How to Become a Chef

So you want to be a chef! The culinary arts are a great choice for a career. It helps if you have a previous interest in cooking.

Most people that decide that they would like to explore the great field of the culinary arts already seem to have the pre-disposition for it. Of course, that is not always the case.

Some chefs come into the profession later on in life. Of course, if you want to be at the top of your field, you should at least know that there are quite a few things that you should ask yourself first.

Can I multi-task?

You will often be required to do many things at once, so be prepared. As you will learn, working in a kitchen is a fast paced environment. It helps if you can keep up.

You will soon realize that working in a kitchen requires you to do many things at once, and it also requires you to be able to do this with a clear head and decisive manner.

Most jobs require you to be able to do more than one thing at a time, but none so much as working as a chef. It can be quite frustrating at times, but very rewarding at others.

A chef is a person that has studied for many years in the culinary arts to learn how to run a successful kitchen and properly prepare meals in a professional environment.

There are quite a few places that a chef can choose to work in. Some of these include:

· Restaurants
· Hospitals
· Hotels
· Cruise ships
· Rest Homes
· Diners

These aren’t all of the places that a chef can work in, but you get the general idea.

Before you can decide whether or not you should become a chef, you should first consider the demands that are placed on a chef’s shoulder.

It can be a very stressful situation for someone that doesn’t already know what it is like to be under such working conditions.

A chef is responsible for many other staff members in the kitchen as well. You need to know what is going on around you at all times, and have great organizational skills to boot.

Being a chef is a very physical profession. You are required to remain on your feet almost constantly. Along with that, you must also be stirring, kneading, and chopping your foods.
Many times, you will have to do all of this while also having to ordering foods for hungry customers and critical customers.

A kitchen is almost scorching hot year round so you should be quite prepared for that. Even in the best conditioned areas, a kitchen is often as hot as 95 degrees or higher.

It takes many years to become a chef, and much schooling to get to the position of head chef.

Most chefs begin by becoming apprentices for a few years so that they can get the necessary experience of working in a kitchen. Being a chef often requires you to stand on your feet for hours at a time and you are rarely able to relax for very long.

Most chefs have to first choose a specialty before going to culinary school so that they can specifically study that art in general.

Each specific culinary specialty has their own level of study, and all have their own rewards to offer.
To be a successful chef you need to know how to supervise a variety of kitchen staff, create a nice food display, know how to properly garnish a meal, plan menus, and order, stock and store food supplies.

This may not sound like much, but try having to do them all at once.

A commis is an entry level position in the culinary industry. It is basically an apprenticeship position.

You will have to do this at some point if you ever plan to run your own kitchen. For this, you will have to work under the line cook.

In this position, you will be learning how to work effectively in a kitchen environment. You will also be learning how to prep, using your knife, and how to present a plate properly.

A pastry chef needs to know how to create baked goods, confections and specialty items. Pastry chefs generally specialize in deserts.

This is a specialty that requires much creativity and a great sense of taste for deserts. If you chose to work in a hotel environment, you will likely have to report to an executive pastry chef.

To be a good pastry chef you need to be able to manage people. It is a must. You must also be able to coordinate staffing with production requirements.

This is just as it appears. This chef specializes in making sauces, and sometimes meats that are cooked in sauces.

This type of specialty is actually quite prestigious among the chefs out there. Since sauces are often the basis of French haute cuisine, the saucier chef is considered a very necessary person in the kitchen.

The best trained saucier’s know that the five basis of all sauces rest behind the five mother sauces first.

These sauces are:

Espagnole (brown sauce): This is made of dark roux of cooked flour and butter as well as brown stock made from roasted bones and vegetables.