Training on molecular gastronomy and sous vide

Question

I am looking for suggestions on opportunities for learning techniques directly from a skilled professional, preferably in a classroom setting.

I have been dabbling in molecular gastronomy/precision cooking techniques in my home for a couple years. I have relied on the Khymos online reference, videos from Texturas, and a few cookbooks. Fun as this has been, I feel I am at the point where I want to have an interactive session with someone skilled in the art, but as I cannot commit to a full-time culinary education, I need to find a recreational-level course. I would be willing to travel for a well-crafted session. Does anyone have any recommendations or ideas?

I'm not really sure that this kind of question is a good fit for us, and I think the lack of answers is highlighting it. You basically know what you need/want - personal instruction. Seems like you either want somebody to affirm this (which is kinda pointless for us) or to recommend somebody specific (which wouldn't be useful in a very general sense for us). As it stands, I'm not really sure what kind of answer is appropriate here. — rfusca, Jan 07 '12 at 23:57
Even in 2012 there was some question if this was a good question for the site, and I think three years later it's pretty clearly too broad - we don't really do sourcing/recommendation questions. There might be some ways to make this more specific, but in its current form it's attracted a couple pretty iffy answers in the last few hours, along with a kind of spammy one a few years ago. — Cascabel, Jun 24 '15 at 04:31

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 08 '12 at 02:19

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I'm not sure if you've encountered this in your research but it looks like it might be full of good information.

I would personally buy this book and fully consume it, but I personally learn better that way.

José Andrés Puerta has an M.G. restaurant in your area (minibar) that appears to be more experiential. You could probably get a few good questions in during courses.

answered Jan 08 '12 at 02:19

Jacob G

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the Harvard class is only open to full-time undergraduate students (pity, as it would be perfect). I'm toying with getting the myrhold tome, but it is't interactive. I have eaten at the Minibar, and I had a complete blast, but they don't offer classes. Nice ideas all, but unfortunately, they don't quite fit the bill. Thanks, though. – Bruce Goldstein Jan 09 '12 at 04:17
On reflection, I will give you the bonus. Although your exact answer is not what I will do, it inspired me to hunt down the names of some of the chefs who worked at the Minibar, and I found one who is interested in setting up a workshop. – Bruce Goldstein Jan 11 '12 at 12:38

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 24 '15 at 01:59

HACCP Training needs to follow the requirements set out by the Codex Alimentarius. This is also requested by most (if not all) the GFSI schemes. Most food companies will have to start creating food safety plan as the Food Safety Modernization Act or FSMA comes into effect. Instead of it being Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) it is Called Hazard Analysis Risk-Based Preventative Controls (HARPC). There are some fundamental differanced between HACCP and HARPC. Please refer to http://www.ehaccp.org/content/haccp-vs-harpc

Hi Stephen. Welcome to Seasoned Advice! That's a serious supply of initialisms you've got there. I'm not seeing how it helps the OP find training though. Maybe I'm just missing it? — Preston, Jun 24 '15 at 02:18

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 24 '15 at 02:48

I am not working specifically with gastronomy (yet! I certainly hope to, and congrats on undertaking an awesome task), but when I decided I wanted to take my cooking to the next level I got a part-time job in a local nice-ish restaurant that was working with the advanced techniques I wanted to learn.

I more or less walked in and explained my desire to learn to the owner/executive chef, and he agreed to try me out for a couple of days. He liked my work ethic and I've been learning ever since.

I think amateurs can learn a ton on their own (and I still consider myself an amateur skill-level wise), but after a while I think your learning is accelerating by working in a professional kitchen.

Best of luck either way! Hope this helps.

score -3 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 13 '12 at 14:02

My name is James Chen and I am the new Business Development Manager for CREA Academy. I am contacting you to follow up on your expressed interest in taking a sous-vide training class with a sous-vide professional. Dr. Bruno Goussault teaches sous-vide courses for renowned chefs around the globe, including Joel Robuchon, Thomas Keller, Heston Blumenthal as well as the majority of the Michelin's three-star chefs in Europe.

We have recently opened up a class to take place January 31st-February 2nd, 2012 in the Washington, DC area. The cost per person is $2,400.00 for the 3-day training and the application form can be sent to you upon request.

During the training you will learn the origin and evolution of sous-vide; the why-and-how it made its way into the kitchens of the world’s top Chefs. You will learn the reason for which there is a right temperature to cook each different product and how to put it into practice using your own recipes. You will learn to master the times and temperatures to control the color, tenderness and flavor of your product. Part of the training is devoted to learning about the right equipment: How to select, calibrate, utilize and maintain them. There is no single way to cook sous-vide and because scientists love experimenting as much as Chefs, most of the time is dedicated to hands-on training. Under the direction of our Chief Scientist, you can experiment and taste to discover the many possibilities sous-vide has to offer. Over the three days you will see these techniques as they are applied to meat, poultry, fish, seafood, vegetables, fruits, sauces, herbs and aromatics. Lastly, the focuses will be on microbiology, bacteria, good food safety and shelf-life in order to achieve the best quality and the safest products. The class is mix of lecture & hands on activities which leads to a very informative and fulfilling experience.

Regarding the HACCP Plan, also necessary for the Health Department, we provide a 2-day service. The first day is about training your team to use, maintain and update a HACCP plan, particularly regarding the sous vide technique. The second day is about building your HACCP plan for your recipes made sous vide, with the Chef, Sous Chef and persons who will be involved in the sous-vide process in your kitchen. The total cost is $5,000 for HACCP Plan plus travel expenses and 2-night hotel lodging. Our specialty is the sous-vide technology, we do not provide the HACCP Plan without a three-day sous-vide training. If you are interested in getting the training & HACCP plan we can look at a package for better pricing. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

You can find more information online at www.cuisinesolutions.com or contact me directly at jchen@cuisinesolutions.com.

Thank you for your answer, unfortunately your bio does not include contact information or a webpage for me to visit. I look forward to learning about your training program. — Bruce Goldstein, Jan 11 '12 at 23:15
Our website is cuisinesolutions.com and my e-mail is jchen@cuisinesolutions.com I included it in my post, but the admins must have removed it. — James Chen, Jan 12 '12 at 14:42
It was not an admin that removed it, on this site, anyone with enough reputation can edit a post. Generally salutations and signatures are frowned upon and removed. However your contact information is clearly relevant to your answer, so I added it back for you. Welcome to the site. We have a number of questions about sous-vide on the site. Maybe you could lend your expertise on some of them: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/sous-vide — yossarian, Jan 13 '12 at 14:05
I've closed the question so it's kind of a moot point, but for what it's worth, I don't think this was actually spam: the OP did ask for things exactly like this. — Cascabel, Jun 24 '15 at 04:34

Training on molecular gastronomy and sous vide

4 Answers4