Chef Gary Ficke from Casey Jones with Knife Skills Class!

Chef Gary Ficke and his Pastry Chef Aimee, joined us for two classes in one evening!


This started off as a Knife Skills Class, and everyone was given their own chicken to learn the process of de-boning.


Checking out the shoe size on that particular bird!




Guidance is given on the proper handling of the knife...

...and where to make the appropriate initial cut.


The crew goes to work.

There is an appreciation for how nice it is to not have to perform this process every time you want chicken! But also an appreciation for when you would want to start with a whole chicken and "practice the craft".

The parts are placed into a salt brine and will be used for grilling and for the creation of chicken stock later in the class.

Aimee has placed the chicken in a savory mix to enhance the flavor of the grilled chicken and the stock.

Enough about the hens, onto the veggies!

A quick slice/garnish combination. The hand was quicker than the eye!

The seasoned thumb (most of it is still there) poses for us.

Don't let the onion scare you!

The crew is dicing up a storm!

Potatoes are a little bit more tricky.

The finale for knife skills is a beautiful rockfish that is getting filleted. Here's the before....

and the after!


We finished up with the chicken being grilled, served with a very nice avocado salad. Can't forget the finished stock that gets used in many recipes for flavor enhancement. This was a great way to improve knife skills for our students and enjoy the fruits of their labor at the end. Chef Gary, Thanks!!!!! He will offer this class again for us the end of July, and we will do FREE knife sharpening for the students that same day.