Do you love to cook and want to learn more about it, but don't really have the time or inclination to go to culinary school? Maybe you just need to fill in some of the gaps in your self-taught education. There's a new online resource that could really be for you.
Called Rouxbe (pronounced roo be), this wesite offers cooking lessons, short video tips, and step by step video recipes. One aspect I really like about Rouxbe is that it focuses on technique but then supplies a recipe to go along with that technique. That is exactly like culinary school. There, you learn a technique and are then expected to be able to apply that to any recipe that you come accross. There's also a store and a community/forum section.
You have two basic membership options: free or premium, which is $99 for one year or $199 for a lifetime membership. The free membership level will get you access to text recipes and the drill-downs (videos featuring techniques and tips), and you get recipe previews and one free cooking lesson. To get full recipes and access to all cooking lessons you have to get the premium membership. Sure, it's no substitute for culinary school if you have career ambitions, but $99 is quite reasonable for an online culinary school if you really want to get cooking.
[Via Accidental Hedonist]
9-17-2008 @8:41AM Brian J. Geiger said... I got 81% on their wheat quiz. Two of the three I missed I agree with, but I don't agree that AP flour is an acceptable flour to use in all recipes for the home cook. I don't care if "All Purpose" implies that it could be used, I think home cooks are allowed to have standards just like professional cooks have.
Still, an interesting concept. I think it could use a bit more…personality, but it's a good start. I'm all for anything that helps people learn about food and cooking.
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9-18-2008 @2:06AM Joe Girard said... Hi Brian,
I agree that home cooks will benefit from applying higher standards re: the flour. The intent of the lesson was to help people at home better understand why you would want a) to develop gluten or b) not develop gluten and then to select the most appropriate flour for a particular recipe. I hope we accomplished that and helped raise a few at-home standards.
If anyone else would like to check out the short lesson and post your quiz results, here's the link to the free lesson:
http://rouxbe.com/school/sections/81/objectives
Acceptable, yet not optimal results, can be achieved using all purpose.
Thanks for checking out Rouxbe.com Brian and Shayna.
Joe Girard
CEO Rouxbe
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