What to Expect on Your First Day at Red Dish Chronicles
When I founded Red Dish Chronicles back in 2013, I made a promise to myself: every single student who walks through our doors will feel the same fire I felt the first time I held a chef's knife with purpose. Thirteen years and over 7,000 graduates later, that promise has not changed.
So you have signed up. You have paid your fees. You have told your family and friends that you are going to culinary school. Now what?
The Morning Briefing
Your day starts at 8:30 AM sharp. And I mean sharp. In a professional kitchen, time is not a suggestion — it is the difference between a perfectly caramelized onion and a burnt one. You will be issued your chef whites, your toque (that is the tall hat, for those wondering), and your personal knife kit. Yes, you get your own knives. Treat them like gold, because in this industry, they are.
Our head instructors will walk you through kitchen safety, hygiene protocols, and the layout of your station. Every campus — Lagos, Abuja, and Ibadan — follows the same brigade system that the finest restaurants in the world use. You will learn where every pot, pan, and pinch of salt lives before you ever turn on a burner.
Your First Practical Session
By mid-morning, you are cooking. Not watching. Not taking notes from a textbook. Cooking. At RDC, we believe that the kitchen is the classroom. Your instructor will demonstrate a foundational technique — it might be a classic French mirepoix, a Nigerian pepper base, or the art of tempering chocolate — and then you replicate it. Hands on. Flames up.
Will you make mistakes? Absolutely. I still remember burning my first béchamel so badly that the pot had to be thrown away. But that is how you learn. Every mistake in a training kitchen is a lesson that saves you from embarrassment in a professional one.
The Culture of the Kitchen
What surprises most new students is not the heat or the pace — it is the camaraderie. From day one, you are part of a brigade. You will work alongside people from completely different backgrounds, all united by one thing: a love for food. Some of our strongest industry partnerships and lifelong friendships have started over a shared cutting board at RDC.
What to Bring
Comfortable closed-toe shoes (your feet will thank you), a notebook for jotting down techniques and flavour combinations, and an appetite — both for food and for learning. We provide everything else.
A Word from Me to You
I have trained thousands of chefs, and I can tell you this: the ones who succeed are not always the most talented on day one. They are the ones who show up every morning with curiosity, humility, and a willingness to be uncomfortable. Culinary school is not just about learning recipes. It is about building discipline, creativity, and the kind of resilience that will carry you through a 14-hour service on a Saturday night.
Your first day at RDC is the beginning of something extraordinary. I cannot wait to see what you cook.
Chef Stone is the founder of Red Dish Chronicles Culinary School, The Burgundy restaurant, and Truck Central. He is the author of five cookbooks and currently serves as a judge on MasterChef Nigeria.