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Show ' 1' i ...litM... to , y' ' . "' v-' f. : - ; .,........-,--: "r i , . -.. -.4 I ' ) ' - . ,J "' " E..-rvr- v --JI --i . - tV'., I - - TEACHING CULINARY EXCELLENCE CLEARFIELD - Behind every dish of tasty and nutritious nutri-tious food served up at the Clearfield Job Corps is additional addi-tional training for aspiring cooks. AT LEAST that's the goal of veteran Rigo Del Carlo, who has spent most of his life in I front of a stove creating culinary delights. He operat- ed a successful Italian restaurant res-taurant in Ogden for 25 years, but gave it all up about two years ago for "the easy life" of ten-hour days five days a week. And not only are the hours shorter but the work a lot more rewarding, he says, emphasizing that the kitchen and bakery operations are set up to dispense 6,000 meals a day and provide training for aspiring students in the culinary arts. "WE HAVE trained a lot of students who are now in the cooking business and we get a lot of letters back thanking us for our help and training. That's what makes you feel so good." Some 32 students are spending half of each weekday week-day learning the cooking trade while 28 others tackle the project in the bakery as part of the job center's vast training program in many vocational areas. Students spend the other half of each day in academic pursuits earning their high school degree equivalent. "FROM THE bakery and as a cook, you can find a job Clearfield Job Corps Center Chef Rigo Del Carlo, right, strives for excellence in the food he prepares and the instruction given to center students including cousins Michael Kelley, from Philadelphia and Glenda Richardson, Trenton, N.J. immediately. Between now and 1982 they are going to need 250,000 cooks in this country," the native of central cen-tral Italy says. "It makes me feel good, to see these kids who come from poor families and have never seen this kind of an operation before and in a year's time they find themselves out making money." THE corps members work . in the kitchen or bakery under the direction of an experienced professional staff. Three of the head bakers, for instance, have accumulated ac-cumulated about 50 years, in experience. Students in the program get involved in every phase of a normal food preparation operation, having especially close supervision during the first month. "After the first month they know what to do and then they work under the direction of an instructor." STUDENTS CHECK in as at any large food production operation, with the first shift coming to work at 5 a.m. and finishing up at 1 p.m., while the second runs from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. plus part-time workers. "I love it so much," Rigo says of his work. "I never want to go home. I see the way they're (students) learning. learn-ing. They all come to me and ask if I would like to taste their stew or whatever. I feel I'm doing something good. Money isn't everything these are wonderful kids." SOME 38 years ago he started learning the cooking and baking trade in Italy and served up dishes for Italian servicemen during Worfd War II. In 1948, he came to Utah and worked for a large bakery in Ogden, opening his restaurant, known as Rigo's, there in 1954. That facility is now utilized as a hospitality center for corps students visiting Ogden. . Cooking for about 1,500 corps members and staff is no easy task. About 600 lbs. of hamburger and an equal amount of stew meat are needed for one serving. If you want fish, that requires 500 lbs. And a slice of bread ends up as about 600 loaves of bread baked each day. MENUS ARE prepared in six-week cycles enabling a staff to order and plan ahead as much as possible. Foodstuffs Food-stuffs are purchased from local farmers and merchants, amounting to about $1.5 million yearly, Rigo says. . How does the food rate? WHILE HE is obviously prejudiced, Rigo points with pride to the food operation. "We have a lot of visitors from area clubs and all of them think it i really wonderful. won-derful. They'je.all surprised and want fo come back." A cafeteria addition recently completed provides space for club functions. And Rigo's expertise is sought by other Thiokol Corp. job corps centers, requiring that he make several visits there each year. "STUDENTS COME here from a rough neighborhood and then they come in here and they grow up so fast. The progress makes you feel like you never want to go home." |
