News about Baking, Pastry & Culinary Arts

More than a half-dozen Pre-College Programs attracted a knowledge-hungry host of teenagers to Penn College’s campuses in recent days, the season opener for high schoolers’ exposure to next-level academics. Campers were engaged and enlightened among the week’s bountiful offerings: Architecture Odyssey, Automotive, Aviation, Engineering, Future Restaurateurs, Health Careers and Information Technology. A second week – inviting more students to test the waters of collegiate opportunity through hands-on learning – will begin July 18.

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The nation’s longest-running major sporting event – the Kentucky Derby – ran for the 147th time May 1, and 24 Pennsylvania College of Technology students were on hand in the kitchens of historic Churchill Downs to lend their culinary skills.

While Penn College hospitality students’ work at the Kentucky Derby has been a tradition for more than 25 years, the students were unable to attend the 146th running of the Derby in 2020, when, due to the pandemic, it ran without guests in the stands in September instead of its traditional time slot on the first Saturday in May.

The students were grateful to return in 2021.

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In two very different Pennsylvania College of Technology labs, students share a similar focus. Both are using science, technology and the skills they’ve honed to develop new ways to practice their crafts.

In Chef Frank Suchwala’s Introduction to the Modernist Kitchen course, culinary arts students add science and technology to tried-and-true techniques to create new ways of presenting food. In Spring 2021, they added new tools made in a lab two buildings away.

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Penn College students and faculty, returning to Churchill Downs to prepare high-end meals for hungry Kentucky Derby crowds this week, attracted news coverage by the Louisville, Kentucky, NBC affiliate.

WAVE3 aired and posted a story detailing the work of Chef Charles R. Niedermyer, instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts, and his students – in concert, yet again, with David Danielson, executive chef. (Danielson has worked for years with Penn College students during Derby Week, and was on campus in 2016 as part of the Visiting Chef Series.)

“It’s so important that this is the only event we’ve done this year,” Niedermyer said. “We’ve canceled and not committed to anything else, but the college was committed to sending the students to the Kentucky Derby. It’s one of the top sporting events in the world. And for my students, it’s an opportunity to see a level of food production that you just can’t comprehend unless you’re here.”

Two retired faculty members at Pennsylvania College of Technology – each with decades of service to the institution – have been granted “emeritus” status.

The Penn College Board of Directors on Thursday authorized the faculty emeritus designation for Eric K. Albert, associate professor of automated manufacturing and engineering, who began his employment with the college in 1991, and Chef Craig A. Cian, associate professor of food and hospitality management/culinary arts, who started with the college in 1985. Both men retired in 2020.

“Eric and Craig’s expertise and selfless commitment have created countless long-term opportunities for our students,” said Michael J. Reed, vice president for academic affairs/provost. “Their mission focus and efficacy, coupled with genuine care and concern, brought out the best in our students and colleagues; we will always be grateful for their efforts and accomplishments. Congratulations, Dr. Albert and Chef Cian.”

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It was a “pig deal” in Jersey Shore on Saturday when chef and TV personality Brian Duffy visited Bald Birds Brewing Co. to headline the craft brewery’s BaconFest. Joining Duffy as he butchered a whole pig, grilled and smoked it, and served samples for eager attendees were Penn College culinary arts technology students Palin J. Hurst, of Gardners, and Charlie M. Suchanec, of Tyrone.

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The first of this month’s three Spring Visit Days was held Saturday, giving prospective students a comprehensive peek at Penn College while adhering to pandemic-imposed limitations on attendance. (The Admissions Office will host additional visitation events on Saturday and Sunday, April 24-25.) Attendees began their day with check-in and a presentation in the Klump Academic Center, followed by lab tours in selected academic areas. Optional activities added to participants’ feel for the breadth of life on the vibrant and verdant campus: housing, financial aid, tutoring and other academic support, athletics, placement testing, advisement and scheduling, student organizations, disability services, veterans benefits and dining options. More information about visiting campus is available by contacting Admissions.

When the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association called on its collegiate partners to provide virtual lessons for future culinarians in its high school program, Pennsylvania College of Technology chef/instructors answered – and high school teachers are grateful.

Designed to be used when schools must shift to remote learning, Penn College faculty developed lesson plans and produced more than a dozen videos, with support from the college’s Educational & Emerging Technologies Office.

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Student volunteers from Penn College’s Hospitality Connections Club will assist guest baker Nikki Fiel during a “Cupcakes for a Cause” fundraiser for Dwell Orphan Care. Orders are being accepted through Monday for six flavors of gourmet cupcakes, to be picked up from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 3, at First United Methodist Church Christian Life Center, 601 Market St., Williamsport. The nonprofit agency was formed in 2019 “to support foster and adoptive families in Lycoming County and beyond so that children have a safe, loving, forever home in which to dwell.”

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Chef Charles R. Niedermyer, instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts, was recently published in Kettle Talk, the quarterly publication of Retail Confectioners International.

Niedermyer authored “Perfecting Artisan Ganache” for the magazine’s October/November/December issue. Ganache is traditionally made from chocolate and cream. In the article, Niedermyer shares technical guidance for substituting and adding ingredients, controlling water activity and extending shelf life, as well as his formula for ganache-centered molasses spice bonbons.

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In an effort to preserve at least one tradition in a year that has been anything but normal, Le Jeune Chef staff and students are preparing a free Thanksgiving feast for the dozens of students who have opted to stay on campus during the holiday break or are isolating.

While some of the prep work was completed Wednesday, the small crew will return to campus from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday to complete and individually package the traditional, handmade Thanksgiving dinners.

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As a final project for the eight-week Bakery Operations and Product Development course, students set up a trade show in the Thompson Professional Development Center on Oct. 5. As part of the course, baking and pastry arts students develop a product line or business concept and put their marketing lessons to work by developing and staffing a display that includes product packaging, menus or price lists, business cards and other marketing materials.
Photos by Sue A. Kelley, dean of business, arts and sciences 

Through a solid belief in herself and unwavering encouragement from her support system, Penn College alumna Amy (Lynn) Koral boldly quit a bakery job to become a full-time personal chef and business owner. Koral – who earned an associate degree in baking and pastry arts in 2014 and founded Cherished Meals in Oregon four years later – discusses the rewards of preparing meals and restoring her clients’ valuable time in the process. “It happened very organically, and I’m so happy to be cooking healthy meals for people each week,” she writes in a blog posting. “I love making people’s lives easier and filling their refrigerators with homemade, nourishing meals.”

Winners have been named in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s annual wedding cake competition, with first-place honors awarded to a baking and pastry arts student from Macungie.

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Students in the course Introduction to Modernist Kitchen, taught by Chef Frank M. Suchwala, associate professor of hospitality management/culinary arts, finished their spring class competencies this week, each preparing an impressive three-course spread of appetizer, entree and dessert. The class explores the modern culinary techniques of spherification, foaming canisters, sous vide cookery, gelation, flash freezing with liquid nitrogen and avant-garde cuisine.
Photo by Chef Frank M. Suchwala, associate professor of hospitality management/culinary arts