Culinary Arts
The Things We’ve Learned
Gaylene Greenwood
&
Diane Cluff
Our experiences with Nationals.
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#1 TEAM WORK, TEAM WORK, TEAM WORK
#2 PUSH THEM BEYOND THEIR LIMITS
#3 BE HONEST AND UPFRONT – IF YOU
DON’T LIKE SOMETHING TELL THEM AND
CORRECT EVEN THE LITTLEST THINGS.
Constantly remind them that they need to
wash their hands. Point out times when
cross contamination can happen.
#4 PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE
#5 Don’t Assume that they know how to do
things. If you don’t know either ask a
professional.
#6 PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Gaylene’s Guidelines
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Teach them to season
◦ White pepper is much
stronger than black
pepper.
◦ Don’t season without
tasting.
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Prepare them for unfor-seen circumstances
◦ Varying amounts of
sodium in different stock.
◦ What would you do if you
don’t get enough stock?
◦ What to do if you get
premade Roux.
Seasoning
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How to set up Mise en
place.
What to do with your
equipment when you
are done or are not
using it.
Keep dirty equipment
out of view, under prep
tables if possible.
Keep meat preparation
area’s away from other
preparation area’s.
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Cleanliness and Organization
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Shoes non-melting
uppers and nonslip
shoes.
Pants hemmed
properly.
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Proper Uniform
Jackets should be
clean.
If it has a yellow
oily stain, that
happens, but it
does not mean that
it is not clean.
I have my students
press their coats
before so that they
are not wrinkled.
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Proper cooking temperatures.
How to warm and cool plates for serving.
Don’t keep checking food (releases heat).
Patience is a virtue.
Know how long things are going to take.
Knowing recipes before hand there is no
excuse for not knowing your time plan in
advance. This comes with practicing the
recipes. At home and with the advisor.
Have them get a bag of carrots or two and
practice knife cuts at home.
What if scinerios.
Bring in professional’s.
Misc. info
If something goes wrong pretend you
know what you are doing instead of
drawing attention to the fact that
something went wrong.
 Make sure that they understand the score
sheet and how they will be scored.
 Teach them to have fun and put some
love (passion) into their food.
 Sample Menu’s will be posted on the
national website by December 1st.
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Miscl. Info