At the 2024 Chef to Chef Conference, March 3-5 in Austin, Texas, Jeremy Leinen, CEC, Executive Chef of The Country Club of Rochester, will discuss the art of sausage-making and charcuterie craftsmanship, including best practices for selecting ingredients, recipes, innovation and balancing traditions and trends.
No matter the scale of your operation or your resources, Leinen says, these are skills all chefs can use to enhance their club’s current offering.
“The craft of charcuterie is something I’m known as a bit of a specialist in,” says Leinen. “Classical garde manger work is something I have a really deep love for, mainly because of how challenging it can be. While it’s often viewed as a smaller, niche skill set, I see it as a really wide discipline of cooking that encompasses so much, and I love how demanding it is of fundamental skills.
While classical garde manger is often dismissed as out of style, out of touch, or no longer relevant, Leinen says he completely disagrees with this notion.
“It’s all in the application,” he notes, “but the fundamental skills involved are as relevant as ever.”
In 2024, the Chef to Chef Conference heads to Austin, Texas, March 3-5. The 2024 agenda includes culinary demonstrations and education sessions by many of the industry’s best and brightest culinary leaders, plus networking and social events.
“There’s a lot about the conference that I look forward to every year,” says Leinen. “For one, the camaraderie of the event is really unique. The culture of being a chef kind of involves constantly competing with each other to do better and one up the next guy. That’s fun, but it’s also draining. It’s really cool to see us all come together at the event and appreciate each other. Beyond that, getting out of our own operation and getting a different perspective on the challenges we all deal with is refreshing. It’s a lot of idea-sharing, and while it may not all be relevant to you and your operation, I always feel like I come away better informed about the club industry and as a chef.”
“It’s really important to get out and see the world and get an idea of what other chefs are doing in their operations,” adds Leinen. “Traveling is an important thing to do, but you’ll be hard-pressed to have as much exposure in just a couple of days like you’ll get at this conference. While there are certainly other conferences out there, none of them are specifically aimed at—and maybe more importantly—put on by chefs in the club industry.”
Register at www.cheftochefconference.com. And click here to learn more about Leinen’s operation and his experience crafting charcuterie and sausage at his club.
