Continuing Education

[zeph74]

Hello

I'm looking into taking a course or two during some upcoming off-time. My first choice was CIA's "Prochef" courses, which I've done before and really enjoyed it. However, there must be other options out there.

After doing some research on the web, I was surprised that some of the more prominent culinary schools didn't offer similar programs. There were some 2 or 3 hour/one-day courses, but that is not what I am looking for. The only one that came close to CIA was Le Cordon Bleu, which had some short courses in Ontario and their various locations around the world. French Pastry School in Chicago seems like they have some great classes as well, but pastry isn't my focal point right now.

Travel overseas is an option, but again I am limited to 7-10 days or so. France, Spain, Italy...anywhere really. Most of what I found are cheesy tourist packages. I've thought of contacting a few places to see if they would let me stage for a few days, but that takes a lot of guts to do.

I am interested in any type of Culinary Arts, ethnic foods & preparation, food science, chocolates & confections, and baking & pastry. As I said before, I would love to do more breads/desserts/pastry in the future, but I can't do much with it at my current job.

Thanks in advance!

[stealw]

French Culinary down in Manhattan offers courses, took one about a year or two. Program ranges from weekly, to once a month and beyond.

Martin Yen's cooking school in California also I believe offers classes. As with Bocuse's in Lyon, France. (have to do more research; though pretty sure they offer)

[alanamoana]

if you're interested in baking and pastry, check out the french pastry school in chicago (clicky here for web page). they offer classes throughout the year in any of a number of subjects and they run three full days. often, they'll have guest chefs teaching the classes and while they'll take anyone who is willing to pay (often around $900 per class), they are geared toward people with some experience.

[Jakea222]

I found out and I did not know this when I was at CIA that if you certify ProChef it also certifies you with ACF at certain levels.