12-week Certificate Course Programme
We are now running the highly-regarded Ballymaloe Certificate Course three times a year, in January, April and September. This intensive programme is designed for anybody with a passion for food; from those who wish to pursue a professional culinary career to enthusiasts who would like to cook with confidence in their own homes.
The course embraces all aspects of cookery, from basic principles to advanced professional techniques. The students are welcomed to the school with a get-together meal and conclude it with a farewell dinner. In addition to a thorough grounding in cookery, Ballymaloe students are exposed to a total food experience and the high teacher/pupil ratio ensures the maximum level of personal tuition.
The course covers:
- every aspect of the Ballymaloe style of cooking
- French classic, regional and modern innovatory styles
- menu planning
- food costing
- food hygiene
- preserving
- an opportunity to see the Ballymaloe House restaurant kitchen in operation
- copies of all recipes taught during the course
- excursion to food producers including a cheese-maker, a fish-smoker and other specialists
- picking and using fresh herbs and vegetables from the enormous variety grown in the School's Organic Gardens
Four days a week, there are practical sessions in the morning and demonstrations in the afternoon, led by Darina, Rachel, Rory O'Connell or a specialist guest chef. During the practical sessions, students work together to produce a three or four-course meal for lunch each day, discovering in the process the essential disciplines of time management and task prioritisation in the kitchen. Students also set and serve the tables, learning in a hands-on way about presenting and serving food.
Wednesday mornings are devoted to specialist demonstrations and cheese-tasting or to illustrated wine lectures. Through the latter, students learn how to choose, serve and store wine correctly and how to compile a wine list. They will also learn about wines from all over the world and wine-making. On Wednesday afternoons, there are lectures on food-related subjects and guest lecturers, experts in their fields, talk to students on such diverse subjects as outside catering, managing a business and specialist butchery.
Practical and written examinations are held at the end of the course and certificates are awarded to students who have produced satisfactory work throughout and have passed the examinations.
Ballymaloe Cookery School graduates are much in demand, and often there are more jobs on offer than there are graduates to fill them. The course provides the basis for a wide variety of culinary careers and an illustrious roll-call of former pupils includes many chefs in top restaurant kitchens, caterers for dinner parties or boardroom lunches, food journalists, cooks on yachts in summer and in ski resorts in winter. The school also operates a job information service for both students and prospective employers on www.jobsforcooks.com