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Salem High School

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Culinary Arts

Culinary

About the Program

Do you love to cook? Do you enjoy serving people in your community and making them happy? Are you interested in a career that allows you to travel? Hospitality and tourism is one of the largest industries in New Hampshire and demand for quality trained cooks, chefs, managers and servers is high. Students will gain excellent hands-on, industry experience in a licensed, commercial kitchen. Over the course of two years, students will learn knife skills, fundamental cooking methods, baking methods, sanitation, menu development, nutrition, and principles of hospitality. Additionally, all students will leave with an industry credential, ServSafe. This program is meant to give you the knowledge and skills you need to be successful in the culinary industry.

 

A chef in a white hat and apron carefully slices vegetables in a commercial kitchen.

Instructor

Jessica Sarno

A woman with brown hair smiles, wearing a blue uniform.Jessica grew up in Georgia and discovered a joy for cooking in her college years.  After completing two years of school for criminal justice, Jessica transitioned to culinary school, graduating the Art Institute of Atlanta in 2003 with a degree in culinary arts.  While in Atlanta, Jessica began her culinary career working first at a country club and then at a Hyatt hotel. She transferred with the hotel to Ft. Myers, FL, where she continued at the hotel for another 4 years. 

Jessica rotated through many positions at the Hyatt, including garde manger, saucier, banquet chef, and pastry chef.  This is where her passion for pastry and cakes was born.  Upon moving up north, Jessica took a job at the Café Escadrille where she was able to utilize her knowledge of fine dining cuisine and created menus for wine tasting events and later was promoted to pastry chef.  

After several years in industry, Jessica wanted a change of pace from the hectic restaurant scene and decided to venture out on her own, designing custom cakes for special events.  This led to teaming up with Princeton Station, a small, family owned restaurant in Chelmsford, MA, where she created cakes for functions held there.  Eventually, this led to a large enough following for her to be able to open a storefront in Merrimack, NH.  After three years, and trying times during COVID, Jessica opted to close the bakery and begin a new career. 

The closing of the bakery led to finding a job at Alvirne High School in Hudson, NH, where she worked to earn her teaching certification, as well as certification as an Executive Chef through the ACF, and taught culinary classes for 3 years, until joining the Salem CTE community last year.  She is looking forward to helping students find the love for food that she has and helping to prepare them for a career in the industry.

 

Courses

  • Grades 10-11, 2 Credits, Year, Every day

    In Culinary Arts 1, students will learn about kitchen safety and sanitation, culinary terminology, product identification, baking skills, knife skills and other culinary skills essential to the industry. Students will work as a team to prepare food while gaining foundational technical knowledge. If you enjoy cooking and working as a team in a fast-paced environment and have interest in the food service industry, then Culinary Arts is for you. Opportunity in the culinary and hospitality business is endless and is a profession that you can practice anywhere in the world. You will have the opportunity to leave this course with a ServSafe Food handler certification.

     

  • Grades 11-12, 2 Credits (EC), Year, Every day 

    In this course, you will build on your skills from year one and dive deeper into menu development, nutrition, sustainability, and restaurant service. Students will assume all positions within the kitchen, dining room, and bakery. Students can choose to participate in after school functions, competitions, and local meetings. You will have the opportunity to leave this course with a ServSafe Manager certification. 

    College credit is available through Lakes Region Community College.

    Pre-requisite: Grade of a B or better in Culinary Arts 1 or teacher recommendation. Students must have also earned their ServSafe Food handler credential prior to entering this course.