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Learn the essential skills and techniques that will lead to a lifetime of restaurant-quality cooking, with Leiths’ 24-week Professional Online Cooking Course and Certificate.
Professional Course
Intermediate
Certification
Master the essential skills of professional cooking, in your kitchen. Learn the techniques that will lead to a lifetime of restaurant-quality cooking with Leiths’ 24-week Professional Essential Cooking Course and Certificate. Attain industry respected training from Leiths, wherever you are in the world.
Whether you’re a home cook looking to take your passion for food to the next level or an aspiring professional wanting to springboard into a culinary career, this course is for you.
By the end of the course, you can anticipate becoming a well rounded cook, well-versed not only in recipes and practical skills, but in kitchen management, menu costing, time planning, and presentation. You will be able to take on advanced recipes and cook intuitively.
You will gain a certificate of completion and the possibility of taking a final assessment at Leiths in London for full Leiths accreditation. With Essential Cooking under your belt, opportunities open up, from recipe development to entry level positions in professional kitchens or starting your own venture.
★★★★★
"I would absolutely recommend Leiths Online. If you want to get your foot in the door with understanding the basics of cooking or getting an idea about a future career in food or just as a hobby, it is the place to start."
Andrea Montague-Doghan, Leiths Online Alumni
★★★★★
"The Essential course was the best for me because it taught me a lot of foundational skills but also forced me to learn recipes that I probably wouldn’t try alone. For example, I’m a really savoury person, but I’ve done a lot of baking and I’ve really enjoyed it. I certainly think my skills have expanded greatly since then."
Ned Poulter, Leiths Online Alumni
This 24-week course will guide you through all the fundamental cooking skills, techniques and practices that every cook needs to thrive in a modern professional kitchen.
Each week, you will unlock a new batch of video-based sessions that take you step-by-step through the process of cooking everything from choux pastry to shellfish. With Workshop’s unique hands-on method of learning, you’ll be cooking from day one with no need to read pages of theory in advance.
By joining the course, you will have access to the following through the Workshop app:
In addition to the core aspects of the course, you will also get:
Average cooking time: 4 to 5 hours per week
Assessment
To receive your Certificate of Completion, you can undertake a 3-part assessment covering skills you have learnt during the course.
If you are opting for the full Leiths Essential Certificate, your mentor will review your progress to determine whether you’re ready for the practical two-day exam taking place at the school in London. This accreditation comes at an additional cost of £635, and provides the same certification as the £3,330 Essential Cooking Certificate: Daytime Course offered in-person at Leiths School of Food and Wine.
In your first unit, you will learn the crucial skill of handling your knives with precision and accuracy – the first step to becoming a capable, confident cook. You’ll also learn how to make a delicious leek and potato soup.
In this unit, we'll take your knife skills one step further and cover the basics of seasoning. You'll make two dishes: Thai Prawn Salad and a Vegetable Stir-Fry.
Learning to cook and emulsify eggs are essential skills you will use time and time in the kitchen and will help form an understanding of the relationship between proteins, liquids and fats.
In this unit, you'll develop your pastry skills and techniques by making a savoury leek and gruyere tart, as well as six sweet, individual berry tarts.
You'll learn the basics of vegetable cookery, including blanching and roasting vegetables, cooking grains and the technical skill of a beurre noisette sauce.
In your first session you’ll learn three different ways to plate a poached pear salad, followed by a second session full of tips and tricks from the Leiths Online food photographer.
Start your session by making a vibrant lemon curd, which will later be used as a topping for your strawberry and passion fruit pavlovas. You'll learn how to whip egg whites to different stages of peaks to create perfect French meringue kisses.
In these sessions, you'll be learning how to prepare and cook two different types of fish; flat fish and round fish. You'll learn how to fillet, skin and gut fish, and how to grill and pan-fry fish fillets, which are necessary skills you can apply to all kinds of fish cookery.
In these sessions, you'll be adding to your repertoire of pastry skills to produce choux pastry. You'll learn how to make choux pastry for both savoury and sweet dishes; crème pâtissière, indulgent chocolate profiteroles and cacio e pepe choux buns!
We'll be covering how to prepare and cook three different shellfish; mussels, prawns and squid to create some great dishes! When buying shellfish, try to get them from a reputable supplier, and try to use them as soon as you can after purchase (ideally within 24 hours).
In these sessions, you're going to learn to make three different cakes using the creaming and melting methods; gingerbread cake, a Victoria sponge, and carrot cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting. You’ll also be able to practice your technical piping skills.
You'll be using a time plan to help you produce a roast from start to finish. This exercise will challenge your time management and mise en place skills, as it requires getting lots of different elements together for a planned time of service.
In these sessions, you'll be learning some basic bread making techniques so that you can hopefully build your intuitive baking knowledge. Using your own judgement is necessary for baking because so many different factors affect the processes at play when using only a few ingredients.
You'll be learning how to create fresh pasta by hand and by machine to make basil pesto tagliatelle and sage butter tortellini.
You’ll learn how to stew meat, in order to slowly cook a Moroccan lamb tagine as well as a smoky chilli. You'll learn how to brown lamb and mince, how and why to deglaze the pan and two methods of cooking rice.
In these sessions, you’ll be making a classic cheese scone and a swiss roll with raspberry jam, both perfect reflections of the whisking method for cake-making.
In these sessions, you'll be making two brunch dishes – American-style pancakes and eggs Benedict, which includes hollandaise sauce. These are great recipes to have under your belt for entertaining!
This unit is all about caramel and custards. You'll be learning how to master the technical skill of making a crème anglaise custard, which will be used for a sticky toffee pudding and praline parfait.
Learning how to joint a chicken is a great skill for utilising your chicken for all of its meat and the carcass. In these sessions, you'll also learn how to break down a chicken, create a stock using the bones, make a sticky sweet and sour chicken, and chicken supreme with rosemary roasted potatoes.
You'll learn how to use gelatine to create a water-based lemon-elderflower jelly and a vanilla-based panna cotta with fresh fruit and almond crumble.
In these sessions, you'll learn some basic butchery and meat cooking skills by cooking a steak and a pork tenderloin. You'll also be creating a chimichurri sauce and grape agrodolce.
You’ll bake a gluten-free loaf of bread and chocolate roulade with a cherry compote. You’ll learn to use alternative ingredients to create delicious food for people with dietary requirements.
In these sessions, you're going to be using a lot of different skills that you've learnt to cook a starter, main course and dessert for a dinner party.
You’ll be revisiting some skills from the course, uploading photos as you go along. Your photos will be assessed by your mentor, and you’ll receive feedback on how you did. You can only do your assessment once, so please make sure you’ve done your mise en place and that your phone camera can demonstrate your skills as clearly as possible.
In your first unit, you will learn the crucial skill of handling your knives with precision and accuracy – the first step to becoming a capable, confident cook. You’ll also learn how to make a delicious leek and potato soup.
In this unit, we'll take your knife skills one step further and cover the basics of seasoning. You'll make two dishes: Thai Prawn Salad and a Vegetable Stir-Fry.
Learning to cook and emulsify eggs are essential skills you will use time and time in the kitchen and will help form an understanding of the relationship between proteins, liquids and fats.
In this unit, you'll develop your pastry skills and techniques by making a savoury leek and gruyere tart, as well as six sweet, individual berry tarts.
You'll learn the basics of vegetable cookery, including blanching and roasting vegetables, cooking grains and the technical skill of a beurre noisette sauce.
In your first session you’ll learn three different ways to plate a poached pear salad, followed by a second session full of tips and tricks from the Leiths Online food photographer.
Start your session by making a vibrant lemon curd, which will later be used as a topping for your strawberry and passion fruit pavlovas. You'll learn how to whip egg whites to different stages of peaks to create perfect French meringue kisses.
In these sessions, you'll be learning how to prepare and cook two different types of fish; flat fish and round fish. You'll learn how to fillet, skin and gut fish, and how to grill and pan-fry fish fillets, which are necessary skills you can apply to all kinds of fish cookery.
In these sessions, you'll be adding to your repertoire of pastry skills to produce choux pastry. You'll learn how to make choux pastry for both savoury and sweet dishes; crème pâtissière, indulgent chocolate profiteroles and cacio e pepe choux buns!
We'll be covering how to prepare and cook three different shellfish; mussels, prawns and squid to create some great dishes! When buying shellfish, try to get them from a reputable supplier, and try to use them as soon as you can after purchase (ideally within 24 hours).
In these sessions, you're going to learn to make three different cakes using the creaming and melting methods; gingerbread cake, a Victoria sponge, and carrot cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting. You’ll also be able to practice your technical piping skills.
You'll be using a time plan to help you produce a roast from start to finish. This exercise will challenge your time management and mise en place skills, as it requires getting lots of different elements together for a planned time of service.
In these sessions, you'll be learning some basic bread making techniques so that you can hopefully build your intuitive baking knowledge. Using your own judgement is necessary for baking because so many different factors affect the processes at play when using only a few ingredients.
You'll be learning how to create fresh pasta by hand and by machine to make basil pesto tagliatelle and sage butter tortellini.
You’ll learn how to stew meat, in order to slowly cook a Moroccan lamb tagine as well as a smoky chilli. You'll learn how to brown lamb and mince, how and why to deglaze the pan and two methods of cooking rice.
In these sessions, you’ll be making a classic cheese scone and a swiss roll with raspberry jam, both perfect reflections of the whisking method for cake-making.
In these sessions, you'll be making two brunch dishes – American-style pancakes and eggs Benedict, which includes hollandaise sauce. These are great recipes to have under your belt for entertaining!
This unit is all about caramel and custards. You'll be learning how to master the technical skill of making a crème anglaise custard, which will be used for a sticky toffee pudding and praline parfait.
Learning how to joint a chicken is a great skill for utilising your chicken for all of its meat and the carcass. In these sessions, you'll also learn how to break down a chicken, create a stock using the bones, make a sticky sweet and sour chicken, and chicken supreme with rosemary roasted potatoes.
You'll learn how to use gelatine to create a water-based lemon-elderflower jelly and a vanilla-based panna cotta with fresh fruit and almond crumble.
In these sessions, you'll learn some basic butchery and meat cooking skills by cooking a steak and a pork tenderloin. You'll also be creating a chimichurri sauce and grape agrodolce.
You’ll bake a gluten-free loaf of bread and chocolate roulade with a cherry compote. You’ll learn to use alternative ingredients to create delicious food for people with dietary requirements.
In these sessions, you're going to be using a lot of different skills that you've learnt to cook a starter, main course and dessert for a dinner party.
You’ll be revisiting some skills from the course, uploading photos as you go along. Your photos will be assessed by your mentor, and you’ll receive feedback on how you did. You can only do your assessment once, so please make sure you’ve done your mise en place and that your phone camera can demonstrate your skills as clearly as possible.
Once you've met all the requirements to complete this course, you'll receive a verified Certificate of Completion.
After successfully completing this course, you will be invited to attend an assessment weekend at Leiths if you'd like to receive full Leiths accreditation for an additional £635.
Take a look at what previous students have said about their experience with Leiths Online, with reviews ranging from young cooks celebrating the start of their journey, to professional chefs successfully advancing their culinary skills.
Leiths Online Cookery School is a winning partnership between Leiths School of Food & Wine - the esteemed cookery school - and education technology pioneers, Workshop.
From its London school, Leiths has been equipping aspiring cooks with the skills to flourish in the food world since 1975. Through Workshop's unique hands-on learning experiences, Leiths is bringing the best of in-person teaching directly into people's kitchens around the world.
Putting the learner first is a founding philosophy common to both organisations. High-quality content delivered by top educators in the cookery world, tailored expert feedback and a close community network make it a joy to learn with Leiths Online.
Before enrolling, feel free to request a tour of the course below and you'll see how Leiths Online reimagines the learning experience.
You’ll be able to log into the Workshop app and access your class group discussion shortly before your start date so that you can chat away and get acquainted!
Your class will be moving forward at a pace of 1 unit per week, however after each unit is unlocked you have the freedom to complete each session entirely at your own pace. You will also have the ability to schedule your sessions for times that suit your lifestyle.
This course has been carefully designed to make sure the advantages of real-world learning experiences are still embraced online. You will therefore be taken through the subject matter week-by-week to give you the chance to digest what you’ve learnt whilst progressing at a steady pace alongside your classmates. Unlike a real-world course though, you will also have the opportunity to revisit sessions and practice whenever and wherever you like!
You’ll have access to your course dashboard for a total time of 12 months after your start date.
Units (including video sessions and supporting materials) will become available week-by-week as your class progresses through the course.
If you book your place over 30 days before your course start date, you can cancel your booking and claim a full refund within 30 days of your purchase.
If you book your place within 30 days of the course start date, you can claim a full refund within 14 days of your purchase.
You can contact your mentor directly through the app at any time, and will receive a response within 48 hours. Your mentor will also be able to grade and comment on your photo uploads with any feedback they may have.
There’s no need to worry if you have a holiday booked or have to miss a week or two during the course. You’ll have access to your course dashboard for a total of 12 months from your start date, and so you’ll have plenty of time to catch up if you need to.
Shortly before your course start date, you will be invited to introduce yourself to the rest of your class via messaging on the Workshop app.
Each week, your class will unlock a new unit encouraging you all to cook the same dishes within the same week. At the end of every session, you will be asked to upload a photo of your dish, which your class and mentor will be able to view, like and provide feedback on.
Your Certificate of Completion will be awarded if you pass a 3-part assessment at the end of the course.
This assessment will challenge you to replicate skills you have learnt throughout the course with minimal assistance. You will be asked to upload photos at different stages of the process and your mentor will grade and give feedback on completion.
The opportunity to earn a full Leiths-accredited Baking Certificate at an additional two-day practical assessment in London, at the cost of £635.
All Leiths Online courses are 18+ or require parental consent for those between 13-18. The exceptions are our Teens courses, which are exclusively for 13-18-year-olds.
The accreditation weekends at Leiths school in London have a wine element to them and are only for those aged 18 and over.
With 1-5 practical sessions to complete each week, you can typically expect to be cooking for a combined total of about 3 hours a week.
Your class will be moving forward at a pace of 1 unit per week, however after each unit is unlocked you have the freedom to complete each session entirely at your own pace. You will also have the ability to schedule your sessions for times that suit your lifestyle.
This course has been carefully designed to make sure the advantages of real-world learning experiences are still embraced online. You will therefore be taken through the subject matter week-by-week to give you the chance to digest what you’ve learnt whilst progressing at a steady pace alongside your classmates. Unlike a real-world course though, you will also have the opportunity to revisit sessions and practice whenever and wherever you like!
Yes, we’ll send you a full equipment list after you have purchased the course. Make sure to keep an eye on your emails (including your spam folder) for this!
Yes, we’ll send you a full equipment list before the course starts. Make sure to ask your parent or guardian to keep an eye on their emails (including the spam folder) for this!
This course can directly award you with a Certificate of Completion, but it is also possible to earn the full Leiths Essential Certificate with the skills you learn in this course.
At the end of the course, your mentor will review your progress to determine whether you’re ready for a practical two-day exam taking place at the school in London (for over-18s only). This accreditation comes at an additional cost of £635, and provides the same certification as the £3,330 Essential Cooking Certificate: Daytime Course offered in-person at Leiths School of Food and Wine.
If you have a coupon, you can redeem this when purchasing a course on the checkout to receive your discount.
Please be aware
We strongly encourage every student to finish their course within the allocated access period, as this ensures you stay on track and make the most of your learning experience. However, if you believe you need additional time, we are able to offer 3-month extensions at a cost of £100.
We review every case individually so if you need to request an extension please reach out to us at support@workshop.ws.
Please be aware that with a course extension, you will receive less regular contact time from your mentor as the usual course access period will have expired. To receive a certificate, you will still be required to photo uploads and complete any assessments if applicable.
