Version 1 and 2: This intensive program is delivered in an instructor-monitored, 4-module classroom format and consists of study guides, required texts, supplemental readings, videos, quizzes, homework assignments, and final exam. The course emphasizes theory to explain how cooking works, teaches techniques to enable mastery of skills that underlie all cuisines, palate development to learn about the interplay of flavors, speed, and teamwork in order to secure employment as a culinary professional. Instruction begins with fundamental concepts including knife skills, food identification, food safety, ingredient pairing and fabrication and culminates with a unit on sauces, soups, and core cooking techniques like sauteing, braising, grilling, poaching, and steaming, vegetables and grains, advanced culinary applications to combine foods and techniques; international cuisine including specialties from India, Japan, China, Thailand, France and various regions of Italy. Students apply these skills in a course featuring modern culinary masters like Thomas Keller, Rick Bayless, and Daniel Boulud. Additional topics include: Charcuterie, Garde Manger, contemporary buffets, pastry and baking (fruit-based frozen desserts, custards, dough-based specialties including tarts, puff pastry, pizza) and contemporary desserts (petits fours, chocolate confections, and complex plated desserts). The program concludes with a 210-hour externship.