What Food and Kitchen Classes are Required for French Chefs?
French cooking is an intricate art and something that a chef must spend some time learning.
Many culinary classes are required for cooks, like traditional dishes but be able to add twists on these classic meals and create their own. They also need to know how to budget for meals to ensure everything is available. Below is some more information about the courses that are required for these two things and how you can enjoy making delicious dishes with the tips and techniques a cook can learn from them.
The Most Important Techniques to Know
So, what is so special about the French cuisine? Why should someone spend time going to school and learning it?
The food is popular for a reason - its texture, flavor, and color combinations, as well as its attention to details, make it stand out from other world dishes. Not only is it known for savory dishes, but its sweet ones as well. It has a wide selection for people to enjoy which is what makes it a very special thing to master.
Because of this, this cuisine is delicious to eat, but making many of the meals can be daunting. These cooks must know things like how to make the perfect macaroon, sear a piece of meat, and how to tell which herbs and seasonings will bring out the flavors in certain dishes the best.
Required Courses to Take
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Cooking
Cooking is one of the most important culinary school courses to take. With this, cooks will discover how to work well in a kitchen and with others. They'll know how to properly tell a good piece of seafood and meat from another piece and how to season and cook it to perfection. It's also vital to know how to make a roux for sauces, sautéing and roasting meats so they are cooked but still juicy, and poaching eggs. This necessary culinary course will also teach the differences between types of knives and their blades so the appropriate one is used to make a certain meal.
This also will teach the basics of cooking techniques, like using a bouquet garni (a bunch of herbs tied together and thrown into a soup to add flavor) and chiffonade (cutting herbs and leafy vegetables into delicate strips).
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Pastry
A pastry class is taken by almost all professional chefs and is vital when it comes to sweet treats. When you look at pastries like éclairs, croissants, and petits fours they look and taste great for a reason - a lot of time and technique was put into making them. Whipping egg whites to create a fluffy texture, rolling dough in a specific way to make multiple layers in a bread, and creating delicate chocolate curls are just a few things a pastry course will teach. Techniques like coulis (making a thick sugary sauce from just one ingredient) will be taught as well and each day something new will be learned.
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Baking
Similar to a pastry course, a baking class has a few other necessary things a chef needs to know like how to properly knead bread to make the iconic baguettes and brioches. Many dishes showcase a slice of bread on the side and a poorly made loaf can ruin the meal.
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Wine Pairing
Many recipes often feature this beverage, whether it's in a glass to drink or in the meal's sauce. For instance, flambeing (which creates a large flame) and sautéing are vital to know as they can add a delicious burst of flavor to any meal. A chef will have to know whether something like Sherry or Chardonnay will be appropriate for a specific meal.
These meals, pastries, and breads require quite a bit of time and patience in order to master it. However, once a chef does, it will be well worth it. The courses above are necessary for culinary students as it will help them to discover how to make the iconic dishes this cuisine offers.
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