Institute of Culinary Education

Founded in 1975 by Peter Kump, the school offers highly successful 6- to 11-month career-training programs in culinary arts, pastry & baking arts, and culinary management. ICE was a finalist and winner in the International Association of Culinary Professionals' 2002, 2003 and 2006 Awards of Excellence Awards. And in 2006, New York Restaurant Insider Magazine called ICE one of America's top three culinary schools.

ICE was a finalist and winner in the International Association of Culinary Professionals' 2002, 2003 and 2006 Awards of Excellence Awards.

Students and alumni are regularly nominated for, or win top industry awards, such as James Beard Awards, Food & Wine's Best New Chefs in America, and Pastry Art & Design's Ten Best Pastry Chefs.

ICE offers diplomas in three areas of study:

• Culinary Arts
• Pastry & Baking Arts
• Culinary Management

The culinary arts and baking arts programs each include a 210-hour off-site externship, typically in a highly regarded New York Restaurant, including famous kitchens such as Restaurant Daniel, Nobu, Aquavit, Gramercy Tavern, Le Bernardin and Per Se. Students who elect externships outside of New York take advantage of ICE's national connections and reputation to get into the best kitchens. After graduation, ICE offers on-going job placement assistance.

ICE's intensive diploma curriculum enables students to enter the culinary world in as few as 7 months. This efficiency does not come at the expense of thoroughness; small class sizes and experienced chef-instructors enable each student to reach her or his potential swiftly. Maximum class size is 16 students in culinary arts and pastry and baking arts, and 20 students in culinary management.

ICE also offers 1,700 hands-on recreational cooking, baking and wine education classes to 26,000 students each year. Additionally, ICE hosts hundreds of corporate and private hands-on cooking events each year.

Diploma in Culinary Arts

In the Culinary Arts Diploma program, students learn the theory, practice and art of cooking. The 650-hour comprehensive curriculum is grounded in ICE's five-point model of skill development: theory, technique, palate training, speed and teamwork. This approach assures that students move quickly yet thoroughly through the program, while learning the elements that are essential for a successful culinary career.

Each class is designed to teach specific skills, which gradually become more complex as the program progresses. ICE begins by training students how to taste. They learn to appreciate the subtleties of a wide variety of foods--from herbs and condiments to vegetables and meats. As the course continues, students are immersed in techniques, such as knife skills, dry- and moist-heat cooking methods, sauce making, restaurant simulations, and pastry and baking, among others. As students grow more confident, they build upon skills they've mastered in earlier classes to create increasingly complex dishes and, later, menus. By graduation, they're able to approach any cooking task with ease.

While the culinary arts curriculum is grounded in classical French technique, food trends are decidedly global. To that end, ICE designed the program so that students work with ingredients and techniques from countries around the world, including India, Japan, Thailand, China, Italy and Spain. The small class size (never more than 16 students) ensures individual attention, which helps each student progress through the program and gain confidence and proficiency.

After completing their 440-hours of in-class training, students move off-site to participate in a 210-hour externship. They put their skills to the test, continuing the educational process in a restaurant, hotel, catering kitchen or other culinary enterprise.

Diploma in Culinary Management

This innovative course of study is designed for the individual who wants to manage, grow, open or own a culinary business--often referred to as the "back end" of the business. A culinary business is broadly defined to include food-and-beverage operations such as restaurants, catering companies and specialty-food or pastry shops. Compared to longer, more traditional restaurant-management programs, ICE's culinary management program has a strong entrepreneurial and practical focus. Numerous guest speakers and field trips are popular and exciting aspects of the program as well.

The 316-hour curriculum is comprised of four modules that are divided into 13 courses. Classes meet three times a week for 26 to 35 weeks, depending on the schedule. The culinary management program is offered mornings, afternoons and evenings. This arrangement complements the culinary arts and pastry & baking arts programs and is timed so that students may earn two diplomas concurrently--often in less time than it takes to earn one diploma elsewhere.

Diploma in Pastry & Baking Arts

ICE's Pastry & Baking Arts curriculum is drawn from the traditions of America, Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland. The curriculum, like the culinary arts program, is grounded in ICE's five-point model of skill development: theory, technique, palate training, speed and teamwork. This approach assures that students progress quickly yet thoroughly through the program, while learning the elements that are essential for a successful culinary career.

The program was created and is overseen by Chef Nick Malgieri, world-renowned author, TV personality and former executive pastry chef at Windows on the World. Among his many culinary honors, Chef Malgieri has won an IACP/Julia Child Award in 1999 for his book Chocolate; has twice been named one of America's ten best pastry chefs by Pastry Art & Design Magazine; was inducted into Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America; and he won a James Beard Foundation award for the best baking book for How to Bake.

The small class size (again never more than 16 students) ensures individual attention, which helps each student to progress through the program and to gain confidence and proficiency.

The Pastry & Baking Arts program consists of 610 instructional hours. Students are in the classroom for 400 hours and are on their externships for 210 hours. To provide the utmost flexibility, ICE runs many different schedule options for Pastry & Baking Arts Diploma candidates, including: morning, afternoon, evening and weekend schedules.

Double Diploma Options

Culinary Arts and Culinary Management

Pastry & Baking Arts and Culinary Management

ICE also offers Double Diplomas in Culinary Arts and Culinary Management and Pastry & Baking Arts and Culinary Management for students looking for a more complete and comprehensive culinary education. The double diploma will offer the student greater opportunities in the field of culinary arts upon graduation.

Information

If you are interested in this school and would like to find out more, please Request Information from The Institute of Culinary Education.