A Glimpse into CHS Patisserie Class

By Kailey Matcheson, 2027

Published 11/30/23

Back in October, I was given the opportunity to shadow CHS sophomore, Muno Duong, during his Patisserie class. On the day I visited, the class was making shortbread butter cookies. Each station in the kitchen is occupied by a group of four students who work together to bake the various recipes each class. The students worked on parts of the recipe making sure that everyone was participating; the classroom was bursting with movement and group work. Baking the cookies wasn’t too time consuming, it only took around 35 minutes overall. Mrs. Wildermann, Patisserie teacher, was extremely helpful to students throughout the course of the class. For example, while Muno was mixing all the ingredients together to form the dough, he noticed that it was crumbling and not as smooth as it should have been. After consulting with Mrs. Wildermann she instructed him and offered advice on how to improve the batter. They rolled and cut the cookies, poking holes in them, then putting them in the oven to bake. 

As the cookies were baking, I asked Muno some questions, starting with why he decided to enroll in the culinary classes offered here. He mentioned how he plans on pursuing a career in this field. He referred to this class as “hands on learning” and talked about how it teaches him life skills such as problem solving in addition to the actual baking skills he would need in the field. Muno mentioned that the reason he’s so passionate about culinary is that he finds it calming and loves the process of mixing ingredients to make a finished product, finding it a good way to de-stress. I asked Muno his favorite and least favorite foods made in class this year, and his response was that pizza was his favorite to make since it was fun and a unique process compared to other foods, and his least favorite was cornbread since his group messed it up a little and it’s just not one of his favorite foods in general. 

If you plan on taking this class here’s some things to know beforehand: Before you take Patisserie, you need to take the prerequisite class, Culinary Arts. I also asked Muno and his group for some tips they’d give, they all agreed that sanitation is a high priority of the class, you should wash your hands and make sure to tie back your hair. They also said that you should know how to precisely measure ingredients. Other than that, the class is very straightforward and anyone who puts their mind to it can accomplish a lot of learning in it. 

The time I spent shadowing Muno and seeing what it’s truly like inside the class showed me how supportive and lively the CHS Patisserie environment is. The class is educational and fun, the best of both worlds, and teaches both life skills and useful terms for the kitchen. Plus, the food they made is tasty and they always get to bring their own share home.