Cooking School

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Whether you want to attend cooking school for personal reasons, like improving your culinary skills for the benefit of yourself and your family, or for professional reasons, like embarking on an exciting and creative career, there is a place for you in the culinary education arena. There are hundreds of cooking schools worldwide and each has a different purpose, focus, and specialty. Here's how to find the best fit for you.

Initial Considerations

Before you begin your research into culinary schools, you need to consider what you want to get from it. First, you must decide whether you want to pursue cooking school for professional or recreational reasons. This one decision will affect every other aspect of your preliminary research. Once you have decided which direction you wish to pursue, you are ready to consider the other criteria.

Universal Considerations

Depending on your goals, there are certain things that you must consider before deciding which schools to apply to:

Program Focus: Do you want to learn basic cooking skills or are you looking for instruction in a particular niche of cooking? There are many basic cooking programs, as well as programs for ethnic food preparation, palate education (like wine appreciation courses), and other specific areas of cooking knowledge. Narrowing down what you would like to focus on in your training is the first step to choosing your cooking school.
Program Cost: Your budget is your second consideration. You don't want to get excited about a course only to find that you cannot afford it. Determine how much you want to spend and use that figure to narrow down your choices. Many professional programs have scholarships which can expand your budget considerably.
Program Length: How long will the course last? Obviously, a degree course is going to take longer (2 to 4 years or more) while a recreational course may last only a few hours to a few weeks.
Program Location: Now that you know what you want to learn and how much you want to spend, you are ready to consider locations. There are schools and programs around the world, including many short-term, vacation destinations.
School Reputation: While this will be of more importance to those seeking professional training, the reputation of the school is a good indicator of how satisfied you will be with your overall experience. If you are seeking professional certification, you will also want to look for accreditation. As with any other degree program, accreditation is an assurance that this school has met the generally recognized standards for culinary education.

An excellent list of questions to ask when you are evaluating cooking schools can be found at Cooking Schools 101 online.

Going Pro

If you are planning to seek professional training, you need to determine what direction you want to take in your cooking career. Some possibilities:

Master Chef: The master chef is a person who has completed training to the highest possible level. After completing the training courses, the candidate must pass the Certified Master Chef Examination to receive the Master Chef Certification.
Executive Chef: If you've watched "Hell's Kitchen," you've seen an executive chef in action. The executive chef is responsible for all food production, menu planning, purchasing, and staffing of a kitchen.
Sous Chef: This is the manager-level position and the sous chef usually serves under an executive chef. A sous chef coordinates the preparation of all foods, supervises the kitchen staff and instructs them in techniques, and may prepare special dishes.
Pastry Chef: This specialist handles baked goods of all sorts, including breads, pastries, and other desserts.
Saucier: The saucier (saw-SEE-ay) is a soup and sauce specialist. This chef has received specialized training in building complex flavours and textures.
Garde Manger: This is the "cold chef." The garde manger (gard mon-zhay) uses artistic skill to create cold dishes like hor d'oeuvres, pate, salads, and relishes.
Commis Chef: The commis chef is the entry-level apprentice who learns his culinary skills on the job, from the chefs with whom he works. There is much room for advancement as the commis chef learns each aspect of food service, from peeling vegetables to serving an attractive plate.
Line Chef: works under the sous chef to prepare food and perform other kitchen tasks as needed.

Cooking School -- Where to Go

There are thousands of cooking schools worldwide. Some schools, however, are well-recognized for their high standards of quality and classic culinary educational programs.

Le Cordon Bleu: internationally acclaimed as the pinnacle of cooking skill, Le Cordon Bleu was founded in Paris in 1895. There are 26 international schools in 15 countries. Master Chefs teach the techniques and methods of cuisine, pastry, and bread baking which have been codified in France over the last 500 years. It takes about nine months to earn Le Grand Diplôme Le Cordon Bleu.
La Varenne: La Varenne is another highly-respected French cooking school. Anne Willan founded La Varenne in 1975 and directs its culinary programs at the Château du Feÿ in Burgundy, France. La Varenne offers five-day Master Class programs that are limited to twelve participants; the goal is for students to learn as much as possible about French cooking techniques and ingredients.
The Culinary Institute of America: This American cooking school is well-known and highly respected -- it has even earned high praise from French chef Paul Bocuse. The "CIA" has a large faculty of certified Master Chefs, and students spend more time in the kitchen at this school than at most other schools -- over 1,300 hours! CIA has two campus locations: Hyde Park, New York, and St. Helena, California.