|
|
Culinary School
 Cassie L Damewood
A passion for cooking can be fine-tuned to transform you into a gourmet home cook or prepare you for a career in the culinary arts. If you decide to learn from the masters rather than educating yourself through books and videos, enrol in a culinary school. They are located all over the world and teach everything from basic cooking methods to special techniques and ethnic cuisines. Before choosing a culinary school, evaluate your goals, time you can invest and budgetary guidelines.
Curriculum Options
To start from scratch, choose a culinary school with beginning classes that cover kitchen basics such as knife techniques, simple baking, and cooking methods such as sautéing, frying, braising, poaching, searing, roasting, grilling and deep-frying. After you master these skills, you'll have a better idea of where your skills and interests lie and choose advanced classes with emphasis in pastry preparation or garnishing or concentrations in ethnic cuisines including Mexican, Spanish, French, Italian, Indian, Japanese, Chinese or Thai.
Length of Study
Culinary schools typically have flexible class schedules that include night and weekend courses for students with job and family commitments. Full-fledged culinary degrees usually require two to three years of classwork education combined with hands-on kitchen training under the supervision of a master chef or equivalent. Many communities include private cooking schools or culinary arts programs through junior colleges and technical institutes, all of which provide long- and short-term courses and commitments.
Costs
The world's top culinary schools such as the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and Le Cordon Bleu are the priciest, with semesters at CIA running around $15,000 each and online Bachelor's degrees at Le Cordon Bleu costing about $50,000. Larger schools typically have financial aid programs as well as scholarships and grants. Tuition fees at private schools vary and classes at junior colleges and technical schools are often free or low-cost.
| | |
|
|
|
|
