Cooking and Culinary

I remember my first herb class on growing herbs for culinary and creative crafts. I left that annual herb sale with young fragrant plants, with just enough knowledge to be dangerous wielding a trowel, and a perpetual enthusiasm that all contributed to help me form my first edible garden oasis.

After a trip to Home Depot, I was armed with shiny silver tools, bags of potting soil to house my foliage friends, fertilizer to make them grow, and the inner drive to begin digging my way to becoming a green thumb farmer girl!

Now, 20 years later, it’s hard to imagine my kitchen without a bunch of basil on the counter, herbs drying on racks, and jars of dried oregano and chocolate mint within easy reach at each meal. From summer’s juicy ripe berries, peaches, and tomatoes to fall’s vibrant harvest of squash, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes, onto holiday turkey and ham feasts, and into hearty winter stews and casseroles, herbs enhance every season’s fare!

I’m still thrilled to witness the miracle of propagation each time with every plant. I shelter them in stormy weather, talk to them while watering, trim their leaves, and weed their beds. In return, I’m rewarded with savory, spicy, and fruity aromas, a relaxing hobby, a healthy method of adding flavor to food and cocktails that lasts all year long, and great natural photography backgrounds!

Do you have herbs and are looking for ideas on how to use them? Do you see those little plastic packets of greenery hanging in the grocery store but have no clue what to do with them? Maybe you want to expand your culinary horizons and explore your green thumb capabilities? Many people are lured into using fresh herbs through the culinary route.

This is the first in a series of articles on growing herbs for cooking, cocktails, and culinary crafts. Plus tips on pairing all kinds of flavors, from custom infused oils and balsamic vinegars to herbs, spirits, sweet and savory dishes. When you marry the right foods together into a succulent harmonious balance, the results are amazing and herbs contribute such character to your cuisine.

This isn’t about becoming a food snob or being tethered to rules, except for this one; seasoning is vital in cooking and herbs go hand in hand with that philosophy. I’ll offer general guidelines along with novel combinations I’ve discovered but there’s no one taste fits all. It’s thrilling to develop original recipes and tweak the traditional dishes we savor. Play with new ingredients. It’s great fun to use homegrown edibles but if you don’t want to grow plants yourself, buy a few freshly packaged herbs from the store and practice cooking with them.

Be daring with oil and vinegar selections. There’s a wonderful store called Savor The Olive in Virginia Beach that is a tasting room full of unique fused and infused oils and light and dark balsamic vinegars. If you have one of those in your area as well as wine tastings, take advantage of going for a visit. Experiment, so that your sense of taste gets stronger and more acute and it will tell you how much to use.

Herbs add to the enjoyment of cooking and help you personalize what you’ve prepared. Being a chef is an art. Each person has a unique touch and flavor palate. The kitchen is your studio, the plate your blank canvas. Let instinct and imagination guide you. Herbs are one of the tools in your aromatic arsenal that enable you to present a mouthwatering masterpiece.

Culinary management programs do not just instruct students in how to cook, they also tackle the legal side of the food industry and principles necessary to operate a restaurant or hospitality venue. Culinary arts, on the other hand, focuses almost entirely on the skills and knowledge necessary to cooking and serving various gourmet foods. To further demonstrate the difference between culinary arts and culinary management, we will outline their differences below.

Culinary management

Graduates of this coursework understand the basics and can even cook a little, but they are looking to see the big picture, they are the ones who want to be in charge of the show. They mostly work behind-the-scenes and take care of all the particulars that come with efficient supervision of the kitchen and venue or facility. Culinary managers run the daily operations of dining establishments including kitchen management, helping the chef create an array of menu options, promoting good customer relations, managing supplies in the kitchen and overseeing general upkeep of the restaurant.

In culinary, there are many programs being offered to enrollees and one of the most common courses of study is the Culinary Management degree. If you enroll in this program, you can expect to gain general knowledge of the culinary arts, restaurant management, and culinary business. You will also be studying about:

Contemporary/Modern Cuisine
Knowing about the newest food trends is very important to be able to manage a restaurant successfully. This subject will give you an extensive awareness of what the latest trends are in cooking. This subject also provides a better understanding of fine dining.

Running a Dining Room
Dining room operations have many facets so students are taught how to run this room efficiently and manage the food servers, chefs, and the rest of the staff working in the dining and kitchen area. The lessons will also give you knowledge about how to make the best use of your operations and generate bigger profits.

Management of Food Service
Culinary management is also about food costing and specific areas of food service. By learning good strategies through this coursework, you will have the ability to rise above all the challenges related to food service management.

Accounting
To have a profitable food business, you need some knowledge of accounting. As a culinary management degree holder, there’s a big chance that you will also be given the task of handling taxes and balancing the books so this is an important skillset to learn.

Culinary Arts

Culinary art is an interesting field that you can take on and build a career through. Everybody loves food and really enjoys eating. With a degree in culinary arts you will focus on preparing delicious meals, inventing new recipes, and creating luscious fancy desserts.

This branch of the culinary field is deemed to be both a science and an art. This is because, the coursework brings forward a multifaceted concept that does not just require cooking skills but the love of knowledge of everything that has something to do with the business.

When it comes to culinary arts cooking programs, there are courses designed for students who prefer to obtain a certificate or associate degree in culinary. These programs were created to help people in developing their cooking potential. Certificate culinary courses are one of the advanced methods of culinary education, so holders are seen as good enough to be regarded as professionals in their field.

With a full course or bachelor’s degree in the culinary arts, you can do more than cooking. In fact, you also have the opportunity to be a manager or director in a dining establishment. Below are several careers that you can explore after earning your culinary arts degree:

• Chef (private, executive, or fine dining)

• Baker

• Desserts or pastry chef

• Food and beverage director

Ultimately, culinary schools are institutions offering education for individuals who would like to delve into the art and science of food preparation and other things related to it. The culinary field will never go out of style so whether you have decided to study culinary arts or culinary management, you will most likely end up with good career. You must seriously look for the best culinary school for you because where you enroll can have a great impact on your future culinary career.