Category: Miscellaneous

06 Jun

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You Asked, We Listened!

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Introducing Rouxbe Short Courses (priced from $29 to $49 USD)

Lately, we have received a lot of feedback that you want shorter, more condensed courses that help you tackle your culinary learning one bite at a time. In response, we’re pleased to introduce a whole slew of short cooking courses. Want to dive deep into knife skills? No problem. Interested in cooking premium steaks? We’ve got it covered.

Current short courses include the following, with more coming:

  • Knife Skills
  • Egg Basics
  • Grains & Legumes
  • Poultry Fundamentals
  • Stewing, Steaming & Braising
  • Mastering Your Fry Pan
  • Art of the Wok: Stir-frying
  • How to Cook & Make Pasta
  • Cooking Premium Steaks
  • Cooking Vegetables
  • Food Safety
View these new courses here. Sample any one of these at no charge. See below for more details!

 

NEW: Free Course Trials

If you haven’t already tried a Rouxbe course, we invite you to try any of our courses for seven days, absolutely free. It’s a great way to see what Rouxbe is all about. You’ll learn essential techniques through high-quality video, pull all the pieces together with our learning pathways and be able to ask questions of your chef instructors and fellow students.

Pick your path today and try for free.

 

 

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous

31 May

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Scratch & Win for Prizes with Rouxbe’s New Online Cooking Game

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Global Culinary Trivia Game

New Cooking Game is Live!

The Rouxbe Online Cooking School today released a challenging and exciting new cooking game – The Global Culinary Trivia Challenge. Cooking games are a great way to test your knowledge about food and cooking, and even learn new tips and cooking information as you play. The cooking game includes text, video and image flashcard questions. How much do you think you know about cooking?

Here’s how it works: correctly answer trivia questions to advance through the kitchen brigade. Rack up points as you work your way from lowly intern to almighty executive chef. In the meantime, test your knowledge about knife skills, egg cookery, cooking methods and much more.

At the end of each cooking game level, you’ll be awarded with a new kitchen ranking and the chance to scratch and win coupon codes for Rouxbe cooking courses, annual memberships ($299 value) or even the coveted lifetime membership ($399 value with lifetime access to all current and future courses). You can’t even buy a lifetime membership anymore, so this is definitely a rare opportunity.

 Play the Rouxbe Cooking Game Now!

As you unlock ten levels of cooking trivia, you’ll be pitted against players from across the globe. Your points help your country rally ahead on the cooking game leaderboard. Individual bragging rights are also up for grabs. Think you know a thing or two about cooking? We’ll see.

It gets better. In July, we’ll be adding physical prizes from our partners. That means you can spend all of June practicing your trivia questions, and then reset the game in July for the chance to win even more.

Check out this link to start playing now.

The Rouxbe Online Cooking School Team

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Filed Under: Cooking School, Featured, Food & Industry Talk, Miscellaneous

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05 Apr

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Staying Healthy on Vacation

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This is a guest post from Cole Millen — Cole Millen is an avid traveler and self-described “foodie” who never forgets that life’s best memories are made through real life apprehension of legitimate “experiences”. Thanks for the travel tips Cole (or should we say the “Cole’s Notes”)

You worked so hard to get your body bathing suit ready for your vacation, now it is time to keep it that way. Following a few easy tips can ensure that you don’t pack on a few pounds on your trip and keep that body in as good of shape as you left home in.

In the Airport   

The airport is the first obstacle you will have to face, and it is a big one. Not only are you required to be there hours before your flight leaves, but there is also little to do other than eat. I am no stranger to the airport McDonald’s and CinnaBon, but there are ways to help stay away from them. The night before you leave, pack healthy snacks (nuts, raisins, granola bars) in your carry-on. On the day of your flight, give yourself enough time to eat a healthy meal before you arrive at the airport. If you are full, gooey pastries and fast food will have less appeal to you!

Barb Thomas (Rouxbe Nutritionist) says “Keeping your blood sugar steady by having nutrient-dense snacks at the ready is the key to keeping your energy up and avoiding junk food as you travel. Also, remember to stay hydrated. Airports and airplanes are notoriously dry, and dehydration can masquerade as hunger. If you are well hydrated, you will be less likely to reach for sugary, fast food snacks.”

At The Hotel   

On your way to the hotel, keep your eye out for a local produce mart or grocery store. Stop at the store when you get a chance and stock up on fruit and vegetables to put in the mini fridge. Fruit makes an excellent mid-day snack at the pool. Be as active as you can and swim as much as your body will allow. Also, walk whenever you have the opportunity. There is no reason to drive to the miniature golf course two blocks away! If your hotel offers a free continental breakfast, eat as much fruit as you want, but do it right. All you can eat breakfasts can be full of sugary, high fattening items. Half of your plate should consist of whole grains (whole grain toast, cereal, oatmeal), a quarter should be fruit, and the remaining quarter protein (eggs, turkey bacon). This will give you the appropriate nutrients and energy to start your day right.

Barb Thomas (Rouxbe Nutritionist) says” Your morning breakfast plate should consist of healthy protein such as eggs, beans, fish or lean meat, and blood sugar stabilizing complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, low sugar fruit with the peel on, or a whole grain like whole oats. And remember- there is nothing wrong with having vegetables for breakfast!”

Picking The Right Restaurant 

Everyone wants to indulge a bit when on vacation, and you are allowed to do so. The key is to make sure you are indulging, and not going on a binge. Going out to eat at a restaurant does not have to be a binge. Do a little research beforehand. Check what nearby restaurants have nutrition facts or light menus. Reading the reviews from other travelers of a restaurant can be extremely helpful in pointing out the things that we often miss. For example, if you were staying in a hotel in Las Vegas, reviews could help you to find a healthy restaurant in the midst of the buffet zone. Know where you are going before you leave so you do not stop at the first Buffalo Wild Wings that you see! Avoid buffets, and know that fish is almost always a safe bet as long as it is not fried.

At the restaurant, knowing your buzz-words can be crucial. Avoid anything fried, creamy, battered, or breaded. Try to stick with something broiled, grilled, roasted, or steamed. Be wary of anything fat free. Fat free products are often higher in sugar and calories to try to get the taste of full-fat products. Eat as many vegetables as you can to help you get full on healthy food.

Barb Thomas (Rouxbe Nutritionist) says: “It’s totally ok to be high-maintenance! When you are out for dinner, go ahead and make requests like dressing on the side or less sodium in the dish. And if you are gluten or grain free- always ask for more vegetables!

If you can take in these very simple and basic tips, I can guarantee that you will come home in just as good of shape as you left with!

So what’s your favorite travel snack?

Best,

Cole

 

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Filed Under: Cooking Tips, Featured, Food & Industry Talk, Ingredients, Miscellaneous

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27 Mar

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What’s holding you back from better cooking?

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After launching The Cook’s Roadmap, we began to get the question: “So, what’s with this roadmap anyway?” What we mean by roadmap is a guide along a path or through a process of discovery–much like driving someplace new for the first time versus just sitting in the backseat and zoning out.

But what is really involved in this process of discovery and what are the questions or ideas that can motivate or stall us on our path to achieving our cooking goals?

How do I learn to cook, anyway?
Learning to cook happens over time. It is both a dynamic and progressive process. Decoded, that means that we learn to cook by picking up a few tips and techniques along the way, sort of by osmosis, without too much attention to detail. You can watch someone cook, get an idea of how it’s done, adopt it for yourself and essentially hunt and peck your way through a meal like typing with only a few fingers. It will get the job done (heck, it may even be great!) but it may not be pretty.

Who has the time?
The larger cultural norm that prevails around cooking is one of ambiguity, uncertainty, and anxiety–not the most productive responses.  Many people love to eat (and even say they like to cook), but somehow there’s no time for it. I started to think about that: North Americans collectively watch over 3 hours of TV per day, but don’t have 30 minutes to engage in the most human of all activities?

I know what I should eat, but I just don’t do it.
If you are around a lot of people who cook, you will pick up more knowledge. In homes where it’s all fast food and packaged foods, then there’s not much culinary knowledge to pass along except maybe some bad habits. Even just a generation ago, each family unit had at least someone you could watch who knew how to cook. Now, many of us are raised in homes where there is no positive “food” role model–the awareness of cooking is low and prioritization of cooking whole foods is even lower. 

Isn’t learning to cook hard? I just don’t know where to start.
One way to learn to cook is by following a more structured path that places priority and attention on certain types of activities and information over others. This is how professionals learn and it’s an efficient way to engage with a higher degree of certainty that you achieve some level of success. It’s also how people who are raised in food- and cooking-centric cultures learn to cook. You are given tasks and activities as you grow up, first peeling and rinsing vegetables, then helping to measure or make a side dish and ultimately set free to contribute with the rest of the group.

It really is all about the basics. For example, holding a knife and getting used to cutting, applying moist heat (like steaming) or dry heat (like roasting), making good decisions about shopping and selecting produce.  We want you to become more confident and comfortable. We’re not going to chase a trend – our goal is to give you skills and knowledge that you can carry with you and use.

We call our new course The Cook’s Roadmap because it helps get you to where you want and need to go. Ultimately you need to be able to drive on your own, but it’s nice to have some guidance anytime you need it, whenever you need it.

The Cook’s Roadmap puts you in driver’s seat, but we know that that’s a big step for many to grasp. Making change can be daunting, no doubt about it. But you can do this.  Use the course in a way that makes sense to you: some find it useful to through in sequence and complete each task before moving ahead, while others skip around a bit and revisit material multiple times to practice and hone skills.  It’s up to you. We just want you to understand that the journey along they way should be enjoyable, enlightening, and empowering. Turn on your cooking brain!

We want you to share Rouxbe with your friends. Cook for them, and tell them what you’ve learned.  Then they can return the favor. Enjoy!

 

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Filed Under: Ask a Chef, Behind The Scenes, Business, Featured, Miscellaneous

22 Mar

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Praise from Whole Foods’ Sr. Culinary Educator

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What do the experts think? (link)
From chef Chad Sarno, senior culinary educator of Whole Foods Market’s healthy eating program and chef from the best selling book, ‘Crazy Sexy Kitchen.‘

“I’ve taken this course myself, testing it to see if it was up to par and I have to say, I’m blown away. I wish I had this resource when I was starting out on the path of healthy cooking. Level 1 will help you create an amazing foundation of knowledge and comfortability in the kitchen.. Trust me you will not be disappointed!

The fact [is] that it’s all online and you can take classes whenever [they] fit within your schedule, from your kitchen.”

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Filed Under: Cooking School, Featured, Getting Ahead in the Kitchen, Miscellaneous