Training for a cooking career can be expensive, especially if you follow the traditional routes of College, University and Culinary School but if you know where to look, there are a host of free online Chef training resources for you to explore that could be an excellent alternative or additional learning system to help you go the extra mile and enhance your skills.
Whether you are just starting out as a Chef, progressing your cooking career or trying your hand at a new culinary skill, the most important thing is gaining the knowledge, skills, tips and advice from others in the industry to help you succeed. But when the kitchens are so busy and service is all consuming it can be difficult to find the time to improve your skills or just try out a new recipe. The answer is to use as many free online Chef resources as possible because when time precious, progressing your training in your spare time is the definitive key to success.
With courses on everything from cooking techniques, to presentation, food sanitation to nutrition you can take charge of your own career development with our selection of the top 8 free online Chef resources:
1. Worldschef Academy
Nestlé has teamed up with the World Association of Chefs Societies to develop an online portal and mobile app free study course for those who do not have the means, flexibility or mobility to attend full-time culinary school. It is a free open portal for anyone, no matter what their skill level, circumstance or background is.
2. Sonicjobs Academy
An online training curriculum for Chefs, Bartenders, and other hospitality professions to train online for free, helping them build their career and earn more. Each week a new lesson is posted and over the entire curriculum you will learn everything from nutrition, to using kitchen tools, recipes and Chef profession information.
3. Alison
An online course directory that specialises in free courses written by experts for everyone to use. They have a selection of food and beverage courses that range from the ‘Basics of Food Safety’ through to a ‘Diploma in Food Safety’, they also have a few courses on ‘Hospitality Management Studies’.
4. Delia Online
A free online resource featuring step by step instructions and visual references. How to Cook will teach you various skills, techniques and recipes to help you expand your knowledge.
5. Chef2Chef.net
Online cooking classes that will take you through basic and advanced cooking techniques with written instructions and preparation steps.
6. BBC Cooking Techniques
Various topics are covered with categories that include meat, fish, vegetables, desserts, pastries, sauces and even pasta preparation. You could find yourself learning to skillfully ice a cupcake one day or masterfully skin a flatfish the next.
7. The Culinary Cook
This website provides heaps of information on many topics in the form of blog post style articles. Some excellent popular articles are Cooking Basics and Flavour Profiles, Types of Fish and Shellfish.
8. Tastemade
A huge selection of online classes. On first glance many classes seem to be aimed at beginner or home cooks but both new and experienced Chefs can benefit from some of the delicious recipes, techniques and advice that can be found here.
