Anyone have any experience being a chef? I am thinking I want to take that as my career path, I love food and cooking. How would I go about starting my career journey if I decide this is what I want?
get a line cook job.. go to culinary school.. become sous chef.. become head chef, then exec. then certified master chef if your amazing.. my dads a certified master chef. pm if you want some more info or something
Yeah, I used to cook in restaurants and thought about it too. I bartended in a 4 star rest and learned alot about cooking from the Executive Chef there. I love to cook, and have made up some crazy delicious recipes before. Check your region for a culinary arts school, or an Art Institute. They have Le Cordon Bleu cooking schools all over. They are cheesy as fuck in the commercials but I know some guys that make $40,000/year starting salary after graduating from there. Just Google Culinary institute near (insert nearest large city or region you live in) Financial Aid is an issue with art institutes. Usually to get a scholarship to one you have to be sponsered by a certain restaurant or restaurant group. BTW, avoid working at a corporate rest unless it's the first job you take. They will fuck you...I've worked in several. Privately owned restaurants are the WAY TO GO!!!!
If you don't handle stress well, don't become a chef. If you don't handle harsh criticism well, don't become a chef. If you can't handle working long hours, holidays and weekends, late nights, early mornings, don't become a chef. If you can't handle standing in a lot of heat for a long period of time, don't become a chef. But I'll tell you, if you can handle it, it's a pretty exciting life. Edit:and i would advise against le cordon bleu...they make a lot of promises they don't really keep and you'll most likely have a mound of debt coming out of that school.
All of that is true I was a sous and a line cook at one point in a Italian Restaurant I enjoyed the job alot but Doing 12 hours a day for 6 days was excruciating for 2 years especially at the age of 20. I basically quit when they told me I couldn't have off on my Birthdayeven though I had asked for that day off 2 weeks in advanced. Cooking is awesome the people you meet and the shit u learn is awesome,
QFT dont go to an art institute or anything.. go to a community college with a really good program. my dads has 5 cmc's and is one of the best in the state. the teachers at those schools are just the people who cant make it into the public system.
go to oaksterdam university and learn to grow pot less stress better hours more money getting stoned is cheap lol 20 year culinary grad fuck the rest business
Thanks your post helped a lot. I honestly do believe though that being a top chef is my life goal. My Grandfather was a chef so i'll talk to him about it, Does a culinary school cost much?
^^What he says. Ive worked in kitchens all my life, im running a kitchen myself right now. Although im steppin down because im not gettin the wage yet after a year and half. lLike TripRollnToke says "they make a lot of promises they don't really keep" But yeah, i love my job, if i quit ill probably go to another kitchen, its some buzz when everythings under-control.
the thing is i am currently doing a course in electrics and i am a little less than halfway through that course, at first i thought that was what i wanted but now i realize it is just a ton of equations (always bad at maths) and there is a lot wrong with the current industry. now i realize i want to be a chef but im already halfway through this course and another culinary course does not start until next school year
Don't do something you dont like just cause you feel you have to accomplish something... do something you love so when you do complete it your doing something you love not something you doing just to get by life.
exactly what im thinking, guess ill just have to write this year off as a loss and wait till next year.
you dont have to technically right it off as a loss... ifi where you if i had cooking experience I'd go work in a random restaurant just to hone my skills and if u dont have any culinary experience go to a rest. anyways and be a dishwasher or a help anyways u will gain experience and this year wont be such a "LOSS"
Being a chef is a lot of math from portion size, to recipe, to food cost, etc. If you are in the US, looks up Chef Gordon Ramsey's Master Chef. They are holding auditions now for individuals with absolutely no training but have the desire and passion for it. In Texas the auditions are Sunday in Dallas. The year has just begun, don't write it off so easily. Le Cordon Blue does make lots of promises and it is expensive (we have the $35k debt to prove it). Our daughter just graduated last year from there for Pastry and she went to work in a five star restaurant for only $8 an hour! If cooking is your passion, then just start cooking and see what happens. good luck
Thanks a lot. No actually i'm in the UK but I will look around for things. And I KNEW someone would say about the maths, i'm fine with that stuff but it's just equation/physics based math
lol, hes taking a uni course in electronics.. im sure the math is more then some simple addition, with a calculator and paper and penhehe op go for it man. if i wanted to be a chef, my goal would be to get like CAKE BOSS. that guy looks like hes having mad fun annnnnd making mad dough with his show
Oh hell no....the kitchen is just a bunch of stoners. Of course if you go the corporate route it might be different.
Ya dude why do u think i choose to be a chef?no drug test, get to smoke before and during break and some of us even get into smoke sesssions in our cars by the trash cans right after work... Perfect job for a stoner i had a manager that loved to smoke and smoked religiously with me for a year or so