I have been in and out of the catering and restaurant business for 45 years. I have done well, both in the kitchen and in the accountant's office. I've been retired for seven years and only on the rarest occasion will I step back into the kitchen. I have trained hundreds of cooks/chefs during the past four+ decades. Many came to me from highly rated culinary schools; many from community vo-techs. It made no difference!! Once, in the commercial kitchen, they became novices...often novices that had acquired useless skills and pseudo-talents at their schools of choice.
Remember this one fact from this post: With rare exception, every culinary school exists only to make a profit. You will pass your classes and get your pats on the back as long as your tuition is paid. PERIOD! Yes, if you are a total novice in the kitchen, you learn some of the rudiments...but, if you are that novice, you have absolutely no business attending a culinary school of any kind, private or public.
Commercial cooking (call it being a chef, if it makes you happy) is hard labor melded to both art and science. Great chefs, like all great artists, are born to it. They hone their art, but they are born with the mental and physical instruments. If you are of the age to consider a culinary career, and you're not already an outstanding cook, reconsider your career of choice. A culinary school will not make you an artist. Boys and girls, I'm sorry...it simply ain't gonna happen.
I've been reading posts at cheftalk from some prospective students that are so poorly written that I question whether the individual is sufficiently literate to read and follow a recipe accurately, let alone function as anything more than a prep cook. Before you consider a culinary career, be absolutely sure that your academics are in order. Every great chef I've known has been incredibly well read and a student of the world. Their food is an expression of their life experience.
Okay, here's the abbreviated version: Before you spend 5 cents at any culinary school; before you listen to their "admissions counselor's" sales pitch, get a job in a restaurant doing anything. Work a minimum of 50 hours a week during the restaurant's busiest hours. Volunteer to assist in all areas of the restaurant. Do this for two solid years. If you've moved up to line cook by this time, ask yourself how you can best advance yourself. If the answer is culinary school, then explore options.
Remember this one fact from this post: With rare exception, every culinary school exists only to make a profit. You will pass your classes and get your pats on the back as long as your tuition is paid. PERIOD! Yes, if you are a total novice in the kitchen, you learn some of the rudiments...but, if you are that novice, you have absolutely no business attending a culinary school of any kind, private or public.
Commercial cooking (call it being a chef, if it makes you happy) is hard labor melded to both art and science. Great chefs, like all great artists, are born to it. They hone their art, but they are born with the mental and physical instruments. If you are of the age to consider a culinary career, and you're not already an outstanding cook, reconsider your career of choice. A culinary school will not make you an artist. Boys and girls, I'm sorry...it simply ain't gonna happen.
I've been reading posts at cheftalk from some prospective students that are so poorly written that I question whether the individual is sufficiently literate to read and follow a recipe accurately, let alone function as anything more than a prep cook. Before you consider a culinary career, be absolutely sure that your academics are in order. Every great chef I've known has been incredibly well read and a student of the world. Their food is an expression of their life experience.
Okay, here's the abbreviated version: Before you spend 5 cents at any culinary school; before you listen to their "admissions counselor's" sales pitch, get a job in a restaurant doing anything. Work a minimum of 50 hours a week during the restaurant's busiest hours. Volunteer to assist in all areas of the restaurant. Do this for two solid years. If you've moved up to line cook by this time, ask yourself how you can best advance yourself. If the answer is culinary school, then explore options.