PUHI — If you tell this chef to “stuff it,” he’s likely to take you literally. Guest chef Heinz Hornicke demonstrated sausage-making techniques to a large and appreciative crowd at the Kaua‘i Community College fine-dining room yesterday. KCC culinary-arts instructors
PUHI — If you tell this chef to “stuff it,” he’s likely to take you literally.
Guest chef Heinz Hornicke demonstrated sausage-making techniques to a large and appreciative crowd at the Kaua‘i Community College fine-dining room yesterday.
KCC culinary-arts instructors Mark Oyama and Clarence Nishi were busy yesterday showing Hornicke through the kitchen facilities at their new culinary-arts building, while outside students filed into the fine-dining room in anticipation of the morning’s presentation.
Hornicke, a retired chef who resides in Florida, has spent his career working throughout the country, spending time at the Princess Kaiulani and the Sheraton Waikiki as well as serving in Las Vegas before retiring.
Tuesday morning’s presentation was on the art of making different kinds of sausages, with the chef sparing nothing in terms of injecting the presentation with tips on becoming successful in the culinary-arts world.
Sausages are loved because they’re economical and taste good, Hornicke told the students. “You don’t need a lot of meat (or material) to create them.”
Sausages also come in a wide variety of offerings, from their original pork-sausage form, to today being a delicacy available in seafood, shrimp, lobster, and even created from different fruits.
Sausage-making is one of the oldest culinary techniques, Hornicke explained. The name ‘sausage’ comes from the Latin “salsus,” referring to the salting method that had been used for centuries before the Roman Empire.
Early North American Indians made pemmican, a sausage made with compressed meat and berries, and residents of countries around the world have created their own diverse flavors.
Hornicke said the key is to be creative. Recipes are offered up as guidelines, but it is up to the chef to be creative in getting to the final dish.
Cleanliness, nutrition, and other areas that appeared to be unrelated to the realm of culinary arts were quickly drawn down to the kitchen, as Hornicke explained that in today’s lifestyle, an understanding of nutrition is key to keeping the customers coming back.
That facet of the culinary-arts world is not related to actual food preparation, but essential to the success of a chef, he said.
Hornicke took a piece of pork butt, and in examining it before the anxious eyes of the culinary-arts students, staff, and other KCC staff members, wielded his knife to turn the chunk of meat into a tasteful “roast,” en route to making it ready for the grinder.
“When making your own sausages,” Hornicke explained, “at least you’re sure of what goes into them.”
Hornicke’s trip to the KCC Puhi campus was made possible through the Guslander Foundation, administered through Kapi‘olani Community College.
The foundation, established to encourage study of culinary arts in Hawai‘i, is named for the late Grace and Lyle Guslander, former managers of the Coco Palms Resort in Wailua
Prior to his arrival in Puhi, the chef had made presentations on the Big Island and O‘ahu, and following his Tuesday program was en route to Maui.
Sports Editor Dennis Fujimoto may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@pulitzer.net.
