Welcome!
For new and returning culinary arts students, this is where you should begin: a general overview of what the coming year is going to be like.
We are always trying to improve, and this year we have a whole BUNCH of changes to make your culinary education more powerful and to better prepare you for work or college when you graduate.
NEW FOCUS
We have shifted the emphasis in all of our classes this year to better prepare our students. What this means for you is this:
TWO BIG GOALS: Everything you do in class and every homework assignment you have to complete does one of two things:
- it prepares you for a career in the hospitality industry as a chef or FOH professional OR
- it helps you pass industry certifications like the ServSafe Food Safety Manager Exam.
Anything that doesn’t do one of these two things has been cut from the course. We are LASER-FOCUSED on helping you advance your career (whether you stay in the restaurant business or go on to do something else entirely!).
How are we doing that?
WE TRAIN FOR COMPETENCY: There are ten competencies that every student will be graded on, from Culinary 1 all the way through Advanced Gastronomy. We are more concerned that you build these skills than your ability to make a French Omelet or a Croquembouche. The competencies we are looking to build in you are:
- Knife skills and knife care – carrying, sharpening knives, using a honing steel, setting up a cut station, cleaning a knife after use, able to complete all classic knife cuts with efficiency and accuracy
- Appearance and personal hygiene – our students are ready to cook quickly after entering the kitchen: clean chef coat worn properly, kitchen shoes, hair covered, clean apron, proper nails, no jewelry, hands washed – every time.
- Attendance and timeliness – kitchen staff who don’t come to work don’t have a job very long. Our students must show a sense of urgency, they must follow up on their commitments, they must plan for their own absences; being late means you are getting a low score on this one – better be on time!
- Sanitation and cleanliness – Our students must learn and PRACTICE working clean; leaving kitchen ready for next staff; deep cleaning equipment when necessary, cleaning up after spills or messes; when your chef calls “Housekeeping!” you quickly and efficiently clean your work station and get back to cooking.
- Recipe mastery – our students carefully read, understand, and follow a commercial recipe/ formula ACCURATELY; can adjust a recipe up or down; can identifying doneness indicators and timelines
- Food costing – our students can determine how much it costs to make a recipe; determine AP and EP, portion, recipe, and menu cost
- Food handling – our students are careful with ingredients; always practice accurate measurement, safe storage of unused supplies or prepped food; our students minimize waste, avoid TT abuse and cross contamination
- Key cooking skills: each level of culinary has 10-30 key cooking skills which must be mastered that year. See your instructor for a list
- Key recipe skills: each level of culinary has 3-10 recipes which must be memorized so the student can reproduce that item on demand
- Communication and Professionalism: working in a team, accepting and giving positive criticism, leading and being led, attempting to improve personal performance without becoming negative or defensive
LESS READING, MORE DOING: For all students, we have streamlined “book work” to just a few assignments you will do on your own, with class time devoted to teaching the concepts or cooking and VERY LITTLE CLASS TIME TO DOING HOMEWORK OR COMPLETING ASSIGNMENTS. This means we will cook and do industry preparation even more than ever before. This also means you will have homework that you will actually have to do at home.
UNIFORMS
Chef coats aren’t “loaned out.”
Instead, starting in Culinary 2, you will receive a coat that is yours to keep for the duration of your time in Culinary. The only reason you would need to return it is if you choose to withdraw from the program prior to your senior year.
Supplies aren’t “loaned out.”
Stemmed thermometers, hair coverings, and sharpies are the individual student’s responsibility to get and bring into the kitchen each day. Don’t ask to borrow one. We can no longer afford to keep “loaning out” additional tools – students are responsible for bringing what they need on cooking days.
EVENTS
We primarily teach industry skills by arranging for our students to do real-world catering. We provide food for LOTS of people and in order to pass the course, students are required to be ACTIVELY involved.
- Culinary 1 (3 events per year)
- Culinary 2 (6 events per year)
- Culinary 3 (12 events per year)
- Culinary 4 (16 events per year)
No student has to participate in all events and personal issues that bar involvement will be taken into account. However, successful progression DEPENDS on active participation and all mandatory events come with a graded component.
COMPETITION
Spots on the competition team are in short supply – more students want to compete than we have competitions for them to compete in. Every serious culinary student should seriously consider trying out for one of our competition teams! Why? Competition Team members receive many perks including:
- use of the Mustang Cafe for lunches (when not being used by the event staff)
- first dibs on all field trips
- first dibs on job opportunities
- first dibs on paid internships
INTERNSHIPS
There are a small number of seniors who were very active during their junior year and some of them will be invited to join the Leadership team. The Culinary Leadership Class appears on schedules as a 8th period, OJT Internship course. These students get school credit for the off campus and afterschool events they help with, for their work to plan and complete cooking projects, for their help cleaning up the kitchen after Catering events; it provides an “internship” they can put on job and college applications, as well as many more perks. As of today, this is an UNPAID internship. However, if dollars become available, these students (and only these students) may apply for one of the PAID internships. Keep an eye out for announcements regarding the availability of PAID high school work.
Current interested students can read more and fill out the application here:
Ready to get started? Time to fill out some paperwork
Here’s what you will need to sign: