Chef training

[NYceMummy]

I know there are lots of courses you can go on for a weekend/ holiday/ evening classes, etc but can you train to be a chef without intending to ever work as one? I would love to one day train (-money and time-permitting) but with no intention of working as one, just for myself and my family. Does anyone know if you can do this?

As far as I know there are no chef-police and you can indeed train as a chef just for your own pleasure.

I think you could become reasonably competent by doing one of the Leith's Courses but if you want to cut it with the foul mouthed big kids in the grubby whites then you should be looking at some kind of NVQ qualification.
Check out your local tech.

FWIW I do have every intention to work as a chef again once ds2 is at school and I am getting my London experience backed up by doing Australian qualifications, part time over probably about 18 months at my local tech. I do a once weekly 7 hour stint in the training kitchen which has a proper restaurant attached and 2-3 hours theory and assignments a week.

Good luck!

or do I mean NVCQ? Did I just recommend a well known shopping channel? It's been a while since I looked in to it back in the UK, but you get my drift.

You would learn a lot about recieving and storing supplies, proper hygeine procedures, etc.

If you are interested and want to CAT me I can send you the contents of my course just to give you an idea of what is involved.

To be perfectly honest and at the risk of sounding like a smart-arse, there is not that much more they can teach me about cooking, it's the logistics and the systems and the way professional kitchens work at service time etc, the stuff you just couldn't learn on your own at home. That's what floats my boat about it.

If you were looking more for techiniques and expanding your repetoirre of dishes then as I say Leiths or one of the better known cooking schools would probably be a better idea.

I'll but out and let someone else do some posting, as you may have gathered I could gas on about this topic til the cows come home.

Thanks suzywong - all very helpful!