Catherine Brown, center, leads the culinary arts program at Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
MEXICO — Brian Beaucage is wearing goggles so he won’t cry while he chops 15 cups of onions.
Nearby, Caleb Cunnington chops four quarts of carrots while Aiden Herling and Ethan McAtee cut ham off of two large bones.
Together they are creating the potato, ham and corn chowder that will be served at an upcoming community lunch at Region 9 School of Applied Technology.
Because of the popularity of the culinary arts program, taught by Catherine Brown, they will be adding an assistant next year. They had a 55% increase in student enrollment jumping from 20 students this year to 31 signed on for next year.
Brown is expanding their garden space, too. In addition to the existing five raised beds they have now, by late fall they will have a heated greenhouse, a composting system, more raised-bed gardens, an outdoor kitchen with timber-framed pavilion, outdoor seating, and a farmstand market. A grant is funding part of the project.
As instructor for the past three years, Brown’s goal is to “elevate the creativity and skills to focus on seasonal fare, seed-to-plate and nose-to-tail dishes … When I took the position, the program was heavily based on short-order cookery. I wanted to demonstrate how to support a local food system and the importance of establishing relationships.”
In class, Brown queries her students, “When you guys are putting bell peppers into things why do you not want the seeds?”
“Because they are hard?” asks a student
“Yes, they also have a bitterness to them. Unlike hot pepper seeds that if you want to increase the heat level, you would include them,” explains Brown.
During a recent road trip to Oxford she meet a farmer who taught her how to dig up horseradish. Brown tells her class, “(the farmer) gave us garlic chives, rhubarb, and Mojito mint (to plant).” She explains that the horseradish is invasive so it will have its own whiskey barrel outside the classroom where the existing beds, built by the Region 9 building construction class, hold culinary herbs, edible flowers, small fruits and vegetables.
Brown’s students learn how to use what they grow for cooking and preservation. “We regularly visit local farms and producers to both build important relationships with our suppliers and learn from them,” she said. “Learning how our food is grown and produced is equally important to learning culinary techniques.”
Liliana Salvati of Dixfield, Noah Cunnington of Bethel, and Kyra Rose-Espinoza of Albany stand are 0n the opposite side of the kitchen from the soup cooks. They are cracking 48 eggs for a meringue that is stewing on the stove. The meringue will be frosting for cupcakes.
Justice Gendron of Rumford is making almond frangipane. She has added the almond flour and is adding seven cups of eggs, one at a time.
Now that everyone has their role and food preparation is underway, Brown, or “Chef” to her students, begins weighing and bagging the granola they made earlier.
Brown’s path
Catherine Brown started cooking as soon as she could see over the counter top. “By the time I was 8 years old, I was allowed to make cookies by myself,” she said.
Before entering the food business, she served for five years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Following her five years of service she crossed the country from California to New Hampshire, the home state of her partner.
It was 2007 and she was eager to garden with her family, which led into several business ventures delivering small crops, “for farmers markets and then directly to chefs and restaurants,” said Brown. The operation grew diverse produce, such as edible flowers, herbs, miniature fruits and vegetables. Sadly, in 2014 a string of back-to-back natural disasters hampered the sustainability of her market garden.
She moved on, enrolling in Baking & Pastry Arts and Culinary Arts at White Mountains Community College in New Hampshire.
Brown gained work experience at DiCocoa’s, a now-closed, popular Bethel bakery. Anna Sysko worked there, too. “I learned a great many things from Cathy (DiCocoa) and Anna over the years,” said Brown. Her on-the-job training included large scale baking, using local produce in the kitchen, and learning to love one’s community.
Using her experience, Brown gives students insight into the food business and how it functions.
This broad spectrum for teaching allows her to cover all sorts of topics in her class. From the life of Anthony Bourdain, to safely handling food, and to how cooking is, “something we all must do for survival …
“The best part of teaching is watching the lightbulbs turn on when food connections are made,” said Brown.
Students
Several students already have jobs. Noah Cunnington works at The Pie Hole in his hometown of Bethel where he makes pizza. He stretches the dough and makes the sauce. He makes sandwiches but isn’t old enough by law to cut them yet.
Rose-Espinoza, in her second year of the culinary program, has had cooking experience at LeMu and baking experience at Gemini Cafe. The restaurants are across the street from each other in Bethel. She said she has learned that, “cooking is a little more relaxed than baking, whereas baking is much more specific.” Next year she plans to enter Telstar’s school-to-work program to gain more experience and make more money.
Gendron has worked at the Bethel Inn and plans to work at GraceNote Inn, also in Bethel. She’ll start in the position of dishpit or runner, but needs to find a car first. Another student overhears and laments the long queue for driver’s education classes as a barrier to her own work aspirations.
From now until June, they will continue to gain cooking and business experience from Chef Brown in the licensed kitchen these 10 students visit every other day.
Beaucage of Canton, Gendron, and Rose-Espinoza, as team leaders of the class, are gaining advanced skills. They are responsible for checking in food orders and correctly putting them away, practicing “first in, first out” or FIFO, and making temperature checks on all the coolers and freezers. They manage food projects, after being given a formula or recipe, a quantity needed (often requiring scaling the recipe up) and 2-3 other students to help execute their project. Finally, they organize pre-orders on community food days.
This summer they will work beside incoming culinary arts students at the Rumford Farmer’s market where they will sell their popular granola, focaccia bread; varieties of French tarts: almond frangipane, pistachio frangipane, lemon, custard; desserts-in-a-jar: custards with seasonal fruit, crème brulee, creme caramel, cheesecakes; hand pies; soft pretzels; soups; nuts; bottled hot sauce; scones; cupcakes; coffee; and cider. The younger students are sure to be eager to learn from the older, more “seasoned” group. They also may sell some of the produce, herbs and edible flowers they grow.
Chef Brown updates the community on what is coming to market at their culinary arts site: www.facebook.com/R9StudentCafe.
Aiden Herling contributed to this story.
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