Culinary Recipes and Food Labs
Around here we love football and our city really identifies with our NFL football team, the Buffalo Bills. In culinary arts middle school and high school, we spend some time on football game snacks. It gets the kids practicing knife skills and cooking techniques while participating in an American food tradition.
4 Game Time Snacks that Your Students Will Love
1- The twisty potato– Chris practiced this one at home and then made it with his students and it was a big hit! It involves some pretty tricky knife skills so it is better suited for high school culinary students. It is an inexpensive cooking lab that is tasty and fun to make. You just need skewers and potatoes!

Put the twisty potato on a skewer and bake!
2- Salsa and Chips– What better way to practice knife skills than to make salsa with your students? There are so many variations on salsa that it can be fun to experiment with different ingredients. We have a lesson that includes a worksheet on salsa and the different types as well as questions for students to answer.
3- Chicken Wing Dip- This is a hometown Buffalo staple during the big games. Students practice handling raw chicken and can season this delicious dip to their liking. For the wing sauce, if you can get your hands on Frank’s Hot Sauce, that will make your dip truly Buffalo authentic. Here is a recipe that we use.
4- Charcuterie Board– Charcuterie boards are such a fun way to present food to a crowd. Students can have fun making a class board or designing individual charcuterie boards even in small groups. You can make it simple and give them plates to create their charcuterie boards. We have a lesson that introduces charcuterie boards and has them design their own. It also includes a digital charcuterie board drag and drop activity!

Our students made this Buffalo Bills charcuterie board for game day.

This lesson has a history of charcuterie boards, questions, a design your own board, and drag and drop activity!
We have just begun making the opposing teams famous dishes each week which has been fun. So, if we play Chicago, we make a dish from Chicago, etc.