About This Program
Our flagship program. Sixteen weeks of live, chef-led training that takes you from confident home cook to professional-level command of the kitchen: classical technique, butchery, fish, bread and pastry, sauces, plating and menu design. It ends with a five-course tasting menu you design and cook. Limited to 12 students, with weekly 1-on-1 mentorship.
This is the most complete program Philly Culture Academy offers. It's built for serious cooks who want professional-level skill, not just recipes. Over 16 weeks you'll train the way restaurant cooks train: foundations first, then technique by technique, then service-style cooking under time pressure, until you can design and run a full tasting menu on your own. You'll train live with Rasha Kamal for 4 hours, 3 times per week. That's 192 hours of hands-on cooking on Google Meet, with real-time correction of your knife work, your sauces and your plates. On top of the group sessions, every student gets a private 60-minute 1-on-1 mentorship session each week (16 in total) to review progress, fix weak spots and plan their own development. The curriculum covers the full classical foundation: knife skills, stocks, the five mother sauces, heat control and cooking methods. It then moves into butchery and proteins, fish and shellfish, vegetables, grains and fresh pasta, bread and pastry fundamentals, modern techniques, plating and presentation, and Philadelphia's own food heritage. Every module ends with a practical assessment: you cook and plate on camera and receive written feedback. The program closes with a capstone. You design, cost and cook a five-course tasting menu, present it live to the cohort, and have it assessed by your instructor. Graduates receive a Certificate of Completion from Philly Culture Academy and keep lifetime access to every recording, recipe and technique library from the program. Program Format: Hybrid. Self-paced recorded technique library, plus live hands-on cooking sessions via Google Meet (recordings available afterward), plus weekly private 1-on-1 mentorship. Includes a full recipe and technique manual, shopping lists for every session, and a private student chat for ongoing support. Cohort size is capped at 12 students so everyone gets real attention.
Inside the Program
What You'll Learn
- Work with professional speed and precision across every classical knife cut
- Build stocks, mother sauces and modern pan sauces from scratch, and correct them by taste
- Choose and control the right cooking method for any ingredient: sear, braise, poach, roast, confit and sous-vide
- Break down whole poultry, cut steaks and portion fish the way a working kitchen does
- Cook fish and shellfish with confidence, from delicate fillets to whole fish
- Make fresh pasta, risotto, breads, laminated doughs and core pastry components
- Plate composed dishes with professional balance of height, color, texture and negative space
- Season, balance and layer flavor deliberately, and develop your own signature dishes
- Plan a menu, cost your recipes and run a timed service with mise en place discipline
- Design and cook a five-course tasting menu for your capstone assessment
Curriculum
- 1
Weeks 1–2 · Foundations & Knife Mastery
Kitchen setup, mise en place discipline, knife care and sharpening, and every classical cut drilled to speed. Heat control, seasoning, and tasting like a chef.
- 2
Weeks 3–4 · Stocks, Sauces & Soups
Brown and white stocks, the five mother sauces and their derivatives, emulsions, reductions, pan sauces, and classic and modern soups.
- 3
Weeks 5–6 · Butchery & Proteins
Breaking down whole poultry, steak and roast cuts, braising and slow cooking, resting and carving, and temperature control for perfect doneness.
- 4
Weeks 7–8 · Fish & Shellfish
Selecting, scaling, filleting and portioning fish; methods from crisp-skin searing to gentle poaching; handling shellfish safely.
- 5
Weeks 9–10 · Vegetables, Grains & Fresh Pasta
Vegetable techniques that make the side the star, risotto and grains, fresh egg pasta, filled pasta and gnocchi.
- 6
Weeks 11–12 · Bread & Pastry Fundamentals
Yeast doughs and enriched breads, pâte brisée and pâte sucrée, custards and creams, chocolate work and plated desserts.
- 7
Weeks 13–14 · Modern Technique, Plating & Philly Heritage
Sous-vide, purées, gels and foams; advanced plating and presentation; elevated takes on Philadelphia classics and the immigrant cuisines that shaped them.
- 8
Weeks 15–16 · Menu Design & Capstone Tasting Menu
Menu planning, recipe costing and timed service, ending with your five-course tasting menu cooked live and assessed for your certificate.
Prerequisites
- Solid home-cooking experience and comfort working at the stove
- A good chef's knife, cutting board, heavy pans, saucepans and a stockpot (a full equipment list is provided)
- Availability for three 4-hour live sessions per week for 16 weeks, plus practice time
- A kitchen where you can set up a laptop or phone camera to show your station
- Stable internet connection for Google Meet live sessions
- A budget for ingredients for each session (detailed shopping lists provided)
Program Details
- Program Type
- professional
- Duration
- 208 hours
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Language
- English
- Certificate
- Included upon completion
- Access
- Lifetime access
- Category
- culinary
⭐ Student Reviews
Pay by card or SEPA Direct Debit
No account needed — pay securely with Stripe
- 48 live sessions with Rasha Kamal
- 16 private 1-on-1 mentorship sessions
- Small cohort: max 12 students
- Practical assessments with written feedback
- Full recipe & technique manual
- 208 hours of content
- Lifetime access
- Certificate of completion
- Secure checkout via Stripe
- No account required