One of the most famous and respected names in food today is Wolfgang Puck, the official caterer for the Academy Awards Governors Ball. Puck's outstanding culinary talents have given rise to the Wolfgang Puck Companies, which encompass 15 fine dining restaurants, premium catering services, more than 80 Wolfgang Puck Express operations, and kitchen and food merchandise, including cookbooks and canned foods. He has appeared in many TV programs, including: Frasier; Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters; Cooking Class with Wolfgang Puck on The Food Network; American Idol; and a TV commercial advertising California as a tourist destination, a spot where he joined other celebrities such as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and actor Jack Nicholson.
While many know of Wolfgang Puck, not many know that for the past three decades he has been working closely with a Filipino-American chef named Cecilia de Castro. Chef de Castro has collaborated with Puck for more than 30 years, and served as culinary producer for the Emmy Award- winning Wolfgang Puck Show for 5 seasons. She continues to work with Puck on cookbook developments, product/recipe development for the Home Shopping Network; and his Spago restaurant. She also plays an integral role on events such as the Oscar Awards Governor's Ball and the American Food & Wine Festivals.
Wolfgang Puck and Filipino Cuisine
Based on her close partnership with Chef Wolfgang, Asian Journal asked Cecilia if the world-renowned chef is familiar with Filipino food.
"As a chef, Wolfgang Puck eats anything because he is curious about the taste of other cuisines," de Castro says. " He has eaten Filipino food and likes adobo, sinigang, lumpiang shanghai and vegetable lumpia, and pancit bihon. Oh, and he likes lechon, especially the crispy skin. Chef Wolfgang also likes Philippine mangoes — fresh or juice. And lately, he is beginning to appreciate our kalamansi."
Has Wolfgang Puck ever gone to a Filipino restaurant? Cecile says that hasn't happened yet.
"It's hard to make Wolfgang — and other people in the mainstream — taste a wide variety of Filipino food because we don't have a good Filipino fine dining restaurant to take them to," de Castro says. "In fact, he has asked me why I don't open up a Filipino restaurant. But...I really prefer teaching."
de Castro was born in Manila and moved to the U.S. in the mid 1970s after graduating from high school. She was just finishing her bachelors degree in Food Science & Nutrition from California State University at Northridge when she first met Puck — a happenstance she still recalls clearly.
"Being the youngest of eight kids, by my junior year in college, everyone was working and I was the only one left at home with my mom — my dad passed away during my freshman year," says de Castro. "I decided to take on a part-time job and went to the school bulletin board to check the [job] listing. There were three choices: one paid $5 an hour to develop recipes for the use of microwave, which was new at that time. Another paid $5 an hour to write recipes for a company that has a dry-spice mix that they were promoting and marketing to the younger crowd. The third paid a minimum $2.85 an hour to assist a chef to write recipes."
de Castro chose the third one, and then began the long process of winning the job.
"After two phone interviews, they asked me to come in for a personal interview," she recalls. "I told the lady I have been dealing with, Judy Gethers (the "Ma" of Ma Cuisine), that I did not even know what company I was dealing with. The job was to assist chefs to write recipes as they teach in a new culinary school called Ma Cuisine, the cooking school of Ma Maison. I read about Ma Maison, and, at that time, it was the place where everyone, especially the who's who in L.A., would dine."
The interview took a turn when Puck entered the room.
"Just minutes into my interview on a Friday, just past 1 p.m., while Judy and I were talking, this young, jovial, slightly plump chef came in and asked Judy in his thick German-French accent what she wanted for lunch," de Castro says. " Judy said she'll have steak and fries with mustard. Then the chef looked at me and asked, 'And how about you? What would you like for lunch?' I responded to the chef (who later on I found out was named Wolfgang Puck, the chef/partner at Ma Maison) that I'll have the same as Judy — and said thank you very much!"
The personal service turned out to be life changing for de Castro.
"At that moment, I knew that I wanted to be in this environment — around beautiful people in beautiful clothing, driving the best cars, who would be served lunch of steak and fries while mustard while being interviewed for a job paying $2.85 an hour," she says. "I knew in my heart, this will be 'my second home' for as long as they will let me."
de Castro says that Puck, Gethers and Patrick Terrail — one of the famous Terrail family, who also owns La Tour d'Argent in Paris, the oldest fine dining restaurant in the world — took her under their wings.
While working at Ma Cuisine/Ma Maison, Cecilia attended the Hotel & Restaurant Management program at Cal-Poly Pomona. After a year of working at the restaurant under Puck and restaurateur Terrail, and becoming associate director of the cooking school, she started teaching and developing culinary programs such as Basics Hand-on Training and Professional Chefs Programs."
Teaching soon became a passion.
"In January 1980, Julia Child taught her last series of cooking classes at Ma Cuisine," de Castro says. "She taught for five days, morning and night. Between classes, I would take her, her husband Paul, and Rosemary Manell, her assistant during that time, to various restaurants or shops," de Castro says. "At the end of the week, all the students had a luncheon at Ma Maison with Julia as hostess. I asked her for advice since on the next month, I was going to be teaching my first series of classes that I developed for the school. It was going to be the first participation classes, teaching people basic cooking techniques — all the other classes had been demos, and the students would watch the chefs cook. I heard students at the end of many classes say that they loved a dish or dessert but would never prepare it again since they were not sure of the techniques or where to get good stock or puff pastry dough, etc."
de Castro went to work on plans to help those students master their own kitchens, and a twist of fate put her in charge of the classroom.
"After I developed the series of classes, we could not find a chef willing to teach the class," she recalls. "Judy said, 'Cecilia, you believe there is a need for this class, so you teach it'. It was a six-week series. Two weeks after the series ended, a two-page article in the L.A. Times came out, and the writer was a student, along with Katy Gates — Julia Child's best friend from South Pasadena. "It took me many years to realize (I was so naive) that it must have been Julia who told Katy, to come to my class. The article raved about the series & I have been teaching since and still continue to love this part of my career."
In 1985, Cecilia was invited by UCLA Extension to develop a certificate program in Culinary Arts that eventually grew into 4 certificate programs — Chef's Program, Pastry Program, Catering Program, and Wine Program. During her 12-year teaching career at UCLA she has been awarded Educator of the Year several times. In 1988, while running both Ma Cuisine & UCLA Culinary Programs, she developed a third program for Westlake Culinary Institute, where she continues to teach and advise graduates in career developments in the culinary field.
Cecilia was a 2004 Educator of the Year Nominee for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). The school was awarded the 2007 Avocational Cooking School Award of Excellence. Cecilia has also taught cooking classes at the CSU Northridge Extension Program. Her latest effort with the CSU Northridge Food Science Department Master's Program was to develop a Nutrition & Cooking Program for children in order to address the growing concern for obesity among the youth. She recently concluded a pilot program with the Marilyn Magaram Center (MMC) for Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics at California State University Northridge with the Department of Education at CSUN to provide a five-week daily cooking and nutrition course, for children ages 7-11.
"The problem of not eating right has given rise to obesity all across the country," de Castro says. "That's why there's a need for Healthy Cooking and Nutrition. This is what I teach at Cal State Northridge. We have to change our diets — add more vegetables and fruits. Instead of pastries for dessert, eat fruit. Don't eat too much pork and beef — choose chicken, fish and turkey. Also, change your cooking techniques. Grill or steam your food rather than fry. And then, lessen rice and bread and add more vegetable salads."
de Castro's love of travel, dining, and experimenting is integral to being a consultant in many local and international food companies, chefs and food establishments. As a caterer/event coordinator, her clientele ranges from the showbiz industry, corporations, individuals, heads of state and non-profit organizations such as A3M, City of LA, LAAPAHM, Special Olympics and Meals on Wheels.
Cecilia is an active member of the LA Chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier, an organization of the top 40 women in the culinary field. She is a Certified Culinary Professional (CCP) at the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). In 1994, when Women Chefs and Restaurateurs (WCR) was created, she became head of the L.A. Chapter for the first three years and was influential in increasing their membership. Cecilia is also the founder and committee chair of the annual Culinary Arts Pavilion at the Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture (FPAC) held at San Pedro, California, with an attendance of over 25,000 in 2006.
A very active fundraiser, Cecilia has been instrumental in getting chefs, restaurateurs and food companies to volunteer and sponsor events such as Special Olympics' Pier del Sol, National Kidney Foundation's Great Chefs of LA, Share Our Strength Taste of a Nation, Senior Concern, Meals on Wheels, Asians for Miracle Marrow Match A3M, California Migrant Farm Workers, and various women and children's shelters.
Cecilia is also active in the Careers in Culinary Arts Program (CCAP) where she trains and advises high school students to compete for culinary scholarships. She is also a regular judge for their final competitions.
A much sought-after judge in many cooking contests, from the L.A. County Fair to the Lobsterfest Cooking Contest, she has appeared in many radio and television shows, including Good Morning America, Our Magazine, Alive & Well, Paul Wallach Radio Show, Two Hot Tamale Radio Show on KFI and KCSI 18's Kababayan LA. Cecilia has also been featured in many publications, including the L.A. Times, L.A. Daily News, and other numerous trade journals.
New School Coming
In 2008, Cecilia started the Academy of Culinary Education with Professional Chef and Pastry Programs, as well as avocational classes that include Asian, Healthy and Children's cooking classes. A new facility will be available for the students beginning September 2009.
"I will be opening another Academy of Culinary Education in Topanga Canyon Boulevard which will be fully operational by end of August," she says. "Classes will start on September. The facility is really very nice. There will be classes for individuals, children and professionals. I will incorporate Asian and Filipino cooking that will be healthy and delicious."
de Castro says that she's aware that many members of other ethnic groups find Filipino food too "brown and greasy," There's a misconception — even among Filipinos, she says — that Filipino food is not healthy.
"True Filipino food is really healthy," she says. "In the Philippines, we eat a lot of seafood and vegetables. It is Filipino food prepared and eaten in America that has given it the reputation that it's not healthy. We don't have time to cook here so we buy take out Filipino food — and that's usually the greasy food, like kare-kare, menudo. Or we cook the dishes that are easy to prepare — like adobo and kaldereta. These dishes not only use cheaper cuts of meat, which is fatter, but they can also be stocked in the refrigerator, that's why Filipinos like them. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive and entail more effort — you have to go to the market every day so you get them fresh. So, it's not that Filipino cuisine is generally high in cholesterol and fat — but it's our lifestyle here that makes us eat the dishes that are fatty. To eat healthily, I suggest change your techniques, change your diet and eat more veggies and fruits. You can make adobong mushrooms or adobong kangkong. Just sauté garlic and onions in one tablespoon of oil. Add your kangkong or mushrooms. Put in one tablespoon of oyster sauce. Cover for five minutes and you have delicious, healthy food."
Single and Loving It
de Castro says that she is happily single and married to her job.
"I love what I do, but my weird schedule has kept me so busy all the time," she says. "Even when I was just starting in my career, I knew that my long work hours will be so unfair to a family. I leave at 6 a.m., especially when there are events and catering. Then, I go home past midnight."
It's a lot of hours, but de Castro says she's not lonely.
"I'm the youngest of eight children and we all live within five miles of each other, close to my mother's house," she says. "I live less than 2 miles from my mom, who is 94 years old but still very sharp. My family is the same. Almost every night, we siblings have dinner at my mom's house, together with the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I often cook but my brothers and sisters would also bring food. We love going to our mother's place where she has a big kalamansi tree, a banana tree, and other plants in her garden."
Summertime Suggestions
Any food suggestions for summer? Cecilia was ready to share what her family loves best during this season.
"For summer, we love to grill meat and vegetables with salad," she says. "We usually have fresh lumpia — yung hubad, no wrapper, just placed on top of lettuce. We barbeque pork or chicken and also grill vegetables like corn, pepper, eggplant and tomato. For dessert, we also grill pineapple — just put kalamansi and honey on the fruit. Another summer favorite in our family are fruit juices and slush — like watermelon, cantaloupe, and kalamansi."
For more recipes and information about Chef Cecilia's cooking school, readers may visit the website at www.academyofculinaryeducation.com or email chefcece@yahoo.com.
Cecile's Grilled Shrimp, Scallop, and Mango Salad
Serves 4.
- 12 large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tail on
- 8 large (U-10) dry scallops, muscle removed
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon calamansi or lime juice
- ¼ cup minced cilantro, or any herb of your choice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 8 ounces salad mesclun or mixed baby lettuces or your choice of lettuce
- 1 ounce carrots, julienne
- 2 green onions, julienne
- ½ bunch cilantro, trimmed, optional
- 1 cup pear tomato, cut in half
- 2 ripe mangoes, peeled, sliced
Asian Dressing
- 1 ounce rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon calamansi or lime juice
- 2 tablespoons mango juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon minced cilantro or herb of choice
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
1. In a bowl, combine the shrimp and scallops. Season with salt and pepper, calamansi or lime juice, cilantro, garlic and olive oil. Stir until well blended. Marinate for at least 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the grill or saute pan.
3. Grill or sauté the shrimp and scallops until almost done*, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool for a few minutes. (*Keep in mind that seafood continues to cook even off the heat, so be careful that you do not overcook or they will get tough and dry).
4. To prepare the Asian Dressing: in a large bowl, combine the rice vinegar, calamansi juice, mango juice, mustard, and cilantro. Whisk together until well-blended. Season with honey, salt and freshly ground pepper. While whisking, slowly stir in the oil. Continue to whisk until thick and well blended.
5. Add the salad greens, carrots, green onions, cilantro, tomato halves and mango slices. Toss until well blended.
6. Divide the salad onto 4 serving plates and mound in the center.
7. Arrange the grilled shrimp and scallops around the salad. Serve warm or chilled.
More info:
* Academy of Culinary Education (ACE)
Cynthia De Castro is a writer for Asian Journal.
Photo from Asian Journal. Recipe copyright © 2009 Cecilia de Castro/Academy of Culinary Education, Inc.
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