By Chef Bill – Culinary Arts Instructor, East Providence High School

Introduction

I have often been asked what my job is like. To be fair, I have an unusual job. I teach Culinary Arts to high school students at East Providence High School. I always tell people that I have the greatest job in the world (unless I could be the starting second baseman for the New York Mets).

I get to do what I love, which is cook every day. Additionally, I get to teach young people about the thing I love to do. Additionally, I get nights, weekends, and summers off. It’s really the perfect job. “If waking up and driving thirty minutes is the worst part of your job, you have a pretty sweet job.”

I was asked recently by a potential employee what the worst part of my job is. I know it sounds cliché, but I really love just about everything about my job. I mean, doing grades and correcting papers is a drag, but I do get a real sense of accomplishment when students’ achievement is high as it reflects that the information I am sharing is getting through.

So even the paperwork part of my job is somehow satisfying. The only part of my job that I dislike, at least that I could think of, is waking up at 5:15am each school day. I really and truly hate waking up early, and I dread the alarm going off each and every day.

I live about thirty minutes from EPHS, so my commute is no fun, but that’s it.

🕓 A Day in the Life

I thought it might be interesting to describe a “Day in the Life” as my first blog post — so here goes.

6:50 AM – Early Arrival

Arrived 25 minutes early. My old boss from when I was a kid at Lenny’s Pizza, Joe Cervone, always told me: “On time is late, and ten minutes early is on time.”

He more like yelled it at me, but you get the point — it has shaped how I approach my schedule since I was fourteen and doing dishes at a pizza place in Queens, NY.

Distribute clean trash barrels throughout the kitchen. Turn on and check all cooking equipment to assure good working conditions. Fill & set up dish machine, brew a pot of coffee, turn on proof box & fill with dough to be proofed (today it’s croissants — plain & chocolate).

7:05 AM – Prepping the Day

Review prep list and calendar for functions. Eureka! We have a function for 25 for MLL families today at 4:30.

Print out quote and invoice, confirm all ingredients are available and fresh. Create a function prep list and assign students to various tasks.

Another function for Friday — a very big breakfast for the football team: crazy amounts of expensive food for 25 people. Gonna start prepping for that event during period 7.

7:15–7:25 AM – Morning Hall Duty & Planning

Out in the hallway with my co-teacher, MC. We help keep the peace in the halls & greet students as they arrive. We touch base and have a quick review of the day’s needs. Together we create a to-do list for the day.

To-Do List:

• Complete grant application from the Beef Council for two sirloin strips and a whole beef rib to be used for dry-aging (if we are awarded the grant).

• Create menu costing worksheets for Monday lessons on food cost/menu pricing. They will be costing out dinner rolls. ($.17 each as it turns out.)

• Submit lesson plans for Kids in the Kitchen program at Fuller Library starting 11/2 — healthy foods using lots of produce for 3–5-year-old students (Veggie Pizza Week #1).

• Post an online assignment in Google Classroom for tomorrow as I will be out taking my son to the passport office in Boston (looking forward to the drive).

• During WIN block, work with MC to request budget items from our categorical account: sheet pans, Cambros, two dies for the pasta machine (Rigatoni & Cavatappi), measuring cups and spoons, serrated knives. Email our rep for quotes on a panini press, springform pans, and thermocouple thermometer.

• Also, I need to finalize plane tickets for my son to return to London in December, but that’s not work-related.

My co-teacher is doing a lesson on soups and sauces, so I need to plan around her equipment and tools needs. No problem!

9:05 AM – Health Inspection

Lori from the Board of Health arrived to follow up on a broken refrigerator from her previous visit. All is good in Townie Land — we received a score of 99% on our inspection. ✅ Boom!

10:00 AM – All Systems Go

All to-do list completed with some help from my friend (just like Ringo Starr).

10:25 AM – Lunch Break

Lunch Break until 10:55.

11:00 AM – Function Prep

The menu for after school is pretty simple — three types of finger sandwiches, crudité platter, lemonade, bottled water, coffee & all utensils/plateware.

Demos: Correct cut sizes for the platter, potatoes for the breakfast, as well as portioning for the sandwiches.

Students cut all potatoes for home fries and made five gallons of orange juice, cooked twelve pounds of bacon.

12:25 PM – Midday Cleanup

Macarons in the proof box, all prep for today’s function complete. Time to deep clean the kitchen. MC’s class is making soup, so dish machine breakdown will be delayed.

1:00 PM – Wrapping Up Orders

Lunch orders are done; students will need to break down the coffee station and the pastry station.

1:30 PM – Kitchen Reset

Kitchen all cleaned & reset, everything is labeled and stored correctly. All tables are sanitized, floors are swept, dishes are put away, and it’s almost time to depart.

1:45 PM – Final Walkthrough

Final walk-through of kitchen. Assure all equipment is off and clean, floors are swept, garbage is out, dish machine clean & broken down, all pilot lights lit.

My co-teacher MC will have to do the exact same walkthrough after me, to assure everything is hunkey dory for us to leave.

1:50 PM – Feeding the Sourdough

Feed the sourdough (our starter is named Jenn after our recently departed Technical Assistant “Chef Jenn”).

Next week we will be making sourdough English muffins and sourdough honey oatmeal bread. I will report back in my next post how the sourdough battles went. The best English muffin recipe I’ve found is a copycat Thomas’ English muffin recipe developed by a chef at the Culinary Institute of America (recipe included below) And the Honey Oatmeal Sourdough is my own recipe (and it’s awesome).