/ck/ - Food & Cooking

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Anonymous Thu Jul 4 22:52:14 2013 No.4614498 [Reply] [Original]

Got into a tiny argument with a friend.

A friend says a degree in cooking isn't very useful. She argues that anything you can learn in culinary classes you can just learn online or from books.

"I was able to make almost perfect souffles, which is a dish many people say is difficult to make. Only after 2 undercooked ones, just using the information I've read online and I have been able to make them consistently ever since"

-Her Words

So I ask you, /ck/

What is the point of a cooking degree?

I don't agree with her, but I just want to hear what you guys have to say.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 22:55:14 2013 No.4614505
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A degrees and courses have the added benefit of someone actually 'there' with you to show you proper techniques and ways of doing things you might not find online.
You can read all the books and websites you want, but nothing beats practice, and actually watching someone elses' hands doing something in front of you.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 22:56:14 2013 No.4614506

She's right to a certain extent.
Culinary school teaches people how to cook for the public, using perfect form every time, because in the restaurant business, (at least with fine dining), there's zero room for failure.
You certainly can perfect cooking techniques at home. It's not difficult, and as long as you have an apt mind, and access to proper equipment, you will be successful. BUT, you will never be able to cook in a restaurant. It's two completely separate branches of the culinary tree.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 22:57:14 2013 No.4614508 She needs to read information online about what to do when something is undercooked?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 22:58:14 2013 No.4614511 >>4614505 Thats how I learn, anyway. I just watch someone do something once or twice, and boom.. i've got it. I can read instructions all day and still not learn a fucking thing. I need to 'see' it done right in front of me.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 22:58:14 2013 No.4614514 File: 46 KB, 210x240, 1326768416248.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >Souffles >difficult to make She has no idea what she's doing, does she?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 22:58:14 2013 No.4614513 >>4614508 She reads a recipe online. Her first 2 attempts turned out to be undercooked. On her 3rd try she makes them 'perfectly' and has been able to consistency make this dish perfectly.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 22:59:15 2013 No.4614517 >>4614514 beat me to it also >failing to make souffles

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:07:14 2013 No.4614528 >>4614514 >>4614517 You two have extremely poor reading comprehension. Stop posting.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:16:15 2013 No.4614537

Well in the culinary world, work experience in the kitchen > degree or any class you take. It's still ultimately a learned trade. Heston Bluementhal and Thomas Keller never went to culinary school and there are a lot more culinary schools these days that are more of a scam than a place of higher learning. A degree from Le Cordon Bleu California is worth as much as toilet paper and you get all the debt and school loans and lack of high paying job prospects as a regular college. If you get a degree from a good school, it's the same as any college as it will give you connections and a foot in the door at better places but Pablo who has been washing dishes for 1 years and was a line cook for 3 will have just the same amount of job aspects as you did without the debt.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:18:15 2013 No.4614540 The only thing I regret about dropping out of culinary school, is that it seems as if it's easier for a culinary grad to get stages at the 3-star places, rather than someone like me with 4 years experience

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:19:14 2013 No.4614542 >>4614498 She was able to make one dish by following a guide. A culinary arts grad should know how to make thousands of dishes from memory, as well as being able to innovate dishes. Also, most degrees have a business section.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:19:14 2013 No.4614544 File: 286 KB, 1037x1583, 10000_16000_19426_1600019426CF.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4614528 >butthurt becuase he can't make a souffle I see no reason to stop posting.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:20:14 2013 No.4614545 >>4614528 tl;dr

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:26:14 2013 No.4614557 File: 52 KB, 320x240, Mongo-tumblr_mbowo3nH6Y1qe2r8to1_400.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4614528 Mongo like smart people like you!

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:29:14 2013 No.4614563 >>4614498 My cooking degree includes restaurant operations training. My instructor always said, "Anyone can follow a recipe and cook, but not everyone can be a chef."

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:29:14 2013 No.4614565 There is no point of a cooking degree, since that doesn't exist. But like a lot of degrees, they exist to give the managers who you'll probably make a lot more than a way out if you fuck up.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:31:14 2013 No.4614568

>>4614563
>"Anyone can follow a recipe and cook, but not everyone can be a chef."
And a culinary degree doesn't mean that you will become a great chef

I've met more culinary students/grads who were horrible in the kitchen than people who've never gone to school

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:32:14 2013 No.4614569
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>>4614544
I've been making souffles for years, both personally and professionally. The problem with your reading comprehension is that the OPs friend said she had HEARD people say souffles are difficult to make, not that she herself found them difficult. Dumbass.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:33:14 2013 No.4614571

My parents had a catering business that would gross anywhere from 6-7 figures per year. None of them went to school for cooking. My mother went to school for art, my dad went to school for some computer technology degree.

Dad was the money maker till his business slowed down. At the same time my mothers friends liked her cooking and started paying her to cook for their parties. That just grew from doing favors for friends to my dad closing his own business and helping my mother cater full time.

At its peak they were close to making 8 figures in a year. All of that with 0 culinary education.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:34:14 2013 No.4614575 >>4614571 >catering Listen up, /ck/. If you want to actually make money in the business, do catering. Caterers make fucktons. Restaurants make shit.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:36:14 2013 No.4614580

>>4614568
Yep. That's what he told everyone too.
"Always have an open mind. Be a sponge, because being a chef is a lifetime learning experience. Even the best of the best can have off days, and there is no such thing as perfect food, because there is no such thing as a perfect chef."

It's the words I live by.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:37:14 2013 No.4614582 File: 471 KB, 1600x1195, Breakfast Hash.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>4614569 Yes, and I got that part. I don't see what you're getting at here.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:37:14 2013 No.4614583 >>4614569 You forgot the fluffy clouds. http://climate.nasa.gov/system/news_items/main_images/newsPage-453.jpg

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:39:14 2013 No.4614584 >>4614580 To what end?

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:42:14 2013 No.4614592

The same exact fucking thing a college degree gives you. Except college is LESS expensive than a culinary degree, not including medical/law school. She's just trying to get herself off of obsessing over going to say, CIA or something. I went through that too. It gives you an edge. You have actual experience. "Knowing" a technique versus "knowing AND doing" a technique isnt shit. And unless you're in a hurry, souffles are fucking easy.
I am buttmad and would cuntpunt your friend.

Culinary degrees arent necessary but its that edge...Its also a huge luxury, so if you can go, and you want to go, fucking do it. I have no ability to pay for college so i'm S.O.L on my dreams of going to a good culinary school.

Excuse my anger but people like her make me extremely fucking ass pained.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:44:14 2013 No.4614599

Most of the culinary schools, at least in the U.S., are set up to leech off government programs for retraining workers on unemployment. They can also ensnare the terminally stupid in high-rate private student loans.

There are a very few genuine "we produce master chef" programs, like the CIA. Oh, and there are lots of "we teach singles and bored housewives how to cook while letting them ogle each other as possible dates" classes.

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:47:14 2013 No.4614610

I went to an ACF-certfied program at the local community college, and I found it was WAYYY too much work for what you were getting. 14-hour days once a week for no pay. And then you're in class with complete idiots. Not to mention you end up doing extra cleaning and then getting yelled at for being too efficient because it looks like you are doing nothing

>>	Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:59:14 2013 No.4614633 >>4614592 I hear your argument, but not having a degree doesn't handcuff you. You just have to work harder (and in turn make more money)

Anonymous Thu Jul 4 23:59:14 2013 No.4614634

>>4614575
>Caterers make fucktons. Restaurants make shit.

same anon from before

Catering is so much better since your overhead is so much lower. For years they ran the operation out of the house or cooked at the venue kitchen rather than renting/buying a commercial kitchen. All the staff is part time being employed only when needed. There is very little waste since food orders are made months ahead of time and they just shop accordingly.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:01:14 2013 No.4614637

>>4614634
Exactly. Also, depending on the client, a lot of times you can charge them more for the labor than what you are actually paying your labor. It's slightly evil but you will make loads.

I knew a guy who charged clients $15/hour per cook on staff, and then only paid them $10/hour

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:02:14 2013 No.4614640

At this point, I think that anything you can learn in a class room you can learn online for free. Cooking is a bit unique however due to there being a trail and error methodology to learning it. I'll say you "could" learn everything online, but it would be pretty difficult to judge some things without an experienced veteran there to look at your sauce and tell you if it's too thick or not at sight.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:09:14 2013 No.4614649

most schools teach you how to cook
not many teach you how to work in a kitchen

in the past 3 months ive watched 8 interns fresh from culinary school come through my restaurant
we've kept 2 so far
most of them come in cocky as fuck, little bratty know it alls who cant keep up with the pace & fall apart on the line
most of them seem like they watched too many Top Chef episodes & think its easy
then they come in on a saturday night & get crushed
its kind of funny, we take bets on how long it will take each one to fall apart or to ask the chef an utterly retarded question
we had one intern who asked the chef on a busy saturday night, in the middle of chef firing tickets, to sign his intern form so he could get credit for it at school

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:11:14 2013 No.4614653

I don't know how it is where you live, but all the instructors in my college are part-time, because they also own, or are head/sous in restaurants.

I got my foot in the industry this way. My instructor hired me because I was pretty efficient in the kitchen, and I'm still working there. He sometimes tags me along to his classes to talk with freshmen so they can loosen up and not be terrified of the kitchen.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:15:15 2013 No.4614662

>>4614649
How do you guys deal with the ones where they aren't cocky as fuck? Like, they come in, humble, willing to learn, but they just don't cut it. Like, a guy in my place has great potential, but he's also moonlighting to support his fam, so his work kinda suffers.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:17:15 2013 No.4614672

>>4614537
Quit reading after this. I have worked food service since I was 16. I am only 22 now. But I have worked with many people with "culinary degrees" who are the same age or older than me and we make the same. Give or take a few cents either way.
I used to want to go to culinary school. But after I worked with a 32 year old guy with a degree making only a dollar more an hour I said fuck that shit.
You can either hop around from place to place getting paid to learn shit or, you can waste two years to end up in debt and not making anymore than you would have.
A 4 year degree does help. But at that rate why would you go to school in order to work such a demanding job? Education is supposed to uplift you. Not put you in the same shit/ Also tits

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:20:14 2013 No.4614677

a culinary degree from a reputable school is good for, say, the twenty or thirty-something that decides to career swap.
if you're still a teenager i'd avdise you to go get a fucking job at a hotel or other such industrial kitchen doing ANYTHING to get your foot in the door. if you're any good at it you'll be promoted. if you continue to show promise and passion your chef will one day pull you aside into the office and offer to make a few calls to his professional associates and set you on the next step in your career.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:22:14 2013 No.4614680

>>4614662
work with them
if theres potential & the guy is really trying we try to work it out with them
its an industry full of alcoholics, drug addicts & weirdos so to find someone who's a decent human being, has a good work ethic & a strong desire to learn we try to help him until he stand on his own
plus schedules can be adjusted, not everyone is able to handle the workload of a 300+ cover saturday night but at the same time not everyone wants to work a lunch shift on a tuesday of only 30 covers cause they end being bored out of their skulls

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:27:14 2013 No.4614689 >>4614680 i still don't understand how the boozers and junkies manage to stay employed. how in the actual fuck do you survive working a 14 hour broiler shift with a hangover? that's just fucking unprofessional.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:31:14 2013 No.4614691 >>4614649 >we had one intern who asked the chef on a busy saturday night, in the middle of chef firing tickets, to sign his intern form so he could get credit for it at school As funny as this may seem to you or me, they don't know better.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:32:14 2013 No.4614693 >>4614653 That's not typical. Instructors are usually full-time, and are usually old and have been in the industry a long time

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:33:14 2013 No.4614695 >>4614689 Don't be a pussy, that's how.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:33:14 2013 No.4614696

Was the point of the argument valid? Was someone trying to spend $100k on an education from some third rate local "school" or was the argument more esoteric?

I can tell you, that yes, you can learn how to cook from TV, cookbooks, a brain and, dare I say, research and travel. If you haven't lived you can look like a good chef in a niche, but you don't have a nice experienced palate. Maybe you get one, maybe you don't. I still see Ramsey freak the heck out on his shows at commonplace food combinations. For example.

But, culinary schools of any caliber are one stop shopping, condensed, business schools in the field of Hospitality. Cooking for large functions, making a profit at any type of business model, food industry marketing, health certifications and procedures, HR practices, you name it. It's not any different than hotel management to run a restaurant. Anyone can make a pretty menu or think they make tasty food, yes. And, if all you do is have a food truck, you can probably make a profit with 4 or 5 items and "make it" but know that restaurants have a failure rate higher than any business. Something like 8 in 10 are gone within a year.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:33:14 2013 No.4614694 >>4614672 This is because they are wasting their culinary degrees. They need to be traveling and working in the great restaurants all over the world. Not working grill at Applebee's for a dollar more.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:34:14 2013 No.4614698 >>4614694 Funny because it was an Applebee's

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:35:14 2013 No.4614699 >>4614689 >implying boozers and junkies don't eventually no-call no-show

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:37:14 2013 No.4614702 >>4614699 >Insinuating food service isn't filled with these people for a reason

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:38:14 2013 No.4614706

Culinary people are pretty snobby usually, the way they learned how to do something is the *only* way in their mind, and they are incredibly haughty and arrogant if you suggest otherwise.

Also, they differ from the guy who worked his way up washing dishes, than prepping, on to the line, sous chef, and so on...most of them don't even know how to do a decent 5 loads of dishes, or sweep a floor, yet they lecture you on how hot the water in the sink has to be, or the PH level in a bleach bucket.

However, I have met seasoned Chefs who never went to school who are just as set in their ways and think they know everything, so it's not just exclusive to culinary grads.

I swear to god, if I have to hear someone proclaim they have been cooking for over 20 years as if that means they are infallible... where is your humility? In order to learn you have to humble, you can't be filled with your own self importance.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:40:14 2013 No.4614711 >>4614706 >yet they lecture you on how hot the water in the sink has to be, or the PH level in a bleach bucket. Fucking LEL. I remember spending my first semester of school learning about that shit

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:43:14 2013 No.4614714

>>4614702
exactly
its long hours, hot kitchens, shitty pay, no insurance & unpaid time off
there's a small handful of people who truly respect the craft & want to learn more, another small portion of people who think they're the next Iron Chef & a large amount of people who are either just mediocre but reliable or mentally fucked up in some way but somehow manage to function fairly well in the kitchen. usually because they've been working in a kitchen most of their lives

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:47:14 2013 No.4614723

>>4614714
This is also why there a lot of Mexicans in food service.

You can take a mediocre mexican who shows up everyday and isn't hungover or fucked in some way, and he's golden in the eyes of his employer, even if he isn't that passionate about the craft or creative or even that fast. Take a white guy who is gifted in the kitchen but has emotional problems and a drunk, than who are you going to pick in the long run?

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:48:14 2013 No.4614724

This thread is kinda funny to me, just finished my second day at a restaurant that just opened when I have zero cooking experience. Two 15 hour shifts later and I learned how to cook basically everything on the menu. Although that's really just following instructions, I don't really know anything a culinary arts grad would know.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:51:14 2013 No.4614730

She sounds like she highly overestimates her own abilities. Have you tried her souffles? You should seek to give her an unbiased evaluation of what her researched-from-the-internet cooking skills are ACTUALLY like. To me, she sounds full of shit.

Yes you can learn to cook on your own, but by DOING and by getting feedback from other people, not from searching for tips and tricks on wiki/4chan and then openly admitting to everyone around you that you think you're running the fucking show because you got some basic recipes off Google.

As for a degree being useless, I would argue that MOST degrees outside of science (real science, not computer science) and mathematics have become "useless," it's just that going to college is now the equivalent of graduating high school and nobody hires without one.

If you want to be a craftsman or adept at a trade skill and make a living off of that, there's nothing stupid or "useless" about furthering your own education in that field with a concise and functional curriculum that expands your knowledge and skill set, it's just that college isn't usually the most fruitful training grounds for such an endeavor because of the high expense and the distraction you'll have to deal with from other students who are just there to drink/smoke pot/fuck.

It's totally feasible to do it on your own, if you're already an intelligent, competent and resilient human being. She probably isn't though.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 00:53:14 2013 No.4614733

>>4614592

Ultimate butthurt wont get out of debt till 40 dead technique scrubtastic failure is what I would describe you as. Do you think the dinosaurs in any school can teach you anything? Cooking in the last 40 years has exploded like the fucking big bang and shit is changing constantly, and you think your degree is worth shit? You're the type of guy that thinks ring molds are still cool.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 01:20:15 2013 No.4614770 >>4614733 whoa, whoa slow down there Thuilier.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 01:29:14 2013 No.4614788 Well it gets you more chances of getting hired as a cook than just "well I know how to cook cause I read a lot of recipes online".

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 02:25:14 2013 No.4614866

>>4614540

A lot of people look out for graduates because it gives them a sense of security, they feel like they aren't taking as a big a chance hiring someone with a degree. It also looks good for them, their chef has a degree and they can put that on their fancy menus.

Just learning the recipes and being able to cook doesn't make you a chef though, you have to be able to work with other people (inevitably, some of them will be insane and/or criminals), time all your shit in your head and keep a few things going at once.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 02:35:15 2013 No.4614876

This is probably already said but I gotta say it!. There is a difference between recreational cooking, what your friend did, and cooking as a job and profession. Recreational cooking you arent under a time limit or facing multiple numbers let alone worry about keeping standard for each and every order. Basically that is what culinary school teaches you other than expanding your culinary experiences with different foods, flavors, technique, and cooking utensils.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 03:25:15 2013 No.4614948 >>4614733 You're obviously very set in your belief there, pal. Grow up, you self-righteous cunt.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 03:30:14 2013 No.4614953

>>4614575
Naw. Make money in some other field then fund others. Cook for yourself and family and friends and have fun, but fuck pumping it out.

If you fund others, remember that as any investment it's a risk, and your money can vanish. So like gambling, don't play it if you can't lose it.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 03:32:14 2013 No.4614955 >>4614866 >It also looks good for them, their chef has a degree and they can put that on their fancy menus Mmm... nope. Customers don't care about that. They wanna hear who you worked for previously.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 03:37:14 2013 No.4614961

>>4614955
Not in New York for food, what they do is pay people to shill out to social websites and pretend to stand around the place, even pay them to eat there, so that it gets attention. Then the socialists at the New York Times and other shit papers will notice and all of a sudden... IT'S AMAZING, THIS NEW PLACE!

It's pretty retarded but that's what they do.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 03:41:15 2013 No.4614965

>>4614955
They also pay people on facebook and craigslist, cute girls to hang around the place, like hookers, it draws attention from the dreary New York city starbucks crowd.

I've lived there long enough to know what they're on about, and also why I don't like living there now.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 04:33:15 2013 No.4615030

You can learn anything from books and online. It's just a matter of time and dedication - and of guidance when you fail to learn something, or learn something wrong.
The degree is there to prove to your employer that you know it, nothing else. There are schools where you can simply apply for commission exam, say/show all you know, and get the degree without visiting the lectures even once - you'd better know your shit goddamn perfectly if you try it though.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 06:30:15 2013 No.4615122 >>4614498 that's true for just about anything. having a teacher is useful because on your own you'll probably overlook a lot of things.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:27:15 2013 No.4615155 Was going to contribute to the conversation, but the moldy bun in OP's pic is too distracting.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 07:30:15 2013 No.4615157 My grandparents ran a successful restaurants that was packed from opening to closing every single day for over 50 years. Immigrants that couldn't speak English on arrival in Canada nor had any culinary experience.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 12:24:14 2013 No.4615464 I guess a degree is only nice if you plan on working in high end restaurants or running a business. Other than, just enough work experience is good. You're already learning about food safety and how kitchen works by just starting out as a dish washer.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 12:40:14 2013 No.4615491

>>4614498
>A friend says a degree in cooking isn't very useful. She argues that anything you can learn in culinary classes you can just learn online or from books
Thats the same for every single thing in the world.
But when you go for a job, and it's between someone with a degree and someone whose read a lot of books who do you think is gonna get that job?

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 13:01:14 2013 No.4615524 >>4614498 A degree in cooking? Like a university degree? Totally pointless. Cooking is a craft, not a science. Degrees are for scientific / academic professions.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 13:22:15 2013 No.4615560

Please if any aspiring chefs are reading this. DO NOT GO TO CULINARY SCHOOL. Find an apprenticeship instead. Either be annoying and ask around different places or do ACF. You don't need a degree to make a fucking souffle. If you want to be an accomplished chef you should get as much experiences as you can. Employers will not fucking give two shit about where you got your culinary degree at.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 13:41:14 2013 No.4615597 >>4615560 >no ACF apprenticeships in Michigan

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 13:42:14 2013 No.4615602

the purpose of degrees, any degree, is not to learn things. It's to prove to people you have.

Granted, I'd say a university cooking degree is probably not very useful. A degree proves you know shit about something so few people know about that most people lack a frame of reference for comparison between fact and bullshit, so it's a reference to "this establishment says I am not full of shit."

Working in a kitchen 6 months gives you something you can point at where you can say "this establishment says I am not full of shit."

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 14:50:14 2013 No.4615798 >>4614498 to prove you have a basic knowledge and that you where where you needed to be when you needed to be for a couple years the same as all degrees really

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 17:00:14 2013 No.4616138

I think that working in a kitchen would ruin cooking for me. Though I would end up with better knife skills (the only way for me right now is up), moving away from cooking as leisure to cooking as a job would just be taking away one of my life's pleasures.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 17:08:14 2013 No.4616145

God I love these threads.

Learning how to cook through at-home practice or through an apprenticeship or by just getting a cooking job will teach you how to cook more or less the same as you would through a culinary degree.

What most people don't realize is that culinary degrees don't teach you how to cook, they teach you how to become a professional chef. By that, I mean you will learn how to manage people, make and maintain a budget, write a menu, and most importantly lead a team.

People who think this isn't the way it is usually don't know the difference between a chef and a cook. Whether or not a culinary degree is worth it depends on what you want to do with your career.

Anonymous Fri Jul 5 17:34:15 2013 No.4616187

>>4614498
Tell your friend she's an idiot. Souffles aren't hard to make. They're hard to do en mass for a restaurant or event because if they aren't treated correctly temperature-wise, they can fall/ not rise properly. This only gets difficult when you are doing them in batches, opening oven doors repeatedly, having to put them under heat lamps, using several different ovens that probably don't cook the same way, things like that.
Other than that, yeah, a good culinary program is expensive. If you waste it, you've wasted a lot. If not, good on you.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jul 5 21:38:14 2013 No.4616773 It's like getting a degree in arts.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 10:53:15 2013 No.4617959 If you don't plan on running a business, you don't really need a degree. Otherwise, just take whatever kitchen related job you can.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 11:57:14 2013 No.4618062

>>4616145
>culinary degrees don't teach you how to cook, they teach you how to become a professional chef.
Well said. The downside of being taught how to be a chef is that the job you're going to end up with after learning that is the job of cook. Many kitchens hesitate to hire people straight out of cooking school because they expect to waltz into a position where they can put what they've learned to use - they want to be chefs - without working their way up the chain of command. When the cooking school grad finds himself just another one of the line cooks he either ends up disillusioned or affronted, neither of which makes for a good team player in the kitchen.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 12:17:14 2013 No.4618088 >>4616773 It is an art degree.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 12:20:14 2013 No.4618099

>>4614511

I need to make my own mistakes. But watching someone else do it properly is the best prelude to making as few mistakes as possible.

I can read directions all the live long day, and I can even ace a test on the material afterwards, but until I get my hands dirty, I haven't learned anything at all.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 12:28:14 2013 No.4618115

There are a lot of basic and advanced techniques that are either missing completely or not well explained on the internet.

Also many dishes require a precise timing and a specific way of mixing that a recipe wont explain.

I suppose if you spend enough time you could find all of these secrets. There is enough information out there to learn graduate level physics if you practice it enough.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 12:36:14 2013 No.4618127 >>4618115 its the same for most culinary schools too. Those kids cant butcher for shit.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 12:46:15 2013 No.4618144 [DELETED]

File: 24 KB, 500x384, can i haz a dog.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

yeah i learned everything i know from Food Network

I have a friend that spent a fortune on culinary school and he is the manager of a Ryans Buffet , he still owes on his student loan and can't cook for shit

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 13:23:15 2013 No.4618214 >>4614498 It's a piece of parer that states you know what end of a spoon to use and how to beat an egg. Generally saves potential employers having to watch you do every menial and common task in a kitchen.

Anonymous Sat Jul 6 14:22:53 2013 No.4618332
File: 30 KB, 500x340, 1337752865896.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>4618062
it gives you a leg up in some aspects.
take my buddy, for instance. did 4 years at CIA, is currently one of the highest paid line cooks in a major metro city.
his chef, on yearly review, said he has three options in his career right now:
1. you can stay here and polish the glass ceiling.
2. you can move to a smaller city and be a rock star at your own venture.
3. i can put in a call for you at Robuchon, where I learned, and you can learn from them - at severely reduced pay, of course.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 14:30:14 2013 No.4618347 >>4616145 >business; kitchen management you can learn the same basic tenets by taking an assistant manager job at pizza hut for two years.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 15:33:14 2013 No.4618480 >>4618127 every single aspect of the actual preparation of food is learned by hands-on training. you can't expect these kids to know how to butcher a lamb unsupervised, just like you couldn't trust them to run the braisier station unsupervised.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jul 6 15:56:15 2013 No.4618521 She's probably right. But, really, by this logic, I wouldn't need to go to school to learn calculus or physical chemistry either, but does an instructor and classmates make these things easier? You bet your ass they do.

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