How To Make The Most Of Culinary School

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Culinary school is a great option for anyone who loves to cook and for anyone who loves food. This sort of school will prepare you for professions in the culinary world, and can also prepare you for setting up your own culinary business.

Many people assume that cooking schools are relatively easy, consisting mainly of creating dishes. However, this is not true. Most culinary programs today are very diverse, some offering marketing and even business information as well as culinary information. Most programs require you to learn about food preparation as well as safety and hygiene. There is a science, as well as an art, to culinary professions.

To get the most out of culinary school, you first need to attend the right program and the right school. Decide ahead of time what your goals are, and aim for a school that will help you achieve those goals fastest. For example, if you want to become a dessert chef, make sure that you attend a school that has a stellar reputation for that. Investigate the instructors working at specific schools and study with instructors who have professional experience that you admire. If you want to become a caterer or run your own business, find out which school the culinary entrepreneurs in your area attended. Make sure that the program that you intend to enter offers you the financial help, hands-on training, and in class learning that you will need in order to succeed at your goals. Ask lots of questions before you enroll and don’t be shy about requesting additional information. School is a costly and time-consuming investment, so you want to make the right decision.

Once you’ve chosen the right culinary school, you should put all your effort into it. Don’t just walk through the motions of pursuing your degree, but really show up every day to class to learn as much as possible. Learn as much as possible from your hands-on training, and be sure to ask lots of questions. Observe others to see where you can improve. Always ask instructors for feedback, so that you will know exactly what you should work on in order to succeed in the culinary profession of your choice.

Ideally, your culinary school will offer you hands-on training as well as classroom learning. Make sure that you show up for hands-on training faithfully, and take as many courses as you can that allow you to get these practical skills. Always do your best in these environments, because the good impression you make with instructors and workers can be crucial when you need references later on. Get to know the people that you’re cooking for and working for, and try to develop a good rapport. You never know whether some of these people might be your employers one day.

Make sure that you also use all the resources that your school makes available. If there are classes that you can take that will expand your knowledge, consider taking extra courses outside of your field of study. If you have the option of traveling and cooking, consider doing so. If there are exchange programs or work-study programs, look into these. Most schools also offer things such as scholarships, career counseling, and special workshops and job fairs. Learn as much as you can about your school, and at least try all of the resources that they’re offering you.

Getting the most out of culinary school certainly requires that you show up and put in your full effort. However, taking the time to actually do your best while pursuing a degree can make you far more attractive to employers and can help you get the most value from your tuition money. Pursue your culinary dreams fully, and you may well be amazed at how far you can go.

Culinary Online Learning Program

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Not long ago there was a time when cooking was just considered to be one of the household chore activities done by women. But looking at the present scenario, it is now regarded as one of the highly skilled arts and is in great demand in the hospitality industry. In fact, it has become one of the major core service industries in the hospitality sector. Today there is a great demand for culinary artists in many top hotels and resorts. So, if you are interested in entering this type of profession and working in higher-class establishments, then going for a culinary degree can be the right career decision.

Wide Career Prospects

The career prospect in the field of culinary art is very wide and there are several areas of focus. Attaining a degree in culinary arts or culinary degree lets you choose from an amazing number of cook positions. These jobs range from fast food cooks to the high end restaurants or dining outlets. There are numerous other profiles like Test Kitchen Chef or Food Writer that you can carry once you complete your culinary art course. If you have leadership skills and enjoy carrying a little more responsibility in the workplace, then Head Chef can be the position that is meant just for you. As Head Chef, you can enjoy more control over menu selections, preparation styles and ingredients, and other aspects of the culinary arts.

These days many culinary businesses hire specialists to handle the job. So, as a Menu Planner you can do exactly what you might think, which is to plan out a menu. Apart from this, if you are good in baking and cake decorations, you can choose to work as a bakeshop attendant. There are many positions ranging from chef to manger in the field of culinary art. A culinary degree allows career goers plenty of flexibility, but at the end the success in the field of culinary arts largely depends on proper training and practice.

Learning Platforms

Culinary art is a skill that could be learned from various cooking schools. There are a number of smaller cooking schools located in small towns that work with one of the larger schools. Many community colleges offer programs in the food arts field, which in turn can help you learn basic skills before moving forward in this career. Apart from this, you can also receive a culinary degree through a distance learning or online program. It might sound hard to believe, but these online culinary or distance learning culinary programs are gaining huge response. Online schools offering this type of program works quite well and has gained more enrolling ratio of students in last few years. Many online cooking schools are providing the facility to watch online pictures of recipes and videos of cooking techniques. This new type of teaching food arts online is quickly becoming one of the famous ways of obtaining a culinary degree.

Online degrees in culinary provides you with the necessary skills and knowledge for the position while building up your experience along your career path. Once you complete your online culinary program, you get to learn about food preparation, cost management, food purchasing, selection and storage, and menu planning.

The best advantage of going for an online culinary program is that it allows you to keep moving up in the business world while making yourself more qualified for future opportunities at the same time. Besides this, you do not have to complete your course in a water-tight study schedule. You can easily study at your own speed and appear for exams when you think you are ready.

Conclusion

An online education from a culinary institute is an invaluable investment. The savings you realize by cooking meals from scratch and eating in more often will offset the cost of the class. A culinary degree will give you access to wide career opportunities you would not have had otherwise. Certainly a degree from a culinary institute will not only pay for itself, but also improve the very quality of your life.

Culinary Schools Acknowledge World And Regional Cuisines

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Traditional culinary schools have evolved considerably since the 1950’s and 60’s. At that time, gourmet cooking was still based primarily on centuries of tradition firmly rooted in the European cooking tradition. Although there were culinary schools in the United States at that time, they were few and far between because many still felt that the world’s great chefs hailed primarily from Europe and France in particular. Times have changed considerably and the world of gourmet cooking has benefited greatly from the shift.

If you still remember Julia Child’s television series that introduced good cooking to the general public, you may also remember the cooking style she demonstrated which was traditional, satisfying and heavy foods. There were rich sauces and traditional French cuisine that was wonderful, however there was little variety in terms of regional dishes. French, Italian and Spanish dishes were often demonstrated, but Asian and American ethnic cuisines weren’t taught.

It isn’t surprising, like most chefs at that time, Julia Child was traditionally trained in the French tradition. The relatively small number of culinary schools in the United States at mid-century were all based on a traditional French pattern. Over the years, however, the demand for creative dishes and ethnic cuisines grew and culinary institutes began to respond. The finest schools continue to cover the basic and advanced techniques of European cooking, but now also give students in-depth understanding of regional cooking techniques, seasonings and styles.

In the last three decades, ethnic and regional food specialties have gained huge popularity. Where these foods were once found primarily in ethnic neighborhoods, they have now gone mainstream and been elevated to fine cuisine due to their increased popularity and the interest of great chefs around the globe. Culinary schools now teach students everything from unusual cooking methods to sausage making and everything in between.

In an increasingly small world where so many people travel to different cultures and try new foods, it isn’t surprising that the interest in regional and world cuisine has taken off. When travelers return home, they hope to find the delicious foods they’ve learned to love at home as well, and chefs are responding to this trend.

Today’s culinary schools cover a wide variety of food traditions, including French, Spanish, Italian, Asian, Polynesian, Creole and Cajun, as well as many sub-categories of each of these international cuisines. “Fusion” foods are also increasingly popular. Fusion is the combination of two distinct types of cuisine in order to create unique new dishes. Fusion restaurants are now some of the most popular in the country because of their skillful blending of many international traditions that produce flavorful new dishes to tempt diners.

If you enjoy experimenting in the kitchen and trying new ways to prepare traditional foods, culinary school may be the perfect career choice for you. Be sure to ask each school you are considering what kinds of cuisines will be taught. The best culinary schools have evolved and continue to do so in order to tempt the public’s increasingly discriminating and worldly palate.

Celebrity Chefs Lead Stellar Culinary Careers

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Charismatic and creative chefs have impacted culture since the 1880s, when France’s Antoine Carme rose to stardom as chef for Napoleon and European royalty. Less than a century later, American Julia Child recreated the world’s understanding of French Cuisine through her cookbooks and television appearances, paving the way for a slew of celebrity chefs in the 1990s and into the next century.

Celebrity chefs earned their fame by starting with culinary school degrees or cooking in their parents’ kitchens. Some supplement culinary school or formal culinary education with natural talent and magnetic personalities to earn public success. Celebrity chefs and their cooking wisdom are available everywhere including a television network devoted entirely to culinary arts and shelves of cookbooks at the local bookstore.

Julia Child: American Chef Turns French

Julia Child, born in 1912 in Pasadena, California, got her start in cooking in the late 1940s after a career in advertising and public relations. Already a graduate of Smith College, she enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu culinary school when her husband was assigned a job in Paris. She later opened a cooking school, L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, and published the famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking with two colleagues from Le Cordon Bleu. Child became one of American’s first celebrity chefs and enjoyed a long career of television appearances, teaching, and writing.

Rocco DiSpirito: Reality Cooking

New York’s Rocco DiSpirito is one of celebrity chefdom’s best educated stars. He enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America at age 16, where he earned a culinary school degree with honors. He later studied at the Jardin de Cygne in Paris, and spent two years studying regional French food and wine. Rocco rounded out his culinary education with a business degree from Boston University. DiSpirito is known for his fusion of French and Asian styles, and he has opened several popular restaurants. His television credits include the reality show The Restaurant and selling Rocco Cookware on QVC.

Bobby Flay: Natural Culinary Talent

Bobby Flay began his culinary career at age 17, when he was hired at Joe Allen’s restaurant in Manhattan. Allen was so impressed with Flay’s cooking abilities that he paid for Flay’s culinary education at the French Culinary Institute. After receiving his culinary school degree, Flay became famous for his unique blends of Spanish and American cuisines. Flay owns four restaurants, including Bolo in New York, and appears regularly on the Food Network and the Early Show on CBS.

Emeril Lagasse: Kickin’ Cooking up a Notch

Known for popularizing Cajun and Creole cooking, Emeril Lagasse first learned about cooking from his mother as a young boy in Massachusetts. He received his culinary school degree from Johnson and Wales University, and worked as head chef at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans before opening his own restaurants there and in other U.S. cities. He also is a famous TV personality, getting his start in 1993 on the Food Network. The word “bam” has become synonymous with his name.

Nigella Lawson: Writing Her Culinary Career

Unlike most celebrity chefs, Nigella Lawson began her culinary career as a food writer. She earned a language degree from Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, England and got a job writing a restaurant column for Spectator. She now writes for several major culinary publications, including Gourmet and Bon Appetit, has published a number of bestselling cookbooks based on her motto, “To achieve maximum pleasure through minimum effort.” Today, she hosts several successful TV cooking shows such as Nigella Bites.

Jamie Oliver: Life-Long (and Naked) Chef

Jamie Oliver began his culinary training at age eight in his parents’ popular pub in England. He worked on his culinary education at Westminster Catering College through age sixteen, and he got his celebrity break when he appeared on a documentary about the British caf in which he was working. Television producers called him in the next morning, and he began starring in the enormously successful Naked Chef. He has since written several Naked Chef books, taken his live cooking show on the road, and opened a popular not-for-profit restaurant. Jamie’s dedication to public service and to making culinary education accessible has won him many fans.

Wolfgang Puck: Charismatic Culinary Talent

Originally from Austria, Wolfgang Puck was one of the first super chefs to establish a cooking empire. His interest in cooking was first sparked by his mother, a hotel chef. Puck received his culinary education as an apprentice in the master kitchens of top French restaurants in Europe. His charismatic personality and cooking talent led to television appearances, popular cookbooks, and wildly successful business ventures. Spago, his famous Los Angeles-based restaurant, revolutionized California pizza with its menu of gourmet toppings.

Gordon Ramsay: Villain Chef or Hero Helper?

England’s Gordon Ramsay has become one of the most notorious villains of celebrity chefdom, known for both his outstanding cooking skills and abrasive personality. His soccer career was cut short with an injury at age fifteen. He began cooking four years later, working with top chefs in London and Paris before becoming head chef at Aubergine in 1993. Ramsay’s infamy has spread to the U.S. in his reality television show Hell’s Kitchen. His culinary career continues to flourish with new restaurants and another television series where he provides on-the-spot culinary education to struggling restaurant owners.

Rachael Ray: Much More Than 30 Minutes of Fame

Culinary entrepreneur Rachel Ray began cooking at her mother’s side as a toddler. Her family owned and worked in restaurants in the northeastern United States. Ray learned about gourmet foods working at the candy counter and the fresh food department at Macy’s. She opened a prestigious gourmet food market in New York but left to pursue a culinary career in the Adirondacks. She managed restaurants and taught her “30-Minute Meals” cooking classes, which catapulted her to fame when she was featured on the local news. Ray now is the author of New York Times bestselling cookbooks, publishes her own magazine, and appears regularly on television.

Sources:

“Rocco DiSpirito,” About.com
BobbyFlay.com
“Julia Child,” Chef2Chef
“Emeril Lagasse,” Emerils.com
Every Day with Rachel Ray
“Jamie Oliver,” Food Network
“Rachel Ray,” Food Network
“Rocco DiSpirito,” Food Network
Jamie’s Kitchen
“Jeff Smith,” Seattle Times
“Bobby Flay,” Star Chefs
“Julia Child,” Star Chefs
“Nigella Lawson,” Style Network
“Celebrity Chefs,” Travel-Quest
“Celebrity Chefs,” USA Today
“Celebrity Chefs,” Wikipedia
“Bobby Flay,” Wikipedia
“Emeril Lagasse,” Wikipedia
“Gordon Ramsay,” Wikipedia
“Nigella Lawson,” Wikipedia
“Wolfgang Puck,” Wikipedia
WolfgangPuck.com

Culinary Illustration – The Art Of Food

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Illustrations and sketches are part of everyday life. Everything that we hold and see in this modern time has a creative illustration or came out of a sketch. Illustrations are widely used in artwork and even in advertising. One of the uses of illustration that has been underrated is in culinary.
Culinary illustration has been around for decades when it was used to illustrate cookbooks. It started even before food photographers became the trend. Culinary illustration is an art that can be a difficult path for many artists. Since it’s a path that’s less-taken, choosing it might bring obstacles. However, it’s not something unmanageable.
In becoming a culinary illustrator, there are simple steps that you can take in order to achieve this goal.
Have the basic skills
A creative job will also need creativity and talent. Don’t apply for a position which you don’t have the knack for. You can always improve yourself by practicing and drawing different food items. This will help in improving your skills. You can look at how other culinary illustrators are depicting their work for starters. However, make sure that you create your own style in illustrating. Aside from that, you also need to be passionate about art and illustrating. Innate creativity is a must in order to sustain the job in the long haul.

Technical skills, especially using computer software, are also necessary in being a culinary illustrator. This makes projects and illustrations quicker and easier. This is an essential skill that you can’t skip because it is usually required for most types of projects.

Have that love of food
Being a culinary illustrator means you will be sketching and drawing food for every project. A love for both art and food are useful in this job. You need to enjoy and love food in order to appreciate theartworks that you are creating. This can also make illustrating easier for you. You can have your own take on a certain dish and express how you feel.
Go the distance
After starting your culinary illustrations and finding a style that suits you, don’t just stay there. Go the distance and improve your craft. You need to make your illustrations stand out from the rest. An illustrator has to go further and make his work more interesting than a photo. This can help you in keeping up with competitors and making your work unique.
Start a portfolio
Building a portfolio is a must for every creative. This ensures that you get to show your work to future clients and agents who might want to sign you up. A portfolio also acts as a brochure that will showcase your best works. Make sure that you only include your best illustrations and those that really depict your style in drawing.

You can also share your portfolio to friends by using social media. This helps in getting the word out and showing off your works to more people. This is also a form of exposure for you as an artist.
Get inspired
Continually look for inspiration for your culinary illustrations. It’s not just about food. You can take inspiration from fashion trends, paintings, and other things around you in creating your food art.

Try a variety of medium for illustrations. It can be watercolor or even hand-drawn images, as long as it’s different from the one you usually use. This will help in getting fresh ideas and being continuously inspired.

Although being a culinary illustrator is not a conventional path for many artists, it can be worthwhile and enjoyable for those who enjoy food and art together. It’s a matter of heading straight towards that path and doing your best to get a name for yourself.