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Find culinary inspiration and helpful career information on topics such as cooking with chocolate, French and Greek cuisine, the life of a Chef, and what to expect in culinary school.

Does your sweet tooth lead you straight to your oven? Read how to avoid the pitfalls of cheese cake, bake creative cookies, use fresh fruits in baking, and more.

If you've ever prepared a Thanksgiving dinner, you know that cooking for a group takes planning and skill. Learn more about the art of catering and restaurant management, including specialized catering such as chocolates or high tea and how to prepare for a restaurant career.

With culinary schools in all 50 states and additional culinary education available online, you don't need to relocate unless you want to. Each state has its own special mixture of culture, cuisine, and locally grown agriculture that inspires the chefs and students who work and live there. If you're passionate about Maine lobster dishes, California cuisine, or any dish or state in between, you'll find a culinary school that is where you are or where you'd like to be.

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Culinary Arts Schools Open the Way for Your Career as a Chef

By Sarah Jane Udall

Culinary arts schools offer you a hands-on education in the many facets of cooking from menu planning to knife skills. If you're looking for a career in the culinary arts, a cooking school can expedite your entrance into this exciting arena. A culinary arts school provides the knowledge, training, and skills to become anything from a fish expert to a pastry chef.

Culinary School Curriculum

For a hands-on curriculum that can include cooking and baking, the design and creation of different foods, and the theoretical knowledge behind the culinary arts, enrolling in culinary school can provide the base for your culinary development. Culinary school classes also focus on your skill development, palate training, speed, and teamwork.

Culinary Coursework Specifics

In a culinary arts school, you begin by training your own palate and learning how to taste. You also learn to appreciate the subtleties of a wide variety of foods so that you can best prepare them and use them to complement one another. Culinary coursework also teaches different cooking techniques such as cutting and knife skills, the difference between dry- and moist-heat cooking methods, sauce making, pastry making, baking, and more.

As you grow more confident in these basic skills, your coursework teaches you how to prepare increasingly complex dishes and how to plan and present different recipes and menus on your own.

Cooking School Size and Cost

Most cooking schools are small in size to ensure individual attention. They are also taught in professionally equipped kitchens. The cost of attending a culinary academy or local career school that offers culinary arts programs varies, but fees typically include tuition, uniforms, knives, and other baking tools.

With the right culinary school, you can find yourself well on your way to a rewarding career.