Sno-Isle culinary-arts applications for juniors and seniors will open on Jan. 14, 2021 for the next school year. Through the program, students will master food preparation and serving as well as learn the essentials to running a restaurant. Any students interested in learning about these skills can apply online.

“Well, I did the online application, I went in for the interview, and then what they do…is that, you get like a letter or an email saying that you got in,” senior culinary student Cianna Cox said.

Once selected into the program, students on most occasions spend half of their day at the high school and the other half at the Sno-Isle Tech Center, where they learn and refine their culinary skills.

Culinary students learn skills from sanitary requirements to temperature sensitivity to the unique knife skills needed in the kitchen. Many of the culinary students concurred that the classes were more than adequate in teaching them the essence of culinary:
Develop and execute menus for meals
Price items on menus
Be able to adequately use industry-standard equipment
Manage inventory
Maintain sanitary and safe food production
Understand basic meat fabrication
Know baking fundamentals
Master the science of culinary fundamentals

The success of the classes is due to the students being put into an environment where they have to run a restaurant; however, they are still able to make mistakes. The professional setting allows students to learn properly while knowing what would be asked of them in an industry restaurant. Students are required to follow restaurant protocol: following sanitary restrictions, serving customers, and treating their chefs with respect.

“You act like you’re in a real work situation like we have to call teachers chefs,” Cox said.

Chefs work diligently alongside students to guide them through difficult and confusing recipes.

“I’m learning things that I tried to teach myself, but it was so much harder and with Chef Cornelia It makes sense. They are really hands-on,” junior culinary student Lauren Ruble said.

The dishes range from soups like, split pea and chicken noodles, which are often accompanied by pork schnitzel or braised chicken thighs. Side dishes can also include macaroni and cheese or oven-roasted potatoes. The meal is topped off with desserts like gingerbread icebox cake or Nutella Russian Napoleon cake. Given the wide variety of food choices, many students have favorites. Cox recommends the caesar salad wrap, while Ruble recommends the bread pudding because the Bistro uses banana bread instead of regular bread.

Our very own Valhalla staff members Camille Kent and Bodin Watkins taste-tested Le Bistro’s food for the first time. Both testers were given split pea soup, schnitzel, white cheddar mac’ and cheese, with roasted carrots, and a slice of gingerbread icebox cake. Senior Bodin Watkin’s favorite ended up being steamed carrots, Although he wished the split pea soup would have had more flavor. Senior Camille Kent concurred, saying the soup needed more flavor; however, she rated the gingerbread cake a solid 9.

“I actually like the flavor because it’s a bigger portion and I feel like when things are too rich or too much flavor, it’s hard to finish it all,” Kent explained.

Currently, the Bistro is closed and all the meals made in the kitchen are only sold to Sno-Isle students; However, when the Bistro reopens make sure to give the caesar salad wrap a try or one of the soups. If you have more of a sweet tooth maybe give the gingerbread icebox cake a try. If you’re interested in learning the art of baking or cooking, you can always apply online. The course helps you master industry-required skills while still being able to make mistakes and have fun!