Five essential cooking skills taught in culinary school

If you’re a home cooking expert, you may think that the skills you learn in your own kitchen are the same as those you’ll learn in culinary school.

In reality, you learn a lot from home cooking – but not always the most important (or the most technical) stuff!

Home and commercial kitchens are vastly different environments. Adding to this dichotomy is kitchen techniques, tools, and health and safety guidelines which make a lot of difference to the environments!

Commercial cooking takes more time to master, and in many cases when preparing more dishes simultaneously, the manner of preparation can be much more complicated than home cooking.

So if you want to get acquainted with commercial cooking, you will need the right skills, training, and qualifications. Learn more from our cooking school in Brisbane and Melbourne.

What are the five skills taught in culinary school?

So, where do you start?

Your passion for cooking is the perfect start if you want to work in the food industry. But there’s plenty more to learn from here!

You need to master all the relevant skills and knowledge that are beneficial for you to succeed, and that starts inside a culinary school.

Commercial cookery courses aim to teach you the practical cooking skills and the knowledge needed to jumpstart a thriving career in a commercial kitchen.

Five essential skills you’ll learn in Academia’s commercial cookery course in Brisbane and Melbourne include:

Skill #1: Knife skills

Knife skills are one of the most important skills you’ll learn in culinary school. A chef’s knife is every cook’s most important tool.

So if you want to take your cooking skills to the next level, the first thing you need to do is master your culinary knife skills.

Many kitchen operations revolve around food preparation techniques that can only be done with accurate, efficient, and safe knife techniques.

Learning basic knife skills helps you to apply the correct way to hold a chef’s knife and grip the food with your other hand correctly to avoid cutting yourself.

Knife skills let you learn how to:

Chopping ingredients in a fast, safe, and consistent way
Different knife cuts, such as mincing, dicing, julienning
Common culinary knife cuts
How to keep your knives sharp
Handling and cutting cuts of meat

Skill #2: Sauce skills

A well-made sauce, gravy, or dressing in any dish will enhance the flavour and presentation of any food.

Often what distinguishes someone who enrolled in a culinary school from a cook who didn’t is how they make sauce.

Creating sauce and pairing it with food is technical expertise that chefs will often learn from understanding food anatomy including texture, flavour, and appearance.

Sauces have different purposes; that’s why it is important for aspiring chefs to understand its role in any food and how it makes one stand out from the rest.

Sauce can make or break a dish, by:

Making is visually appealing
Adding moisture or liquid
Enhancing the food flavours
Improving the dish’s texture

From salad dressings to dips and spreads, formal culinary school teaches you how to make these flavoursome sauces that are sure to enhance any kind of dish!

Skill #3: Cooking with herbs and spices

Fresh herbs and dried spices add a flavorful twist to any of your dishes. How they’re added and combined to any dish matters.

Knowing what seasoning to add, and the correct proportions can make a difference to your signature dish.

Culinary school teaches you practical ways to add natural flavourings, keep herbs and spices as fresh as possible, and store them properly to lengthen their shelf life and maintain their flavour.

Skill #4: Master cooking methods

Starting a career in cooking doesn’t happen overnight.

That’s why you need practical cooking skills and knowledge to be successful in the culinary field.

Some of these primary and practical cooking skills include:

Grilling
Broiling
Roasting
Stewing
Steaming
Deep frying
Sauteing

The skills you’ll learn to master these various cooking methods are the backbone of your knowledge to work in a commercial setting.

Skill # 5: Apply nutritional science

Chefs need to understand a balanced diet and good nutrition to cook and prepare beautiful dishes that can be tailored to meet a variety of food intolerances or imbalances.

Nutritional science and how food can impact health choices is something you’ll need to understand.

What do chefs learn in culinary school?

Some of the other things that you will learn as you go along include:

Confidence in the kitchen
Creativity
Discipline
Problem-solving
Time management

What skills do you learn from cooking?

Cooking is a learning opportunity for people of all ages, from all walks of life.

While mastering the basic skills needed for food safety and food practices are included, there are a couple of skills that you can develop while you learn cooking.

Some of these include:

Creativity
Appreciation of food cultures
Organisation and cleanliness
Healthy habits and good nutrition
Cooperation and teamwork

Enrol in a commercial cookery course in Brisbane or Melbourne!

Studying a commercial cookery course in Brisbane or Melbourne will equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the hospitality industry.

Academia provides theoretical learning combined with practical training that will prepare you for the real-life setting in the food industry and expand the employment opportunities of a commercial cook.

Certificate III in Commercial Cookery

Start a career in commercial cookery by learning the practical cooking skills and knowledge needed to succeed.

The Certificate III in Commercial Cookery provides you with classroom-based learning and practical training that prepare you for employment in the food industry.

Learn the basic art of cooking including:

Food preparation techniques
Menu planning
Food safety practices
Meeting special dietary requirements

Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery (SIT40516)

If you want to lead a team, manage a restaurant or cafe, or open up your own establishment, then enrolling in the Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery prepares you for all the necessary knowledge and experience beyond the kitchen, including management, finance, and marketing.