What do you need to become a chef?

by shufflehound    January 16, 2024

Be it any social media platform, there seems to be a new television reality show, online series or speciality internet video designed to make you drool over food. From plates filled with varieties of chicken or vegetarian dishes to platters filled with pastries and sandwiches, the visuals are enough to turn one into an aspiring foodie.
If you are one of the many career seekers or future chefs who are passionate about trendy food facts and cooking skills, the basic thing you are required to do is get a perfect educational degree to broaden your professional prospects. But education is not the beginning. successful restaurants chefs possess unique qualities that make them a better chef every day.

Here we are listing few expertise and skills required to become a great chef.

1.Passion: It is just as they say; you Sneed to be passionate to achieve something. A great chef has to be passionate about cooking. If you deeply enjoy the entire process of procuring ingredients, chopping, preparing, cooking, and presenting the food, you have just taken the first step, but cooking is not only about making something already known, a good restaurant chef has to be able to design novel menus.
2.Organizational skills: As a restaurant chef or restaurant cook, your job is more than just cooking. Although stepping-stone of these professions is becoming a line-cook, at higher levels such as an executive chef, you have to be able to lead an entire team of restaurant staff-hiring members. For listing out ingredients (weekly basis), planning the budget for procurement, scheduling employee shifts, etc., one has to be organized at a personal level. Time management is thus a very critical factor in the restaurant and hotel industry.
3. Ability to accept criticism (smilingly): It is a fact not all human begins are alike, thus, it is highly likely that not everyone will enjoy what you serve. One of the greatest qualities of a chef is to willingly accept the criticism, however, improvisation is a must. Understanding your clientele and their likes and dislikes goes a long in this profession. Hence, accept the criticism and develop your cooking style in a flexible manner.
4. High-stress work environments: Cooking, especially in a commercial kitchen, is a highly stressful job. Kitchen temperature is often too high owing to the gas burners and flames, ovens steam, etc. Each work station in such kitchens is always occupied, and break times are very rare. It is a chefs job to ensure that all the plates are being presented well and not being delayed.
5.Attention to detail: Cooking is not just an art, it is science too. Thus, chefs need to be precise. Each ingredient must be added in a proper proportion, cooked well. It’s not just about the ingredients; chefs need to be accurate about time management, e.g., how much time one particular dish takes, how much of the heat is required for a specific ingredient to cook, how to retain the natural flavour of an ingredient. Restaurant chefs must have a keen eye for heat control, portion sizing, food quality and quantity, and presentation.
6.Creativity: When we say cooking is an art, it is because cooking requires creativity. Restaurant cooks must be open to experimentation and incorporating new food trends into their menus. Constantly improvising older recipes is key to proffering a wide range of variety. To be creative, you have to actualize the idea of trial and error.
7.Culinary expertise: The most important—yet basic—skill chefs, cooks, and restaurant staff-hiring members need to imbibe in themselves is the ability to cook and know their way around a kitchen. Know your ingredients first in order to serve the best dish ever. This broad skill of culinary expertise comprises a variety of small skills such as handling a knife, baking techniques, consistency with your cooking style, selecting the right ingredients, tasting skills, grilling and barbeque skills, the list never really ends. Restaurants cooks and chefs also need to be able to recognize flavours and judge the balance of seasoning.
8. Teamwork and leadership skills: It will never be just you working in a commercial kitchen. Every day chefs work with plenty of other people in a kitchen. Restaurant staff hiring members includes prep cooks, kitchen assistants, chefs de parties, boulangers, potagers, gaillardias, sous chefs, and executive chefs. Chefs ability to work in a team determines his/her professional growth. It is a chef who is responsible for kitchen chefs are required to give direction to their entire restaurant staff and team, boost their confidence, and maintain an amicable atmosphere in their kitchen. They should skilfully guide, coach, and monitor the staff to smoothly run all operations.
9.Multitasking: If you are preparing one specific dish, it does not necessarily mean you do not perform other tasks demanded of you. Being capable of handling multiple chores at one time is a must-have quality. Restaurant cooks and chefs are required to prepare and/or chop vegetables, saute chicken, check the oven, decorate a dish, etc. It takes a great deal of endurance and experience to multitask in a commercial kitchen. Last but not least.
10.Commitment to quality: A good restaurant chef or restaurant cook has to be solely committed to quality using the freshest and best quality products and ingredients. Customer delight is the ultimate motto. Although this list may seem big, if one gets a proper training from a culinary institution and persists to build up and sharpen the aforementioned qualities, they will surely take their professional graph higher in the field of restaurant and hotel industry, wherein restaurant staff hiring is recently at its peak.