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Culinary Arts Program produces fine global fare
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“Fire a duck breast, going with a salmon!”
“I need to add a ravioli to table six please!”
“Rail a rav, coming up with the veal medallions on six!”
“Table nine is in the window, hot and ready to go!”
An onslaught of culinary verbiage like this can be heard every Tuesday through Friday during lunchtime at Boise State University. Tucked away in the Selland College of Applied Technology buildings near Bronco Stadium, Boise State’s Culinary Arts program is a hidden gem on campus. Not only do they serve a global mix of fine cuisine in their dining room, there is also a deli in the adjacent room, where student chefs make sandwiches-to-order and sell fresh-baked offerings from the pastry kitchen. Instructor-Chef Vern Hickman is certified by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) to instruct students in the culinary arts. He says because of Boise’s burgeoning restaurant scene, many of the students will end up working in the local industry after graduation. “We’re not training people to graduate with a two-year degree and be in an entry-level position as a line cook. We’re training them to be sous chefs and eventually, accredited executive chefs,” Hickman said. The ACF inspects all of the culinary programs and makes demands on the curriculum taught at the institutions they accredit. Only a small percentage of culinary schools nationwide are certified by the ACF, and Boise State is one of them. “They [ACF] come annually to evaluate the labs, sit in on the classes, observe the service operations and ensure quality of the institution,” Hickman said.
In the real world, restaurant kitchens are seldom bigger than the dining room, but at Boise State there is an exception to this rule because the kitchen area is actually a hands-on lab.
Hickman and the other instructors help students emulate actual kitchen operations and implement current cuisine trends seen in the industry. For almost a decade now, Pacific Rim cuisine (eclectic Asian) and global fusion concepts have been popular in top restaurant cities such as New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle. Aspiring chefs at Boise State rise to meet these trends by producing such contemporary entrees like an Asian-inspired roast duck breast with plum sauce, Mediterranean-style roasted eggplant ravioli, grilled Moroccan-spiced salmon and Mexican-influenced slow-roasted pork carnitas served with black beans. Boise State’s College of Applied Technology offers two degrees in the Culinary Arts: a one-year Technical Certificate and an Associate of Applied Science (AAS).
Both programs offer hands-on lab experience in a practical working environment, foundation skills in bread, dessert and bakery preparations, safe and sanitary food handling, and basics of food preparation, including menu planning and execution. Students in the two-year program spend more time in each lab station and learn more about the proper purchasing, receiving, storing, and issuing of goods, financial accounting and cost analysis, and the supervision of personnel. Food Production Manager Marie Edwards handles inventory control for the program and adamantly stresses the importance of proper stock rotation and cost analysis to all students. “When you go eat in a restaurant, and they’re out of your first menu choice or your steak doesn’t taste quite right, there are reasons for this,” Edwards said. Boise State’s motto -”Real education for the real world” – is the focal point of the Culinary Arts program, and the students’ efforts can be tasted every Tuesday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
J. Patrick Kelly
