Professional Chef’s Program (PCP)

The Professional Chef’s Program (PCP) delves deep into the science and art of international cooking and pastry techniques. The program is composed of courses in basic techniques, baking, regional cuisines, and intensive classical French techniques. As a graduate of the CSCA Professional Chef’s Program, you will be prepared for positions such as line cook, sous chef, caterer, personal chef, and CSCA recreational instructor. Many graduates have gone on to quickly launch successful ventures of their own including restaurants, food delivery services, and specialty food shops.

These lab classes build upon the skills and techniques acquired in the Culinary Certificate Program, delving deeper into hands-on exploration of different cuisines and techniques, adding to your marketability and versatility in the culinary industry.

Provincial French
Discover the world’s most celebrated style of cooking in this intensive exploration of France. Study political and geographical influences that shaped each region’s signature style through an in-depth exploration of the regional dishes, ingredients, and flavors found throughout the country. Prepare authentic meals, taste and evaluate cheese and wine pairings, and develop your understanding of the subtle and extreme differences that identify the distinct characteristics of each region.

Italian
Travel the culinary landscape of Italy, experiencing the history, folklore, and natural geography that have shaped one of the world’s most popular cuisines. Each of Italy’s unique regions can be defined by local ingredients, a simplistic approach to cooking, and an emphasis on robust flavors. Discover authentic Italian cuisine, the art of hand-shaping pasta, cheese and wine pairings, and traditional ingredients from across the regions.

Intensive French Cuisine
Learn the intricate and advanced techniques of French cooking that have shaped the meaning of fine dining from classical to haute to nouvelle cuisine. Trace the history of cuisine in France and discover the contributions of the great chefs and leaders who paved the way. Practice classic garde manger techniques from working with aspics, forcemeats, and charcuterie to presenting stunning pâtés, terrines, and galantines. Follow the haute cuisine movement, which emphasized service à la russe (serving meals in courses) and formalized the use of mother sauces and elaborate presentation. This course concludes with an introduction to nouvelle cuisine, the movement in which classical French cuisine was rediscovered and modernized.

Asian Fusion
Transport yourself across the globe by studying and working with the ingredients, techniques, and dishes found in China, Japan, India, Vietnam, and Thailand. Learn the styles and flavor profiles unique to each country and start to unfurl the mystery of fusion cuisine.

American
Discover American cuisine from New England to the deep South to the Pacific Northwest. Learn how early Americans incorporated elements from their native cuisines and made them uniquely their own with the introduction of local and regional ingredients. Create and evaluate traditional and modern recipes within the context of their historical and cultural frameworks.

Further advance your culinary knowledge and build up your professional marketability through a wide range of seminar topics.

Nutrition for the Foodservice Professional
Receive an overview of food and nutrition science and its role in today’s foodservice industry. Become proficient in nutritional standards, dietary guidelines, and the nutrients and composition of specific foods. Review relevant topics such as fad diets, genetic engineering, reading food labels, adapting recipes for specific dietary needs, and evaluating nutritional claims.

Wine
Heighten your senses during this interactive overview of wine production, the political and historical events that influenced wine culture, and varietals from across the globe. Explore wine tasting practices to help you develop your palate and better assess grape variety, quality, and value. Address popular and unusual food and wine pairings with various white, red, sparkling, and fortified wines to understand the logic behind menu recommendations.

Cheese
Taste European and American cheeses and gain an appreciation of the distinct characteristics of cheese styles, including bloomy-rind, washed-rind, semi-firm, hard, and blue cheeses. Compare several samples within each category and learn about the history, cultural relevancy, production, and proper storage of each. Building upon this knowledge, you will start to appreciate cheese plates, pairings, and the role of professional cheese buying in the foodservice industry.

Food Writing
Reading about food can be life changing, whether from a memoir, a blog, scripts for movies, magazine articles and cookbooks, and reviews. Learn how current writers land a book deal, how bloggers launch their pages and brands, how to write pitch letters, and create your personal writing niche through prose and voice. Discover sources and tools for getting your work published in magazines, newspapers, and online publications and practice your craft through guided exercises.

Catering
From developing clientele to mastering transportation and creative flexibility, the art of catering appeals to many seeking an alternative to restaurant work. Discover the professional skills and business techniques that will help you find success as a caterer.

Professional Pastry Program (PPP)

The Professional Pastry Program (PPP) builds upon fundamental pastry arts and offers the training and creative freedom to develop incredible sugar showpieces, wedding cakes, and show-stopping pastry pieces. Upon graduation, you will be prepared for a range of employment opportunities including assistant pastry chef, production baker, chocolatier, cake decorator, caterer, and CSCA recreational instructor. Many graduates go on to launch successful bake shops, cafés, and confectionary companies.

Building upon the foundations established in the Certificate Pastry Program, the labs in this further your understanding of theory and principles, introduce you to advanced techniques, and draw out your personal style as you prepare and present individual pastry creations.

Fundamentals of Pastry Arts
Study the theory and principles of French techniques used in making traditional pastries, including presentation, plating, and adaptation. Develop a strong understanding of the chemical function of ingredients and scalability of items for commercial baking, and explore the ingredients, tools, and techniques utilized in classic European desserts and pastries. Learn to make and identify choux, Viennoiserie, fillings, meringues, sauces, and cakes. Create intricate and delicious desserts that you will present and evaluate as a group.

Combined Savory Component
A well-rounded pastry chef who can assist in all areas of commercial kitchen work is highly desirable in the food industry. Learn to incorporate your growing pastry expertise into the savory side of food production, working with eggs, sauces, stocks, vegetables, meat, poultry, and seafood. Practice shaping pasta and pizza doughs, and develop full savory dishes utilizing a pastry or dough component. With your peers, you will complete meals drawn from a variety of international sources, preparing, presenting, and evaluating them as a group.

Advanced Techniques & Presentations
Prepare international pastry recipes and explore the tools and techniques that will bring your creative vision to life. Learn advanced plating methods, chocolate tempering and molding, advanced pastillage and gum paste shaping, and the art of sugar pulling. Create elaborate chocolate and sugar showpieces, design a wedding cake, build a towering croquembouche, and complete a multitude of confections, truffles, and classic French sweets.

Further advance your culinary knowledge and build up your professional marketability through a wide range of seminar topics.

Nutrition for the Foodservice Professional
Receive an overview of food and nutrition science and its role in today’s foodservice industry. Become proficient in nutritional standards, dietary guidelines, and the nutrients and composition of specific foods. Relevant topics such as fad diets, genetic engineering, reading food labels, adapting recipes for specific dietary needs, and evaluating nutritional claims will be reviewed.

Food Writing
Reading about food can be life changing, whether from a memoir, a blog, scripts for movies, magazine articles and cookbooks, and reviews. Learn how current writers land a book deal, how bloggers launch their pages and brands, how to write pitch letters, and create your personal writing niche through prose and voice. Discover sources and tools for getting your work published in magazines, newspapers, and online publications and practice your craft through guided exercises.

Wine
Heighten your senses during this interactive overview of wine production, the political and historical events that influenced wine culture, and varietals from across the globe. Explore wine tasting practices to help you develop your palate and better assess grape variety, quality, and value. Address popular and unusual food and wine pairings with various white, red, sparkling, and fortified wines to understand the logic behind menu recommendations.

Cheese
Taste European and American cheeses and gain an appreciation of the distinct characteristics of cheese styles, including bloomy-rind, washed-rind, semi-firm, hard, and blue cheeses. Compare several samples within each category and learn about the history, cultural relevancy, production, and proper storage of each. Building upon this knowledge, you will start to appreciate cheese plates, pairings, and the role of professional cheese buying in the foodservice industry.

Catering
From developing clientele to mastering transportation and creative flexibility, the art of catering appeals to many seeking an alternative to restaurant work. Discover the professional skills and business techniques that will help you find success as a caterer.