A personal, portable version of The Sous Chef™ multimedia learning resource is now available to culinary arts students.

For the first time, the new Culinary Fundamentals edition allows individual students anywhere/anytime access to all of the information, features and resources of the computer-based Sous Chef™ text/training system.

The Sous Chef™ is the only comprehensive, integrated system combining audio, video, text and illustrations to teach culinary techniques and content.  The Sous Chef™ has been available in a school-based version from publisher and distributor KP Education Systems since its initial release seven years ago.

This new Culinary Fundamentals edition is published in four separate volumes that can be assigned as a primary or secondary text.

The new version allows students to use the program not just at school, but on any computer with internet access. A unique feature allows the Culinary Fundamentals edition to be either purchased outright or to be paid for just for use during a semester or school year.

“It takes our concept further, putting this powerful resource directly in the students’ hands,” says Nai Wang, president of KP Systems and one of the authors of the Sous Chef™. “It is better than gold,” according to John Stimbert, culinary student. “It has helped me continuously in my professional career since I graduated.”

A test version of the Culinary Fundamentals edition has been well received by students and faculty at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona, where it is being used in a “first of its kind” online program for culinary students. Other early users include Taos (New Mexico) High School, Canton (Ohio) South High School, and the Technical Education Center of Carrolton, Georgia.

The Sous Chef™ differs from most multimedia teaching resources in two major ways, according to Wang.

First, it doesn’t offer a “celebrity chef” teaching you his or her latest recipe.

Rather, the Sous Chef™ is written and presented by an experienced culinary educator.  Instead of “this year’s trends” and the newest “in” ingredients, it shows the classic techniques that form a basis for all good cooking in both the home and professional kitchen. 

Second, the Sous Chef™ system teaches those skills and techniques in a unique way.

Instead of being a printed cookbook or textbook, the Sous Chef™ program is installed on your home, business, or classroom computer. The unique advantage of the system is its use of high-quality video to teach culinary techniques and principles.

A traditional text uses one or more static photographs to demonstrate a skill like dicing an onion or making an omelet. The Sous Chef™ instead has a master chef/instructor demonstrating the same skill in a voice-over video. Between 50 and 75 instructional videos are contained in each volume of the Culinary Fundamentals series.

The four volumes in the Culinary Fundamentalsseries are: Basics; Hot Foods; Garde Manger & Breakfast; and Bakery & Pastry.

Culinary Fundamentals: Basics
Start your culinary training with this volume. Basics covers the subjects, information and techniques that are a necessary launching point for a career in the kitchen. Many of the topics covered can also greatly enhance the skills of the serious home chef. Among the topics covered in Basics:

• Safety and sanitation techniques
• Nutrition
• Knife skills
• Use and care of  professional kitchen equipment
• Vegetable preparation
• Plate presentations

Culinary Fundamentals: Hot Foods
This volume teaches the essentials of hot foods and related skills. The techniques and knowledge learned here will further you in your career or just increase your skill and enjoyment at home. Hot Foods covers:

• Cooking techniques from boiling to frying
• Kinds of heat
• Stock, sauce and soup making
• Working with meat, poultry and seafood
• Basic cuts and butchering

Culinary Fundamentals: Garde Manger & Breakfast
Learn the techniques, skills and terminology of working with cold foods. Also covered in this volume are breakfast foods and techniques. Topics covered in Garde Manger & Breakfast include:

• Salads, dressings, sandwiches, hors d’oeuvre/canapés 
• Uses and cooking methods for eggs, omelets
• Cheeses and dairy
• Garnishing and plate presentations
• Vegetable, fruit and ice carving

Culinary Fundamentals: Bakery & Pastry
All aspects of baking are covered in this volume for both the professional and the serious home cook. Learn the terminology, skills and techniques of the bakery/pastry kitchen.  Bakery & Pastry subjects include:

• Measuring, yields, yeasts and other leavening agents
• Types and making of basic breads and dough
• Pastry, cake, pie, cookie, and sheeted dough
• Icings, fillings, and sauces
• Pastry decoration and desert plate presentations

The Sous Chef™ is not just videos, however. Each volume contains hundreds of “text” slides or pages with words and pictures that can be viewed individually on the computer screen or shown through a projector or monitor.

Other than clicking on a mouse, absolutely no computer skills or knowledge are necessary to teach with, or learn from, the Sous Chef™.  It is used just like a book.

The program opens with a view of the title page; from there, you choose and click on a chapter.  Each chapter begins with an overview and a listing of competencies taught in that section. Then you either scroll through each “page’ in the section or use the complete chapter index to find the exact lesson you are seeking.

Imagine learning a specific kitchen job -- dicing an onion, preparing salad dressing, grilling a chop. Like any book, The Sous Chef™ will tell you how. Unlike any other text, however, The Sous Chef™ also shows you how. After reading about the process, click on a bar and a master chef displays the technique on video, demonstrating and explaining from beginning to end.

“The Sous Chef™ approach offers a number of advantages to both teacher and student,” says KP Systems president Wang. “Most importantly, it eliminates repetitive demonstrations. Students who miss a kitchen demonstration or need multiple viewings can watch a video as often as they wish.  We have over 250 separate videos demonstrating everything from simple knife cuts to advanced ice carving.”
The four volumes of Culinary Fundamentals together contain close to 1,000 text pages with more than 1200 full-color photos, illustrations, and diagrams.  Sous Chef™ author and demonstrator Dominic O’Neill drew on his more than 30 years cooking and teaching experience to create the current package. O’Neill and his staff also continue to expand the size and the number of techniques covered.

“This program is a refinement of the thousands of culinary arts classes that Dominic has taught,” said Wang.  Chef O’Neill also points out that he uses the system as the basis for his own community college courses, both on campus and on-line.

In the classic French kitchen brigade, the sous chef (literally, “under the chef”) is the second in command, the executive chef’s assistant. The Sous Chef™ plays the same role in the professional training environment or the home kitchen.

The Sous Chef™ culinary arts educational system is currently being used in more than 600 high schools, colleges, and vocational programs in North America. Restaurants, corporate foodservice providers, non-profits, and the military have also seen the advantages of the latest technology in culinary training.

The four volumes of the new Culinary Fundamental series can be purchased at the kpculinary.com website or from a limited number of college bookstores  and professional outlets.

More information about Culinary Fundamentals and all the other editions of the Sous Chef™ can be found at kpculinary.com or by calling 800-701-6323.