International Culinary Center

The International Culinary Center was founded as The French Culinary Institute by Dorothy Cann Hamilton in 1984 and has locations in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area and Parma, Italy. The facilities include industrial kitchens for hands-on cooking and baking classes, specialized wine tasting classrooms, libraries, theaters, and event spaces. The Center boasts some renowned chefs as its deans including Jacques Pépin, Jacques Torres, André Soltner, Alain Sailhac, David Kinch, Emily Luchetti, Cesare Casella, José Andrés, and Alan Richman.

In addition to its culinary education, The International Culinary Center has published three cookbooks, most recently The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking and the James Beard award-winning books, The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine and The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts.

New York City Campus

Located at 462 Broadway, on the corner of Grand Street, The International Culinary Center has recently expanded to include a total of five floors of facilities. It also includes the Michelin-recommended L'Ecole restaurant on the ground floor (featuring fare from International Culinary Center students) as well as the International Culinary Theater that hosts events, forums, and lectures from famous graduates such as David Chang, Bobby Flay, Dan Barber, Wylie Dufresne, Christina Tosi and others.^[1] The International Culinary Center also is home to FCI Catering & Events, which creates and caters both on and off-premise private events.^[2]

Courses of Study at New York Location

• Classic Culinary Arts

Classic Culinary Arts is a 6 to 9 month program teaching students classic French techniques and training for every station on the line at The International Culinary Center’s restaurant, L’Ecole. Deans Jacques Pépin, André Soltner, Alain Sailhac, and David Kinch designed the core curriculum for this program.

• Farm-to-Table

The Farm to Table program teaches the French fundamentals with focuses on the Hudson Valley's agricultural history and includes tours of a four-season rooftop farm, a Hudson Valley dairy farm, a New York City greenmarket, and an award-winning winery. The program also includes a weeklong Farm Powered Kitchen program created by International Culinary Center graduate and James Beard Outstanding Chef, Dan Barber, Blue Hill Restaurant's kitchen team, and Stone Barns Center's farmers.

• Pastry

The Pastry Arts program teaches students the classic French fundamental’s to work as a pastry chef and how to open up their own pastry shop. Program subjects vary from pâte à choux and pâte feuilletée to sugar pulling and chocolate. Deans include pastry chefs Jacques Torres and Emily Luchetti. Dean Emily Luchetti has developed curriculum because she desired to influence the thinking of a new generation of pastry chefs.

• Cake

The 300-hr Comprehensive Cake Techniques & Design Program covers the fundamentals of cake baking and construction, layers and fillings and how they work together, as well as both classical and contemporary decorating techniques. This program also teaches the skills to open and run a cake shop.

• Bread

Over eight weeks, students learn to work with varied mixing techniques, pre-ferments, and leaveners to understand bread baking chemistry, and how to measure factors such as desired dough temperature and friction factor. Students also learn how to shape dough into uniform loaves such as braided challah, batard, and round boules.

• Italian Studies

This immersive seven-month program teaches hands-on Italian cooking at the New York campus and in Parma, Italy. The dean of Italian Studies is Cesare Casella, Chef and owner of Michelin star restaurant, Vipore.

• Spanish Culinary Arts

A 10-week program designed by The International Culinary Center with Spanish chef and restaurateur, José Andrés, to teach students hands-on Spanish cooking for two months in New York and then to experience authentic Spanish cuisine and ingredients for one week in Spain.

• Wine

The International Culinary is the first wine sommelier school in the world to be approved by the renowned Court of Master Sommeliers®. The wine program combines lecture with intensive tastings, food pairings, and practice of service techniques. Students learn how to taste and evaluate bottles from around the world and have the option to take the Court of Master Sommeliers' Certified Sommelier Examination on-site at the end of the course.

• Restaurant Management

This 90-hr course teaches students interested in owning a restaurant, cafe, bakery, or other culinary establishment how to write a business plan, run a business and identify pitfalls that could costs money, time and frustration. Industry leaders such as owner of The Meatball Shop and ICC graduate Michael Chernow, come into the school to share their expertise, successes, setbacks, and secrets.

• Food Media

Authors and critics, Alan Richman, ICC’s dean of Food Journalism, and Steven Shaw, founder of eGullet teach food writing and blogging in this 10-week course.

California Campus

Located in the town of Campbell, CA (in Silicon Valley between the Napa Valley and Monterey Bay), The International Culinary Center’s West Coast location is in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Their facilities consist of kitchens, theaters, event space, the Monte Bello Dining Room and a million-dollar wine tasting room, which hosts an intensive sommelier training course, the first program in the world to be approved by the Court of Master Sommeliers. The facility is located at 700 West Hamilton Avenue #300, Campbell, CA, 95008.

Courses of Study at California Location

• Classic Culinary Arts

Classic Culinary Arts is a 6 to 9 month program teaching students classic French techniques and training for every station on the line at The International Culinary Center’s restaurant, L’Ecole. Deans Jacques Pépin, André Soltner, Alain Sailhac, and David Kinch used their culinary expertise to design the core curriculum for this program.

• Farm-to-Table

The Farm to Table program teaches the French fundamentals with a focus on sustainability. The course is total immersion, hands-on learning at farms, ranches, wineries, and markets in California—where farm-to-table cuisine began. Integral to the California campus' program is the school's association with Love Apple Farm in Santa Cruz, CA. Dean and Chef David Kinch (owner of Michelin star rated restaurant Manresa) promotes the Farm to Table program within the school.^[3]

• Pastry

The Pastry Arts program teaches students the classic French fundamental’s to work as a pastry chef and how to open up their own pastry shop. Program subjects vary from pâte à choux and pâte feuilletée to sugar pulling and chocolate. Deans include celebrated pastry chefs Jacques Torres and Emily Luchetti. Dean Emily Luchetti has developed state-of-the art curriculum because she desired to influence the thinking of a new generation of pastry chefs.

• Cake

The 300-hr Comprehensive Cake Techniques & Design Program covers the fundamentals of cake baking and construction, layers and fillings and how they work together, as well as both classical and contemporary decorating techniques. This program also teaches the skills to open and run a cake shop.

• Bread

Over eight weeks, students learn to work with varied mixing techniques, pre-ferments, and leaveners to understand bread baking chemistry, and how to measure factors such as desired dough temperature and friction factor. Students also learn how to shape dough into uniform loaves such as braided challah, batard, and round boules.

• Italian Studies

This immersive seven-month program teaches hands-on Italian cooking at the California campus and in Parma, Italy. Students learn principles that are vital to an authentic understanding of Italian culinary traditions. The Dean of Italian Studies is Cesare Casella, Chef and owner of Michelin star restaurant, Vipore.

• Wine

The International Culinary is the first wine sommelier school in the world to be approved by the renowned Court of Master Sommeliers®. The wine program combines lecture with intensive tastings, food pairings, and practice of service techniques. Students learn how to taste and evaluate bottles from around the world and have the option to take the Court of Master Sommeliers' Certified Sommelier Examination on-site at the end of the course.

Parma Campus

The International Culinary Center's Italian Studies program begins in New York City, where in addition to Italian culinary fundamentals, students study the Italian language. Students can then choose to continue their training in Parma, Italy, at ALMA, The International School of Italian Cuisine, where they will also spend nine weeks working in the kitchen of a noted Italian restaurant.

Awards

• Culinary Hall of Fame Induction in 2013
• International Association of Culinary Professionals Awards of Excellence, Vocational Cooking School of the Year, 2012, 2010, 2006

External links

• The International Culinary Center
• FCI Catering & Events

References