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Ron Pickarski, the president and executive chef/consultant for Eco-Cuisine,
Inc., a Colorado-based company that specializes in the development,
production, distribution, and sale of vegan food-service products,
is the first professional vegetarian chef to be certified as an executive
chef by the American Culinary Federation. |
Chef Spotlight: Ron Pickarski
CEC (American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef)
Ron Pickarski, the president and executive chef/consultant for Eco-Cuisine,
Inc., a Colorado-based company that specializes in the development, production,
distribution, and sale of vegan food-service products, is the first professional
vegetarian chef to be certified as an executive chef by the American Culinary
Federation. As the founder/director of the American Natural Foods Team,
he was also the first chef to win seven medals in the International Culinary
Olympics in Germany with plant-based foods. When he's not busy going for
the gold or whipping up gourmet vegetarian cuisine, Ron can be found making
television appearances, and he has produced two cookbooks and a video and
written many articles for national periodicals. He has also been featured
in Vegetarian Times, The National Culinary Review, USA
Today Weekend, and many more publications.
Q. How long have you been a chef?
A. My career as a chef began when I was about 12 years old, but I
have been cooking professionally since 1973.
Q. Do you have animal companions?
A. No, but I love animals. I would love to have a dog as a friend but don’t
because it is a responsibility at odds with my constant travel.
Q. What was it like to compete in the International Culinary Olympics?
A. Becoming a vegetarian gave me a reason to compete. It became my mission
in life to show humanity and my professional colleagues that vegetarianism
is beyond beans and rice. The competition is grueling, and there are numerous
hurdles to overcome, but in the first-ever Culinary Olympic vegetarian competition,
I won the gold, taking a 39.9 out of a possible perfect score of 40. In
20 years of competing, I’ve won six other medals with plant-based
foods (three silvers and three bronze).
Q. What type of cuisine do you focus on?
A. My focus is translating classical French cuisine into classical vegan
cuisine. The challenge with French cuisine is making all the classical sauces
(Espanole, velouté, Bechamel, French and Italian tomato sauces, Hollandaise
sauce, etc.) as vegan sauces, because the sauce is the mitigating factor
in making an entrée superb.
Q. Do you have a personal specialty?
A. My favorite classical dishes are Vegetarian Chicken Style Piccata, Seitan
Pepper Steak, and Salisbury Steak, all made with Eco-Cuisine’s Vegan
Quick Mixes. For dessert, I love to serve my gold-medal winning brownie
as an almond ice cream brownie with chocolate ganache and raspberry coulis.
Q. What are the most important elements in cooking great vegetarian cuisine?
A. Ingredients of impeccable quality, great technique, and the recipe.
We know the implications of quality of ingredients, but what most people
may not be aware of is the importance of technique. Cooking technique is
what brings out and marries flavors.
Q. What is the key to getting meat-eaters to enjoy vegetarian food?
A. The key is creating vegan foods that are similar to those meat
dishes meat-eaters consume. When I became a vegan, my focus was on trying
to create those foods which I enjoyed in a vegan format. If one can find
out what foods a person likes and prepare a great vegan option, they will
identify with it and enjoy eating it.
Q. What, in your opinion, is in store for the future of plant-based cuisine?
A. Plant-based cuisine is on an upward spiral. In addressing America’s
health crises, plant-based cuisine will take center stage and become the
diet of preference. All the fad diets like the low-fat and low-carb will
come and go, but vegetarianism has been around since the creation of humanity,
and it has a bright future. If a chef or company like Eco-Cuisine can make
vegan cuisine or products taste great by mainstream consumers taste preferences,
their cuisine/products will be successful in commerce.
 Q.
What are your favorite ingredients to work with?
A. Fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruits. They are what make the entrées
taste great. Next would be the proteins, with beans being at the top of
my list, and then tofu and Eco-Cuisine dry-mix proteins and broth powders,
which I can utilize in creating classical French cuisine.
Q. In your opinion, what vegetarian dish or type of food is most frequently poorly prepared and why?
A. Indian curry. A good curry requires a variety of ingredients and
rests on cooking technique. I happen to like curry but don’t order
it unless I’m at a reputable Indian restaurant, because vegetarian
restaurants have a tendency to ruin curry dishes by simply using curry powder.
Q. Fun question of the day: If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only eat one kind of ethnic food, what would it be?
A. Chinese, because they have some of the most advanced cooking techniques
in the world. They know how to bring out flavor in their cuisine, have great
vegan sauces, and use copious amounts of vegetables.
Q. Do vegetarian restaurants have any special obstacles that they face versus meat-based restaurants?
A. In many cases, they don’t have professionally trained culinarians
who understand classical cuisine. Vegetarian restaurant cooks are generally
very passionate about their cuisine and have the potential to become superior
culinarians once they attain some degree of professional expertise through
formal culinary education.
Q. Can you give us one great cooking tip for aspiring vegetarian chefs?
A. Less is more—keep the dish simple. Focus on your flavor profile,
and use only those ingredients that support that flavor. Also, scrape the
gills out of portobello mushrooms and dry them in an oven. I grind them
and use them as a flavor and colorant to give my Espanole or brown sauce
an earthy flavor profile and dark-brown color without loading it up with
tamari or soy sauce.
Q. What are some food ingredients you recommend that vegetarians and
vegans should have in their kitchen for cooking?
A. First, any ingredient I bring into my kitchen has to have at least three
to five applications on the menu, otherwise, the kitchen pantry will become
overloaded with ingredients. Soy milk, extra-firm tofu, two to three varieties
of dry beans, tamari, at least two types of brown rice and pastas, a wide
variety of dry spices and herbs (fresh herbs if possible), a few varieties
of dried fruits (apricots, raisins, dates, cranberries), and a wide selection
of fresh vegetables and fruits should be available for daily consumption.
Q. Are there any newer vegetarian products on the market that you are
particularly fond of?
A. Not to be self-serving, but Eco-Cuisine foodservice products. What I
like about them is their functionality, the low skill level needed to prepare
them, and that they can be prepared quickly. Add 1 cup of water to 1 pound
of brownie mix, stir, and bake.
Q. How do you best prepare tofu?
A. Slice extra-firm tofu into 1/8th pieces, coat it with a breading mixture
made from unbleached white flour and Eco-Cuisine Veg “Chicken Style”
broth powder, and then sauté it in canola oil over medium heat until
it is lightly browned. Remove from pan and serve with a sauce of your choice.
Savory “Chicken-Style” Breaded Tofu
1/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 cup gluten flour
1/2 cup Eco-Cuisine Veg “Chicken Style” Broth Powder
2 lbs. extra-firm tofu
1/2 cup canola oil
Blend the white flour, gluten flour, and broth powder together until evenly
dispersed. Slice the tofu into 16 2-oz. pieces, e.g., slice two 1-lb. packages
of tofu into eight pieces each. Rinse the tofu and let drain for 5 or more
minutes. Toss the tofu in the breaded mixture and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove each piece from the coating mixture and shake lightly to remove excess
breading.
Preheat 1/4 cup of the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat.
Sauté half the tofu slices in the pan until lightly browned, about
3 to 5 minutes on each side, and remove from pan. Add the remaining oil
and sauté the remaining tofu slices.
Serve with a sauce of your choice.
Makes 8 servings
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Chef: Kimiko Ikeda
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