| Funny you should mention cooking schools. I just received the Johnson
and Wales catalog yesterday in the mail. My son is entering vocational
school this September and will (hopefully) be taking culinary arts. I
got the catalog as "incentive".
I scanned the catalog and they do offer a program for a pastry chef.
If you're really ambition, they offer a 2 year weekend program for
$2,000. The deal is, you attend classes from 8:00-5 on Saturday and
8:00 - 7:30 on Sunday. Saturday is bookwork and Sunday is lab (the fun
part). You have 8 weekends off in the summer, plus holiday weekends
and a short break after every 6 weekend "semester". You graduate with
an Associates Degree in culinary arts.
As for their reputation. I've read great things about them, but in
talking to a friend of mine who is a very high level chef, the schools
on the West Coast are far superior.....followed of course by an
apprenticeship in Europe!
Lorraine
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| Well, I went down to J & W and looked at the school. The pastry arts
course sounds good. Unfortunately they don't offer a semister in
either France or Ireland as with the culinary arts program. I was
really interested in doing that. The program sounds good the only
thing that I didn't like about the full-time program is the flexuation
of hours. It can vary from week to week on whether you have classes
in the morning, day or evening. Makes it kind of tuff to work a job
around it. The weekend course sounds good also, It takes I think 27
months verses 24 full-time. I was suprised at that. Hum, I guess I'll
just have to do more thinking about it. It'll make for a long 7 day
week!
Are there any good culinary schools in New Hampshire? Also, does any
one know if the Culinare Institute of America is in New York City or
someplace a little bit more residential?
Thanks for the input!
Debbi
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| The "CIA" (Culinary Institute of America) is in Hyde Park, NY, which
is a good bit outside of NYC in fairly pretty surroundings. I don't
know what short courses they offer, because I only know people who
studied in their full-time live-in program. CIA and J&W are generally
considered to be the best and most practical (i.e., for professional
training as opposed to us yuppie "gourmet cooks") restaurant programs
in the US. The Cornell University hotel admin school is also
excellent, but covers a lot more non-cooking-related material.
If you're interested in Europe, there's are several short courses
offered by La Varenne cooking institute in Paris. They're in English,
are very expensive, are supposed to be fairly good (though not
outstanding), and a heck of a lot of fun - a good friend of my wife
attended a pastry course and liked it quite a bit. If you're looking
for a very enjoyable course which isn't "strictly business" like the
J&W and CIA programs, and you don't mind blowing a few grand on a few
weeks in Paris, you should check this out. Bear in mind that it's not
a "professional" program (for that, see below - Ecole Hoteliere).
Also in Paris, Cordon Bleu offers some courses in English.
If Paris isn't your cup of tea, but you're still interested in Europe,
check out the Cordon Bleu school in London. I've heard (3rd hand) that
they offer some good courses (in English, obviously).
While I have no idea what's available, the ultimate capital of fine
pastry is Vienna (they put the French to shame - really, no contest).
It's a good bet that there's a school in Vienna which would have a
program geared to Americans. The ads in the back of magazines like
Cooks might turn something up.
There are vocational schools in Europe (called Ecoles Hotelieres) for
future professionals in the hotel/restaurant business. You need to
speak the local language very well to consider these, and they
generally don't offer short courses. They're very skeptical of
Americans, because the number of places is often limited, and they
only accept "serious" students. If you want to apprentice in a
respectable restaurant, you need a diploma from one of these schools.
They're in many locations in France, Switzerland, England, and
probably a few other countries.
Some restaurants (such as Roger Verge's Le Moulin de Mougins) offer
short courses in English. They're usually taught by some of the
regular kitchen staff (not by Verge himself), and, while expensive,
I've heard they're quite enjoyable. You don't actually get to work in
the kitchen of the restaurant as an apprentice chef would, but you do
get your hands on it a bit. While speaking French isn't required in
these programs, it would be a big help.
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| Debbi, in Berlin, NH, there is a vocational school that specializes
in culinary arts. I cannot, for the life of me, remember the name
of the place, and I visited the place with my Dad about 8 years
ago when I considered studying culinary arts. The facilities were
good, their reputation was good (not excellent, and the opportunities
were no where near as vast as at J&W or CIA), and it was very
inexpensive. A lot of students went there first.
The biggest problem I had with the place was the odor. It's an
old mill town, and even though the mills have been closed for some
time, the odor lingered. It was so strong (and we visited on a
humid day, to make things worse!) that the minute you were outside,
that was all you could smell! You couldn't smell any of the flowers
in bloom! And if you walked by an open window inside the building,
you came close to gagging!
On the way out, I told my Dad the I didn't think I could handle
the odor, and he said, "Oh, you'll get used to it in two or three
years." I said, "Dad, the program is only two years!" He said,
let's check out that one in Rhode Island!"
Instead, I got a job in a restaurant first, to see if that was really
what I wanted to do with my life. The answer turned out to be NO!
I love cooking, especially baking, but what I love is the act of
creating. My joy is to make up new recipes, to experiment, TO CREATE!
Restaurant work does not really allow that. I made up several recipes
for cakes, and started baking for the restaurant. But they wanted
me to always make the same cakes! They sold well and the customers
wanted them. I didn't have any fun! I was bored and extremely
poor, and had absolutely no free time. Restaurant work is very
demanding, time consuming, and not profitable unless you are THE
CHEF or owner. And most restaurants around here don't actually
have chefs.
Since that time, I believe UNH has expanded their Hotel Management
school to include culinary arts. My roommate works for UNH at
Manchester, and I can ask her about it next week.
Further, there used to be several small culinary places. Madeline
Kaman (of Madeline Cooks) used to run one up in Glen, NH (sp? it's
where Story Land is!), and the people who ran the Blue Strawberry
used to have their own cooking school. That Kitchen Place has changed
hands (I used to work there, too!), but they still offer classes,
and you might get more information from them.
And I firmly suggest that you go to Frederick's Pastries, on Rte
101A in Amherst, NH. At least call Fred Lozier. He does tremendous
work, and was a great deal of help to me when I was deciding. For a
while he was teaching pastry courses at Nashua High School. You never
know when he's going to start that again.
Good luck, Deb. Think things through, and investigate thoroughly.
Susan
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