Having
taken
the Food
and
Beverage
and
Professional
Cooking
programs,
I
learned
a lot
about
the
basics
of
cooking.
We were
taught
all
aspects
of
cooking
such as
hygiene
and
sanitation,
history
and
culture
of food,
from
meat to
fish to
vegetables
and
anything
imaginable
that had
the
slightest
relation
to our
course.
Though I
had
never
cooked
prior to
culinary
school,
I worked
in the
front of
house
for my
father’s
bakery
as well
as in a
high end
restaurant
that
hired me
right
out of
my Food
and
Beverage
Service
internship.
This is
what
pushed
me
forward
to go
into
culinary
school.
After
graduating,
I wanted
to learn
more,
specifically
about
the
different
cuts of
meat and
how they
are
prepared
thus
pursuing
the
Retail
Butchery
program.
Being of
Italian
descent,
brought
me back
to the
traditions
of
charcuterie
making
that had
been
lost to
most of
my
immediate
family.
With my
father
owning a
bakery,
he
showed
me that
there is
a demand
and
potential
sales of
this
type of
artisanal
product.
Now in
the
twentieth
week of
this
course,
I’ve
worked
on a
large
variety
of
meats,
much
more
than I
ever
expected.
From
veal to
chicken
as well
as
salmon,
we’ve
prepared
roasts,
chops,
steaks,
and my
personal
favourite,
broken
down
quarter
carcasses
of beef.
I’ve
done a
lot of
repetitive
work on
the same
cuts of
meat
that
have
helped
me
improve
my knife
skills
and
correct
errors
on
previous
attempts.
In
class,
I’ve
used
plenty
of tools
and
equipment
that
helped
facilitate
the
operations
for
cutting
meat,
and
doing so
safely,
such as
the
bandsaw,
tenderizers,
scimitars,
bone
saws and
mesh
gloves.
Having
some
previous
experience
using
knives,
I was
surprised
at how
different
cutting
with a
mesh
glove
was. I
had to
relearn
how to
maneuver
with my
knife
and
adjust
to a
different
approach
for
cutting
meat
that was
very
different
from
cutting
vegetables.
I have
thoroughly
enjoyed
my time
in the
Butchery
course
with its
hands-on
approach
and have
had a
successful
first
internship,
where I
plan to
work
after
finishing
this
course.
Mathew
Pero