Culinary School New York

Archive for the ‘Culinary Training’ Category

When I lived in Brooklyn, NY I remember one of the Dominican restaurant and bakery that we would eat dinner at sometimes. I always marveled at how beautiful the cakes were—especially the wedding cakes. It looked like they took so much time to create since the the decorative icing was so intricate and involved.

Well it appears that Dominican baking is becoming popular with all types of chefs and cooks, not just those from or familiar with the Dominican Republic.
If you are interested in making a Dominican cake here is an excellent recipe and some tips and tricks to get you started.

But if you are interested to go to cooking school or take classes to really learn how to bake in this classic, traditional style there are some good places you can choose from. Some smaller pastry schools do have Dominican pastry and baking course and some culinary schools have international baking classes that do cover Dominican baking and cakes.

Another option, which might be the best, is go to Dominican bakeries and see if they have classes or they know where you could take one.

Like the nightlife, want a job where almost everyone will become your friend? Become a bartender! Bartender training can cost about $250 - $500 and last a week or two. Courses cover setup/closing, mixology, money handling, inventory control, speed techniques, garnish cutting, wines, liquors and beers, profit pouring/upselling, customer service, cutting off customers and alcohol awareness.

While you can make up to $150 - $300 a night working as a bartender, you might have a hard time getting a job right out of training. Many bartending schools provide job placement assistance to make it easier. If there’s an establishment you want to work at but there are no job openings you might want to try getting a job as bar back and working your way into a bartending position. Besides the job placement assistance provided by the school, there are many websites that can help you find a position behind the bar.

When looking for a bartender training program, make sure that it is state certified and state approved. Also, if it’s possible go to the facility and check it out to make sure it looks like a quality place and see if they have references so you can talk someone who has taken the course. Or if you visit during a class, talk to current students to see what they thing of the training and the instructor.

Some of the larger national bartender training schools are ABC Bartending, American Bartending School, National Bartenders, and BartendingSchool.net. With a little research you will be able to find the programs that fits your budget and schedule and one that is near where you live.

If you’re looking for a job that is fun and allows you to hand out with other people and pays well and something you can do anywhere bartending is the way to go. With the proper training and excellent job placement you’ll be on your way to a new career in no time.

If you’re looking to go to culinary school and you live in Los Angeles or nearby, you’re in luck. There are tons of places to learn and a huge variety of types of training to be found in Los Angeles.

The Culinary Entrepreneurship Program for Food Professionals and Culinary Students is for those who are looking for an alternative to traditional kitchen work to earning money in the culinary field. This school teaches people how to become a food stylist, which entails preparing food for photo and video shoots.

If you’re looking for the traditional classroom program you can pick between the California School of Culinary Arts - a Le Cordon Bleu program, and the International Culinary School and the Art Institute of California. The International Culinary School gets you prepared to get an entry level position in a restaurant. The Le Cordon Bleu program is a diploma program and is designed to get you started at entry or mid-level employment.

Another culinary arts school with a 9 month diploma program is the Kitchen Academy which is located in Sacremento. The Kitchen Academy also has a professional baking and pastry program that will get you a diploma in 30 weeks. Besides an excellent hands on program, there is an externship built into the program to get you the feel of working in a real kitchen.

Chef Eric’s Culinary Classroom in Los Angeles has extensive master chef and master baking programs. One of the courses goes in depth through a wide variety of international cuisines. Also, he has an 8 week intensive program that is suited for personal chefs and caterers.

It’s clear that Los Angeles is a great food town. To have a great food town you need great chefs and great programs to train them. No matter what kind of culinary training program you are looking for, it can be found here in Los Angeles.

Are you a great cook or chef, but feel like you’re stuck in a rut at a job you can barely tolerate and hours that are killing you? Maybe you should look into investing in your future and take a chef course of two. It might be the ticket you need to move up to the next level, or give you inspiration to start your own business as a personal chef.

The Culinary Business Academy of New Mexico, has a variety of education opportunities to get you going as a personal chef. They have a 5 day, a 3 day and a 2 day course. The 2 day course is offered in many parts of the country including, Chicago, New Orleans and Newark, NJ. Besides the instructor course, they offer a home study course for the Personal Chef. The course takes about 80 hours to complete.

A personal chef will prepare a menu with the input of their client, go shopping for the fresh needed ingredients, make excellent meals in the client’s kitchen and package them and store them in the refrigerator or freezer and leave a sparkling clean kitchen for their client to come home to.

Another place to keep your career moving is ChefCertification.com, they provide 13 online course with 170 continuing education courses that will help you get ACF Chef Certification or to maintain your certification. American Culinary Federation certification provides documentation and proof of culinary experience and that you meet certain standards (like an RN or CPA). Being a certified chef gives you more opportunities for advancement with the company you are with, or gives you a better chance of getting that coveted job you’re seeking. There is a trend among corporations, restaurants and hotels to hire certified chefs.

These are just two examples of ways training can get your career moving. Remember learning must be a lifelong endeavor and it can lead to great things in your life.

If you are interesting in taking a cooking class in New York City, your biggest problem will probably be deciding on which class to take. Of course you could go to an established culinary school, but the most interesting classes can be found at smaller establishments, like restaurants, caterers or small schools run by chefs.

This type of cooking instruction usually is more interesting and informal. You are not following a curriculum, you are following the expertise and whims of the chef or the school. Some chefs will even provide private cooking lessons in your own home. Of course that is going to be more expensive, but it might be the perfect evening for a couple with some extra money to spend.

Some small cooking schools rent space from a restaurant or hotel so you will be learning in a professional kitchen, not in a school’s kitchen, which could make the experience more realistic.

If you want to learn to cook a certain style of food, these small schools are probably going to work best. You just need to find a school or chef that specializes in the style you want to learn.

Another cooking class experience that is very interesting, is to actually work side-by-side with a chef in the restaurant kitchen, working during a dinner service. This type of training is harder to find, but might be worth the effort it takes to find this type of setup.

Probably the best way to find the cooking class you want to take is by searching the internet. Even the smallest school will have a basic website with information to help you make your decision. If you can’t find any reviews about the classes you could call and ask to speak to past students to see what their experience was like.

If you are looking to get into become a bartender, ABC Bartending School is on of the national schools that is well know. They offer hands on training and job placement for its graduates along with lifetime refresher courses. There are many excellent testimonials from past students and some negative reviews as well. Most negative reviews have to do with the local administrative office staff.

While there are many schools around the country and in your local area, it is probably good to go with a large school like this especially if you are looking to get a job after the training. A large training center has more connections in getting people jobs. Also companies come to them when they are looking for new bartenders because they know they are turning out quality bartenders.

The majority of the positive comments describe the quality instructors and the hands on classroom environment along with the excellent job placement.

The negative comments centered on bad communication with office staff, including miscommunications regarding tuition costs, timely receipt of their certificate and calls not returned.

If the overall training program is sound, it might just be that certain office staff members are not trained or supervised properly and are causing students problems. These issues could be related to certain offices only. I would feel comfortable with using ABC for your bartender training, especially with the job placement.

I would suggest searching on the internet for the training center in your area to read any reviews about it to see if that office is doing a good job or not.

If you’re on the East coast and looking for bartending training, Authentic Bartending School might be the right place for you. They have locations in Manhattan, Philadelphia and three in New Jersey.

Authentic is designed for beginners, so if you are starting out you shouldn’t have any problems. They also offer lifetime job placement assistance, which is an excellent benefit.

I found many testimonials from students who attended the school in Manhattan and Philadelphia. Almost all of the reviews gave the school high praise. Some of the standout items were excellent job placement, some students were working the week after graduating from the school. Another great part about this training program is that they take you to real bars to pour for real customers with an instructor by your side. Some students really liked this, saying that it really helped their self confidence.

Many people mentioned that Authentic’s prices were the lowest in town. As usual there were a few negative reviews about the bartending school. It is interesting how some of the negative reviews seem like they were done at a different facility, which is possible. Some of the low points were poor communication, poor job placement and unacceptable training facilities.

My suggestion is to find as many reviews as possible on the internet for the location you are interested in and see what you think. Another great thing to do is go see the school. Talk to the staff and see what the facilities are like. If everything seems to feel right it is probably a good place to get your bartender’s training.

Some of the best know chefs have gone to the CIA. Culinary Hyde Park, stands for the Culinary Institute of America. A great institution.

On the shores of the Hudson River in beautiful Hyde Park, NY sits, the world’s premier culinary college, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). This wonderful setting is only 90 minutes from New York City, one of the culinary centers of the world. I really can’t imagine a nicer place to go to college. I’m very familiar with the area, I lived in Woodstock, NY, which is a bit farther north up the Hudson River. From Hyde Park, it’s an easy commuter train ride into the city.

If you graduate from the CIA you will be in nice company, some of the well known graduates include: Anthony Bourdain, Cat Cora, Todd English, Rocco DiSpirito, Duff Goldman, Hung Huynh, Sara Moulton, Michael Symon, and Heather West. Besides these well know names, there a numerous chef/owners, executive chefs and many other industry leaders that came from this school.

The Culinary Institute of America has a bachelor and associate degree program with provides cooking and baking and leadership skills and the understanding of the food business. If you plan to be a chef, restaurateur, foodservice manager, food writer and even do research and development, this is the place for you.

The on campus hands on training totals over 1,300 hours to develop your skills. Including working in the on campus cafe and restaurant–it can’t get more hands on than that.

Your training includes an 18 week externship at 1,100 approved restaurants, hotels or resorts around the country. This provides a real world look at what the food industry has in store.

If you can’t make it to New York there is a CIA in in Helena, California and in San Antonio, Texas (a great place by the way).

If you don’t want professional education, CIAProChef.com offers pro level training materials including: training on demand, pro-level textbooks and cookbooks, podcasts and DVDs. So some of us might not make it for the full training but we can kind of rub elbows with the elite, by accessing some of their great training materials.

If you want to go to probably the most beautiful campus to be trained as a chef go to the CIA. Also you are only an hour or so from New York City, one of the great food towns in the world.

If you are a home chef and you want to improve your skills, make sure you consider culinary arts classes as a way to become a better cook. I think most people shy away from chef classes and stick with cooking classes that are not designed for pro chefs. Think about it, if you want to really get better, where else to do it than a professional chef school.

Maybe the best way to find a quality cooking school is to start with the internet, this will help you get an idea what your area schools have to offer. If a school looks good, give them a call and tell them what you want to do. One of the best ways to learn about a school is to talk to former students, just ask for some references.

While culinary arts classes will provide you with the best growth, you might just want to take some cooking classes. I live in Austin, Texas and there are a couple of great schools that have famous chefs teach classes periodically. Whole Foods’ headquarters is in town and they have an excellent cooking school. Central Market, another excellent grocery store in town has cooking courses also. Central Market was the store that pushed Whole Foods to get away from its co-op roots and become a foodie mecca.

If you don’t have cooking classes like these in your town, you might try talking to a restaurant you like and see if you could work in the kitchen and learn. I’ve read about people on culinary vacations doing that in Europe, it might be worth a try. Of course it will cost you but what a great way to sharpen your skills.

Do you like hanging out at bars or listening to live music? If you do, being a bartender could be the right thing for you. The cost of bartending school is not too expensive, it can cost $250 to $500 and it usually lasts one or two weeks long. Considering you can make $150 to $300 a night bartending, the cost of the training is pretty reasonable.

Courses teach you all the necessary skills to do the job properly. Some of the things that are taught include: money handling, mixology, customer service, profit pouring and up-selling, speed techniques, garnish cutting, beers, liquors, wines and alcohol awareness.

While the schools help with job placement, it can be hard to get a job. Starting as a bar back and working your way up at an establishment you’d like to work is one of the traditional ways of getting in where you want. The internet is an excellent tool for finding a bartending job in your location.

Your training program should be certified and approved by your state. Get references from the school so you can talk to former students to learn about the program. Also, checking out the classrooms and meeting the teacher could be helpful in deciding if you like the school.

By doing some research you should find the school that is right for you. The top national schools are American Bartending, ABC Bartending, BartendingSchool.net and National Bartenders.

Bartending is a job that can be fun and doesn’t have traditional office hours, so it’s great for people who don’t like to get up early. Find a good school and you should have a new bartending job before you know it, making some nice money.