Kent ISD — Walking into the new commercial kitchen in Building C of the Kent Career Tech Center feels like stepping onto the set of a cooking competition.
“We have more space here,” Godwin Heights junior Henry Rivera said. “Each space has its own stove and oven, which is much more organized and makes it easier for students to do their own work.”
Chef Dennis Paul, one of the instructors in the Tech Center's culinary program, acknowledged that the new space, which opened this year, is “definitely state-of-the-art.” It has 12 cooking stations and an instructor station, and plans are to add an audio-visual system to the instructor station to make it easier for students to follow the instructor's work.
Paul said the kitchen area is a new addition to the culinary program, which has seen several changes over the past decade, especially as people's tastes have changed.
Paul, who joined the program in 2010, said, “(Back then) there were a lot of casseroles and large portions.'' “Back then, chicken was often marinated in sauce, but now chicken with grilled meat or chutney is the mainstream.''
Stocks and sauces are still part of the program, with students learning the five “mother sauces” of French cuisine: béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise and tomato. However, as tastes changed and interest in different food technologies increased, the program was tailored to meet the needs of the culinary industry.
Kyla Robinson, left, a senior at Cedar Springs University, and Shauna Jeffries, a junior at Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy, measure flour in preparation for making béchamel sauce.
West Catholic junior Tim Whitson works on slaughtering chickens in the culinary program's meat processing room.
“There was a time when you could get peanut butter cookies at the bakery, but they took them off the shelves because of allergies,” Paul said.
Cookies are just one example of how food allergy considerations are incorporated into our programs. Paul said students are currently learning how to make gluten-free products and create recipes to accommodate other allergens. In fact, students can earn his ServSafe Allergen Certification, which is one of approximately 10 industry-recognized certifications.
The Tech Center's hospitality and culinary program is the only secondary program in Michigan to earn American Culinary Federation Educational Foundation accreditation for its culinary arts and baking and pastry programs, and the culinary team has maintained this program since 2011. I am.
In 2017, the program added a chocolate room, giving students the opportunity to learn chocolate techniques and chocolate carving. Over the past decade, sugar sculptures and ice sculptures have also been added to the program.
Paul said a meat processing room was added in 2017, where students can learn many skills from processing meat to making sausages.
“I had never slaughtered before I joined the program,” said West Catholic junior Tim Whitson. He slaughtered a chicken for the appetizers the team made. “Another thing that surprised me was the smoker (which uses indirect heating), which had more functions than I expected.”
Paul said the ultimate goal of the hospitality and culinary program remains the same: to provide students with skills that are employable in the industry or useful for post-secondary education. .
Those skills are evident when Jonathan Soto, a third-year student at Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy, explains the difference between “sweating” and “sautéing” onions. Sweating means softening the onion, removing moisture and making it translucent, while sautéing means browning the onion. Bring out the rich flavor.
“We have a lot of new equipment in this space,” Jonathan said, looking around the commercial kitchen. “There are also more machines like fryers. It feels like a restaurant station.”
GRUPA senior Shaunessa Jeffries agreed, adding, “There's definitely more space, but it's nice to have a place to learn how to do these different things.”
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