Park City Culinary Institute helps Home Cooks whip up a tasty meal, a lasting set of skills
When most people think of culinary school, they probably picture a grueling, multi-year-long program that can be as expensive as it is time-consuming.
Park City Culinary Institute, which is now in Salt Lake City, does things quite differently. Park City Culinary has recently revamped its training program to get students from beginner to graduate in less than two months. The results, according to Director and Owner Laurie Moldawer, can be “life-changing.”
“If you take a cooking class at a grocery store, you might learn how to make a recipe like dumplings, but you’re not going to learn cooking techniques,” she says. “We teach the same techniques that a 2-year college would teach, only we teach them in 5 weeks.”
The results can significantly improve a person’s ability to cook for themselves as well as entertain others. Lessons learned at Park City Culinary Institute can upgrade a simple meal for one or a few into something far more exquisite.
For example, for many, cooking a steak at home misses a key technique. The home cook knows to season the steak, but they may not know how to bring out the flavor from caramelization. By attending culinary school, the home cook would learn about the Maillard reaction. The caramelized brown bits that remain on the pan are known in France as “fond” and can be used to build the flavor in a sauce. Scrape and melt the fond with some liquid and thicken the sauce with a little butter or cream and you’ll have a tasty addition to your meal. And not to mention, the person you might be cooking for will be quite impressed.This is one way professional Chefs build flavor.
All these little tiny techniques that I thought wouldn’t make a difference, really do make a huge difference in the final product and the flavor. It’s a little sad because I’ve been cooking for my family for 30 years, but it wasn’t until this last year that it’s tasted like we’re at a restaurant now.”
—Amy Roskelley, Graduate
Park City Culinary Institute
“I looked into other culinary programs and it was supposed to take two years,” says Amy Roskelley, a recent graduate ofPark City Culinary who now boasts that the sourdough bread she makes every week is a huge hit with her adult children. “Five weeks was perfect, I would not have wanted it to take any longer.”
The best part, Moldawer says, is that these skills can be learned by anyone regardless of previous cooking experience or age. Park City Culinary’s oldest graduate to date was 80.
“If you’re a grandmother and you want to go to culinary school to cook or bake for your grandchildren, Park City Culinary Institute would be perfect for you,” she explains. “We can teach you how to make French macarons, eclairs, chocolate and all sorts of fun stuff for your family.”
Part-time evening courses are also available that meet at 6pm three times a week. Park City Culinary Institute continues to win awards for its innovative approach to culinary education.
1484 State St., Salt Lake City
801-413-2800
parkcityculinaryinstitute.com
