ROUXBE.COM: Online Cooking School

I came across rouxbe.com recently, an new online culinary school that’s definitely worth a look. The site houses a library of videos on cooking techniques and recipes that mirrors the kind of curriculum you’d find at a real world cooking school. Some videos are free to view, but access to the full catalog requires a payed membership – of which there are several options: $15/month, $99/year, or $199/lifetime. The voice-over narration is almost comically flat, but the quality of the videos are top-notch: they’re clear and concise and focus very tightly on the food prep (rather than a yapping instructor). The close-up shots of the actual cooking are well-composed and extremely easy to follow, and I learned a few new things just from watching one of the free sample videos (on legumes). Considering the astronomical price of cooking schools, seems like you could learn a lot here for $15 a month! The paid membership also gives you access to personal chef support – not sure how attentive that service is, but the fact that they even offer it is a big incentive to try the paid membership. I have a feeling I’ll be using this site quite a bit. Curious to hear what people think – especially anyone who’s used the premium service. Drop us some comments if you’re a rouxbe.com user…