One of the questions I get asked a lot by aspiring chefs is how they can become a great chef. I’ve got a good piece going up this week about how you can be one of the best chefs in the world which should help with that. In the mean time, I came across a little nugget from our intrepid writer Cynthia Clampitt that Chris Koetke, the dean of Kendall college was named Cooking Teacher of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals this weekend. This reminds me of the fact that if you’re choosing to go to culinary school and drop big dollars you should go to a very good one.

On a global scale this means you should consider CIA, Le Cordon Bleu, and Johnson and Wales. If you’re going to stay in Chicago, Kendall seems to be the big one these days…consider grads like Shawn McClain, Doug Sohn, Mindy Segal as great examples. Chances are they like to hire from their alma mater. On top of the networking, you want good peeps guiding you, and Koetke’s nod says a lot. He’s done a good job of building a solid teaching corps including the legendary Pierre Pollin (Le Titi de Paris) and John Bubala (Timo, Thyme). Bubala teaches his class like it’s an afternoon on the line instead of some French gourmet theory. When you walk out of his class, you’ll be able to stage like you mean it.

That being said, cooking is one of the few professions where you can still make it by walking in to a kitchen and working your way up. If you don’t have the cash, be smart and pick a good working kitchen that’ll teach you what culinary school would have. That is to say, don’t focus on a spot using immersion circulators and lasers until you know how to do a traditional braise and make a brunoise of veg. Once you can do that in your sleep, then knock on the back door at Alinea or Moto.