Smart cookie

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Kids see how glamorous cooking seems on the food networks, then come to school and see what hard work it is, says Chef Christopher Burgos of Food and Finance HS in Manhattan.

Having worked his way up from pot washer to executive chef, Christopher Burgos knows his way around a kitchen. Now he’s getting a feel for the classroom. And it’s taking a gentler touch than he’s accustomed to as a member of a profession not known for its gentle ways.

“I’m used to people jumping when I speak,” said Burgos, who started teaching culinary arts at Food and Finance HS in Manhattan last March. “These kids are the opposite of that, yet I have to tone it down because they’re kids!”

Still, if any of his 9th- and 10th-graders think they can get anything past a former pot washer when it comes to cleaning up, they’re in for a surprise — and not one coated in sugar.

“I’m quite the taskmaster,” he said. “Once kids see that a disciplined environment is a good thing, once they let their guard down and see that someone’s in charge and helping lead them in the right direction, they see that’s a good way to go.”

After putting in his time scrubbing over a sink, the New York City native and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America moved up the kitchen hierarchy. First came prepping, then creating cold salads and after that making hot food.

He became a sous chef, a kind of middle-management position in which a cook’s mettle is truly tested, then became an executive chef. Over the years he’s worked in different environments, from cafes to top restaurants, from bistros to catering to hotel kitchens.

He was working a seasonal gig in 1999 when he saw an ad for a teaching job at Star Academy in Manhattan, a vocational school for adults. By 2010, Burgos was its culinary director. He resigned when the job became too much paperwork and not enough kitchen.

“But I got bitten by the bug and loved teaching, loved the reward of seeing a student finally understand and be able to create banquets from scratch,” said Burgos, who comes from a family of teachers. His mother, Rafaela Burgos, is retired after 35 years at PS 154 in the Bronx. His sister is an assistant principal at Tottenville HS on Staten Island.

He loves seeing kids understand and loves when students with behavior issues take an interest in cooking, study it in earnest and start turning the corner.

Segueing from teaching adults to teens is challenging, Burgos discovered. He learned that in addition to helping build skills he has to break down myths.

“A lot of the kids watch the food networks and see how glamorous cooking is, and then come to school and see what hard work it is,” said Burgos, who teaches both cooking — his forte is grilling fish — and baking — his passion is cookies.

He added that teenagers want instantaneous results and when they find out that they have to cut onions, work with hot pots and wash dishes, they can get discouraged.

“Instantaneous results are impossible with fine food; there are procedures to be followed correctly. Seeing and tasting what they made gives them enough pride to know it’s worth waiting for,” he said.

Then, of course, there is always the cookie-curriculum cure.

“The result is quick; they learn to mix dough properly, they can’t make and eat cookies fast enough,” said Chef Burgos.