FCI Menu Project - Venezuelan Food Refined: A History of Arepas and Harina P.A.N

As part of our menu projects, we were required to include a short essay on an ingredient or component used in one of our dishes.  I knew right away that I had to write on the arepa, as there really is no more popular Venezuelan food.

Arepas Asadas

The arepa is a major staple in the Venzuelan diet and it is probably the country’s best known dish. Venezuelans eat them with breakfast much like an English muffin, as a sandwich at lunch, as a side at dinner, and a million of other ways in between.

In its most basic form, the arepa is a round, rustic bread or griddle-cake usually made from corn flour that can be fried, grilled, baked, or cooked with a combination of methods. The two most common preparations in Venezuela are probably the arepa frita, which is deep fried, and the arepa asada, which is first grilled or pan-fried, and then finished in the oven.  

FCI Menu Project - Venezuelan Food Refined: La Reina Refinada

(The Refined Queen)
The second course from my FCI Menu Project.

La Reina Pepiada, or the voluptuous queen, is one of the most popular arepa sandwiches in Venezuela. Supposedly, this sandwich was named in honor of a Venezuelan Miss World at a time when the term “pepiada” was used to refer to a beautiful, curvy woman. (For a more in depth history click here.) It consists of an arepa stuffed with chicken salad and topped with a few slices of avocado.

Typically, the Reina Pepiada is served on an arepa asada, which is first lightly grilled and then finished in an oven. However, I thought the crunchy texture of the deep fried arepa would provide a better contrast to the soft chicken salad filling. I made these a little bigger and flatter than they would normally be prepared to increase the amount crispy surface area. These discs became the base of an open-faced sandwich of sorts.

FCI Menu Project - Venezuelan Cuisine Refined: Cachapa Crêpes

The first course from my FCI Menu Project.

This dish was inspired by two dishes that I loved to get on road trips when I was kid and as a teenager. They can be found at roadside stands that might look questionable, but the food is just too amazing to pass up. 

FCI Menu Project - Venezuelan Cuisine Refined: Intro

While at FCI, culinary students have to put together a menu project surrounding a theme of our choice. We work on these projects over the course of approximately a month and a half and turn them in during Level 5.  It's kind of like a culinary mini thesis. My project was based around Venezuelan cuisine.

What’s Next?

Now that culinary school is all over, what’s up next you ask?

My Tips for Culinary School Students

Now that culinary school is all wrapped up, I'll pass on few little tips and insights I picked up along way for future culinary students.

Culinary School Confidential: The Finish Line

With my time in the kitchen wrapped up, the finish line was within view. The only thing standing between me and my toque was the final. 

The final is structured almost exactly like the midterm we took at the end of Level 3.  On the day of the final you come in and draw a combo of two dishes from those that had been on the menu in the restaurant. The combinations would be either a garde manger/saucier or a poissonnier/patissier pairing, with a possibility of four combinations.  Once you draw your dishes, you are given ten minutes to takes notes from the recipes to work from during the test.  Then the clock starts and you have a set amount of time in which to prepare four plates of each of your dishes. You are docked points for every minute you are late. You get roughly four hours for the first dish, depending on the combo, and the second dish is presented about forty-five minutes after that. The only major difference is that the final is judged by a panel of industry professionals. 

Leading up to the final, I was actually feeling pretty good.  I think Level 5 may have burnt all the anxiety out of me.  I still wanted to finish strong, and I certainly took the exam seriously, but I wasn’t all that nervous about it.  

Culinary School Confidential: Levels 5 & 6 – Miles 21 to 26

My class on our last day in the kitchen.

A few years ago I ran the Los Angeles Marathon.  It was hard, but most of the route was beautiful, varied, and there were almost always crowds lining the streets cheering. Then around mile 21 the curb started to look like a very inviting place to just curl up and die.  I was completely mentally and physically exhausted and the scenery looked like I felt.  It was a desolate, industrial section of the city and the crowds of happy people cheering had long since disappeared. There were no longer any positive external stimuli to help keep me going. Keeling over on that curb seemed really, really tempting.

I’ve held off writing about Level 5 for while because it felt a lot like mile 21. Frankly, it sucked. I spent most of the level in a constant state of anxiety and wanted to tear my hair out pretty much all of the time.