Local chefs run restaurant with students at Tech Center.
By Jennifer Tuttle
Staff Writer
David Hay and Scott Rohrer teach junior and senior high students cooking skills in the culinary arts program at Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center.
Instruction includes classroom work and hands-on experience running the Jaguar Room, a public restaurant at the school.
After many years in the restaurant business, Hay decided to share his experience with students. He started teaching at SCCTC 15 years ago. During the first few years on the job, he completed his teaching license requirements through the Career and Technical Education Licensure Program at The Ohio State University.
Rohrer is only two years into teaching at the school, but the environment is familiar to him.
He completed a similar program while in high school. Rohrer is enrolled in the Education Licensure Program at OSU. The program generally takes two to three years to complete.
We asked the chefs/instructors to share some advice, tips and their summer plans.
Q. When did you realize you wanted to be a chef?
A. Hay: My family owned 30 restaurants. I remember helping them when I was about 5 or 6. I really knew I wanted to be a chef in high school and I developed a plan to make it happen.
Rohrer: I knew when I was young. My family loved to cook. I was always helping my father and grandfather in the kitchen.
Q. Where did you learn to cook?
A. Hay: I grew up in the business. I also learned to cook at 55 Restaurant Group in Columbus. I worked various positions at the restaurant.
Rohrer: I studied culinary arts in high school at R.G. Drage Career Technology Center in Massillon. From there I studied culinary arts and baking/pastry arts at Sullivan University. I then did an apprenticeship at Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. I worked under three master chefs.
Q. Who has influenced your cooking the most?
A. Hay: Family and Jeff Hollenbeck from 55 Restaurant Group.
Rohrer: My father; Chef Derek Spinlove, from college; Master Chef Peter Timmons, my pastry arts instructor, and Master Chef Rich Rosedale, the youngest captain on the USA culinary arts team.
Q. What is your secret ingredient? Why?
A. Both: Kosher salt/sea salt. Use it in place of table (iodine) salt. It dissolves better, is saltier and you use less.
Q. What do you like to do out of the kitchen? What are you going to do during summer break?
A. Hay: I am a Springfield firefighter. It is 100 percent different. It keeps me fresh. I love training and helping people. I also enjoy all my family activities during the summer.
Rohrer: I work. I wish I could teach year round. I normally find a job during the summer. Last year I worked the PGA sporting events at Greenbrier Resort. I hope to find a job in a local restaurant this summer.
Q. Famous person you’d love to see eating at the Jaguar Room?
A. Hay: Chef Thomas Keller. He is the number one chef in America. He has culinary experience like no other.
Rohrer: Chef Grant Achatz and Chef Thomas Keller.
Q. What are your favorite cooking gadgets?
A. Hay: My knives. Knives are an extension of you. Find one that fits you best.
Rohrer: Immersion circulator and food saver. I use the two for cooking sous-vide, cooking food sealed in plastic bags. It cooks at an accurate temperate and more evenly. I also use my pressure cooker to make a variety of meals.
Q. What would you want your last meal to be?
A. Hay: Oysters and Pearls. I experienced the dish prepared by Chef Thomas Keller in New York. It was life changing.
Rohrer: Seared Foie Gras. (fatty liver of a goose)
Q. What’s your best piece of advice for at-home, everyday cooking?
A. Hay: Keep it simple. Use fresh ingredients and buy local whenever possible. Remember the food is supposed to taste like it tastes.
Rohrer: Monitor food and cook to the correct temperature. Do not overcook.
Chef’s Pick - Chipotle Marinade
1 pork tenderloin or 4-6 chicken breasts
Juice of 4 limes
1 cup honey
1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt
4 teaspoon minced garlic
4 chipotle chile peppera in adobo sauce (southwest food section at grocery store in a small can)
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
Directions: Combine all ingredients and reserve a ¼ cup of marinade for later use. With the remainder of the marinade, cover a cleaned pork tenderloin for 16 to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
Grill pork tenderloin brushing with reserved marinade while cooking until an internal temperature of 145 degrees.
Let rest for 7-8 minutes, then slice.