Photos by Peyton Thomas, News Photography COMM 1316
With sharp knives and steady nerves, students in the Culinary Arts program recently went to work on beef and chicken.
The class is called IFWA 1319 Meat Identifying & Processing. It’s a three-hour class listed on the Culinary Arts degree plan for the third semester.
SPC Executive Chef Patrick Ramsey, who’s teaching the class, says the focus of today’s lesson is the loin section of beef.
“I loved to have the experience where you actually got to cut the steaks,” says student Melissa Nitsche Maldonado, “because, I mean, how many people have the ability to do that at home?”
After cutting the beef, some students prepared bags of meat and marinade.
At another point in class, Chef Ramsey showed off his fast knife skills chopping onions and then sautéing them in a pan.
“I cut my onions like that all the time at home,” Maldonado says, “but it’s still not that speed.” Maldonado says she’s been cooking her whole life and she’s still learning by example.
“You’re gonna show me something and I’m gonna be one of those people that I’m like, show me,” she says. “If you know a better and faster and easier way, show me. You know, ‘do you wanna cook this?’ Heck yeah, I wanna cook that. Show me.”
Maldonado says she is currently applying for a Disney externship at the Disney Culinary Program.
Ramsey explains second year Culinary Arts students qualify to apply for the externship that lasts anywhere from six weeks to six months. He says five or six students from each SPC graduating class get into the program, and they enjoy it.
“A bunch of them stayed down there,” he says, “so they’ve gotten out of Lubbock, been able to take their skill sets, work with international people, see different places, meet different people, so it’s really cool.”
Culinary Arts student Ruben Luna says he’s worked in the kitchen since he was 17 and did four years at his high school in the culinary field. He appears to be considering several opportunities after he graduates from SPC.
“If I want to do private,” he says, “if I want to do fine dining, I’ll definitely move. I don’t think…Lubbock does not have a fine dining field yet, or not enough.”
In addition to preparing beef, students in this class also had the chance to add onions, peppers, and olives to a chicken dish.
Chef Ramsey says he’s been teaching culinary at SPC for 10 years now. One of the fun parts about cooking, he says, is that it is the “language of humanity”.
“It transcends time, race, religion,” he says. “If you sit down with somebody at a table, you don’t even have to speak the same language. But you can enjoy a meal.”
After today’s class, students were allowed to take their prepared dishes home, or eat them on the spot.
Bon appetit!
Leave a Reply