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<\/a><\/p>\nNext to her, chef assistant trainer Cedric Jackson was assembling an industrial-sized mixing bowl to whip up batches of sweet potatoes for the day\u2019s souffl\u00e9.<\/p>\n
One table over, cafeteria assistant Mary Richardson was topping chicken salads with homemade croutons to be served with scratch-made salad dressings. And on the stove, a stock made with vegetable leftovers slowly simmered to use another day in Mexican or cilantro lime rice.<\/p>\n This was not a fancy hotel kitchen, but rather morning prep at New Castle Elementary School\u2019s cafeteria one of five schools added to the division\u2019s full scratch cooking initiative<\/a> this year, bringing the total to eight.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are doing enchilada bakes, Asian noodle bowls, and pork potato bowls with cornbread,\u201d division chef Kip Poole described, adding that there\u2019s two words that he says a lot: efficiency and consistency.<\/p>\n As a former chef, cook and general manager for notable Hampton Roads restaurants such as Byrd & Baldwin and 4-5-6 Fish, Poole knows the importance of consistency.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever you go to your favorite restaurant, you know you like a certain dish because it\u2019s a consistent and efficient product,\u201d he added. \u201cWhat this means for students is that we want to make sure, whether it\u2019s the tater tot bake or fiesta nachos, that the food will taste the same every time.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the past year, the division\u2019s Food Services hired a team of lead trainers who have been training cafeteria staff<\/a>. Trainings continue every Tuesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cMy manager and I went through the training right before school started and we cooked everything,\u201d Rodriguez explained. \u201cThey had displays and showed us how to cook everything. As I\u2019m doing it, it\u2019s getting easier and easier.\u201d<\/p>\n She said that the students love the food. And she\u2019s right.<\/p>\n \u201cIt tastes like pumpkin pie, but it isn\u2019t,\u201d fourth grader David Main eagerly shared with his lunchtime tablemates, referring to the sweet potato souffl\u00e9. That dish was one of the scratch items that he heard \u201cChef Ced\u201d promote via the school\u2019s student-broadcast morning announcements something which Jackson does every day.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, third grader Brooklyn Howell was relishing her baked apple.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n