Three Month Beginner’s Certificate Course

Monday 31st March – Friday 13th June 2025
9:30am – 4pm

This eleven-week course offers you a thorough knowledge of basic cooking techniques. It’s designed for those who wish to become a professional cook and enter the food industry. It is also suitable for those wishing to learn the basics of classical cookery as a life skill. Students have the opportunity to cook on many different cooker types including Aga, Induction, Ceramic and Gas. As well as practical cookery, there will be expert cookery demonstrations and lectures on various topics. The course is full time from 9.30 am to 4 pm. At the end of the course you will sit both a practical and a theory examination. In preparation for this there will be regular short tests.

Some of the topics covered include:

• Knife skills – how to use your knives effectively, which one to choose for which job and how to keep them sharp.
• Methods of cooking – roasting, boiling, poaching, frying, deep frying, deep fat frying, sautéing and baking.
• Stocks – chicken, brown, beef, fish, and vegetable
• Sauces – white, béchamel, mornay, gravy, mayonnaise, pan sauces, sugar syrups and crème anglaise.
• Yeast – bread making, enriched yeasted breads and cakes
• Cake making – covering the four methods of cake making; rubbed in, creamed, melted and whisked
• Pastry – Shortcrust, rich shortcrust, choux, rough puff
• Game
• Meat cookery
• Fish cookery
• Ice cream
• Canapés – savoury and sweet
• Carving cuts of meat
• Gelatine – how to use powdered and leaf and other methods of setting
• Presentation of food
• Vegetarian food and special diets
• Menu Planning – how to structure menus
• Costing and business planning – important information for those who may wish to run their own business.
• Choosing produce – how to recognise and select the best produce and concentrate on seasonality
• Healthy eating and nutrition
• Sourcing local produce
• REHIS Basic Food Hygiene Course
• Developing recipes and recipe writing
• Wine appreciation

During the course you will plan, prepare, cook and serve a lunch as part of a team.

We have strong links with a number of employment agencies and will help to prepare you for the job market on completion of the course.

Students are required to wear chef’s jackets, trousers, aprons and hats and you will need to buy a set of knives at an extra cost of approximately £250 – £300. To see what some of our ex-students are doing now visit our case studies area of the website.

This course is suitable for adults over the age of 16 only. Please contact us for more information.

Please view the Certified Course Terms and Conditions.