Leiths professional courses / Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
Summary Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
£13,160 (deposit of £1,000)
Dates:
18th April to 30th June 2023
Please call 020 8749 6400 or email registrar@leiths.com to arrange an interview.
This one term full time spring course is a professional cookery course for proficient cooks wishing to enhance their knowledge, find fresh inspiration and optimise their cooking career. Refining the skills and techniques acquired during the Foundation and Intermediate terms, students can expect to graduate with the finesse required to enter a top level professional kitchen or alternative area of the food industry.
Combining classical skills and contemporary recipes, the syllabus is constantly updated to reflect current food trends and the style of the food is both sophisticated and challenging. Students are introduced to professionals from all areas of the industry as well as graduates of the School who have followed a variety of career paths. Practical advice on starting food-related businesses, as well as a vineyard visit in Sussex and a trip to Smithfield, are also included.
If you are taking the Advanced Certificate independently of any of the other terms, it is possible for us to arrange coaching beforehand to ensure that your skills are at the appropriate level before you start. You can call the school to enquire about this, or discuss it in your interview.
How to book:
In the first instance please email us at registrar@leiths.com to arrange an interview or call 020 8749 6400.
Following this, to secure a place, we will require a completed enrolment form and a deposit of £1,000. If you have any queries regarding how to book the course please telephone the school.
Open evenings: To explore our Virtual School Visit, click here.
Please note: A place on the Advanced Certificate is subject to the student being proficient in the skills and theory covered during the Foundation and Intermediate Certificate. The student must have done some work experience in a professional kitchen before they start the course. A one-to-one with a Leiths teacher (at an additional cost) is usually required to assess the student’s skill level once the initial interview has taken place and then to cover or revise Foundation Certificate skills as necessary.
Course content Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
The tabs detail the sample techniques and recipes that you will learn during each term.
You will be continually assessed during the practical sessions. You must also pass a theory and practical examination and complete the coursework to successfully graduate. A class teacher will give feedback and support throughout the course.
Coursework
You will be expected to study at home for about 4 to 5 hours a week. This will include writing time plans, menu planning and costing exercises. This will form a final portfolio to be assessed at the end of the academic year.
Attendance
You may be disqualified from taking examinations if you have not completed the required 80% of the course.
Complaints
Details of our Complaints Procedure can be found here. If you have any questions about this procedure, please email info@leiths.com.
Students can expect to graduate with the precision required to enter a top level professional kitchen or alternative area of the food industry. By the end of the course students will be able to cook both modern and classic dishes to a restaurant standard. The style of the food is both sophisticated and challenging.
During the Advanced Certificate, students will meet professionals from all areas of the industry and our agency Leiths List can introduce current students to graduates who have followed a variety of career paths.
Typical skills and sample recipes:
Meat preparation
- Wood pigeon and black pudding salad
- Lamb sweatbreads with madeira jus
- Ballotine of chicken
- Assiette of rabbit
Sauces
- Beurre blanc
- Cappuccino sauces
- Jus
- Bisque
- Sabayon
Fish and shellfish preparation
- Roasted Pollock with sweetcorn puree and mushroom mousseline
- Braised octopus with caramelised onions and aioli
- Tea smoked mackerel with horseradish potatoes and chive oil
- Honey roast sea bass with pickled ginger
- Lobster and crab ravioli with bisque sauce
- Langoustines with fennel risotto and lemon oil
Pasta
- Hand rolled garganelli with new season’s morels and spring truffle pesto
- Chicken and wild mushroom ravioli with morels
Puddings
- Vanilla pannacotta with rhubarb and strawberries
- Ice creams, sorbets and parfaits
Pastries
- Puff pastry – seafood feuilletees, Boeuf en croute, Gateau Pithiviers
- Sablées – Sablée aux fraises
- Strudel pastry
Baking
- Bread – Wild yeast sour doughs, ciabatta, Fougasse
- Yeasted pastries – Danish pastries and Croissants
- Brioche
Other skills
- Tempering chocolate – hand made ganache filled chocolates
- Preserving – bottling, jams and chutneys
- Sugar work – sugar corkscrews and spun sugar
- Clearing – Sauternes jelly with foie gras terrine, clear lemon jelly
Professional skills
- How to start a business – law, health and safety, ordering, laid down procedures, environmental health, staffing
Also covered: Knife skills, presentation, seasoning, pasta, offal, petits fours, vegetable garnishes and demonstrations from visiting specialists.
Typical day
A typical day normally starts at 9.15am and finishes at 5pm with an hour for lunch between 1-2pm.
The day is divided between demonstrations and practical cooking sessions. You will also receive lectures and demonstrations from gastronomic celebrities and head chefs from leading restaurants as well as caterers, food scientists and other culinary experts.
During the course, there is also the occasional outing and event that goes outside these set hours.
Morning
Your weeks alternate so on one week, your day begins with a morning demonstration at 10.00am; arrive at 9.45am to be prepared for the start.
The next week, your day will start with a practical cookery session; arrive by 9.15am to change into your chef’s whites and start organising ingredients.
Lunchtime
If the morning cooking session does not run over, lunch is 1-2pm. You can go to the student common room, remain in the demonstration room, do some research in the library or sit in the local park.
All the food you cook is yours, so if you have a morning cookery session your lunch can be what you've cooked. If you have a morning demonstration, you taste the food at the end of the session, but may also want to bring supplementary food from home or eat out locally.
Afternoon
If you have a practical session in the afternoon, allow time to change and get into the kitchens early to weigh up the ingredients.
Classes usually end at 5pm but may finish later on occasions. If you are cooking in the afternoon, the food cooked can be taken home to enjoy for dinner.
Late finishes:
In the Advanced term, there is a trip to vineyards in Sussex that returns at around 5.30pm.
Qualifications Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
By completing this course, you will gain the following qualifications:
- Leiths Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
- Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering
- Level 2 Health and Safety in the Workplace
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health class
- First Aid training
Careers Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
What you could do with a Leiths Advanced Certificate:
- Set up your own catering company or freelance for other caterers
- Become a food stylist and make food look beautiful for photography
- Develop dishes or products for a food producer or supermarket
- Teach others to cook
- Write recipe books
- Become a food writer
- Become a private chef for a family
- Work in food media, marketing or PR
- Become a chef and aim for a Michelin star or 3!
Leiths graduates have gone on to become chefs in the country's finest restaurants, leaders of the London food scene, celebrated TV chefs, editors and stylists at top food publications or successful food entrepreneurs.
Explore our alumni page to read about our previous students' inspiring career stories across the food industry.
Business advice
For those considering setting up their own business, Leiths holds career seminars and offers talks on insurance, VAT, business plans, public relations, marketing, health and safety legislation and taxation.
Finding work
Leiths can arrange work experience placements in restaurants, magazines and other food companies for Diploma students. Leiths List, the school's agency for chefs, can also assist students and graduates in finding work.
Booking / Fees Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
Eligibility
A place on the Advanced Certificate is subject to the student being proficient in the skills and theory covered during the Foundation and Intermediate Certificate. The student must have done some work experience in a professional kitchen before they start the course. A one-to-one with a Leiths teacher (at an additional cost) is usually required to assess the student’s skill level once the initial interview has taken place and then to cover or revise Foundation Certificate skills as necessary.
How to book
In the first instance please contact us to arrange an informal interview and a tour of the school. Following this, to secure a place, we will require a completed enrolment form and a deposit of £1,000. If you have any queries regarding how to book the course please telephone the School.
Fees
All remaining professional course fees will be due at least six weeks before the course starts. We’ll send you an invoice, along with instructions for ordering equipment, books and uniform closer to the time.
View our full price list here.
Funding
Regrettably the Professional Careers Development Loan was withdrawn on 31st January 2019 and as yet, a new scheme has not been announced by the Government.
Leiths are trying to register for alternative financing but sadly this is not yet available.
You can, however choose to pay your fees in instalments. Please call us on +44 (0)20 8749 6400 or email the registrar at registrar@leiths.com for more information.
Facilities Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
Leiths School of Food and Wine is located over 4 floors of a light and airy space on a residential street between Shepherd's Bush and Chiswick in West London.
The school is comprised of four kitchens, three of which are used for the full time students while the fourth is used for recipe development, corporate team building, one day workshops, photography and filming.
The kitchens are all equipped with gas ovens and hobs of the same design and high standard employed by most professional restaurants and catering kitchens, giving students access to all the equipment needed to learn to cook professionally.
The demonstration kitchen on the ground floor is fully air conditioned and fitted with LCD screens and cameras enabling students to see the close up details of each step of the dishes and techniques demonstrated by the teachers and outside lecturers.
Students have access to a library of cookery books and magazines for reference, a student dining room, changing facilities and WiFi. There are computers at their disposal.
Preparing for the Course Advanced Certificate in Food and Wine
Uniform and equipment
As a student on this course, you will require knives (£249 – £399) additional kitchen equipment (approx. £200) and course literature (£35).
You are required to wear a chef’s jacket, hat, apron, checked trousers and non-slip kitchen clogs (approx. £100). Instructions and order forms for all required items will be sent before the course begins.
Accommodation
The School is non-residential, but we keep an accommodation list if you need help finding somewhere to stay while you study.
Foreign Language Students and Visas
Students for whom English is a second language should normally have reached an IELTS (The International English Language Testing System) band score (or equivalent) of 6.5 - this equates to C1 on the CEFR (Council of Europe’s Common European Framework).
Students from abroad may be required to send a resumé of their cooking experience, knowledge and skills.
Please contact the school if you are a Non-EU prospective student requiring either a Study Visa or Tier 4 Study Visa.
Everything is always really well organised and there are always solutions to every problem.
Student, 2019
* All prices correct at time of publishing. Please note that prices are likely to change at the end of each financial year (April).
NEED ADVICE ABOUT A PROFESSIONAL COURSE? CALL +44 (0)20 8749 6400
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