Josh Sampsell was excited to be back in the kitchen where he spent so much time as a high school student. “I was honestly at this school more than I was at home the two years I attended, and I didn’t mind it at all. It was great,” shared Sampsell, who began his butchering career path at The Greenhouse Tavern, then progressed to The Butcher and The Brewer and is now with Fat Head’s Brewery.
Sampsell was back in the culinary arts lab giving a hog butchery and cooking demonstration to current junior and senior students. “I am excited to come back to the JVS to show the students a little bit about butchering.”
Culinary Arts instructor, Chef Tim Michitsch, spoke about the significance of staying connected to past students. “It is an important part of the program for me. It gives a great perspective to my current students to have them hear and learn from past students of the program.”
After months of conversations between Michitsch and Sampsell, a phone call from Farmer Lee Jones, of The Chef’s Garden, brought it all together. “It was so gracious of Farmer Lee Jones to deliver this hog for these students. It is such a great learning experience for them,” said Sampsell.
Shelby Jones, Culinary Arts junior from Firelands, couldn’t agree more. “I really enjoyed watching the whole process unfold. I’ve never seen anything like this before and thought it was very cool. Being a part of this will help me in my senior year because I know that we will learn how to fabricate a chicken, so having this knowledge will be beneficial.”
Chef Michitsch shared how the juniors will be getting into
the meats portion of their class shortly, and that the seniors are doing meat
right now, so this demonstration fits right in to the curriculum.
The learning also goes far beyond the demonstration. “All of the product that was broken down in this process will be used,” said Michitsch. “Students will now get to learn how to make ham and bacon from scratch, how to work with a pork belly, how to make prosciutto, to work with sausage and pates. This shows them how all of the product can be used. They see the whole process of it from being a whole pig, and then working down to smaller fabricated cuts and retail pieces.”
“The skills these students are learning in this culinary program will need continual practicing and honing,” said Sampsell. “Practice makes perfect. It is important to know your knife cuts, and beginning in here and being taught the correct way, and that you do that consistently, you will get perfect at it.”
“It is my job to make sure my students get the best education possible,” said Michitsch, and Sampsell seconded that comment. “The experience I gained from being a part of this program was amazing. Having the opportunities to go to national competitions, travel to places I’d never been, attend ACF (American Culinary Federation) meetings; it all added up,” Sampsell stated.
“I want these students to know how important the skills are that they are learning here in the kitchen and in the academic classrooms. It all ties together.”