Mod 1 is also known as the first semester. Each mod lasts about 3 months, and can have classes for the entire duration or for part of the mod. Mod 1 lays down the foundation of knowledge we will need when we break into production classes. Here are the links to the classes for Mod 1:
- Cooking Theory: This course blends classroom and lab instruction. With a focus on scientific principles and using an experimental method, students explore the chemistry of food, in particular focusing on the heat transfer process. The course includes both theoretical and hands-on application of food science and a knife skills practice lab. Students are introduced to the science of nutrition, nutritional analysis, mathematical principles, and the basics of sanitation theory.
- Baking I: Students are instructed in the theory and practice of baking. Students are introduced to the science and theory of baking, including ingredient characteristics and functions, chemical and biological interactions, fermentation, and heat transfer. Students get hands-on practice in NECI’s bakery outlets, including making such products as breads, breakfast pastries, pies, and cookies. Instruction also includes organizational skills, use of products and tools, application of mathematical principles such as conversions and weights and measures, mixing techniques, and vocabulary appropriate to bakeshop production.
- Table Service and Wine: This course focuses on guest satisfaction, utilization of different sales techniques, and effective communication with guests, kitchen, and managers while students participate in an à la carte service and dining room operation. Students will learn basic service techniques, proper order of service, use of an electronic point-of-sales system, and standards for service in the dining room of a busy popular-priced restaurant. Introduction to Wines focuses on the overall history of wine, the relationship of geography to wine varieties, and the wine making process. Through classroom participation, demonstrations, and group activities, students will learn proper tasting protocol and discuss the basic wine varieties, including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Syrah.
- Culinary Math: As future food service professionals, students’ ability to utilize culinary related math skills, formulas, and vocabulary enables them to use and manipulate recipes in relation to production demands. Building a foundation in culinary math allows students to further explore how mathematics directly contributes to food quality, consistency, and profitability.
- Information Technology: Information Technology focuses on increasing students’ skills in a variety of programs including Outlook, Word Publisher, PowerPoint and Excel. The class will include exercises that demonstrate key features of these programs and their uses, including formatting word documents to create dynamic reports, letters, memos, menus, and papers; creating business cards and brochures in Publisher; using PowerPoint to create engaging presentations, and Excel for producing reports, schedules, analyses, charts, and graphs.
- Inventory Management: Inventory Management provides students with an overview of purchasing, receiving, and management of inventory. Students will be introduced to the management systems used to control the flow of products in an inventory, from purchasing and receiving to storing and utilization. Students will apply these skills by participating in a lab in one of NECI’s purchasing operations. During the lab, students will focus on product identification, availability, seasonality, price, quality, freshness, and sanitation. The course will also introduce the student to the impact of market factors on product selection, sales mix, and pricing.
- Sanitation: Sanitation instruction introduces students to the principles of food microbiology and important food-borne diseases, as well as the control of chemical and biological contaminants of food and best practices for safe food handling. The class serves as the foundation for the entire program by helping establish a thorough understanding and competence in sanitation and food-borne disease prevention. The course reviews the standards enforced by regulatory agencies, as well as measures used in practical settings for the prevention of food-borne disease and other microbiological problems. At the end of the course, students will be certified in sanitation standards through the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe exam.
- Professional Development: In this course, students establish the fundamental skills needed for effectively developing opportunities in a professional setting. Students demonstrate the important skills of resumé writing, goal setting, interviewing, and appropriate professional presentation. Through a combination of class time and a real-life job search while attaining an internship, students practice the skills of networking, job search strategies, budgeting, and long-term career planning.
Mod 2 focuses more on being in the kitchen. Here we start to work in production kitchens as well as NECI’s student run 118 Main St Grill restaurant. This mod for me lasts from December 2nd to February 28th. From there, it’s off to internship for 6 months.
- Culinary Basic’s & the Production Kitchen: This course is the first in a series of courses taught in a full production kitchen laboratory that provides meals for external customers. Instruction will focus on the basics of knife skills, cooking methods, soups and sauces, batch cooking skills, sanitation, station organization, recipe reading, and menu planning. Additional focus will be placed on the organization of food production in a contract food service operation, and on an introduction to customer service. Students will rotate among stations, with assigned objectives and tasks.
- Intro to Ala Carte: Lunch: Students are introduced to the communication, teamwork, sequencing of tasks, and proper preparation of mise en place for the successful operation of a busy popular-priced restaurant. Standardized recipes are used to maintain guest satisfaction and to ensure consistent learning opportunities for every student. Emphasis is placed on basic culinary technique, vocabulary, and an awareness of the importance of cost control.
- Intro to Meat Fabrication: Students learn the fundamentals of meat, fish, and poultry anatomy. Students will be introduced to the processes of meat and fish cutting, and butcher’s yield tests. Students will begin to experience the role of a butcher shop in a multiunit food service operation and develop the skills necessary to successfully perform in such an operation. The course features student participation in lab assignments, discussions,and lectures.
- History and Culture: Students will be exposed to a survey of how social and historical events, religious movements, significant individuals, and the changing trade patterns have influenced the distinct cultural differences in of Europe, and in the Mediterranean region in particular. The course features discussion, readings, and a student-directed project.
- Classic French Cuisine: In this production course, students will apply the knowledge learned in History and Culture to examine the evolution of food consumption in France and to examine the character and substance of regional cuisines. The lab will expose students to the basic concepts of French cuisine and will provide an introduction to traditional spices, herbs, products, and cooking techniques, as well to the preparation of traditional dishes.
Back from internship for my second year, Mod 3 focuses on advancing your skills. By now you should know how to work in the kitchen, and you should have a good foundation on cooking. This year focuses more on developing your ability to make a dish with taste, flavor, texture, and art in mind. It also introduces you to different venues in the culinary world, such as catering and banquets.
- The Art of Cuisine: The impact of visual presentation of food cannot be overlooked within a contemporary kitchen. The full experience of eating should be a culmination of culinary and environmental stimuli that appeals to all of the human senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and texture. Through planning, production, and presentation, students explore the impact of color, texture, height, plate design and layout. Assignments review and highlight the importance and character of ingredients, the principles of professional cookery, and the disciplines associated with fine dining cuisine. This course is designed to expose students to the theory, application, and critical thinking skills needed to effectively present food within the public realm using a variety of mediums.
- Taste & Flavor: In the lab environment, students use experimentation and a variety of preparation methods and pairing combinations to investigate taste and flavor from three different perspectives: how cooking techniques affect finished flavor; how good flavor is developed and maintained; and how wines are paired appropriately with specific dishes. Students examine the relationship between cooking methods, flavor and the nutritional value, and participate in weekly comparisons of food and wine pairings to further their understanding of palate. Students also examine the scientific basis for various cooking techniques and explore how these methods influence flavor, with a focus on the control of taste, aroma, and texture.
- Taste & Flavor: Wines: This class builds on the study of enology, as well as on the understanding of food and wine interactions begun during the first residency. Through classroom activities and discussions, students expand their knowledge of traditional and modern viticulture and viniculture procedures. Using the concepts of science and perception explored in Taste and Flavor, students conduct taste, aroma, and texture comparisons to develop their confidence in selecting appropriate beverages to accompany foods.
- Banquets & Catering: Students learn about banquet preparation and event-coordinated cooking by preparing meals for guests in either on-premise or off-premise settings. Successful catering and banquet preparation requires the combination of many important skill sets. In addition to basic business management skills, successful banquet chefs must have knowledge of menu development, current health and sanitation requirements, the need for precise timing, planning and sequencing, appropriate selection of equipment, and an understanding of the traditions and customs of entertaining. This class will also teach students the importance of flexibility, creative problem solving, and refined customer service skills. Instruction includes methods of preparation for banquet cooking, guest-centered management, event coordination, buffet layouts, decorative display, and logistical planning for on- and off-premise events.
- Physiology & Perception: How people receive and process information is not absolute. Perception is related to both biological makeup and to the way the brain receives and processes various stimuli. In this course students explore how physiology and perception play a role in what we understand about the world around us. Students apply psychological models and conduct experiments to see how our senses are generally sharp, but can be fooled. They will use this understanding to draw inferences about how information can be presented to others.
- Flavors of the Mediterranean: In this production course, students apply the knowledge learned in History and Culture to examine the ingredients, tools and cooking methods of selected regional cuisines in and around the Mediterranean. The lab exposes students to related concepts of Mediterranean cuisines including “small plates” (tapas, merende, apertivo, mezze). By defining the characteristics of cuisines, students develop a template on which to research future cuisines. By analyzing the cooking techniques, eating habits, flavors, and origins of ingredients, students gain a deeper understanding of the connection between cuisine and culture. This course also features discussions, presentations and demonstrations.
Mod 4
- Professional Development II: In this course, students establish the essential skills needed for effectively beginning their career, including networking, financial budgeting, and professional planning. Through a combination of class discussion, research, and professional portfolio development, students practice long-term career enhancement strategies.
- Nutrition: The science of nutrition has many interactions with the flavors of food. Tastes such as sweet, salty, metallic, and umami are most often directly associated with nutrients, while bitter and acidic qualities are attributed to food safety. Students will explore ingredient substitutions and alternatives through computer software programs and discussions of ingredient limitations surrounding food allergies, food choices, and health fads. A variety of menus will be evaluated for desirability of taste, texture, and aroma.
- Meat Fabrication & Charcuterie: This class builds on the foundation provided in Introduction to Meat Fabrication, and is designed to enhance the student’s under standing of meat, fish, and poultry anatomy, and to reinforce the skills used in the fabrication of meats. Classroom and lab instruction include history, sanitation, meat identification, cutting, sausage making, hot and cold smoking, curing, and brining. Instruction includes a focus on business, as students are expected to understand how to analyze and improve the profitability of a food service establishment through proper portioning and yield testing, and purchasing of appropriate market forms.
- Financial Analysis: Through lectures, project-based computer labs, and assignments, students are introduced to the fundamentals of business management and financial analysis. Students examine cost of goods and labor, vendor selection, sales mix, and income statements as tools for monitoring and adjusting business practices. Using examples and projects typical of the food and beverage industry, students use Excel to analyze and understand how financial performance impacts business enterprise.
- Operations Management: Excel Lab: This lab is taken in conjunction with Financial Analysis and introduces students to the foundations of business management. Using Excel applications as a tool for financial analysis, students examine the cost of goods, labor cost, vendor selection, sales mix, and the income statement. Through lectures, projects and assignments, students use Excel applications to analyze scenarios and examples typical to the food and beverage industry, and develop a stronger understanding of how financial performance impacts a business enterprise.
- Economics of Sustainable Communities:Students are introduced to fundamental economic principles and begin to explore how their own decisions have an impact on global and local communities. Through case studies, readings, and discussions, students examine how purchasing decisions, manufacturing techniques, transportation, environment, labor, and globalization influence today’s economy. The course will explore various social and business models that can contribute to healthy economies, including supply contracts, consolidated transport, cooperatives, and community- based research and education centers.
- Advanced Culinary Techniques: In this course students learn and practice advanced techniques that require a higher level of accuracy, attention, and refinement in method and procedure than in previous à la carte classes. Throughout the course students are challenged to recall and apply fundamental cooking skills with refinement and finesse. Emphasis is placed on the mastery of cooking methods, use of seasonal ingredients, organization, multi-tasking, timing, and menu planning. Using our mission of responsibility and sustainability as a guide, students are challenged to assume greater responsibility in preparing food to the exacting standards typical of fine dining with a farm to table theme.
- Pastries, Confections & Plated Desserts: This class builds on the skills and knowledge acquired in the first year Baking class. In the classroom setting, students are introduced to the theory, science, procedures and ingredients involved in the production of pastries. Using NECI’s pastry kitchens as labs, students put these theories to practice and produce cakes, pastries, confections, ice cream, sorbet, and contemporary or classical desserts. Students are also introduced to the decorative arts using a wide variety of products such as chocolate, sugar, and marzipan.
