How to become a chef?
It is a dream for many people to become a chef in a big restaurant. Though the most important skill required is to cook delicious food, this alone is not enough. A chef job comes with a lot of responsibilities and there are specific requirements which need to be fulfilled. In order to become a chef, one either needs to attend a relevant school or work in restaurant as an apprentice to learn the tricks of the trade. However, it is always better to enroll in a professional program so as to reach at the top in lesser time.
Most of people who are in this profession will confirm that it is not an easy job and requires years of hard work and practice. Here is what the educational requirements are for a chef job:
- Vocational training – These are usually for a period of 2 or 4 years. The time will be spent in learning to prepared recipes from different cuisines across the world. The trick lies in practicing them even after school so as to attain mastery.
Titles of kitchen professionals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chef de cuisine, executive chef and head chef
This person is in charge of all things related to the kitchen which usually includes menu creation; management of kitchen staff; ordering and purchasing of inventory; and plating design. Chef de cuisine is the traditional French term from which the English word chef is derived. Head chef is often used to designate someone with the same duties as an executive chef, but there is usually someone in charge of them, possibly making the larger executive decisions such as direction of menu, final authority in staff management decisions, etc. This is often the case for chefs with several restaurants.
Sous-chef
The Sous-Chef de Cuisine (under-chef of the kitchen) is the second in command and direct assistant of the Executive Chef. This person may be responsible for scheduling and substituting when the Executive Chef is off-duty and will also fill in for or assist the Chef de Partie (line cook) when needed. Smaller operations may not have a sous-chef, but larger operations may have several.
Expediter
The expediter (in French aboyeur) takes the orders from the dining room and organizes them on the tray, and a food runner will bring the food to the guest. This person also often puts the finishing touches on the dish before it goes to the dining room. In some operations this task may be done by either the executive chef or the sous-chef.
Chef de partie
A chef de partie, also known as a “station chef” or “line cook”, is in charge of a particular area of production. In large kitchens, each station chef might have several cooks and/or assistants. In most kitchens however, the station chef is the only worker in that department. Line cooks are often divided into a hierarchy of their own, starting with “first cook”, then “second cook”, and so on as needed.
Chefs & Head Cooks Occupational Outlook
The bureau of labor statistics in the United States department of labor has published the 2010-2011 edition of the occupational outlook handbook. Here is a link to a pdf containing the chapter that deals with Chefs, Head Cooks, and Food Preparation and Serving Supervisors. It includes very valuable data about the Nature of the Work, Training, Other Qualifications and Advancement, Employment, Job Outlook, Earnings and more. At the end you’ll find a list of sources for additional information.
Here is the link- http://www.bls.gov/oco/pdf/ocos330.pdf
How to Become an Executive Chef
Executive chef Brett Corrieri tells what it takes to be an executive chef in this video from ehow youtube channel. Becoming an executive chef can be done through an apprenticeship, where the aspiring chef starts at the bottom and learns from experience, or through schooling, where a degree is earned.
