5 Culinary Chef Career Tips

By: S. Jones

5 Culinary Chef Career Tips

A culinary chef preps and cooks a variety of meals for the public. Meals such as soups, appetizers, salads, side dishes, entrees, desserts and breads are included. Naturally a culinary chef has a widespread work experience along with formal training from a culinary institute or college. Listed below are 5 culinary chef career tips to look over before starting a chef career.

Step 1: Researching the Culinary Chef Career Duties and Education

A master of food, a culinary chef prepares meals that comfort, uplift and arouse all while nourishing patrons’ taste buds and palates. A culinary chef also crates menus while preparing food and managing kitchen employees. Culinary chefs must have a great sense of smell and taste with high levels of creativity and a knack for experimentation (to ensure the success of the menu). Some culinary chefs work from the bottom up; however, it is more common these days for a culinary chef to have formal and professional training through an apprenticeship or program offered by an institute or college.

Step 2: Prep While in High School

Along with your relevant high school classes, like English, mathematics, take any class that will prepare you for the kitchen. Business, food handling and cooking safety are good to take as well. Check to see if your community offers chefs training programs. Finally, get experience in the industry by getting a job at a restaurant. Any of your choice, experience always matters.

Step 3: Work Your Way Up

The best way in becoming a culinary chef is starting at the bottom of the chef career path and work your way up. Start in the kitchen as a dishwasher, bus boy/girl, host or waiter/waitress. Get familiar with the food, the customers, the staff and the business; it well you in the long to understand what a restaurant owners wants and needs from employees. Your first cooking job usually is cleaning cooking areas, peeling, gutting, chopping; the lighter things. Next, you will be responsible for preparing soups, appetizers, salads or desserts. The next step is becoming a line cook; this is where you prepare items based on type of food or cooking, such as grill or sauté cook. Second to the head chef is the sous chef, who works on the line and has the added responsibility of watching over the rest of the kitchen staff. Top of the ‘top’ culinary chefs is the executive chef. As executive chef, you manage the entire kitchen, create the menu, invent and test cooking ingredients and recipes and stock for the entire kitchen. It can very well take you years to become a ‘top’ culinary executive chef.

Step 4: Apprenticeship

Enrolling in an apprenticeship program accredited by the ACCFFAC (American Culinary Federation Accrediting Commission) will most certainly put your culinary chef career on the right path. Many apprenticeships are 2 or 3 year on-the-job, full-time training and you must complete at least 12 courses in the subjects relevant to a culinary chef career. These apprentices are paid and can earn you an optional culinary arts associate degree in the process. The American Culinary Federation’s (ACF’s) website has all the details and locations of the programs.

Step 5: Formal Recipe for Success

In order for students to start a culinary chef career, and advance in the culinary chef field, you must have a high school diploma. Trade and vocational schools offer basic training as well. You may attend a community college or culinary institution or attend a private cooking school that offers 2 or 4 year programs in culinary arts. In addition to your program learning, students enrolled in culinary arts programs find that working in an ‘upscale’ or ‘fine-dining’ restaurants help the learning process significantly. ACF offers certifications in a number of culinary arts careers such as; educator, personal chef, pastry chef and others. The combination of certification and work experience with on-the-job training is the best recipe for success in starting your culinary chef career.

For more inforation about Culinary Chef Career Tips you can read my blog on TalentTrove.com or Visit http://www.talenttrove.com/SJ2009. Thanks again for reading my aritlce, I hope you have found it helpful and informative!

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