I first became acquainted with Richard Grausman in the 80s when I worked as a copy editor on his first book, At Home With the French Classics (Workman Publishing, 1988), now in it’s sixth printing. Like others in the food field, Richard and my paths have crossed more times than I could possibly count.
Richard isn’t known as much for his cookbooks as he is for C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program), the national non-profit organization he founded in 1990. This program works with public schools to prepare at-risk high school students for careers in the restaurant and hospitality industry. In 1997, Richard received the President’s Service Award, the highest recognition given by The White House for his volunteer service.
C-CAP’s annual benefit to raise funds for the organization he started 25 years ago will be held Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015 at Chelsea Piers’ Pier Sixty. That event is open to the public. Attendees will sample foods prepared by 43 of the city’s hottest star chefs, including Daniel Boulud of Daniel, Bryce Shuman of Betony, Michael White of Marea, and Dan Barber of Blue Hill, as well as C-CAP alumni. Tickets for general admission are $550; VIP admission is $700 and $1,000. To purchase tickets click here.
I caught up with Richard recently to get him to answer our Guest Foodie questions. Those responses are below.
– bonnie
Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) works with high schools across the country to prepare under-served teens for culinary college and careers.
Which food product or gadget would you never give up? Good quality unsalted butter, as 
nothing improves the flavor of ingredients more than butter.
What do you like to serve when you entertain? I love starting a dinner party off with Champagne or an excellent American sparkling wine. During summer months, I often serve a drink that I created years ago which I named an RG Special. It consists of equal parts of fresh squeezed orange juice, Meyer’s dark rum and tonic water. Add the juice of 1/4 lime and stir with ice. It is hard not to have a second drink.
I often serve salmon on the grill together with ratatouille. For dessert I love serving a blueberry tart. (Ed Note: You can find the recipes for each of these is from Richard’s French Classics Made Easy.)
Describe your “last meal?” Caviar with frozen Chopin potato vodka; cold and hot foie gras with a Pommard; followed by a combination of well aged pheasant and pigeon with truffles accompanied with baby peas, slowly cooked carrots in butter and rich mashed potatoes. Haut Brion; A sliced Comice pear, tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream and Chateau Yquem; chocolates from Chocolate Springs; Italian espresso and Cuvee 1888 Frapin Cognac. That should take care of me.
What food is your secret guilty pleasure? Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz
What is your go-to neighborhood restaurant?Pasha New York, a Turkish restaurant. The food is delicious, very reasonable and the quality never changes. Delicious, reasonable and reliable. What else can you ask?
What is one food product most people don’t know about, but should? Although a large portion of our population has tasted or eaten pears, only a small percent know the pleasures of a Comice pear. I remember when my mother would receive a package of them from Harry & David as a gift from a patient of my father’s in the ’50s. I never really liked other pears after eating the “Royal Riviera” pears and you couldn’t find them in the supermarket.
The first week I was living in Paris back in 1968, I passed a fruit shop and the smell of ripe, sweet pears drew me in. What I saw were ripe Comice pears sitting on a bed of cotton. Comice pears when ripe bruise very easily and is one reason markets don’t like to carry them. When I asked the price of a pear, I walked out of the store. Never had I paid so much for a piece of fruit. But once outside, the aroma drew me back and I had to have one at whatever it cost. The shop keeper wrapped the pear as if it was a present for a king. Once out of the store, I ripped off the ribbon and paper and sank my teeth into the tender and luscious pear. Juice ran down my chin as I devoured it in front of bewildered passerby. Little did I know that the French, at that time, didn’t eat on the street. It took me only seconds to finish the delicious pear.
A year later, I was entering a 3-star restaurant and saw a Comice pear in their fruit bowl. When I ask for one for dessert, the waiter elaborately peeled and sliced the pear fanning the slices around a plate. I sliced each slice in two or three pieces, savoring the taste of each bite. This time it took me several minutes to eat the pear and I enjoyed it so much more.
Describe your worst kitchen disaster and how (if possible) you saved it: In 1975, I was teaching classes in Denver for Le Cordon de Paris. It was the third year I had taught in Denver and had never had an altitude problem I couldn’t adapt to. That year I was teaching a dessert made with a Genoise cake that was baked in a Charlotte mould, then sliced and layered with an orange crème anglaise and covered with meringue. Five minutes after putting the cake in the over to bake, I turned to look at the oven and saw the cake rising beautifully in the Charlotte pan. Five minutes later, I went to check on the cake, and it had fallen to the bottom of the pan. Instead of being 4 inches high it was only 1 1/2-inch high. I had ten classes where I was teaching the same dessert and I didn’t know what I was going to do.
I was able to get some height into the finished presentation by using the meringue between the layers as well as covering it with meringue, but that night I didn’t sleep well. In the morning I realized that the French bake cake in the mountains and looked for a recipe from Savoy in the French Alps. Buscuit de Savoie was my savior for the rest of the week. I later realized that the amount of butter in my Genoise recipe was too much for the cake to support at altitude and in subsequent years reduced the amount of butter I used in cakes I baked in Denver, Aspen and Vail.
Who was your most influential mentor? James Beard.
To follow Richard on Twitter, click here.
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