Corrigan graduates future chefs

Montville -- Thirty-nine inmates graduated from the culinary arts program at Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center Friday.

The intense, six-month month program is focused on teaching "hard core, French classical cuisine," according to the instructor, master chef Barry Dufault.

Dufault, who was honored recently as Vocational Educator of the Year, is strict. "I'm not here to be their friend. I have a process and a product to deliver," he said.

Dufault, 65, has almost 50 years of culinary experience and has worked at Corrigan-Radgowski for 16 years.

There are three other prisons in the state with vocational programs for culinary arts. Dufault bases his curriculum on the skills he'd want his employees to have if he had his own restaurant. The program focuses on the language of the kitchen, the technicalities of cooking and the ingredients.