What you can learn on our Cook’s Certificate Course

A CULINARY ARTS CAREER 

Cook. Sous Chef. Commis Chef. Baker. Pastry Chef. Restaurateur. Caterer. Private Cook/Chef. We think the opportunities for a trained cook are considerable! We’ve recently enjoyed reading about these people who changed their careers with evening classes, several of whom went into the food industry and were chosen for Code’s Hospitality’s Women Of The Year in 2023.

Our six week fast track accredited Cook’s Certificate in Food and Wine gains you a Level 3 Certificate from Open College Network (OCN) London and is a speedy route into a new career, to become part of a restaurant brigade or training to set up a food or hospitality business.

Over the past ten years our Cook’s Certificate alumni have arrived at Cookery School from across the globe. We receive consistent student feedback that the course is not only incredibly useful for their next steps but also how much they have enjoyed their time with us.

We take great pride in our methodology that delivers professional, confident and happy team players as a result. We take a modern approach to teaching relevant skills, food knowledge, techniques and sustainability, which fulfils what chefs want to know and what employers want to see. Find out more below.

“Thank you for all the inspiration, practical skills and knowledge that you shared with me. My time at cookery school was priceless.” Clea

Having just completed this course I cannot recommend it enough – the school is amazing and the teachers quite brilliant. Knowledgeable, patient, enthusiastic, insightful and inspiring – you can even do a wine course alongside. Make the time to do it!” – Georgia

CONFIDENCE: ENCOURAGEMENT OVER JUDGEMENT

From our inception Cookery School has wanted to ensure that those joining us on classes, courses and corporate events never felt daunted when learning how to cook.  From the get go we have always tried to develop culinary confidence in our students so that they leave us understanding the principles associated with what they are learning and feeling excited about knowing that they can replicate what they have cooked during lessons.

DOING: THE BEST WAY OF LEARNING

Rosalind started Cookery School at Little Portland Street in 2003 when she had been teaching for almost forty years and she believed that the best way of learning is by doing.  She recognised that it is important to know the theory behind the skills learnt and at Cookery School this is taught whilst cooking and, as a result, is well understood and far more likely to be remembered.

EMPOWERED: BY UNDERSTANDING ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES

The premise behind our teaching is that anyone can learn to cook quickly and well if the teaching that they receive is based on understanding.  This has been proven over the past twenty years and the Cook’s Certificate has demonstrated the effectiveness of  this method at a professional level, over six weeks of comprehensive culinary learning.

BASICS: WE COVER THE FUNDAMENTALS TO BUILD A SECURE FOUNDATION

We do not assume that students come with any cooking experience and we teach all requisite skills from soups and stews, roasts, sauces, bread, pastry, cakes and chocolate through to regional cuisines. This allows our students to feel that they have a grasp of all the basic principles that they need to know.  In addition students gain qualifications in: Level 2 Sustainable Kitchen accreditation from OCN, Level 2 foundation certificate in Food Safety and a Level 2 Award in Wines from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET). Overall, the certificate is a comprehensive course covering a very broad range of topics allowing students to go on and specialise or take on a general cooking/kitchen role.

READ FARAJ ALNASSER GRADUATE PROFILE

LEARNING: WE TEACH USING MISTAKES AND TRANSPARENCY AS TOOLS

We are firm believers in learning by mistakes. We all make mistakes and through sharing our mistakes we learn better together in a more transparent way.  All mistakes made are always shared within the group so that no one feels threatened but everyone knows that they have a chance of learning how to make corrections if an error is made. This not only teaches students to cook but to troubleshoot – a key skill in the kitchen!

TEACHING: WE FOCUS ON INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS THE GROUP

We ensure that our class size is kept to a maximum of twelve people so that teaching is as personalised as possible with lots of time to ask questions and learn without feeling judged.  We do not give marks for dishes that are prepared as we believe that it is hard to provide marks for e.g. a hollandaise sauce.  If anyone does not manage to master a technique on their first go, they practice until they have mastered it as they are with us to learn and not to be scored.

CAREERS: RESTAURANTS LOVE TO EMPLOY OUR GRADUATES FOR THEIR NEW SKILLS AND BECAUSE THEY  MAKE FOR GOOD TEAM MEMBERS

Prior to the lockdowns we used to offer our graduates an opportunity to enjoy a week of work experience in the best restaurant kitchens in London.  This all changed when we returned to work again and with a shortage of staff across the hospitality industry, restaurants could no longer accommodate these trainee sessions. Instead they have been happy to employ our graduates immediately and many of them are enjoying working in some of London’s more popular restaurants including, Ottolenghi, Cinnamon Club and Honey & Co. One restaurant even enrolled its own chef on our Cook’s Certificate.

We’ve had some of your lovely students join us over the years, so we’d love more!” Honey & Co

SUSTAINABILITY: OUR LENS FOR EVERYTHING

From sourcing ingredients and kitchen management to the way that our staff and students are looked after, sustainability has always been at the heart of all that we do so this is taught alongside all other necessary skills as this knowledge too will remain with them forever and be shared with future work colleagues, new business ventures and family.

The Cook’s Certificate course gave me a confidence and understanding of food that has been invaluable in my professional career in restaurant kitchens. Despite having worked in the industry all of my professional life, I was more involved in the front of house until gaining the required understanding and knowledge which gave me the confidence to involve myself more in the kitchen. [It] also gave me more background information to working with sustainable produce… it’s great to be educated on such important topics so that you can spread the knowledge throughout your career as well.” Emma

VISIT COOKERY SCHOOL TO SEE HOW WE OPERATE

We are very happy to arrange visits to Cookery School at Little Portland Street for you to spend time seeing our kitchens, meeting our staff and tasting our food.  There is always something new being tested in the kitchens and we love sharing our enthusiasm and love of food with anyone that visits.

If you take a class prior to joining the Cook’s Certificate the cost of the class will be deducted from the course fee.

Please contact us and we can arrange for you to visit the school or we can have a chat with you over the phone to provide full details of what our Cook’s Certificate Course entails and what we think would help you achieve your goals.

Category
Cook's Certificate Newsletters