pepper, freshly ground (add to taste)

Directions

Put water, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan over high heat. Once the mixture starts boiling, reduce to medium heat and add flour while stirring rapidly until the dough pulls away from the sides of the saucepan.

Remove from heat and leave to cool for several minutes. Don’t forget to stir occasionally to ensure the even cooling of the dough. Keep doing this until it is still sufficiently warm but not too hot to cook eggs, which you will soon add into the mixture.

Put the eggs one at a time. Stir after every addition using a mixer or by hand using a wooden spoon until it is thoroughly mixed and reaches a creamy consistency.

Next, mix in thyme, grated cheese, and some freshly ground pepper.

While preheating the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, scoop dough using a spoon to create small balls and arrange on a parchment- or silicone-lined baking sheet at least one inch apart.

Bake in the oven for ten minutes. After the time is up, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit before cooking for another 15 to 20 minutes or until it turns light gold and puffed up.

2. Ham and Cheese Pizza

This recipe reimagines the classic sandwich as a cheesy pizza, with a sweet and crisp twist. It has a carefully balanced, rich taste and a palate-friendly combination of savoury ham, gooey cheese, and delicious Fuji apple.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil, divided into 3 teaspoons
• 4 ounces of fresh baby spinach
• 1 (about 8 ounces) pre-baked pizza, preferably thin-crust
• ¼ cup low-sodium marinara sauce
• 4 ounces of low-sodium deli ham, diced
• Half-cup (or about 2 ounces) of reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, torn
• Half-cup julienne-cut Fuji apple (the size of matchsticks)
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions

While preheating the oven at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, heat a teaspoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Toss in spinach, stir frequently and cook until completely wilted. Remove from heat and set aside.

Put the pizza crust on parchment paper and evenly spread marinara sauce over it. Then, arrange the ham, spinach, mozzarella, and cheddar over it.

Place the parchment-lined pizza directly on the oven rack and bake for nine minutes at 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure that the cheese has melted or has begun to brown before removing it from the oven.

After taking it out of the oven, top with peppers and apple before drizzling with the remaining oil (about two teaspoons). Finally, cut into eight wedges or as preferred.

3. Baked Macaroni With Mortadella and Mozzarella

Love mac ‘n cheese? This recipe gives the crowd-favourite a comforting Italian twist using mortadella and fresh mozzarella.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 pound pork, ground
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
• A generous pinch of red pepper, crushed
• Kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• 12 ounces of elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons of basil, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of parsley, finely chopped
• ¼ pound mortadella, cut into small cubes
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, sliced into bite-size pieces
• 1 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

Directions

Heat oil until it simmers in a large saucepan. Sauté garlic and onion over moderately high heat for four minutes or until softened. Add the meat and cook until browned for about ten minutes. Make sure to break up the pork when cooking. 

Next, pour wine and cook until it evaporates after about three minutes. Toss in crushed red pepper, tomatoes, and a generous pinch of salt before bringing to a boil. Simmer over moderately low heat with continuous stirring until thickened.

In a small saucepan, boil the eggs over medium-high heat for eight minutes. Then drain the water and cool the eggs under running water before peeling. Chop finely.

While preheating the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, cook macaroni on salted boiling water until al dente. Drain well. Then, stir it into the sauce with the parsley, basil, mortadella, eggs, and ¾ cups of mozzarella, and ¾ cups of the Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Transfer into a three-quart ceramic baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano and mozzarella. Finally, bake for about 25 minutes and set aside for five minutes before serving.

For the Love of Cheese

Children of all ages love cheese, and you’re probably not an exception. 

Whether you’re honing your skills at a baking school or simply enjoying cooking with cheese, consider serving your family and friends some cheesy goodness with the recipes listed in this article.

We’ve all read about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the hotel and restaurant industry around the world. But there’s a silver lining: despite the widespread repercussions, the region’s F&B industry is on the uptick. Even in 2020, more than 1,300 new restaurants opened in Dubai according to the emirate’s Municipality – that’s nearly 3.5 new openings every day of the year! What’s more, the total number of food establishments in Dubai is expected to cross the 20,000 marks by October 2021!¹

This only goes to show that, if you’re interested in pursuing a culinary career, there are a lot of opportunities out there. Whether you’re a passionate home cook, someone who wants to start a career in the hospitality industry, looking to switch jobs or even move up in your professional career, the food industry beckons. Let’s dig a little deeper.

How do you get a job in the food industry?

Just like every other field, the food industry also requires some professional qualifications or certifications before you can be eligible to work in a hotel or restaurant or start a homemade food business of your own.

Discover what qualifications you need to become a chef.

The best place to get yourself one of those qualifications is a certified culinary school or institute. There are a variety of programs you can choose from, including diplomas, certificate courses and even weekend courses.

Explore ICCA Dubai’s acclaimed cooking courses.

Once you’re armed with the relevant qualifications, you need to choose what kind of culinary career you’re looking for. The truth is that many of us only think of professional chefs when it comes to a popular job in the food industry – but there’s a whole lot more than that available!

What are the different types of culinary careers?

Here is a list of the most exciting careers you can explore in the F&B and hospitality industries.

1. Professional Chef: This is the most obvious one for a reason. If you play your cards right, get the required qualifications and are prepared to put in the hard work, then working your way up the ladder to become a professional chef at a top restaurant is one of the best career choices out there. You’ll start off as a commis chef, which is the entry-level position. From there, you’ll progress onto becoming a chef de partie, a sous chef, a chef de cuisine and then eventually, executive chef.
2. Personal Chef: As the name suggests, this career is for those who want to work with individual clients: think celebrities and top business people who have their own personal chefs to cater to their and their family’s requirements. Personal chefs can work alone or even have a small team of their own.
3. Caterer: This is another exciting career opportunity. Every major event, celebration or occasion – whether it’s a wedding or a government exhibition – requires the services of a caterer. A caterer needs to have very good organisational and financial management skills, because you’ll be in charge of everything from planning the meals according to your clients’ preferences and dietary requirements, to ordering the ingredients, preparing the food (either live at the venue or in a hired kitchen), organising the dining area/set-up, and cleaning up after the event.
4. F&B Manager: This is yet another industry role that’s slightly different from being a hands-on chef. Every hotel or resort requires an F&B Manager who is in charge of forecasting, planning, ordering and organising the purchase, delivery and storage of the various food and beverage requirements of the property you’re working for. This is an ideal career choice for those who love food but aren’t particularly focused on working in the kitchen.
5. Homemade food business: This one’s perfect for those with an entrepreneurial streak in them. Even before the pandemic, home-based food businesses were on the rise. During and after COVID-19, this trend is definitely here to stay as more and more people explore cooking at home. If you’re an excellent home cook, you can explore opportunities to create unique recipes and products which you can then sell right from your home! Of course, this will require some kind of license to operate from home, as well as other infrastructure, such as an extensive cooking set-up, delivery modes, perhaps an e-commerce website so you can sell your products online, etc.

And there you have it! These are just 5 out of a wide variety of careers you can explore in the food industry. Read stories of some of our past students from ICCA Dubai who’ve gone on to become successful foodpreneurs or find wonderful culinary careers around the world.

Got a question about educational qualifications to become a chef? Drop us a line at [email protected] and our team will be more than happy to get in touch with you and help you out! Or you can always visit our campus in Dubai Knowledge Park for a free tour! Call us on 800 CULINARY to book your tour now!

^‑References:

1. Khaleej Times, Dubai to see 20,000 food venues operating before October 2021

Coffee is one of the most beloved beverages the world over, across cultures, ages and demographics. We think it’s safe to say that a majority of us wouldn’t be able to start our day without a nice, hot, steaming cup of joe. Is it because of the energy boost that caffeine provides us or that it’s an instant mood enhancer? Whatever the reason, coffee has gone from being just a beverage to something else altogether!

These days, however, a rising trend is seeing coffee aficionados delving deeper into speciality blends and taking ever more care with their morning (or evening cuppa)! To understand more, we asked the experts behind ICCA Dubai’s popular Barista Program, and this is what they had to say.

What is specialty coffee?

The term, first coined by Erna Knutsen in Montreuil, France, in 1978, refers to how special geographic microclimates produce beans with unique flavour profiles, which she called ‘speciality coffees’.

These coffees are at their peak and are unlike other coffee because specialty coffee has been grown at the right altitude, at the correct time of year, in the best soil, and then picked at just the perfect time.

Specialty can only occur when everyone involved in the coffee value lifecycle work in harmony to ensure the specialty coffee beans are always well prepared, freshly roasted, and properly brewed, thereby maintaining standards and excellence from start to finish.

The lifecycle

There are several people that work together to bring you specialty coffees, through the lifecycle of the bean. These are:

1. The farmer

Spending years, possibly generations, refining and perfecting their approach to growing specialty coffee of the highest quality, they hand over only coffees that are free of defects and picked at their peak of ripeness.

2. The green bean buyer

Someone who can identify quality through cupping or tasting of brewed coffees, a green coffee buyer can be compared to a sommelier, with a palate as distinguished. They play a big role in communicating the grade quality, tasting notes and descriptions about a coffee to the roaster and barista.

3. The Roaster

Certified, trained, and with hands-on experience, the roaster is responsible to produce specialty level roast profiles. To ensure the highest standard of quality and flavour come through, they must be closely monitored the roasting process and apply scientific principles of heat transfer, thermodynamics and coffee chemistry to produce specialty coffees.

4. The Barista

The final professional to guarantee that the specialty bean has completed its lifecycle, the Barista is certified through a training program and is highly skilled in brewing equipment, the origin of the coffee bean and how its flavour profiles will be revealed in brewing. It is the duty of the Barista to ensure the coffee is brewed properly to fulfil its specialty promise.

Coffee in the culinary world

Coffee is not limited to being just a beverage; it’s a big deal in the world of culinary as well. It is a popular taste enhancer and flavour used in desserts, cakes, salad dressings and even in meat marinades.

For example, link a particular recipe with coffee shows you a unique use for this amazing bean!

Liked this blog? Follow us on social media to get more such insights! 

There are few aromas more appetising than that of a freshly baked loaf of bread. Perhaps that explains why baking has exploded in popularity in recent times. The process is simple, the ingredients are easily available, and the effort is not too much.

But there’s also a catch: precisely because the ingredients and method are so simple, even a small mistake can throw things out of whack. Your loaf can turn out dense or flavourless, or break apart like a biscuit.

How to bake the perfect loaf

At ICCA Dubai, we’ve been offering professional and amateur baking courses for 15 years. So, our master chefs are experts in the art of baking bread. We asked them for their secret tips for getting a perfect loaf every time and this is what they had to say.

1. Use good-quality yeast

Yeast is essential for the bread dough to rise properly. And for that, you need good-quality yeast. It’s always better to test a small batch first to see how the yeast performs. Also, there are different types: active dry and instant yeasts being the most common. You cannot use them interchangeably. So it’s good to spend some time learning more about yeast and seeing what is the best quality yeast available near you. If you have a doubt, ask a local baker or bakery.

2. Measure accurately (preferably with a weighing scale)

In cooking, you can sometimes play around with ratios and measurements. You can add salt or sugar later, you can adjust as you go along – not too much, of course, but you can still do it. Not so for baking. Baking is an exact science. That’s why our chefs recommend following a baking recipe exactly. Use a weighing scale if you can so you can get everything right to the nearest gram.

3. Be careful with the temperature of your water

Yeast needs a particular temperature in which to be active. So the temperature of the water you use is crucial. If the water is too hot, you will end up killing the yeast. Too cold and the yeast simply won’t activate. The temperature also depends on how hot it is in your house – a loaf made on a cold winter’s day may turn out different than one baked in peak summer.

4. Give the dough 2 rises properly

In general, bread doughs need two rises: the first rise after kneading, and the second after shaping. Our chefs say one of the most common mistakes amateur bakers make is getting impatient and interfering with the rise. Once again, the rise time depends on a lot of things: the kind of flour, the type of yeast, the quantity of yeast, how well you’ve kneaded the dough, and of course, the ambient temperature. So you need to give the dough adequate time to finish rising properly both times, else your loaf will not turn out perfect.

With these simple tricks, you can go a long way to perfecting your loaf of bread. Sure, it may take a few tries, but soon you’ll have one recipe that works for you every single time.

If you want to improve your skills, you can consider signing up for an artisanal baking course at our world-renowned campus in Dubai. Get in touch with us today and we’ll give you a free tour of the campus!

And remember to subscribe to ICCA Stockpot, our blog, for more cooking tips and recipes!

In a world full of choices when it comes to education, choosing a career path that promises a bright future requires thought. Looking back a few years, it was relatively easier to make that decision as the options available were limited to specific streams and specializations. Today, you have a wide array of options and courses that offer super-specialisations.

Apart from college degrees for mainstream industries like finance, medicine and engineering, there are many Vocational Training Courses that can give you the chance at a lucrative career too.

Here’s an in-depth look into TVET or Technical and Vocational Education Training Programs.

What is TVET?

TVET programs are tertiary education courses that provide industry-related technical skills and training to augment students’ skill sets. The main goal is not to impart theoretical knowledge or gauge students based on exams. Instead, the primary objective is to teach each student the basic skills they need to get a job in their chosen field.

How long has TVET been around?

While its popularity may have boomed recently for various reasons, TVET is not a new thing. It is not even a post-2000s phenomenon. TVET has, Interestingly, been around for a few decades at least.

Many believe that the early IT age of the ’80s and ’90s were the markers for the need for TVET programs and courses. When the IT era started, educational institutions were not yet capable of providing or catering to people who wanted to acquire technical skills and knowledge.

This is why students went to TVET centres to acquire industry-related skills that would help them secure good jobs and progress in their careers.

Which industries does TVET cover?

Today, TVET programs have evolved a lot, and are not restricted to IT alone. Many other industries, such as hospitality, aviation, infrastructure, civil engineering and more also rely on TVET to impart practical skills that a theory-focused collegiate education may not provide.

There are well-established TVET Institutions across the world today that help students gain valuable professional knowledge. This is done by providing a range of internationally recognised and accredited programs that simulate job-specific practical learning and skill-experience to help them better their chances of employment.

4 Advantages of TVET over a College Degree

While we are by no means saying a college degree isn’t worth it, it is definitely important to consider certain advantages that TVET programs offer students, especially those who have chosen careers where on-hand experience and technical know-how matter as much as, if not more than, theoretical knowledge.

So, here are 4 main advantages you get from a TVET Program:

1. TVET programs are cost-effective

With the cost of college education going up all over the world, there are many eager youths who want to enter an industry but cannot afford a 3- or 4-year college degree from a prestigious institution. TVET Institutes, comparatively, are much more cost-effective for the returns you get.

2. TVET degrees are as valuable as college degrees

One of the most valuable aspects of going to a prestigious college is that all-important degree, which is recognised and valued by employers worldwide. Well, the good news is that today, properly accredited TVET institutes confer diplomas, certificates and other qualifications that are as widely recognised as a good college degree!

3. TVET programs are quicker

In a similar vein, most TVET courses are very short. Depending on the depth to which you want to undertake vocational training, some courses can be as short as a few weeks or a few months, as opposed to most college programs, which go on for at least 2 to 4 years.

4. TVET programs are designed to aid entry into the industry

One of the key drawbacks of college education, especially in developing countries, is that they focus more on theoretical knowledge than hands-on industry applications. This is where TVET courses have a strong advantage. They are specifically designed to make the student employment-ready in their chosen industry. This means the whole course is specifically built around helping you get a job more easily in your preferred field.

How do you choose a TVET Course?

Once you know which industry you want to work in, get a basic understanding of what on-ground skills you will need. At ICCA Dubai, for example, we specialise in accredited courses for those wishing to enter the hospitality industry, either as a chef or as a food entrepreneur.

Once you know which skills you need, identify the correct TVET program that will help you gain those skills.

Then, choose an institute that is well-regarded in its field. You can also choose an institute that is in a popular city because simply being in that geographical location will give you advantages that a more remote location will not.

And last but not least, make sure you apply yourself fully during your course so you can land that dream job fast! All the best!