Know Your Ingredients: Dairy

By Michael Laiskonis, ICE Creative Director

One of the many hats I wear as creative director is that of a guest lecturer. Perhaps my favorite task at ICE is leading our professional Pastry & Baking students' introduction to dairy products during the very first days of their program.

If you know me, then you know that I have become a bit of a dairy nerd, always looking to better understand the composition, structure and function of milk and all of its derivatives. And while I present a great deal of technical information during my dairy lecture—in addition to offering a tasting of some two dozen products—my goal is simply to present this humble, common ingredient in a new light. Retaining every specific fact and figure isn't as important as getting our students to start thinking about all ingredients in an analytical way—in other words, what they bring to a recipe and how they affect its final outcome.