Culinary Arts Schools

Andy West asked:


A culinary arts career is an inviting prospect for many people. For one thing, demand is up, as people’s busy lives cause them to eat out more and more. For another, a culinary education opens up a variety of possible careers, from running the kitchen in a top restaurant to the very desirable option of owning your own business.

But many ask if there really is money to be made in a culinary arts career. Most of us, when we think of cooks, think of the greasy hamburger flippers at the local diner. There is a good reason that those jobs are normally filled with teenage employees, and that’s because anyone with a culinary education and a career plan sets their sights much higher. There are a number of culinary arts careers that offer ambitious folk true earning potential.

Below is a list of eight top culinary arts careers available to those with the appropriate education and experience.

Personal chef

A personal chef typically works in a private home for a private employer. Because of this setup, a personal chef often has more flexibility within his or her work environment, not to mention more creative control over the menu. Full time personal chefs usually earn between $35,000 and $50,000.

Head cook or chef

The head cook or chef is a culinary arts career that many cooks set their sights on. The head chef at a restaurant is generally in charge of developing menu choices and managing a team of cooks. Although the average salary is $34,000 annually, a head chef at a top restaurant can easily make as much as $60,000, or even more.

Restaurant manager

A restaurant manager is in charge of not just the kitchen and its cooks, but also the wait staff. Although a restaurant manager’s salary averages around $50,000 annually, a manager in an upscale restaurant can earn considerably more. However, you should also keep in mind that many managers work long hours with little or no overtime compensation.

Pastry chef

Believe it or not, being a pastry chef is another good culinary arts career. Pastry chefs’ salaries average at about $50,000 annually, although the yearly income is a little less for those who are paid hourly wages.

Executive chef

Executive chefs are primarily found at upscale restaurants, and average around $75,000 annually. However, executive chefs can make as much as $120,000 annually in top restaurants.

Sommelier

A sommelier, also known as a wine steward, is usually present in upscale restaurants. Although a sommelier’s income averages around $60,000, it can sky rocket as high as $150,000.

Wine director

A wine director does much the same thing as a sommelier. The average income for a wine director is $85,000 annually.

World-class chef

World-class chefs are the ones you see and hear about every day. For example, Wolfgang Puck is a world-class chef who is well known for his signature line of convenience foods. World-class chefs can easily make as much as $100,000, but that figure can increase exponentially if you know how to market your signature lines via books, magazines, television, and other media outlets. A world-class chef is the type of culinary arts career that most cooks fantasize about, and many self-employed caterers hope to eventually make a reality.

As you can see, there are many opportunities available for you to find a high paying culinary arts career. Next time you talk about your dreams, and your friends or family say, “There’s no money in that,” rattle off a few of these jobs and see if you can’t change their minds.



Denise

Rabbitacular asked:


I am considering a new career as a chef.

I would like to be a line cook working on edible art and eventually run my own kitchen.

Does anyone knows which is a better culinary school or if there is another one, local, that is better?

I am stuck in Dallas, and I know the schools in Houston and Austin are better, but my current career is here.

Any information or advice would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!
I would add that I am planning on moving to New York in about 5 years and want to get started here in Dallas on my chef career. I figure I can start my education and career here and continue on with better education in New York.

Alice

Annabell Amaretto asked:


Culinary Arts schools are the places where cuisines are taught. In recent days, cooking has become an art, rather than only cooking. There are many specialties in cuisine that could make an individual a professional chef, either for certified reason or just for amuse. They offer fundamental teaching related to cuisine and traditional cuisine while motivating novelty and innovation. Therefore, getting skilled at any arts cooking school helps a student to become a sous-chef, executive chef, sommelier, pastry chef, garde manager or a saucier.

In addition, there are online culinary schools which offer training in cuisine skills. These schools offer many courses pertaining to wine tasting and choosing, pastry homework, cook’s knife skills, dessert and baking, holiday catering, regional cooking and, healthy catering. Along with it, teaches style cooking, cost management, safety and hygiene, food identification and handling, groceries and sustenance, special cooking, gourmet cuisines and catering. These classes are provided either in the form of distant education or, as online lessons in the usual mode. They are trained with the help of assistance such as providing video presentations, online instructor’s instructions, techniques and direction via email or websites, Audio-based sessions or CD-ROM/Video, web-based sessions, threaded discourses, online assemblies, web-logs, teleconferencing, video conferencing, and chat.

Significance Regarding Online Arts Culinary Schools:

Online cooking schools provide certifications, which are applicable all around the world. They have high-quality instructors and amenities, cuisine service functions, job placement aids, good identification, expert teaching and practical teaching. There are varied types of credentials available such as diploma courses, associate’s degree, bachelor’s diploma programs, apprenticeship courses, certificate courses and vocational programs. These courses are also provided in three assorted levels such as 1st level for basic cooking, 2nd level for more expertise cooks and 3rd level for learning certified cooking.

Online arts culinary schools in many states have their own benefits such as:

* Students can learn at comfort of their home, time and place.

* It features an assortment of styles for determining and deliverance methods.

* The programs can be molded according to the learner’s requirement.

* It is very cost-effective, as traveling costs are wiped out.

* They are more convenient for self-learners.

* There is greater student-teacher collaboration.

Occupation:

An important question for students is whether they are good enough and well equipped to compete for jobs after graduating online cuisine school. Chefs do not see this as an issue. As far as they seen and experienced, no one seems to question whether a degree was earned on-land or online because the quality and rigor of the classes are equal. In fact, many hotels and corporations encourage their chefs to go online because they are still able to work.

Naturally, online chef school can’t guarantee anyone a job, but typically place better than 90% of there graduates in a job in their field of study.

Overview:

There are several online arts culinary schools that offer programs and courses, especially for amateurs, professionals and beginners. Several of the professional arts culinary schools provide online courses. Required information may be found at respective internet sites of these schools.



Cathy

Tina H asked:


i want to get a bachelors degree in culinary arts, and a Associates in pastry arts. what basic concepts should i study to get ready for this Carrier path?

Ruth

MIKE SELVON asked:


When you think about it, the culinary community does have a lot to offer. Culinary schools in the United States and around the world offer different specialties in that field. It is more than just the executive chef preparing the entire meal.

It is a group of individuals working together who make the final product. Culinary arts careers are booming as more people watch reality food shows and want to be a chef. You can be a chef too or simply keep it as a hobby.

Culinary arts careers offer a great number of choices for culinary students who are seriously interested in joining the culinary community. Students learn each step of the kitchen by what is known as stations.

There are several different stations to be found in the kitchen, such as the meat, appetizer, sauce, vegetable and dessert stations. By working together, the line chefs are able to produce the customer’s requested meal.

Many culinary students begin work as a line chef and then quickly move forward to each different station in the hopes that they will become a sous chef someday. A sous chef is like the second in command. He or she can work each of the stations and assists the executive chef in any way.

He or she is a vital part of the chain of command and is a greatly respected part of the kitchen team. Sometimes, smaller kitchens will not have a sous chef, while larger operations may have several.

Other positions within a restaurant include people to manage the finances and business of the kitchen. These people are trained in Hospitality and Restaurant Management. Without these people the restaurant would not be a success. They interact with the customers and can call out the orders to the chef in the kitchen.

If these positions seem to be not exactly what you are after and you are not pursuing a culinary career position, then you may want to consider attending a Thai cooking school or a French cooking school class. You can still learn different techniques but without the pressure to advance the position of chef. They are great ways to add a different menu to your repertoire and dazzle your friends and family.

Culinary arts careers are not for everyone. Some people are very comfortable in their current jobs and just want to learn more skills for their hobby. There is nothing wrong with that.

Others want to seek out the challenges of the kitchen and eventually become an executive chef at a fine restaurant or resort. The most important factor is to love what you are doing and learning.



Nancy

Ajay Kumar asked:


A culinary art is the art of cooking. Cooking is the process of preparing food and meals that will be eaten or the food served to other people.

The word “culinary” is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking or kitchens. People who are working in the culinary arts are known as culinarians. A person working in restaurants is commonly known as a cook. The skillfully preparation of food and meals that are as pleasing to the palate as to the eye is the responsibility of the Culinary artist. Culinary artists require a lot of knowledge about the science of food they prepare and a good understanding of how diets and nutrition affect people in the preparation of their meals. Go to www.cajuns-recipes.com.  Culinary artists work in restaurants, hospitals and other institutions where kitchen conditions vary depending on the type of business.

The culinary art is comprised of many categories. Some of which are tools, methods, combination of spices and ingredients that adds flavor to the food. It normally needs the right measurements, proper selection and accurate combination of ingredients involved to reach desired result.

The diversity of the culinary arts around the world mirrors many considerations such as Economic, Aesthetic, Nutritional, Religious and Cultural.

The dawn of fire, and the culinary arts, if not always, is associated with fire. The heat generated by fire is required to change the food’s texture, flavor, nutritional contents and even its appearance. Heating is important in the culinary arts because it disinfects the food and makes it softer. The food danger zone is between 4 to 60 degrees Celsius. Within these temperatures, the bacteria found in the found or even those that were transferred to the food can grow at a very alarming rate. Under ideal conditions bacteria can double their population every twenty minutes. Although at a glance, these foods may not appear harmful, when ingested they can be. Many people have the misconception that bacteria will die when we freeze our food or refrigerate them, but this actually does not rid the food of bacteria, merely it slows down their expansion.

One of the most famous departments in the culinary arts is probably baking. Baking is the art of cooking food using an oven in culinary arts. Through applying dry heat evenly through the oven and onto the food which then cooks the food. It is used in producing pastry based desserts such as tarts, pies and cakes. The ovens dry heat causes the starch to gelatinize, and the results to the browning or charring of the outside of the food. Some uneducated in the culinary arts might think that the charred part or the brown part is not as tasty as it sounds, but this part is actually what gives taste and flavor to the baked good, partly sealing the moisture of the food. The browning apparent in the baked good is caused by the sugar caramelizing and the chemical reaction that happens between the reduction of sugar and the amino acid (Mail-lard reaction). Moisture in the baked goody, on the other hand, is not really completely kept in time as the goody is being baked it will become drier and drier. For more details you can login to www.atkins-diets-recipes.com.

Boiling is another category of the culinary arts, and when there is a rapid vaporization of any type liquid when the liquid is heated that is boiling. In cooking, boiling is divided into many other categories. Blanching, a cooking term used to describe the submersion of food into boiling water and removing it after a certain period of time and then throwing it into cold water or letting water run over it causing the firming of food. Pressure cooking is when food is cooked inside an enclosed cooking tool that would limit the air that is coming in or going out of that tool. This technique speeds up the pace of cooking. Stewing would probably be the most popular cooking technique in the culinary arts division. It is a method where meats are cut up into smaller pieces and along with some vegetables are simmered into a liquid. Simmering, then again is a cooking method where the liquid is barely kept away from its boiling point. Other boiling techniques are braising, coding, steaming, infusion, poaching, double steaming, steeping and vacuum flask cooking.

Most North Americans use grilling and microwaving as their most common forms of cooking. The simplest and easiest method of cooking is microwaving, and this cooking technique is used mostly to reheat sumptuous meals ready to be consumed. As with grilling, most North Americans have a grill station in their backyard. Grilling are roasting methods like barbecuing, searing, rotisserie or even smoking food.



Julia

Josh Stone asked:


Cooking is your passion. With the multitude of dishes you conjure up every time you get the chance, whether for a party or an ordinary family dinner night, everyone is already telling you to seek a career related to it. And so you begin studying the option and thinking of choices on where you can get the best training there is in the country. After all, you would only want the best to feed your love for the craft, wouldn’t you? It is never too early or too late to start contempleting such opportunities, particularly with the culinary field.

The Choices You Make

The most common careers you can enter into when you enter the culinary industry are pastry cook, chef, restaurant cook and caterer. There are hundreds out there, however, and you should not restrict yourself to merely choosing among these four.

You might be looking for something that would involve a supervisory role, like a catering director, an executive chef and food and beverage administrator in hot bar. Or you might want to delve into the research and development side of the industry and get invovled in sauce and dressing making. Or you could choose to teach budding culinary geniuses and entrepreneurs the ins and outs of the sector. You could also dabble in food writing and photography if that’s where you heart brings you. Indeed, there are a multitude of choices, so you never can get stuck in just one field.

Why You Need the Backing of a Good Education

To make choosing easier for you, you might want to enrol in an accredited program that offers the broadest range of courses in the culinary world. While most of the greatest and most respected chefs of today probably have never heard of getting into a school and got to where they are due to sheer talent and hard work, it still pays to have a good background on the field. A certificate or some sort of training from a respected culinary school will help propel you to greater opportunities in the future, especially given the fast-changing times.

A career in the culinary industry is not a piece of cake, no pun intended. It involves hard work and determination. As with anything else in this world, you have to start somewhere — and this somewhere almost always involves the bottom.

Most formal training courses ask that their students undergo apprenticeship or intership stints before they are given more complicated and challenging tasks. Thus, you should be prepared to begin washing dishes and arranging plates on the table before you get to gain control of the kitchen or even gain sole access to kitchen’s pristine cutlery.

You might have to begin being a food preparation worker first and be faced with tasks like keeping work areas immaculate, prepare, cut and slice ingredients and monitor oventop and oven temperatures. Do not lose esteem when you start out this way because this is normal. In order for you to advance to a higher position, like a chef, you will have to learn the basics of kitchen operations first. After all, how can you expect to be an effective chef if you don’t know how the more menial activities are done? The culinary world, in order for to survive, requires resilience on your part, a whole lot of humility and heart.

All the hard work will definitely pay off, though, because once you become a chef, you will be able to concoct your own recipes, take charge of the ingredients, man the floor, supervise everyone on the team (the word is ’supervise’, not ‘terrorize’ okay?) and, basically, let all your creative juices flow. It surely goes with the saying, if you want to have butterflies, you have to be ready to take care of few caterpillars first.

Where to Place Yourself

In order to find out which culinary path is best for you, try figuring out your personality profile first. Do you need this particular job because it will help further your existing knowledge of the culinary world, or will simply derail you from your original goal and only make you move sideways? What makes you happy? What makes you get up early in the morning looking forward to a new day? There has to be a compelling reason why you’re in this field otherwise you can’t really expect to thrive for a long time.

As mentioned earlier, succeeding in the culinary world requires a lot of heart, so if you’re not having fun in the first place, then maybe you should seek other alternatives. Or maybe that particular program you’re in is simply not the path you should be taking. If your heart and passion is not in this industry, take a step back while it’s still early.

If you’re having trouble deciding what choices to make, you could seek the help of a career counsellor, who will most likely ask the right questions to help you decide more easily. This can come at a cost, but if you’re really bent on finding out where you need to be headed, this might turn out to be a good investment. After all, you’re eyeing for a long-term career; not just something to do to pass the time.

Staying for the Long Haul

You have to expect that the first few years of your culinary career will involve a lot of challenges. That’s normal. This is because you’re just starting to explore where your strengths are and the industry is also just beginning to study where it can work best with you. In effect, you get what you give. So don’t throw tantrums about not being good enough at this point just yet. To be excellent in anything, training is key. Be patient, swallow your pride and plod on. Observers have shown that people in the culinary sector actually are some of the most patient and resilient people in the world. Try and try until you succeed.



Shawn

joey o asked:


I would like be a pastry chef. im guessing that i need to have a culinary arts degree. Can or would i make money in the field? Its not really about the money. i just want to have a rewarding career.

Tyler

crimesontide023 asked:


I have heard Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts - Minneapolis/St. Paul is an excellent one,(best of the best) I was wondering if that is true?
What is the start wages for being a chef? I make 17 an hour now where I am doing labor workshould I go into being a chef or stay where I am?

Stacy

redhotfirefly asked:


Just want to know if I get my culinary arts degree in another state then move to another to get a job, will I have to do it over again or should I be fine?

Rachel