Chef cooking school is an institution that is attended by students who wish to learn how to cook. A cooking program at such a school is called a culinary arts program. This is a popular career choice since food is such a big part of the culture of a city, state or country. Celebrity chefs who have their own television shows on food networks and who whip up meals and desserts for an audience are also a driving force behind the popularity of chef cooking school. Culinary cooking school promises students the opportunity to work their way up in the kitchen, from learning how to use everyday kitchen appliances to how to garnish a fancy meal.
Professional cooking school can also help students decide what type of chef they would like to be, and training for each type is provided in chef cooking school. Commis chefs work as assistants to cooks by preparing food and plates in the kitchen. Cooks often start out in this position to learn the ins and outs of working in the restaurant business. Pastry chefs work with baked goods, and these types of cooks must have an appreciation for the aesthetic appearance of food, as they are often responsible for preparing large quantities of pastries or other confections for fancy events. A saucier is a chef who is skilled in the five major sauces used in cooking, which include espagnole, veloute, béchamel, vinaigrette and hollandaise.
The sous chef is the main chef’s right-hand man or woman. He or she essentially runs the kitchen while the chef is busy cooking, and duties of the sous chef include planning menus, keeping track of supplies and ingredients and preparing specialty foods. The executive chef is the one who does the majority of the cooking, and he or she supervises the activities of all the other chefs. The garde manager is a specialized food presentation chef who has learned in chef cooking school how to decorate plates to seem most appealing. The personal chef works with individual families rather than in restaurants to help a family maintain a diet that best suits them, and he or she may do the grocery shopping and cook meals in the family’s home.
These are the types of chefs who are trained in chef cooking school. Most cooking school programs last between two to four years, and they consist of a mix between classroom instruction and hands-on experience. Courses include menu planning, measurement basics, sizing of portions, using and caring for kitchen appliances, purchasing ingredients in bulk, storing food, reheating food, minimizing waste and following safety procedures. In the kitchen, culinary students will be given recipes and must make the food in a given time frame. Chef students must also learn about food poisoning and always follow proper sanitation procedures to avoid such risks.