If you want to be a chef, you have a long and arduous road ahead of you. Working in a commercial kitchen is nothing like a home kitchen, and requires not only a love of food and an excellent palate, but also drive and determination. Some tips for chefs-in-training can help you learn, develop your own culinary style, and survive the rigors of culinary school and working in a kitchen. Eventually, you may find yourself writing cookbooks, owning a restaurant and preparing exquisite meals, but the training time and effort required is substantial.
Culinary School
Many people interested in becoming a chef opt to start their career in culinary school. Culinary schools offer training in all aspects of cooking and also allow you to specialize in baking and pastry if you prefer. This is a costly educational investment, but it might not pay off. After culinary school, you are still likely to start at the bottom when you get your first restaurant job. Many chefs skipped culinary school altogether and advocate working your way up, learning on the job, and apprenticeship in lieu of years of in-school training.
On the Job Training
One of the best ways to start your culinary career is in the kitchen. Ask to apprentice for free at your favorite restaurant. Get a job as a dishwasher if you cannot get hired as a prep cook. Expect that you will put in your time before you work your way up from chopping and filling to preparing cold dishes and appetizers and finally to working as a line cook. Moving from line cook to sous-chef and, eventually, chef can be even more difficult. Listen, work hard, be prepared to put in long hours for little pay, and learn.
Surviving the Kitchen
One of the hardest parts of becoming a chef is surviving the kitchen. Working in a fast-paced kitchen poses physical dangers as well as emotional stress. Work hours are long, the pay is bad, and the work environment is often abusive. What do you need to survive this environment? Cooking skills alone will not help you in the professional kitchen. Develop a thick skin to manage the challenges of the kitchen and stay professional. Keep in mind that future jobs may depend upon your interactions at your first cooking jobs, and that the restaurant industry is smaller than it looks. The chef interviewing you for a sous-chef position may well know the chef where you started as a prep cook.
Tags: culinary school, becoming chef, line cook, prep cook, your culinary