A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CULINARY STUDENT...

For someone to make the decision to attend IUP Academy of Culinary Arts, they may be wondering what a typical class day is like.  I was wondering the same thing, so I decided to be a “guest student” in Chef Fitting’s class.

	It was “Ground Meat” day in a fifteen day course called Beef and Veal Preparation and Cookery.  In this class the students learn to fabricate, prepare and present different cuts of beef and veal using different cooking methods.  The students also learn to identify, inspect and grade meat.  Sauce preparation, vegetable and sides are also covered.
students pictured:  Jasmin Sonnet, Matt Detrick, Nicole Neely

To be honest, it was amazing how much was going on, yet everything was quite structured.  The students were initially broken up into different groups of 3 or 4.  They then had to prepare certain dishes made of ground meat as a group such as meatloaf, hamburgers and meatballs and then present their meals to Chef Fitting for critique where he tasted the entrée then gave it a review.

Later, the students each could create their own dish made of ground meat.  I looked with mouth-watering amazement at what some of the students came up with! One student made a Mexican taco salad in a crispy tortilla shell.  Another made her own meatloaf smothered in a red sauce with a side of Haluski. There was even a student who made her own Italian meat sauce. It was enough to make your mouth water!  Chef Fitting then tasted and critiqued each created dish as the student presented it to the class. (I personally thought everything looked delicious, but he was more critical.)

student pictured:  Lee Petrisek

At the end of the class it was unbelievable how fast time went and how much I learned being a “guest student”.   The students all made me feel welcome and seemed to learn so much in this class, as I did.  I would give Beef and Veal Preparation and Cookery with Chef Fitting an A+!
	student pictured:  Gregory Carrow-Boyde