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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:13:43 PM EDT
And it is kicking my ass.
I wanted to learn to cook better, so I googled local cooking schools and found the "Culinary Institute". I'm 4 weeks into this, and yesterday we did 5 plates "to the pass" time-critical and monitored front to back. It was an unbelievably brutal 5 hours. Beginning to end, prep. cooking, timing, dealing with other cooks, being critiqued, and cleaning the kitchen afterwards. Brutal, I have new respect for serious cooks. You either own it, or you give up. There is no "try". ––- |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:15:27 PM EDT
[#1]
Keep plugging away man, do not give up.
That is something that I have always wanted to do. |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:19:09 PM EDT
[#2]
I ate at the Culinary Institute in Napa over the weekend. Phenomenal!
Is it related to your school? If so, you are getting some great skills.
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:20:38 PM EDT
[#3]
You are learning what I did 16 years ago on my first line. It is one thing to make a dish at home, it is a whole other thing to do it in a professional kitchen.
I will tell you this: If you choose to do so, the first year you work professionally in a kitchen will be one of the hardest years of your life. It takes a high level of preserverance and a bit of insanity to keep going. I have no idea why I keep going back to work. It's a strange addiction I tell you! |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:21:06 PM EDT
[#4]
Cool!
Are you going to be on Hell's Kitchen one day? 
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:24:56 PM EDT
[#5]
Where is this school?
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:24:56 PM EDT
[#6]
i enjoy watching some of the cooking competition shows like top chefs, chopped and even hell's kitchen sometimes.
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:25:06 PM EDT
[#7]
 |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:25:11 PM EDT
[#8]
I'm trying to find a decent, reasonably priced copy of Le Guide Culinaire (English translation).
Been doing some studying on the topic. Texas Culinary Academy? |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:26:09 PM EDT
[#9]
Quoted: I enjoy Hell's Kitchen. Its a little on the drama side but, if you keep an eye on who the good chefs arei enjoy watching some of the cooking competition shows like top chefs, chopped and even hell's kitchen sometimes. you can get into it.
OP, whats the hardest part of the school? |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:28:36 PM EDT
[#10]
They don't like Hell's Kitchen, too much drama, but, Nona Sivley, winner of Hells' Kitchen, Season 8, graduated from this place, which is the Culinary School of Fort Worth.
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:31:22 PM EDT
[#11]
OP, whats the hardest part of the school?
Everything is time pressured and unrelenting, but mostly it's getting everything to come together at the moment of "service", when you hand the plate off to the wait staff. |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:32:58 PM EDT
[#12]
go make me a sandwich
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:34:46 PM EDT
[#13]
Quoted: I can see that on HK.OP, whats the hardest part of the school? Everything is time pressured and unrelenting, but mostly it's getting everything to come together at the moment of "service", when you hand the plate off to the wait staff. Ive always wanted to know how to cook good stuff. Its amazing how chefs can taste ingredients in food. ANYHOW, have fun, good luck.
When is dinner?  |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:36:17 PM EDT
[#14]
I just don't want to cut myself real deeply.
Or get burned. |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:38:02 PM EDT
[#15]
Good luck to you. I enjoyed culinary arts. Well, it kicked my ass at times too. But I've always loved cooking, and I'm good with the fast pace. I own the kitchen when I'm in it. But I haven't been in a long while.
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:46:55 PM EDT
[#16]
Quoted: I just don't want to cut myself real deeply. Or get burned. LOL, Good luck with that. You have to pay if you want to play. |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:52:14 PM EDT
[#17]
I have been a professional chef for 15 years in a high end restaurant and still like my job good luck!!!!
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Posted: 9/27/2011 6:52:34 PM EDT
[#18]
Quoted:
Or get burned. That's one reason for the apron. |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 7:42:57 PM EDT
[#19]
I was a Kitchen Mngr and cook for a friends Bar...just typical Bar food. I was 37 and doing this and it kicked my ASS as far as hours and cooking for the rush on the weekends. I LOVE cooking and hosting BBQ and cookouts for friends/family. There is NO WAY I would be able to handle being a Chief for a Med. to high end restaurant!! My hat is off to those that do. Holy shit! The hours, the heat, the yelling.
It's art, and madness all wrapped into one 
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Posted: 9/27/2011 7:44:46 PM EDT
[#20]
I bet you make some mean grilled cheeses.
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Posted: 9/27/2011 7:57:46 PM EDT
[#21]
Quoted:
I bet you make some mean grilled pan searedcheesesfromage. 
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Posted: 9/27/2011 8:05:54 PM EDT
[#22]
Good luck to you, I have wanted to do this also.
Have you learned the 3 second rule yet? You know if you drop an item on the floor, its gtg as long as it hasn't been stepped on or on the floor longer than 3 seconds. |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 8:08:29 PM EDT
[#23]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I bet you make some mean grilled pan searedcheesesfromage. Still, nothing can beat le Sandwich Rouge.
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Posted: 9/27/2011 8:08:58 PM EDT
[#24]
My whole family are cooks. All went to culinary school, my little brother did his bit at Hyde Park. Externs all over the place at some of the best. You have to be a fucking crack fiend about it. I left the trade eons ago because I could not handle the pressure. Hopefully you have a strong liver and the constitution of a mule. You will need it. Frankly I would rather get shot at daily than dealing with some of the chefs I had to deal with. Wildland firefighting was FAR more relaxing and easy.
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Posted: 9/27/2011 8:17:15 PM EDT
[#25]
So what is the total cost of this education?
What would be the mean wage the first 5 years of work? Did you obtain federal student loans for this? |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 8:27:28 PM EDT
[#26]
Quoted:
So what is the total cost of this education? What would be the mean wage the first 5 years of work? Did you obtain federal student loans for this? A lot, paid cash. Money would come from ownership of a business. |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 8:39:32 PM EDT
[#27]
Quoted:
And it is kicking my ass.
I wanted to learn to cook better, so I googled local cooking schools and found the "Culinary Institute". I'm 4 weeks into this, and yesterday we did 5 plates "to the pass" time-critical and monitored front to back. It was an unbelievably brutal 5 hours. Beginning to end, prep. cooking, timing, dealing with other cooks, being critiqued, and cleaning the kitchen afterwards. Brutal, I have new respect for serious cooks. You either own it, or you give up. There is no "try". ––- Believe me it gets alot better as time goes on. And those that don't want to be there will either leave on there own, or the chefs have ways of "nicely" telling students that this is not for them. I love culinary school right now, i'm 9 months from graduation and getting into the bakeshop goods, gotta love cakes and pies
Plus you get to be alot more creative and unsupervised as you progress thru classes. Made this Gadsen last quarter, yes it is completly edible 
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Posted: 9/27/2011 8:43:13 PM EDT
[#28]
Quoted:
Quoted:
And it is kicking my ass.
I wanted to learn to cook better, so I googled local cooking schools and found the "Culinary Institute". I'm 4 weeks into this, and yesterday we did 5 plates "to the pass" time-critical and monitored front to back. It was an unbelievably brutal 5 hours. Beginning to end, prep. cooking, timing, dealing with other cooks, being critiqued, and cleaning the kitchen afterwards. Brutal, I have new respect for serious cooks. You either own it, or you give up. There is no "try". ––- Believe me it gets alot better as time goes on. And those that don't want to be there will either leave on there own, or the chefs have ways of "nicely" telling students that this is not for them. I love culinary school right now, i'm 9 months from graduation and getting into the bakeshop goods, gotta love cakes and pies
Plus you get to be alot more creative and unsupervised as you progress thru classes. Made this Gadsen last quarter, yes it is completly edible
http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu190/christhepirate/food%20and%20booze/photobucket-3366-1316197550731.jpg Dude that's awesome!!! What is it? |
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Posted: 9/27/2011 8:55:06 PM EDT
[#29]
Quoted:
I just don't want to cut myself real deeply. Or get burned. Speaking as a Culinary Arts School graduate, there are two kinds of cooks. Those who've cut themselves (or burned themselves), and those who haven't...yet. It's an inevitable eventuality. If you get that into your head and realize that you'll not likely die, you'll be fine. If the idea of cutting and burning yourself really scares you to the point that it makes you move overly cautiously (and therefore, slower than your fastest), you don't need to be in a professional kitchen. |
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Posted: 9/28/2011 5:53:23 PM EDT
[#30]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
And it is kicking my ass.
I wanted to learn to cook better, so I googled local cooking schools and found the "Culinary Institute". I'm 4 weeks into this, and yesterday we did 5 plates "to the pass" time-critical and monitored front to back. It was an unbelievably brutal 5 hours. Beginning to end, prep. cooking, timing, dealing with other cooks, being critiqued, and cleaning the kitchen afterwards. Brutal, I have new respect for serious cooks. You either own it, or you give up. There is no "try". ––- Believe me it gets alot better as time goes on. And those that don't want to be there will either leave on there own, or the chefs have ways of "nicely" telling students that this is not for them. I love culinary school right now, i'm 9 months from graduation and getting into the bakeshop goods, gotta love cakes and pies
Plus you get to be alot more creative and unsupervised as you progress thru classes. Made this Gadsen last quarter, yes it is completly edible
http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu190/christhepirate/food%20and%20booze/photobucket-3366-1316197550731.jpg Dude that's awesome!!! What is it? The background and border are made of different types of braided yeasted bread. The snake and grass is a cracker-like dough thats takes edible color really well. This quarter is all about candymaking and plated desserts, thinking of starting a pic thread in the cooking forum |
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Posted: 9/28/2011 6:01:04 PM EDT
[#31]
Dude - spit it out: How much? I'm curious about how much these things cost...
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Posted: 9/28/2011 6:06:26 PM EDT
[#32]
Quoted:
Dude - spit it out: How much? I'm curious about how much these things cost... http://www.csftw.com/pages/admissions.htm |
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Posted: 9/28/2011 6:09:43 PM EDT
[#33]
Quoted:
Dude - spit it out: How much? I'm curious about how much these things cost... So far I am in the hole a little over 60K |
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Posted: 9/28/2011 6:10:32 PM EDT
[#34]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I bet you make some mean grilled pan searedcheesesfromage. Grilled Cheese......................... $2.25 Fromage casserole desséchée......................If you have to ask, you're in the wrong joint. 
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Posted: 9/28/2011 6:14:19 PM EDT
[#35]
Quoted: Quoted: Dude - spit it out: How much? I'm curious about how much these things cost... So far I am in the hole a little over 60K  |
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Posted: 9/28/2011 6:14:49 PM EDT
[#36]
To the OP, keep up the good work and don't give up! The hardest and also the best years of my life were spent working the line in many a restaurant. Things have changed a bit, it's become more corporate but I'm sure overall it's still a great gig to have.
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Posted: 9/28/2011 7:18:24 PM EDT
[#37]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Dude - spit it out: How much? I'm curious about how much these things cost... So far I am in the hole a little over 60K
Tuition is the bulk, but damm textbooks these days 
And you tend to spend more at the grocery store. Cooking from scratch is damm fun but can get expensive! |
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Posted: 9/28/2011 7:30:20 PM EDT
[#38]
Cooking schools have become WAYYYYY too expensive IMHO. $60K+ is the norm now and that is what a degree at U costs with instate tution.
One of the Chefs I worked for(Nationally recognized, got many awards,blah blah blah. The man is the best Chef I have cooked for on a line) told me one day that he has NO idea how these kids are going to come out of Culinary School with all this debt and massive loan payments and survive on their starting wage. Which is usually right around $9/hr or so BTW! It is a easy almost 10 years untill you see a decent paycheck and even then, you may not achieve that. There is going to be a flood of defaulting Culinary Students IMHO. |
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Posted: 9/28/2011 7:47:11 PM EDT
[#39]
Chef in TX
Hell even in NY they are Mesicans Try CIA Hyde Park http://www.ciachef.edu/ No..... good luck on your new career... 
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Posted: 9/28/2011 7:50:55 PM EDT
[#40]
my daughter wanted to go to one of those schools ..
$30K for 64 weeks ...
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Posted: 9/29/2011 3:17:27 PM EDT
[#41]
Quoted: Cooking schools have become WAYYYYY too expensive IMHO. $60K+ is the norm now and that is what a degree at U costs with instate tution. One of the Chefs I worked for(Nationally recognized, got many awards,blah blah blah. The man is the best Chef I have cooked for on a line) told me one day that he has NO idea how these kids are going to come out of Culinary School with all this debt and massive loan payments and survive on their starting wage. Which is usually right around $9/hr or so BTW! It is a easy almost 10 years untill you see a decent paycheck and even then, you may not achieve that. There is going to be a flood of defaulting Culinary Students IMHO. It has already happened. Many have filed class action suits against their schools for misleading them about school costs and their actual future earning potential. When I went to culinary school in 2001, we were told to expect to walk into a $50k a year Sous Chef job right out of school. In reality you started out making the same wage as the illegal aliens with no degree, about $7hr at the time. It is even worse if you try to stay in the same community as the culinary school. Every six weeks they crank another batch of "chefs" who will work for any wage to try to pay back their loans. I ended up leaving the industry all together. I paid off my loans and moved on. I still love to cook, but wouldn't go back to restaurant work. It's just not financially feasible unless you are 18 and have no bills. Even then, I would recommend that someone apprentice in Europe instead of going to culinary school. |
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Posted: 9/29/2011 3:24:03 PM EDT
[#42]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Dude - spit it out: How much? I'm curious about how much these things cost... So far I am in the hole a little over 60K These schools are set up to suck the government teat. Retraining dollars from unemployment, student loans, that sort of fun thing. They're basically scams. |
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Posted: 9/29/2011 3:29:26 PM EDT
[#43]
If you cook with wine it will get much more easy, even put some wine in what you are cooking.
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Posted: 9/29/2011 3:30:29 PM EDT
[#44]
Quoted:
If you cook with wine it will get much more easy, even put some wine in what you are cooking. Snark
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Posted: 9/29/2011 3:33:58 PM EDT
[#45]
I was thinking of going as a lark.
Fuck that.
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Posted: 9/29/2011 3:56:17 PM EDT
[#46]
Quoted:
I was thinking of going as a lark. Fuck that. Last night I did a full dinner, everything seasoned nicely, fresh, time-line to service, all the prep timed out nicely. It was a great dinner. My son commented jst before we sat donw "Dad, it smells awesome in here", my daughter gave the dinner 10/10. The kitchens was a mess and both kids volunteered to clean-up.
So, that boosted my motivation, and I'm really looking forward to the Brunch at school Sunday (which is a ball-buster in its own right) and back to class next week. We're doing poulty fabrication, so some birds are gonna get p'wned.
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Posted: 9/29/2011 4:44:36 PM EDT
[#47]
If all you want to do is improve your cooking at home...try the home cook classes at a culinary school.
I took several at Escoffier in Boulder (shudder) Colorado. They were very affordable and awesomely thorough! Just a thought...
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