As some of you already know, I attended a month-long certificate program at Leiths School of Food and Wine in London. I do consider myself a pretty decent cook in general, but I wanted to learn more about the technical aspects of cooking. I did know how to make breads, but I wanted to know exactly what happens with correct proportions of flour/salt/yeast. My cakes are pretty good in general, but once in a while they don’t work, and I wanted to know why. I supposed I could have learned all of this on my own, but it was great to have them all taught to me in a class environment.
We had full days: 9:30 to 17:00 everyday, with food demonstrations for half the day and practical kitchen work the other half. We cooked everything from omelets to breads to pastas to profiteroles. It was a wonderful experience. I am now considering going back for the culinary diploma program sometime in the future. 6 more months basically. One drawback: We had wash all our dishes by hand!