The kitchen at the Panhans Hotel in Semmering, Austria, is a flurry of activity. Mitchell D’Agnone’s
attention is keenly focused on Chef Alfred as he expertly guides his new pupils through a series of remarkable cooking maneuvers. With his cliché kitchen personality (loud, obnoxious and strangely charming), the seasoned chef has enough stories to entertain for years and enough experience to make the best in the world look like amateurs. D’Agnone can’t believe his luck. He’s caught up in the moment with one of the best chefs he’s ever had the privilege to work beside.
D’Agnone, Lethbridge College culinary program alumnus from 2011, along with Daicya Quinn, Taylor Iwaasa and Kaitlyn Fisher, travelled to Austria in June 2011 with Chef Mark Dieser and Chef Stephen Klassen (Culinary Careers ‘01) to participate in a month-long workplace exchange in hotels and restaurants in Semmering. It was the experience of a lifetime for the group of students and alumni, and D’Agnone was thrilled when he made it through the rigorous application process. He knew the skills he would learn would really benefit his new business at home in Lethbridge.
“I applied because the one thing that defines me as a person is a hunger to learn and I saw an opportunity to learn, and learn a lot,” he says.
D’Agnone, along with his fiancé, Amanda Jacques, operate Lethbridge Personal Chefs, a catering business focused on bringing fine dining into your home. Working for small, intimate groups of people, the concept kicks the traditional dinner party up a notch. D’Agnone says, “We are a pair of chefs who come into your home and cook food in your kitchen for you and your guests.”
No stranger to a variety of cooking techniques, D’Agnone was excited to add more knowledge about European cuisine to his repertoire. In Austria he learned a lot about cold foods, which are staples in Austrian and French cuisine. He says it’s a style of dining that has largely been ignored in North America. “It’s the kind of thing I only got to read about in textbooks and never actually see in the real world.”
A lot of the foods people eat in Austria are the same as in Canada, but the techniques used to prepare them vary greatly. Two particular items that stood out for D’Agnone are pâtés and terrines; both are cold meat dishes prepared with gelatin and a careful hand. These are just a couple of the dishes he incorporated into his catering menu as soon as he got back to work. He accumulated countless recipes and techniques of unimaginable value while studying in Austria.
D’Agnone didn’t always want to be a chef. In fact, he fell into the trade by chance. He was working at a restaurant in Taber to earn some cash. It turned out he had a knack for cooking. When his employer offered to pay for him to attend culinary school as his apprentice, he jumped at the opportunity.
His time at Lethbridge College was invaluable. “It taught me a lot of things, but it was certainly a very humbling experience. As a chef who specializes in Italian cuisine, going to culinary school to learn classic French cuisine was a tad bit difficult at times.”
And that’s why exchanges like the one with Semmering Tourism School are so valuable. Chef Dieser watched proudly as his students grew and expanded their knowledge. “When they are first there they are proud of their work and what they are doing and they’re doing a great job, but after a while they start to learn different things and how to do things in ways we can’t teach them; being in that environment and immersed in that culture they develop more skills.”
The students had the opportunity to test their skills in front of distinguished guests. They prepared a beef tasting at the Canadian Ambassador’s residence and hosted the Canadian Dinner at the Semmering Tourism School where they cooked Canadian-style food for 140 local dignitaries and members of the school. At both events they worked with Canada Gold Beef.
This exchange was and continues to be a huge opportunity for the culinary program at Lethbridge College. They partnered with NAIT on the trip and have already started planning for next summer when Semmering students and chefs will spend a month in Lethbridge. Chef Dieser says the exchange elevates the culinary program’s status even higher on the world stage. “It’s an opportunity for future students to say, ‘Oh wow, this school obviously is a leader in culinary because they are tying in with Europe, they are teaming with other schools, and other schools want to work with them.’”
Chef Dieser is looking forward to giving the Austrian students and chefs a real taste of southern Alberta life and cuisine. When they arrive, the learning experience for the Lethbridge students will come full circle. Perhaps the Austrian students will even have a chance to work with D’Agnone at Lethbridge Personal Chefs.
