Presentation
FIRST EDITION: november 2025
Spain is the birthplace of the culinary avant-garde, standing out for innovating techniques, using products creatively, and creating surprising dishes with character. Many of the movements that have driven this trend began in the Basque Country, where Basque Culinary Center has been endeavoring to document and share these innovations through training. With the help of pioneering educators, we seek to train professionals capable of responding to the environment's changing challenges. Due to a strong scientific vision, we have been able to move closer to the avant-garde with well-founded and rigorous knowledge, while maintaining creative freedom.
This gave rise to the Molecular Cooking Course, the first online course with a “learning by doing” approach in English, focused on molecular cooking within the gastronomic space. This course has a clear objective: to provide students with the necessary foundation and fundamentals to understand how avant-garde products and techniques work. It includes training on gelling agents, thickeners, and emulsifiers. It also covers processes and technologies, both ancestral and contemporary, such as salting, smoking, and nixtamalization. It's not a course aimed at replicating recipes, but at understanding the principles of molecular cuisine so as to design and execute avant-garde creations.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
- Online Format
- 100% in English
- Registration deadline: To be defined
- Academic Period: To be defined
- Certificate from the Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences at the Basque Culinary Center.
- Questions and additional information: cursos@bculinary.com.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The general objective is to fully understand how to use different cutting-edge culinary products so as to use them to achieve the desired effects when designing a dish. Other objectives of the Course are:
- To identify and understand different products used in contemporary cuisine.
- To apply the use of avant-garde products according to the characteristics and parameters sought in the dishes.
- To learn techniques using thickeners, emulsifiers, gelling agents, and aerators, as well as the nixtamalization technique.
- To design new dishes and creations applied to contemporary cuisine.
PROFESSIONAL APPLICATIONS
With this course, you can expand and improve your skills, advance in your professionalization, and access profiles of greater responsibility in culinary innovation. Some of the areas or positions of application include:
- Creative Cuisine Chef: Chef roles in restaurants, hotels, or gastronomic establishments.
- Gastronomic Entrepreneurship: Development of proprietary catering businesses such as restaurants, cafeterias, or catering companies.
- Culinary Consulting: Culinary consulting services for catering businesses such as restaurants and catering companies.
Aimed at /Programme
The course for people with the following profiles:
- Chefs, Chef de Partie, Cooks, Pastry Chefs seeking inspiration and innovation for their culinary creations.
- Executive Chefs from hotel chains looking to innovate.
- Culinary Teachers interested in enhancing their knowledge and staying updated.
If you do not see yourself reflected in the above profiles and are interested in the Course, do not hesitate to contact us. The course coordination team will review your training and experience and provide you with a response.
The modules that make up this course are as follows:
Module 1: Thickeners
Discover how to create and transform textures
- Introduction
- Origin, History, and Evolution
- Procedures, Usage, and Selection Factors
- Products: Characteristics, Dosage, Use
- Xanthan Gum
- Inulin
- Guar Gum
- Kuzu
- Natural Starches
- Modified Starches
- Applications: Characteristics, Dosage, Use
- Suspension Effect
- Fat Replacement Textures
- Foam
- Puffed Broth
- Tapioca Crisps
- Thickened Cream
Module 2: Gelling Agents
Play with the consistency of your creations
- Introduction
- Origin, History, and Evolution
- Procedures, Usage, and Selection Factors
- Products: Characteristics, Dosage, Use
- Agar Agar
- Iota Carrageenan
- Gellan Gum
- Animal Gelatin
- LM Pectin
- NH Pectin
- Methylcellulose
- Alginate
- Applications: Characteristics, Dosage, Use
- Caviar
- Dairy Gelatin
- Spherification
- Red Wine Compote
- Fruit Glue
- Edible Film
- Coating
- Crunchy Foam
- NH Pectin
- Methylcellulose
- Alginate
Module 3: Emulsifiers and Aerators
Understand the science of binding and aerating
- Introduction
- Origin, History, and Evolution
- Procedures, Usage, and Selection Factors
- Products: Characteristics, Dosage, uUe
- Mono/diglycerides
- Lecithin
- Sucrose Esters
- Applications: Characteristics, Dosage, Use
- Toffee
- Emulsions
- Alcoholic Air
Module 4: New Avant-Garde Products
Explore the frontier of culinary innovation
- Introduction
- Origin, History, and Evolution
- Procedures, Usage, and Selection Factors
- Products: Characteristics, Dosage, Use
- Wheat Dextrin
- Transglutaminase
- Atomized Cocoa Butter
- Applications: Characteristics, Dosage, Use
- Crunchy Tempura
- Puffed Fish Skins
- Coatings
Module 5: Nixtamalization
Handle the technology behind an ancestral process
- Introduction
- Action of Alkaline Media
- Selection Factors
- Alkalis in avant-garde cuisine: Classifications, Characteristics, and Methods of Use
- Sodium Citrate
- Sodium Hydroxide
- Calcium Hydroxide
- Nixtamalization of Starch-Containing Products
- Nixtamalization of Pectin-Containing Products
Module 6: Challenge
Apply your knowledge of techniques and products to create your own avant-garde dishes
Calendar
- Academic Period: To be defined
- Introduction to the Platform (Module 0): at the beginning of the academic period, there will be an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the course methodology and learning platform.
- Closure of the Virtual Classroom: To be defined
- Approximate Weekly Commitment: 12 hours
Methodology
The Course uses a learning by doing methodology, which is based on the idea that the best way to learn is through practical experience and direct action. Rather than focusing exclusively on theory and passive instruction, this methodology encourages students to acquire knowledge and skills by actively participating in hands-on activities and real projects. Some characteristics include:
- Audiovisual resources that clearly show step-by-step processes
- Masterclasses and cooking demos by expert professors that students can watch as many times as they want
- Live classes once a week with BCC professors and collaborators to discuss and delve deeper into the course content
- Weekly planning of projects, which is part of the ongoing evaluation
- Activities and challenges: interactive exercises, quizzes, assignments, fora, etc. for meaningful learning
Teachers and guests
Students will have the opportunity to learn from accomplished professionals in the field of gastronomy, recognized for their academic, intellectual, and social influence, as well as for their impactful contributions.
The Course features a panel of professors, which may vary with each edition, comprising experienced experts in the field of Culinary and Gastronomic Sciences.
Enrolment and payment methods
The total cost of the course is €945, payable in a single payment
The price includes:
- Access to the training environment
- Introduction training to the learning platform
- Downloadable content: recipes, theoretical material, etc.
- Weekly live class of 1.5 hours (CEST)
- Tutoring throughout the learning process
- Certificate issued by the Basque Culinary Center.
- *The price does not include kitchen machinery, tools, or products for preparing the dishes.
Refund and Cancellation Policy:
- Check detailed information about the refund and cancellation policy.
Essential
- Facilities and materials:
- Preferably a professional kitchen.
- Certain products and specific tools that you can download below. From the complete list, you will only need those marked as "essential"; the rest are optional.
- You can download the list of materials here
- Technical requirements:
- Mobile phone or tablet with an updated browser and a minimum 3G internet connection
- Computer with word processor and spreadsheet software, updated browser, and broadband internet connection
- Webcam, microphone, and speaker (can be built into the computer)
- Tripod for recording (recommended)
- Skills:
- Digital
- Learning management
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