Alain Ducasse Culinary Institute. Guide to the profession: where to study to be a chef
The chefs of the best restaurants in the world are almost as famous as rock stars. They build the menu and the team, the audience comes to them, they get the respect of colleagues and good salaries. The blog figured out how to break into the world league from scratch.
In the West, such a person is called an executive chef, head chef, or simply a chef. The closest thing to this concept is our CEO, but in the restaurant business. He is responsible for all the work of the kitchen and the popularity of the institution as a whole. It is not for nothing that eminent chefs are brought from abroad, and the public is pounding at them.
The position requires high-quality cooking skills and professionalism in management and administration. Let's take a look at how a newbie to cooking can build skills, connections, and experience.
Budget start
If you seriously decide to acquire a specialty of a cook, it is worth getting a secondary education. Young people who enter after the ninth grade study for three years, and during this time they receive the third, sometimes fourth, chef's category. The highest category is the fifth. The first professional education in Russia and most of the post-Soviet countries can still be obtained free of charge. Colleges and technical schools take to study until the age of 30.
With their crust, you can go to work in a restaurant as an apprentice and start by peeling vegetables, preparing food and working in the back room.
Specialization
The fourth grade and higher are obtained only with work experience. The transition time from the third to the fourth usually depends on the decision of the superiors. When they trust to cook cold snacks, then they will raise the category.
To climb the fifth step, you need to learn more. Or graduate from a technical school, or take refresher courses. The fifth category gives the right to work in a hot shop and look closely at new professional horizons.
The next step is to head some of the areas of a large restaurant production or become an assistant chef. All these people are called beautiful French words. You can specialize in meat, a meat chef is called a rotisser. On fish (Poissonier), soups (potage), vegetables and side dishes (entremety or legumier). You can become a saucer - the main one for sauces in a restaurant kitchen. Or stay faithful to cold snacks, but already at a new level: come up with a menu, be responsible for quality and manage assistants. The specialist in salads is called gardmanje. People with a pastry crust are usually in charge of baked goods and pastries.
The sous-chefs are subordinate to the chef. This path is for those who are more interested in developing production management skills and leadership skills, rather than improving in cooking.
As with any profession, the number of specializations is impressive. To reach the level of a leading professional, you need the specialty of a cook-technologist and practice at a high level. Internationally, preferably.
Grill chef or grill: prepares meals over an open fire
Where to study in Russia
There are culinary colleges and technical schools in all regions. Look for places where learning is built by doing. The correct educational process for a cook is when from the second year of theory and practice in a real kitchen becomes equal. Such educational institutions can be recognized by the high competition for admission.
For example, the Moscow college of hotel and restaurant workers "Tsaritsyno" has a good reputation among cooking schools. There is a competition for 3-4 people per seat.
The next step in a traditional career is getting higher education. It is possible in absentia, in parallel with work. The Plekhanov Institute, the Commercial Academy in Moscow, and universities in the regions will help you to get the specialty "Process Engineer". And then - development through culinary schools and internships with the best masters, whom you will be able to reach.
Less traditional career model: do without schools at all. This is also possible. The first step is to get a job training in a restaurant without crusts and experience and go all the way up the level ladder and choose your specialization.
This is an option for those who do not want to spend money and time studying. Many restaurateurs prefer not professionals, but housewives who cook deliciously, although they have not heard anything about the recipe book. Of course, it is good for a career to constantly "stew" in the profession and dig up certificates from courses, short-term schools and master classes.
In Paris, the culinary capital of the world, aspiring chefs are hired in prestigious restaurants and work there for free to learn. This practice is widespread throughout the world and opens up wide career opportunities for everyone, including our certified compatriots.
Entering the world stage
Having gone the way to the level of a good specialized specialist capable of leading a small team, you can stop.
To gain international experience and make a name for yourself in the restaurant business, you need to join the team of the best in their field. If there are no connections and opportunities are not caught, culinary schools will help out. Students of the right schools get their chance: the best teachers and internships in the very high-profile institutions and in the most famous teams.
In Russia and the CIS, this business is in its infancy. We have schools for professionals, but they do not provide an integrated approach to training and are designed for short-term professional development. But what about management, leadership, personnel management?
International culinary schools
The classical culinary school is studied in Europe. These are France, Italy, Spain, and there are schools with a good reputation in London. The cuisines of these countries are a base to which you can add the study of any cuisine in the world.
An important point: to study abroad, you need to know at least English. Better yet, the language of the country of study. Therefore, you need to decide on the geography of your specialization in advance. To learn or improve a language to a conversational level.
To figure out where to send your feet, think:
- Which countries inspire you the most?
- What cities do you associate with great food?
- Are you interested in achieving professionalism in a particular direction, for example, becoming a guru of Vietnamese cuisine and learning about Asian fusion?
Globalization is doing its job. Chefs from different cultures exchange experiences, recipes and ideas. Your weight as a chef will grow if you understand several culinary traditions at once.
International culinary academies give more than a chef diploma. They give you access to regional cuisine, the best restaurants, working with celebrity chefs and a practical knowledge of international culinary.
USA
For example, American study programs develop a network of international partnerships and send their students to gain experience in work-study programs that combine work and study. They give their students the opportunity to travel and study local cuisine around the world, and then also receive a diploma of higher culinary education (Culinary Arts Degree). And this is the main advantage of studying in the States.
Among the higher culinary schools in the United States, they note: French Culinary Institute in New York and California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.
Europe
Thinking about France, England and Italy is associated with a rich culinary heritage and noble traditions. European students learn how to cook, as they did three hundred years ago, they know the classic recipes of "haute cuisine", which are weakly subject to modern trends and innovations.
The gold standard in chef training is the French culinary tradition. In Paris, he is supported by the most famous international culinary academy of the Blue Ribbon, Le Cordon Bleu.
Blue ribbon
When we talk about European culinary traditions, first of all, we are talking about Le Cordon Bleu schools. This is one of the most important culinary schools in the world, originally from France. The principles of classic French cooking are taught and promoted here.
Today Le Cordon Bleu schools are open in 35 countries. 18 schools in the United States, several in Asia, New Zealand and three in Europe. All together they graduate 20 thousand people a year. While not all students become professionals, some learn just to be good at cooking.
Important: branches in Paris, London and Ottawa are operated by the school itself. Establishments in other cities are open on a franchise basis, that is, they just buy a brand and work themselves.
Types of culinary schools in Europe:
Commercial Hospitality and Restaurant Management Schools
They prepare professionals with international diplomas and qualifications that will be appreciated in restaurants around the world. The training programs develop students' skills in preparing and presenting food, introducing them to à la carte gastronomy, confectionery, and kitchen management. They study from one semester to two or three years, practice a lot, train with eminent chefs.
What is important for future chefs, in Europe a lot of attention is paid to the development of communication and management skills, leadership qualities, and the ability to work in a team. As part of the training, you can take a course in management and business management. This experience will lead to new career heights.
For example: School of Hospitality Business BHMS in Switzerland.
Commercial culinary schools that award graduate degrees
They also give international diplomas of chefs, sous-chefs, pastry chefs, sommeliers and open doors to popular restaurants in their countries. They teach international cooking standards and are given a specialization in local cuisine. There are no programs for restaurant managers.
For example: The Academy of Chefs in Terni, Italy; Swiss Institute of Culinary Arts; Manchester City University.
Small private cooking schools
They welcome amateurs who want to learn to be a chef and professional chefs. Popularity is based on learning the intricacies of local cooking. To become a master of Catalan cuisine, of course, you need to travel to Barcelona. And in Bologna, they teach the same Mediterranean classics, but in the Italian version. Etc.
Examples of such schools are: Cook and Taste in Barcelona, International Cooking School in Bologna, Cooking ala Turka in Istanbul.
Canada
Canadian metropolitan areas are multicultural by definition. The local cuisine is based on the traditions of the Northern Indians and a mixture of gastronomic habits of the inhabitants of Canada who have arrived from all over the world. French fusion and English gastronomy traditions shape the Canadian colonial heritage. For example, there is very fond of Yorkshire pudding and jerky venison according to ancient recipes from Indian tribes. The geography of the country with harsh climatic conditions has added wild poultry meat and a love of smoked meats to the diet of Canadians. The Canadian culinary school professionals know how to cook venison, fern, or pucin - French fries with chunks of cheese and gravy.
The cooking process is like a dance: it is a mix of passion, talent, hard work and skill. The latter sometimes has to learn.
Today, in every district of Moscow, you can find culinary schools that teach everyone to competently handle a cast-iron pan, cook juicy steaks and more.
KitchenMag shares a selection of the best culinary schools in Moscow, where you can improve your culinary skills and learn how to cook the most real gastronomic masterpieces.
Chefshows by Novikov
The culinary school Chefshows by Novikov, which was opened by the famous chef Arkady Novikov, offers several areas of study at once. The school will be able to improve the level of culinary skills both beginners and amateurs, as well as professionals. For lovers of cuisine in the restaurants of Arkady Novikov there is even a special course - "Hits of Novikov Restaurants".
On the basis of Chefshows by Novikov, master classes and educational restaurant meetings are regularly organized, in which everyone can take part.
Culinary studio of Julia Vysotskaya
The culinary studio of Yulia Vysotskaya is a place where like-minded people meet, who are united by a passion for food and communication.
Gourmet lovers can find a course that best suits their interests. Most of the master classes are geographically organized: Spain, France, Vietnam, the Mediterranean. There are classes dedicated to the preparation of specific dishes: for example, khachapuri or borscht with donuts. The studio also conducts culinary master classes for children.
Culinary studio CulinaryOn
CulinaryOn is the largest culinary school in Europe. It is located in the very center of the capital and offers its students a light and relaxed atmosphere in which gastronomic talents are easily revealed.
Master classes are dedicated to cooking dishes of different national and regional cuisines: France, Piedmont, Caucasus, Spain, Asia. There are also master classes focused on preparing food for a special occasion, like a romantic dinner or Saturday brunch.
Culinary studio "Bread and Food"
The culinary studio "Bread and Food" is a school for everyone. Its main mission is to eliminate the need for a personal chef and teach everyone how to prepare the most delicious and delicious dishes on their own.
In the culinary studio, students will receive theoretical knowledge that they can immediately apply in practice. Professional chefs will tell and show you how to cook national dishes from different countries, make confectionery masterpieces and bake aromatic bread.
5 Reasons to Choose the Culinary Institute program:
1) New cafes and restaurants that appear every day are always eager to offer their visitors original cuisine and high quality dishes, which means they need professional chefs with a diploma. Therefore, the knowledge you have gained will quickly find its application.
2) After completing the course, you will have a number of attractive prospects - fast career growth, consistently high salary and the title of a specialist in culinary.
3) The state certificate confirming the acquired knowledge, which you will receive at the end of the courses, complies with the standard both in Russia and abroad.
4) An individual training program will allow you to easily combine training at the Institute of Culinary Arts with work or other studies.
5) Studying at the Institute will give you the opportunity to gain recognition in the world of culinary experts, increase your income, and in the future - open your own catering enterprise.
If it is important for you to improve your skills and become a professional in the most comfortable and fast way - come to the Institute of Culinary MBA "CITY"!
Cooking training
Cooking classes for beginners
Culinary courses for beginners are a great opportunity for everyone who wants to join the high world of culinary, learn about the latest innovations and trends, and learn how to independently cook delicious and beautiful dishes, which until recently seemed incredibly difficult. In addition, such courses teach novice chefs not only to cook famous dishes according to proven recipes, but also develop the creative potential that is in every person, contribute to the development of their own taste, as a result of which completely new dishes are born that carry a piece of the culinary's soul. ...
Classes at the culinary school at the Institute of Culinary Affairs from the MBA CITY Business Academy are held in a favorable atmosphere where each student feels comfortable and cozy and can get answers to any questions related to cooking. All this is facilitated by small groups of students, as well as the use of copyright teaching practices. During the culinary training, course participants get acquainted with unique recipes and cooking technologies not only for classic, traditional dishes of various cuisines of the world, but also learn to create something of their own. Our cooking courses are designed in such a way as to effectively combine not only theoretical knowledge, but also the practical skills of each student. The program takes into account both the vast experience of leading experts in culinary and the culture, traditions and customs of the world cuisines represented in the program.
Institute of Culinary at the Business Academy "MBA CITY"
Cooking classes are the choice for those who want to learn something new. It is not necessary to have your own restaurant in order to be able to cook beautifully, efficiently and quickly. We understand that both those who want to open their own catering business and those who are just beginning to learn the intricacies of cooking come to us. Each student has his own level of knowledge, which requires an individual approach to further education. That is why the Institute of Culinary Business Academy "MBA CITY" has advanced training courses for practicing chefs who already work in famous restaurants, as well as for those who just want to learn how to delight themselves and loved ones with delicious dishes every day.
On June 18, 2013, in the hall of the Academic Council of the Moscow State University of Technology named after K.G. Razumovsky, a cooperation agreement was signed with the Ginza Project holding, which implies the creation of a joint educational center with our university under the brand of the famous restaurateur Alain Ducasse.
The Alain Ducasse Culinary Institute in Moscow will offer students a unique training program with the subsequent issuance of an international certificate, which is recognized throughout the world, and a special educational restaurant will also be opened on the basis of the school. The world's most famous restaurateur has repeatedly told about his intention to open a similar institute in Moscow in his interviews. It is gratifying that our university has become the basis for such a significant project for Russia, which is being implemented under the patronage of the French Embassy in Russia. The signing was attended by the representative of the "Ginza Project" holding, Alexander Derneiko, who designated this event as a new stage in the development of the educational project of Alain Ducasse. The system, operating around the world, has reached Russia, which is ready to embrace the technology and culture of the most fashionable restaurant guru. In turn, the rector of the university Valentina Ivanova noted that the choice of an educational institution for promoting progressive ideas of nutrition in Russia was made correctly.
The University will do everything to become a center of attraction and a forge of professionals of a new generation, coupled with the unique skill of the culinary school.
Reference:
Alain Ducasse is an international phenomenon: his ideas have been continued in books translated into dozens of languages, and in numerous students who have spread all over the world. With the tireless energy and creativity of a talented chef, he has achieved all possible heights in business.
Alain Ducasse's career is very typical for the representatives of his profession, who have achieved worldwide fame. He went through all the stages of growth - from a dishwasher to a chef of the world famous "gourmet" restaurants.
Ducasse was born in 1956 in the south of France in the town of Castel-Sarrazin. At the age of 16, washing dishes at the Pavillon Landais restaurant in Souston and looking closely at the work of chefs, he realized what his calling was.
This is followed by Ducasse's studies at the culinary school of Bordeaux, after which he briefly works at the restaurant Les Pres d'Eugenie with the famous Michel Guérard. But Alain Ducasse considers the first stage of his career to be an internship at the Moulin de Mougins restaurant on the French Riviera with the equally famous Roger Verger.
The beginning of the 1980s saw the second stage of his career: he became the chef of the restaurant La Terrasse, then the restaurant of the Hotel Juana in Juan-les-Pins. And in 1984, at the age of 28, he received his first Michelin star.
But fate has prepared for him a difficult test on the way to the culinary pedestal. In the same star year, he gets into a plane crash: out of six passengers, he only survives. A year in the hospital, thirteen operations. Having recovered from his injuries, Alain gives himself up to work. In 1987, he created his first gourmet restaurant, Le Louis XV, at the famous Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, and three years later, for the first time in history, the hotel restaurant became the owner of three Michelin stars.
The philosophy of Ducasse's cuisine is a creative approach to traditional recipes. He made "haute cuisine" understandable, not getting tired of repeating that any cuisine, whatever they may be, is just food and people come to the restaurant to eat.
Since the end of the eighties, the creation of restaurants of the Alain Ducasse group begins around the world. In 1998, the Spoon restaurant chain was founded, realizing the most relevant ideas of the irrepressible Frenchman - freedom, modernity and authenticity of products.
Today, Alain Ducasse operates more than fifty restaurants around the world, owns nearly thirty of them and is listed as a chef in all of them, although other people hold the position there. But the brand works even in the absence of Ducasse! The name itself is a guarantee of quality cuisine and excellent service. Therefore, people go exactly to Ducasse, for years they have been in line to taste dishes prepared by his hands, and are ready to pay up to 50 thousand euros for them.
DetailsIs it possible to get a higher education as a cook in Moscow, are there universities for cooks and is there any point in obtaining higher education in this profile? The uninitiated will say that this is impossible, the profession is mastered in a culinary school or in courses.
But knowledgeable people argue that it is more than realistic to get a higher education as a cook in Moscow. Universities of cooks are nearby - you just need to know the places. Let's figure it out.
From kindergarten, people use the results of the work of cooks. Then at school, at the institute, and in adulthood already in cafes and restaurants, everywhere people are fed by professionals in their field - cooks. If a person is sick, most likely, he is recommended to have dietary food, and then cooks also come to the rescue - in sanatoriums, dispensaries and diet canteens. In general, it is not necessary to convince of the need for the profession of a cook, it is obvious to everyone.
But how do you become a chef? In order to work as a cook, you need to be able to cook well, and to be able to cook well, you need to learn it somewhere. In 99% of cases, chefs do not receive a higher education, but graduate from any secondary school - college, college or technical school. This is desirable for anyone who wants to devote their working life to masterly cooking. Most of the chefs come to the profession precisely through the school. But for many specialists, secondary education is not the limit of development. There is an opportunity to get a higher education as a cook - it turns out that it happens.
Universities of cooks
Of course, at the university, chefs will not be taught how to cook well and will not be made a skilled chef. You shouldn't go to college to master cooking. But if you already have the necessary professional training and the specialist wants to get a broader view of the food industry, not only be able to cook borscht and slice salads, but also imagine production as a whole, learn the economic laws by which industrial food production functions, find out for yourself all links of the technological chain, then a higher education will allow a chef to do this at a very high level. In short, a chef can get a general, more comprehensive and, one might even say, strategic idea of what he actually does in a university.
What do the chefs teach at the university?
Basically, they teach in universities in technological specialties related to the food industry. The higher education of a cook can only be called so conditionally. Although the institute will teach production technology and talk about the composition and properties of food raw materials, they still will not make a cook. To do this, you will have to make an effort. Institutions produce more fundamentally savvy theoreticians. And already in order to become a practitioner and master the art of preparing very tasty food - here the cook can only achieve such perfection in the process of constant work.
Higher education for a cook in Moscow
You can get a higher education as a cook in Moscow in several universities. It will give an opportunity to work not only in catering establishments, but also in food production or to engage in scientific activities. And the specialty will most likely be called not a cook, but a technologist.
One of the leading universities in the food industry, the Moscow State Academy of Applied Biotechnology, offers the chef a higher education in Moscow. Founded in 1930, now it is the largest educational and scientific center in the field of food biotechnology, biological safety, technology and technology of food of animal origin, healthy nutrition, commodity science, certification and standardization of products.
In this university, the teaching staff of the highest qualifications, academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, doctors of sciences, laureates of State prizes teach there. The educational base is one of the most respectable in the country, the library of the Academy has the richest collections of scientific literature. MGUPB periodically participates in various international projects.
Higher education of a cook in Moscow is also offered by the Moscow State University of Technology and Management. K.G. Razumovsky, the university is also known and respected. It trains specialists in various fields for the food industry, fish farming enterprises, processing industries and mass catering. A division of the university is the Institute of Food Technologies.
There are necessary specialties at the Moscow State Academy of Food Production. The training of cooks is carried out in the following areas: Product technology and organization of public catering, Food of animal origin, Food from vegetable raw materials.
There are also such universities of cooks that are not universities in the full sense, i.e. do not have a state university status, but in fact, which give cooks a higher practical education, put them one step higher than ordinary workers. Such a "university" can be called the Higher School of Cookery Art. There you can not only improve your cooking skills, but also get an idea of the competitive environment in the field of catering.
In general, we can say that a higher education for a chef is not the ultimate goal, but a good opportunity to improve their qualifications and, possibly, change the profile of their activities. In addition, the owners of large restaurants, when hiring, take into account the presence of a higher education as a chef and reward this with an increased salary.