 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Seasoned instruction
By MELANIE AVE © St. Petersburg Times, published April 16, 2001
And don't forget the one rule above all others when it comes to preparing meals: Please! Don't forget to wash your hands. "Now we're on task to do this job," Waite tells his food production class. Two years ago, the 55-year-old Valrico man traded in his life as a professional hospital chef to teach Riverview High School teenagers how to prepare restaurant-style meals. It's a taste of the working world here at this school south of Brandon, aimed at getting teenagers ready for life after high school. Schools have offered professional cooking classes for decades, overseen mostly by teachers. But in the past five years, with a severe teacher shortage, the Hillsborough County School District has been reaching out to professional chefs such as Waite to give students a flavor of what restaurant work is really like. There's chef Erik Youngs at Hillsborough High, who got his oven mitts warm at Castaways Restaurant on the Courtney Campbell Parkway in Tampa; chef Ken Freunscht at East Bay High and chef Edward Bujarski at Wharton High, both trained at the same school as Waite, the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., one of the top cooking schools in the nation. Of the dozen high schools in the county where restaurant cooking is taught, about half the instructors are professional chefs. The focus is on fine dining, not institutional, cafeteria food -- lemon chicken, beef stroganoff, London broil, shrimp stir fry, key lime pie, New York-style cheesecake. By comparison, three of 16 Pinellas high schools offer food production courses and only Osceola High in Seminole has a professional chef on staff. But that could change, said Linda Smock, who heads Pinellas' family and consumer sciences division. "The trend is definitely toward teachers with those credentials," Smock said. Rhonda Trainor, Hillsborough's general director of technical and career education, called Waite's concoctions "really, really good." "One time he was talking about getting a blowtorch so he could caramelize creme brulee," she said with disbelief that such fancy victuals would be made at a school. Although the chefs sometimes lack the classroom management prowess that teachers have, Trainor said they offer something students like: authenticity. "If they have worked at Bennigan's and they're teaching, they can say 'We did it this way,' " she said. Waite said he decided to join the school system because, though the pay is less, he has better hours and finds teaching gratifying. "When we're doing things hands-on, that's when the light comes on," he said. "That's the reward." One recent morning in Waite's food class at Riverview High, students are readying a lunch befitting a Jewish deli. About 60 teachers have signed up to dine in the Reef, a makeshift classroom-turned-restaurant that opens about once a week and offers items such as lemon chicken and puff pastry. Today, for $5 each, teachers are served grilled Reubens on rye, potato salad, chicken noodle soup, flan and apple crisp. The money buys food and supplies. Students prepare the food, serve the meal, clean up and set the tables -- forks on the left, knife with blade on the right and spoons on the right. "They can make a career out of this," said Riverview principal Robert Heilmann. "This is not to prepare them to work at McDonald's." Classes are divided into groups that rotate duties weekly. The most dreaded chore? Washing dishes. The favorite? Cooking. And, of course, eating. If any food is left over after the teachers are served, the students split it. But many of them can't fight the temptation to taste until after the meal is served, so they dip a cup of soup here and a spoonful of whipped cream there and scramble out of sight. One student got in trouble after sneaking some apple crisp from Waite's class into the library. "It happens," Waite said. "They get hungry." Off Waite's classroom No. 202, two double doors open into a large kitchen, filled with restaurant-size appliances. On one side of the room, junior Kent Gaitan, sophomore Marion Starks and senior Eric Jones turn flan upside down into small glass bowls, making sure to "get as much drippings as you can," Waite says. "Oh, that looks really nice," he says as they demonstrate their technique. They wear white caps over their hair. "I'm going to college next year so I have to learn to cook because my mom won't be there to cook for me," Jones says. Waite, in a fit of perfection, rushes around the room making sure students are on task. "He's going to have a heart attack," says sophomore Danielle Glisson, placing blue and white tablecloths and silverware on the tables in the classroom. "He worries too much." Junior John Favot flips the Reubens on the grill, but turns up his nose at the sauerkraut. Sophomore Nikki Mathews cuts lemons and whips the cream. They talk about some of their most tasty creations, like lasagna. "We do everything from scratch," says Starks, who wants to attend the cooking program at Johnson & Wales University in Miami. Fabian Aviles, 18, rattles off a list of items he now can cook: pizza, cinnamon rolls, bread, with yeast no less, he says proudly. "Cooking is an art," says Aviles, who admits to struggling with the book work, not the cooking. "It could help me in the world to make money. It's pretty cool. Plus, you got girls in this class." There have been a few kitchen catastrophes, such as the time Aviles sliced three of his fingers while cutting a tomato. Or the boy who spilled jalapeno juice down his pants. Or the time Gaitan was using a knife and it split in two. On this day, the biggest mishap was a pitcher of melted butter spilled on the floor. Teachers said they enjoy supporting the students by eating their food, which is tastier than the cafeteria version. "This is so good," lauds Spanish teacher Monique Groulx, biting into her Reuben. "Delicious," agrees teacher Karen Melhorn. Math teacher Rebecca Kushner's biggest complaint is the frequency of the student-run restaurant. "I wish it was every day," she said. "It's like going to a restaurant." At the end of the day, Waite reflects on the restaurant and some of the mishaps. One teacher became upset when students mixed up her dessert, another teacher wanted a to-go meal that was given to someone else, and the restaurant didn't sell as many lunches as it wanted. All in all, he says, it was a good day at the restaurant, even if they didn't sell as many sandwiches as they wanted. "We're not geared to make money," Waite says. "We're there to let the kids cook." - Melanie Ave covers education and can be reached at (813) 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com. Class cuisineHere are examples of dishes being prepared in cooking classes at Riverview High School: NY CHEESECAKE: Crust ingredients
Filling ingredients
Crust: Cream butter, sugar. Add egg yolk and grated lemon, vanilla, gradually add flour. Should be like cookie dough. Spread bottom of pan with thin layer of dough. Spread thin layer of dough on side of pan. Connect bottom of crust with sides, and smooth out bottom corners where side and bottom are joined. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes or until golden, not browned. Filling: In mixing bowl, add cream cheese, sugar, orange and lemon peel, vanilla. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, heavy cream and flour, and beat on high speed until smooth, scraping side with rubber spatula. Pour mixture into crust, scraping bowl to get all filling. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes; then turn oven to 350 degrees and bake 50 to 60 minutes longer. Check by inserting knife in center; if knife comes out clean, cake is done. After cooling, add fruit filling if desired. Serving size: 12; preparation time: 40 minutes. * * * LEMON CHICKEN:
Blend the sour cream, lemon juice, garlic and celery salt until smooth, with consistency of a cream soup. Using blender, make fresh bread crumbs from day-old bread. Save for later use. Marinate chicken overnight in sour cream mixture. The next day, coat both sides of each breast with bread crumbs. Brush a shallow baking pan with half the melted butter. Lift chicken, shaking off any loose crumbs, and place it in baking pan. Dribble the remaining butter evenly on top of chicken. Bake in 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes. Chicken will be lightly golden with internal temperature of 165 degrees. Serving size: 4; preparation time: 45 minutes * * * ZUCCHINI BREAD:
Beat eggs until light. Thoroughly beat in next three ingredients. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to egg-sugar-oil mixture and beat until smooth. When well blended, stir in remaining ingredients. Place batter in two buttered and floured loaf pans (81/2x41/4 inches). Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
|
