Professional Culinary Skills Certificate

Culinary Fundamentals I

This course introduces students to essential culinary skills and techniques. Topics covered encompass culinary professionalism, commercial kitchen operations, culinary hand tool utilization, kitchen safety, food safety and sanitation, basic knife skills proficiency, mise en place organization, and sensory analysis. Students actively apply these concepts in hands-on activities, demonstrating the competencies in knife cutting, stock production, and sauce creation.

Culinary Fundamentals II

Students learn and reinforce the core concepts, skills and techniques in culinary cookery. Key areas covered encompass knife proficiency and safety, kitchen safety protocols, culinary math, recipe costing, and menu design and development. Practical application enables students to demonstrate the competencies in moist cooking methods, including poaching, steaming, blanching, shocking, boiling and simmering. Students also demonstrate the competencies in thin, cream and chowder soup production.

Introduction to Breakfast & Lunch Cooking

Students are introduced to fundamental techniques for preparing breakfast, brunch and lunch menu items. Students gain experience in mastering basic egg cooking methods, enabling them to craft restaurant-quality breakfast and brunch dishes. Additionally, the course covers the essentials of lunch preparation techniques, including salads and sandwiches. Students are introduced to analyzing the nutritional content of a recipe and plate presentation methods. Food safety, allergen identification, recipe and portion costing are reinforced.

Principles of the Plate

Students are introduced to working with the principal elements of a plate to create menu items reflective of today’s foodservice industry. Students apply portion control, ingredient selection, cooking and flavoring techniques, with a focus on nutrition. Culinary math as applied to portion control and recipe costing is emphasized.

Traditional Cooking Techniques

Students are introduced to the traditional cooking techniques of stewing, braising and roasting along with identification and grading of beef, lamb and pork. Students create original seasonal recipes and menus focused on full product utilization and sustainable industry practices. Students practice plate presentation techniques while developing original menu items that would appeal to the expectations of today’s consumer.

International Cuisine Culinary Capstone

This capstone course challenges students to apply high-level contemporary culinary skills toward the exploration of global cuisines and cultures. Emphasis is placed on student-driven menu development and research to survey an international pantry of ingredients, flavor profiles, cultural cuisine vocabulary, cooking techniques, and safe and healthy dish design.

Food Safety and Sanitation Management

Students explore the fundamentals of food safety and environmental sanitation. Students identify the origins of food contamination and recognize proper food safety practices used to keep food safe during the flow of food from vendor to consumer. Students must pass a national food safety manager certification exam that is recognized by the Conference for Food Protection (CFP) to fulfill the graduation requirement.