The advantages of becoming a culinary arts professional!

Are you mesmerized by watching those cooking shows on TV? Maybe you want to cook a steak as well as Bobby Flay or bake a cake as well as any of the other celebrity chefs or Food Network stars.

If you have a passion for preparing and presenting food, then consider entering a culinary arts training program with the ITHSA!

Going to culinary arts training school can help you gain the experience and professional skills you need to enter a career field where you can create delicious dishes and learn how to present aesthetically-pleasing plates.

It will give you the skills you need to advance your career and put you on the path to learning about the food industry.

Here are five reasons to become a culinary arts professional:

1. A variety of career opportunities

Culinary arts training can give you the skills you need to help safely prepare food and present it in a prompt time and visually pleasing way.There are a broad range of opportunities within the culinary arts fields. Career paths range from members of the preparation staff to head chef. With further education, you can even specialize in a specific area of the culinary arts, such as pastries. To become a chef, you could work your way up as you gain more experience. With a culinary arts education, you have the ability to start in professional environments and advance your career.

You could become a:

• Restaurant cook
• Prep/line cook
• Short order cook
• Assistant chef
• Personal chef
• Pastry chef
• Baker
• Catering specialist
• Dessert specialist

Once you get more experience and further your education, the possibilities could be endless.

2. Work in different environments

According to theOccupational Outlook Handbook cooks can work in many places other than just restaurants. They may also work in cafeterias in schools or hospitals, nursing care facilities, government establishments, or food service companies. Most cooks work in restaurants and, with so many offerings, you could try to find a job working with a specific style of food.

3. Hands-on training

A culinary arts training program can give you the experience you need for your resume. Courses will help prepare you for food safety, professionalism, and ethical practices within the cooking school. At a training program at Branfrod Hall, you can take courses that include food sanitation, restaurant management, restaurant marketing, and wine and beer beverages to name a few! You’ll also learn how to cook in a variety of distinct and creative ways.

4. Try new flavors

An education in culinary school can give you the opportunity to try new flavors and experiment with the creation of dishes. You will be educated in flavor pairings and profiles that will help give you the foundation you need so you have the potential to create culinary masterpieces. You may even learn what spices are traditional in different ethnic cuisines. At Branford Hall, you can take a course in International cuisines from Europe and Africa. Plus, you will have the ability to taste them!

Attending culinary arts school may be a great option for anyone who loves cooking in active and lively environments. You can gain the knowledge of different and exotic flavors and much more! This exciting profession could be one that not only stimulates the senses, but your creativity as well!

Find our more about the ITH Culinary Programmes here!

Source: http://www.brandfordhall.edu

Members of the South African Culinary Olympic squad along with team manager made a surprise guest appearance on the latest People’s Choice Challenge episode of My Kitchen Rules SA which aired on Sunday 2 September on M-Net.

In celebration of Heritage Month, the seven remaining teams competing on My Kitchen Rules SA were faced with another dynamic People’s Choice challenge which took each team to a different destination around South Africa. On arrival at their destination they were tasked with sourcing unique ingredients synonymous with that destination, then returning to the #MKRSA Kitchen HQ for a culinary showdown where the chefs of the South African Culinary Olympic squad were waiting to judge their efforts in a blind tasting alongside the show’s celebrity judges, David Higgs and J’Something.

The eight highly qualified and skilled chefs, who are among members of the squad that may be representing South Africa in the Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart in 2020, were:

• Trevor Boyd (team manager) – Executive Chef, Michelangelo Towers
• Henrico Grobbelaar – Executive Chef, NH Lord Charles
• Oscar Baard – Pastry Chef, NH Lord Charles
• Dion Vengatass – Chef de Cuisine, Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel
• Jaen-Mari Breytenbach – Chef de Partie: Pastry, Sun International Time Square
• Aphelele Dlungana – Chef De Partie, The Roundhouse Restaurant
• Burton Leo – Head Chef, The Camps Bay Retreat Boutique Hotel
• Adrian Vigus-Brown – Chef de Cuisine, African Pride Melrose Arch Hotel, Autograph Collection

The Culinary Squad is a diverse collection of chefs which mirrors the diversity of cultures of which South Africa is proudly made up.

And the judges said…

The ‘Olympic chefs turned judges for a day’ were impressed with the some of the dishes they judged in the blind tasting. Henrico Grobbelaar – who has represented South Africa on an international level a number of times – particularly enjoyed the venison dish and had this to say: “The stakes are high and the prize money is definitely worth the effort in this competition; so I think towards the end of the competition contestants will be able to apply new cooking techniques they have learned throughout the competition.”

Dion Vengatass, who was also a member of the Olympic Culinary team in 2016, commented: “I don’t usually eat tripe unless it has been prepared by my aunt, my grandmother or myself; but the tripe served during our this episode of MKRSA was surprisingly good.”

For some of the chefs it was the first time they were on the other side of the judging process which was as exciting as it was entertaining, but the more seasoned chefs enjoyed it just as much with most saying they did not expect such a high standard.

Source: https://www.hospitalitymarketplace.co.za/

A Head Chef earns an average salary of R146,783 per year. A skill in Menu Planning is associated with high pay for this job. Most people move on to other jobs if they have more than 20 years’ experience in this career.

Job Description for Head Chef

Head chefs work in restaurants, cafeterias, catering companies, bakeries, and many other other places which serve food. These chefs are generally expected to specialize in the particular cuisines served by their employers in order to prepare and cook food, often with the help of other chefs, and present it in an attractive manner. In some positions, head chefs may also be responsible for creating and modifying the menu or setting prices for selections.

Some employers prefer that their head chefs have completed culinary education, though this is not a strict requirement, as other employers prioritize the actual ability to cook food. Head chefs may also have inventory and purchasing duties and work within budgets, so it is important to be able to maintain the best-quality food while staying within them. Managing employees and ensuring that they are working efficiently is also a common part of the job.

Prior to being hired, head chefs should have a health safety certification, and many years of prior experience may be necessary to reach this position. Working hours vary greatly, as these chefs may have to work longer hours when the business is busy, and many jobs require working nights or weekends as such. (Copyright 2018 PayScale.com)

Head Chef Tasks

• Manage kitchen operation including food purchases and preparation, record keeping, quality standards, and sanitation.
• Train employees in cooking methods, plate presentations, portions, and cost control.

Pay by Experience Level for Head Chef

Pay by Experience for a Head Chef has a positive trend. An entry-level Head Chef with less than 5 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of R106,000 based on 67 salaries provided by anonymous users. Average total compensation includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay. A Head Chef with mid-career experience which includes employees with 5 to 10 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of R146,000 based on 56 salaries. An experienced Head Chef which includes employees with 10 to 20 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of R186,000 based on 61 salaries. A Head Chef with late-career experience which includes employees with greater than 20 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of R182,000 based on 14 salaries.

Ramsay’s TV series, Gordon Behind Bars, sees the celebrity chef heading into the heart of the British penal system teaching inmates some real culinary skills. The celebrity chef spoke about his experiences teaching inmates at HMP Brixton how to cook.

“The idea came from the fact that there are approximately 80,000 inmates across the country now, which is a hell of a lot,” explains Ramsay. “It was about getting them doing something with their time, giving something back, and also getting job-ready.”

Indeed, this idea of giving prisoners a sense of purpose underpins the whole series, and was partly inspired by the relative laxity of prison life that Ramsay observed during filming.

“What struck me most was the waste of time, effort and energy that could be channelled into something incredibly positive. “They have lost their will to work, and had all responsibility taken away from them. For me, it’s such a waste, such a missed opportunity. They’re just using the system, they’re not motivated to do anything. They’ve got everything they need. If they were given more incentives to do some work, to get job-ready, to be disciplined, it would help them, and surely their time would also go faster.”

And so Gordon’s scheme, which involved setting up a bakery inside HMP Brixton, was born. However, to begin with it wasn’t easy to motivate the inmates to work, as the short-tempered chef explains: “Getting them out of bed in the morning was tough,” he says. “They don’t have to be up. Most of them get locked up after dinner, at 5:15pm, and they’re not let out the next day until the morning. So gathering them around was just horrendous.”

And even when he did manage to assemble a kitchen-load of offenders, the rules of the system made the business of teaching cookery a rather trying experience. “If someone wanted a knife or a peeler or a spatula or a plastic scraper, you’d have to go to the shadow board on the wall, take out what you wanted, sign for it, give them a number, and then they weren’t allowed more than two utensils out at any one time,” Ramsay remembers.

But for all the setbacks, Gordon’s scheme to get prisoners motivated and productive ultimately proved successful, with the inmates eventually growing appreciative of the chance to work.

“Some of them had tears in their eyes when they got their certificates at the end”. And CTH was present throughout the programme. Gordon was fronting the project however to gain permission to film in the prison sector he had to find an awarding organisation that would be willing to work with him to ensure that the participants in the programme had something to show for what they contributed. This was how the CTH Level 2 Award in Culinary Skills was born. Because of Gordon’s previous involvement with CTH and Tante Marie Culinary Academy he came to us first and together we identified the content, delivery and assessment methods.

Gordon’s final thoughts – “At the end it was like having a team of chefs. I almost forgot they were prisoners. In their minds now, they are ready and hungry to get out with real and realistic ambitions. They go back to the cell tired at the end of the day, they sleep well, and their sentence goes a thousand times faster.”

BACKGROUND:

Gordon Behind Bars is a British television series in which Gordon Ramsay teaches inmates of Brixton prison, London, how to cook. It was broadcast in four episodes from 26 June – 17 July 2012 on Channel 4. Ramsay, a Michelin Star Chef in the UK, enters Brixton prison over a six-month period (December 2011 to June 2012) with the goal of teaching inmates how to cook and run a sustainable business selling goods prepared inside the prison to the general public.

Bad Boys’ Bakery

After some training from Ramsay, the inmate chefs of Brixton prison formed a business dubbed “Bad Boys’ Bakery”, under the slogan “Life Changing Taste”, selling a Ramsay version of a lemon treacle slice. Ramsay was able to negotiate an agreement for a trial order of 100 bars (per cafe) to be sold in 11 Caffè Nero locations across South London.