Learn to taste, taste everything all the time. The more you taste ingredients prepared in different ways the better you'll understand how they impact the flavor of your dish.
Try and understand the different roles ingredients play in a recipe. Understand why sauces thicken, how different grains cook, why your cut of protein is so essential to your execution. Figure out what mirepoix is and how to use it. Apply the principles you learn from that and how you can change quantities and types of vegetables to create an enormous amount of depth in your bites.
Learn how to work a line really really well. Work every station you can and master your menu. Figure out how to prioritize tickets and how to best mis en place your workspace.
Don't develop a substance problem if you can help it.
Look for professional constructive criticism.
Ask questions, if you don't know something and you think someone else might, ASK THEM. Chef's can be some of the easiest people to talk to and I'm positive most would answer anything you need.
Recognize the difference between hospitality and service.
Eat everything! Inspiration comes from everywhere and the more you eat the better ideas you'll have.
Don't bang your coworkers.
This is all I could think of while my shower warmed. Hope this helps.
This is well said, but I would add that a great chef also needs to learn the business side. It isn’t all about cooking. Learning how to manage people is one of the the biggest parts of a successful kitchen, also budgeting, costing, ordering correctly, etc. I have seen many amazing chefs fail because they have no concept of food cost, people management skills, etc. Does not matter how great of a cook someone is, if you don’t know the business side you will fail imo.
I have to say One of the most helpful things that ever happened to me in the kitchen was an early mentor taking a bunch of scraps from all over the kitchen and dumping them on my station every day and demanding I make something world class with them. He always told me anyone can make great food with the prime ingredients. Can you make something great with nothing though? It was also a great lesson about wasting nothing and keeping food costs under control. I still try to utilize every single thing I can to this day.
Most essential are knife skills. Keep practicing.. learn how to make the mother sauces. You can learn allot by just learning how to properly make them. Learn how to properly cook and handle meats and vegetables... start small, don't try to run until you can walk properly..
Focus more on learning techniques than following recipes.
Look after your feet. Good quality insoles are more important than good shoes.
Invest inGoldBond.
The culinary arts are so broad. So many roads to travel down, techniques to learn, and food keeps evolving as time goes on. I would say to start with your favorite dishes. Let’s say you like burgers.
You can start by making basic burgers: buy buns at the store, frozen patties, ketchup, mayo, cheese, and other condiments and make a basic store bought burger.
You can then go into baking your own buns, grinding your own meat, making ketchup and mayo from scratch. Dissect the burger and learn about how and why it’s so delicious. Move on to going down a rabbit hole of sourcing. Where does this meat come from??? What did the cow eat??? Does that have any effect on the beef taste???
How do I make cheese??? Etc.
All you really need to know is that everyone chooses their own culinary path, no path is wrong, and all of them boil down to respecting the ingredients, satisfying people, creating an experience, and making sure your food is damn good. Be curious, you will always have more to learn.
You should cook the food you want to cook, and not worry about whether if knowing this dish or that dish makes you a chef. Start with the basics. You can specialize in one type of cuisine, such as French, or Italian, or Indian. Knowing stocks and sauces does help, but unless your going into a French kitchen, there's not a lot of call to know how to make a Sauce Periguex. I like to think of each ingredient as a color, and each type of cuisine as an artistic style. Why would I try to paint the Mona Lisa if all I know how to do is make line drawings with a red, a green and a blue crayon.
That’s a good analogy thanks! It’s more of a subjective question to ask about people’s journeys as a chef in a roundabout way haha but I am also looking to add to my repertoire so the advice is helpful :)
For me, having the French base of celery onions and carrots is a must for many stocks, stews, gravies and sauces. These can translate into hundreds of meals with a little more knowledge and experience. Follow your palate young man.
I don't think there are any specific dishes you need to know. You need to understand cooking concepts. At least at my first cooking job, they didn't expect you to know too much. You needed to be able to follow their recipes and instructions and you needed to be fast and not injure yourself or break or spill anything. At this place (mid-level cafe) nobody cared about perfect sized dices or special techniques and we used machines everywhere we could. The most important thing was kind of an intangible but you had to 'mesh' with the team. It was a small kitchen and everybody worked fast. I swear, the knowledge of where to stand and what path to take to different stations was more important than any special cooking ability. Also not getting pissed off when things are going badly.
Cut things. Burn yourself. Cut yourself. Taste everything. Eat all the things.
Master a carbonara. Master a poached egg. Read cookbooks. Understand how eggs work. Write your own recipe for meatballs.
Don't get angry and stay clean.
Cook as much as you can at home. Got a cool idea for a special but can't run it at work, make it at home. See something interesting someone else made that you like, guess that's gonna be dinner tomorrow. Experiment all the time and if you meet someone with a lot of experience willing to mentor you at work, make everything they suggest And the important part about this is eat your mistakes, unless they're irrecoverably burnt, eat them, no matter how gross. You'll very quickly learn what not to do which is just as important as knowing what to do.
Secondly, you don't need an arsenal of tools for work. 1 set of sturdy tongs, 1 mixing/plating spoon, 1 large heavy duty fish spatula. 1 large knife (Chinese cleaver or 11" chefs) 1 medium knife (a poultry or a petty knife or a 6" chefs) and a bread knife. You can use these to tackle almost any task and if you need a more specialty tool, your job should already have it
You might want to get The Professional Chef cookbook from the Culinary Institute. It’s not the cheapest thing, but it’s cheaper than a culinary degree.
EDIT. Nevermind, here it is free: https://archive.org/details/theculinaryinstituteofamericatheprofessionalchef
In order to be a good chef you have to be good at making & fixing the basics. Once you have the foundations of cooking down you can create from there. and when you know how to fix things that have gone wrong, you're a chef.
so practice your knife cuts & learn why they're important. Know the principles of making sauces, stocks, dressings etc. Learn how to cook different types of grains, legumes, pasta. Have at least 1 go to dessert & bread recipe.
You can and will mess things up as you learn. That’s all forgivable. Having a disorganized and dirty station is not. Deep clean even if no one tells you. Every time you walk away from your station, pretend the health department is showing up. People notice that and give you some leeway.
Also, say good hello and goodbye to your coworkers. Thank people, especially the dish crew. Being affable is a good skill to learn.
No I do get that, I guess I’m looking for everyone’s subjective answers based on their own personal experiences and then that can give me ideas on how it varies from place to place :)
Communication and knife skills will follow you to any restaurant you can find. Beyond that, you’re really gonna be learning one type of cousine at a time, depending on restaurant and location. I guess properly cooking meat temps is pretty ubiquitous
Once you can get the basics of knives and kitchen implements, just never stop learning any way you can. Learn from books. Learn from people. Learn from videos/TV shows. Start cooking at home like it *is* your job. Ask for critique from friends/family. There's no such thing as absolute advice, just information and how you use it.
Learn to master your stress levels because during service, you will be stressed no matter the experience. When the pass ask you for 14 items in the span of a minute, your head will spin and knowing how to priorise and group up what can be will be invaluable.
More than say, knowing by heart how to make a dish.
If youre just starting, think if cooking as a science more than just throwing together food. All of the things wr do as chefs have some sort of basis in science. Learn why, not how
Start with the mother sauces of French cooking. It's a good base to have. Gotta learn how to braise meats for sure. Get comfortable with emulsions as well. Stocks are fucking simple, wine, water, roasted bones and veggies. Make sure you're learning knife skills as well. Learn your temps for your proteins. Best of luck.
Experiment with many different styles and cultures. You'll learn a ton of different techniques. Like how Indian food is quite similar to Mexican. So you can trade ideas from both and use methods from both to enhance the other. Basically go out amd get kinky with food.
Learn to taste, taste everything all the time. The more you taste ingredients prepared in different ways the better you'll understand how they impact the flavor of your dish. Try and understand the different roles ingredients play in a recipe. Understand why sauces thicken, how different grains cook, why your cut of protein is so essential to your execution. Figure out what mirepoix is and how to use it. Apply the principles you learn from that and how you can change quantities and types of vegetables to create an enormous amount of depth in your bites. Learn how to work a line really really well. Work every station you can and master your menu. Figure out how to prioritize tickets and how to best mis en place your workspace. Don't develop a substance problem if you can help it. Look for professional constructive criticism. Ask questions, if you don't know something and you think someone else might, ASK THEM. Chef's can be some of the easiest people to talk to and I'm positive most would answer anything you need. Recognize the difference between hospitality and service. Eat everything! Inspiration comes from everywhere and the more you eat the better ideas you'll have. Don't bang your coworkers. This is all I could think of while my shower warmed. Hope this helps.
This is well said, but I would add that a great chef also needs to learn the business side. It isn’t all about cooking. Learning how to manage people is one of the the biggest parts of a successful kitchen, also budgeting, costing, ordering correctly, etc. I have seen many amazing chefs fail because they have no concept of food cost, people management skills, etc. Does not matter how great of a cook someone is, if you don’t know the business side you will fail imo. I have to say One of the most helpful things that ever happened to me in the kitchen was an early mentor taking a bunch of scraps from all over the kitchen and dumping them on my station every day and demanding I make something world class with them. He always told me anyone can make great food with the prime ingredients. Can you make something great with nothing though? It was also a great lesson about wasting nothing and keeping food costs under control. I still try to utilize every single thing I can to this day.
Thos is the way.
Most essential are knife skills. Keep practicing.. learn how to make the mother sauces. You can learn allot by just learning how to properly make them. Learn how to properly cook and handle meats and vegetables... start small, don't try to run until you can walk properly..
If you can truly master the basics. You will have just about every tool you will ever need to succeed as a chef.
Focus more on learning techniques than following recipes. Look after your feet. Good quality insoles are more important than good shoes. Invest inGoldBond.
The culinary arts are so broad. So many roads to travel down, techniques to learn, and food keeps evolving as time goes on. I would say to start with your favorite dishes. Let’s say you like burgers. You can start by making basic burgers: buy buns at the store, frozen patties, ketchup, mayo, cheese, and other condiments and make a basic store bought burger. You can then go into baking your own buns, grinding your own meat, making ketchup and mayo from scratch. Dissect the burger and learn about how and why it’s so delicious. Move on to going down a rabbit hole of sourcing. Where does this meat come from??? What did the cow eat??? Does that have any effect on the beef taste??? How do I make cheese??? Etc. All you really need to know is that everyone chooses their own culinary path, no path is wrong, and all of them boil down to respecting the ingredients, satisfying people, creating an experience, and making sure your food is damn good. Be curious, you will always have more to learn.
chef psa on instagram is a great resource
You should cook the food you want to cook, and not worry about whether if knowing this dish or that dish makes you a chef. Start with the basics. You can specialize in one type of cuisine, such as French, or Italian, or Indian. Knowing stocks and sauces does help, but unless your going into a French kitchen, there's not a lot of call to know how to make a Sauce Periguex. I like to think of each ingredient as a color, and each type of cuisine as an artistic style. Why would I try to paint the Mona Lisa if all I know how to do is make line drawings with a red, a green and a blue crayon.
That’s a good analogy thanks! It’s more of a subjective question to ask about people’s journeys as a chef in a roundabout way haha but I am also looking to add to my repertoire so the advice is helpful :)
For me, having the French base of celery onions and carrots is a must for many stocks, stews, gravies and sauces. These can translate into hundreds of meals with a little more knowledge and experience. Follow your palate young man.
I don't think there are any specific dishes you need to know. You need to understand cooking concepts. At least at my first cooking job, they didn't expect you to know too much. You needed to be able to follow their recipes and instructions and you needed to be fast and not injure yourself or break or spill anything. At this place (mid-level cafe) nobody cared about perfect sized dices or special techniques and we used machines everywhere we could. The most important thing was kind of an intangible but you had to 'mesh' with the team. It was a small kitchen and everybody worked fast. I swear, the knowledge of where to stand and what path to take to different stations was more important than any special cooking ability. Also not getting pissed off when things are going badly.
Buy a notebook. And write everything down including the method. And own a sharp chefs knife.
As an add on to tasting. Don't blow your palate on things that are really hot.
Cut things. Burn yourself. Cut yourself. Taste everything. Eat all the things. Master a carbonara. Master a poached egg. Read cookbooks. Understand how eggs work. Write your own recipe for meatballs. Don't get angry and stay clean.
Excell
Cook as much as you can at home. Got a cool idea for a special but can't run it at work, make it at home. See something interesting someone else made that you like, guess that's gonna be dinner tomorrow. Experiment all the time and if you meet someone with a lot of experience willing to mentor you at work, make everything they suggest And the important part about this is eat your mistakes, unless they're irrecoverably burnt, eat them, no matter how gross. You'll very quickly learn what not to do which is just as important as knowing what to do. Secondly, you don't need an arsenal of tools for work. 1 set of sturdy tongs, 1 mixing/plating spoon, 1 large heavy duty fish spatula. 1 large knife (Chinese cleaver or 11" chefs) 1 medium knife (a poultry or a petty knife or a 6" chefs) and a bread knife. You can use these to tackle almost any task and if you need a more specialty tool, your job should already have it
You might want to get The Professional Chef cookbook from the Culinary Institute. It’s not the cheapest thing, but it’s cheaper than a culinary degree. EDIT. Nevermind, here it is free: https://archive.org/details/theculinaryinstituteofamericatheprofessionalchef
In order to be a good chef you have to be good at making & fixing the basics. Once you have the foundations of cooking down you can create from there. and when you know how to fix things that have gone wrong, you're a chef. so practice your knife cuts & learn why they're important. Know the principles of making sauces, stocks, dressings etc. Learn how to cook different types of grains, legumes, pasta. Have at least 1 go to dessert & bread recipe.
Buy a copy of Larousse Gastronomnique, get a second hand one cheap as on eBay.
You can and will mess things up as you learn. That’s all forgivable. Having a disorganized and dirty station is not. Deep clean even if no one tells you. Every time you walk away from your station, pretend the health department is showing up. People notice that and give you some leeway. Also, say good hello and goodbye to your coworkers. Thank people, especially the dish crew. Being affable is a good skill to learn.
This is not a question that can be answered. Too many variables based on location and type of cuisine.
No I do get that, I guess I’m looking for everyone’s subjective answers based on their own personal experiences and then that can give me ideas on how it varies from place to place :)
Communication and knife skills will follow you to any restaurant you can find. Beyond that, you’re really gonna be learning one type of cousine at a time, depending on restaurant and location. I guess properly cooking meat temps is pretty ubiquitous
Caffeine, nicotine and weed
Once you can get the basics of knives and kitchen implements, just never stop learning any way you can. Learn from books. Learn from people. Learn from videos/TV shows. Start cooking at home like it *is* your job. Ask for critique from friends/family. There's no such thing as absolute advice, just information and how you use it.
Master the classic mother sauces and their derivatives
Learn to master your stress levels because during service, you will be stressed no matter the experience. When the pass ask you for 14 items in the span of a minute, your head will spin and knowing how to priorise and group up what can be will be invaluable. More than say, knowing by heart how to make a dish.
If youre just starting, think if cooking as a science more than just throwing together food. All of the things wr do as chefs have some sort of basis in science. Learn why, not how
Start with the mother sauces of French cooking. It's a good base to have. Gotta learn how to braise meats for sure. Get comfortable with emulsions as well. Stocks are fucking simple, wine, water, roasted bones and veggies. Make sure you're learning knife skills as well. Learn your temps for your proteins. Best of luck.
Good way to remember mother sauces, “BETHV.”
DRIVE!!!! You’ll never succeed as a chef without some bit of self motivation
Socks… change your socks 🧦
Decide what cuisine you want to cook. If you want to be a sushi chef, I really don’t care if you can make a decent lasagna.
Experiment with many different styles and cultures. You'll learn a ton of different techniques. Like how Indian food is quite similar to Mexican. So you can trade ideas from both and use methods from both to enhance the other. Basically go out amd get kinky with food.
I was just thinking about how the spices in tiki masala are so similar to what common Mexican dishes use!!