Central New Mexico Community College (cnm.edu) in Albuquerque offers more than 100 programs leading to associate degrees and trade certificates. Its Department of Hospitality Management offers a Professional Cooking certificate. It's a two-term, 28-credit-hour program where students learn buffet, banquet and a la carte cooking techniques. The course also includes dining-room skills, knife skills, safety, sanitation, business practices, culinary math, and nutrition. The Professional Cooking certificate is necessary for students to earn an American Culinary Federation (ACF) Associate of Applied Science degree, which is also offered at CNM. Graduates from the program can find job opportunities with restaurants, schools, catering companies, convention centers, hospitals, and cruise ships.
Jane Butel's SW Cooking School (2655 Pan American Freeway NE, Suite F, Albuquerque; 505-243-2622) opened in 1983 and specializes in southwestern and Tex Mex-style cooking. It offers weekend and week-long classes, as well as on-line classes. Butel is an internationally recognized expert in southwestern cooking. She was the host of the public broadcasting cooking show, "Jane Butel's Southwestern Kitchen," and the author of numerous cookbooks, including "Cocinas de New Mexico," "Favorite Mexican Foods," and "Jane Butel's Tex-Mex Cookbook."
Based in Albuquerque, the Culinary Business Academy (culinarybusiness.com) teaches students to become personal chefs. Personal chefs prepare meals in clients' homes where they provide services such as customized meal planning, grocery shopping, in-home meal prep, storage and clean-up. The CBA began in 1991 and is licensed by the Private Post-Secondary Commission on Higher Education and is the only provider of personal chef business training to be licensed by an educational board. Courses offered include the undergraduate course, a five-day, full-immersion course into all aspects of the personal chef business, the Dynamics Program, the Quick Start Program, Home Study Program, and the Home Chef Program.
Blue Plate Special (eatblueplate.com) is an Albuquerque-based catering company and cooking school that offers classes for students who range from beginners to gourmets, and from kids to adults. It features small class sizes and an informal atmosphere. Beginners will learn essential techniques, while experienced cooks can brush up on their skills and learn new types of cuisine as well as some advanced culinary techniques. Students receive recipes, equipment and aprons. Class sizes are limited to allow for hands-on instruction.