
Specialty Programs
Specialty Programs
Mohonk Mountain House stands at the heart of our Shawangunk Ridge comprised of the Mohonk Mountain House resort, the Mohonk Preserve, and Minnewaska State Park.
We offer a variety of specialty career programs, including a Culinary Extern Program, a Recreation Internship Program, and an International Program.
Culinary Extern Program at Mohonk Mountain House
Our resort has four restaurants, conference food service, and an employee cafeteria. Mohonk features Modern American Cuisine, emphasizing the use of fresh ingredients sourced from local farms in our Hudson Valley region. We implement current cooking trends and sound cooking techniques to arrive at a superior product in both taste and appearance. Cleanliness is a must, as are a strong work ethic and a willing-to-learn attitude.
Mohonk’s Culinary Show Team has participated in the Culinary Salon at the annual Hotel, Motel, and Restaurant Show in New York City, where they have won numerous Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals, as well as several “Best of Show” and “Judges’ Best” Awards.
The kitchens are based on a “cook from scratch” mentality which, when associated with mid-level volume, creates a challenging work environment. Your personal work habits must be centered on increasing your speed, organization, and overall work ethic. A willingness to learn and to follow directions is a must.
The Mohonk Extern Program lasts from 15-18 weeks (depending on your culinary school’s requirements). You will rotate through the following stations.
Culinary Extern Rotation
The Mohonk extern program lasts from 15-to-18 weeks (depending on your culinary school’s requirements). You will rotate through the following stations:
Garde Manger A.M. Banquet Server/P.M. à la Carte
All products are House-made including charcuterie, appetizers, salad, desserts, platter presentations, bruschetta bars, etc. Supporting garde manager needs for up to 1000 guests per shift. Exposure to banquet, buffet, and à la carte service.
A.M. Hotline
Breakfast and buffet service for 500-1000 using wholesome products, honing in on knife and organizational skills. Includes soups, stocks, fish butchering, vegetables, and starches. Works directly with the A.M. Sous Chef using local and specialty products.
P.M. Hotline
High-quality, labor-intensive à la carte service for 200-600 dinners using all techniques, making chutneys, relishes, soups, stocks, vegetables, and starch accompaniments. Responsible for daily entrées through team concept under the direction of the P.M. Sous Chef.
Mohonk Dinner Festival
Live cooking stations in the dining room responding to guests’ preferences, including sauté stations, salad stations, and carving stations.
The Granary
Casual outdoor dining offering barbecued chicken, steak, ribs, burgers, and hot dogs, as well as corn on the cob, beans, fresh-baked breads, tossed salads, composed salads, homemade desserts, and more.
Pastry Extern Rotation
Breakfast Prep
Preparation of House-made breakfast bakery items, and proofing and baking pre-made items.
Lunch Prep
Rolling, proofing, baking, and slicing of lunch loaves. Scaling, mixing, depositing, icing, and filling of large recipe lunch dessert items such as sponges, creams, fruit fillings, custards, and sauces. Tracking guest counts, usage and finishing of lunch dessert items (sheet cakes, pies, brownies, frozen filled cakes).
Afternoon Tea and Cookies
Prep Scaling of large cookie batches; piping and/or depositing of 90-quart batches.
Dinner Prep
Making large-recipe jacondes, sponges, pastry crèmes, mousses, anglaises, and sauces. Also, sweet and pie dough, rolling tart shells, rolling large and small pie shells, and flan rings.
Dinner Production
Assist Pastry Chef with production of finished items (individual mousses, sliced cakes, etc.).
Sauces Production
of large (3-5 gallon) recipes of fruit sauces from scratch, and cream-based sauces.
Shop Organization
Inventory, organization of stock, and cleaning of storage areas of the patisserie. Cooler and freezer rotation: keeping track of established pars.
Décor Items
Assist Pastry Chef with the production of chocolate lay-ups and chocolate items for dessert décor.
Chocolate
Use of affector in the tempering of marble slab for use in making truffle chocolates, chocolate lay-ups, and amenities.
Bread Production
Assist in all aspects of daily rolls, loaves, and bread items for our full-service resort.
Specialty Projects
Assist the Pastry Chef with specialty pieces as they come up for amenities and demos (sugar, chocolate, pastillage).
Wedding Cakes
Assist the Pastry Chef with filling, icing layers, etc., to facilitate finishing by the chef.