Do you want to rule the kitchen? Then you're probably thinking about how to become a chef. Before going any further it would first help to define what a chef is. Is a cook similar to a chef? Who's fit to be a chef, anyway? We're about to find out.
Chef vs cook
A chef is the top honcho in a kitchen, usually a big one like they have in restaurants or hotels. Or he can lord it over a chain of food establishments, too. Or better yet, run his own business. He is not just any cook because he oversees the entire kitchen operation - from planning menus, creating recipes, purchasing, supervising the actual preparation of food, and even kitchen sanitation to ensuring the guests enjoy their gastronomic experience. So, stop thinking the chef is just a glamorized cook because a lot rests on his shoulders based on the chef job description given.
A common criteria shared by both a chef and cook is food. More specifically, love for food. But while cooking is usually a skill handed down or learned at home out of necessity and is simply an enjoyable experience for most cooks, it is an art for the chef that entails a long process.
If they want to learn, a cook attends cooking classes or a cooking school. The chef will head out to a culinary school to get specific training to become a professional.
So before asking how to become a chef, you've got to be sure it's what you're aiming for and not just being a cook, which can also be a rewarding career as it offers one of the best culinary arts salary out there. Is formal training necessary?
Among the things that separate a cook from a chef is formal training. With a love for food and constant exposure to it, anyone can become a cook. Just tune in to cooking shows on TV or pick up a recipe book, follow instructions or do some tweaking of your own and voila, you're a cook! If you have the ability to prepare feasts for large groups, that's a plus, too. You may or may not use this skill to earn a living.
Does cooking at home or for large groups qualify you to be a chef? Not necessarily. If you're thinking how to become a chef at home, that's a little tricky unless you enroll with an online culinary school. That's because aside from classes that teach you skills, techniques and trends in culinary arts, there is the all important factor of experience. You need to get your hands literally dirty if you want to be a chef because virtual or vicarious just won't cut it.
But assuming you really have the talent for the kitchen, how to become a chef without school can also be managed by way of apprenticeship. That means working alongside professional chefs in the same atmosphere while learning as much as you can without attending formal classes or culinary arts schools. If you've no qualms about starting from the bottom as assistant cook or some such position, then it's a perfect way to gain experience. Eventually, you can probably just take certificate courses to qualify yourself to become a chef.
Career options
Among the various culinary careers, an executive chef is what you usually aim for to finally be called master of the kitchen. Depending on the establishment where you work, you may be referred to also as chef de cuisine, which can be the same as executive chef, or you may be responsible to oversee a chain of restaurants. There's also the position of sous chef, which is really the second in command. Everything else below sous chef is cook position, because you are only in charge of a specific station or area unlike the executive chef, who oversees the entire kitchen operation.
The most common places to work in are hotels, with their multiple food outlets, and restaurants. Resorts, catering groups, or even individual clients also need the services of chefs, especially those with a lot of experience and from known culinary arts schools. If you have culinary education from the likes of Le Cordon Bleu, then your market value is even greater. So, if you really want to aim high, how to become a chef means attending culinary arts schools with good reputations, and there are many all over America.
With training and commitment to do your best, you would have hurdled how to become a chef and hopefully be on your way to a fruitful career.
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