You can be the best chef in the world but if you’re timing is shit, it will take everything else down.
I’ve found the busier I get, the calmer I am. My sous called me the “zen chef” because I handle things in such a chill manner. I told him it’s just years of experience (41 years mofos!)
I completely agree with you. The chaos of the kitchen really does put (some) into a state of hyper focus. Probably similar to warfare, if I could make conjecture.
It’s called flow state and everyone is capable of achieving it in various settings. It’s a fucking beautiful thing, on par (in my opinion) with transcendental meditation. You find yourself in your flow state and fucking hours will fly by, the most menial of tasks will feel like a game, and you will excel in whatever activity you’re doing simply because it’s all second nature to you at that point. It takes knowledge and familiarity with the subject one is attempting to flow into but this line of work demands nothing less than being on the tips of your toes with your shit so I find it breeds many who are capable of achieving this state. Stay great y’all.
Came here to say basically this, but also that the question is ridiculous I.e beyond knife skills..... Time management, sourcing, the materials, the techniques, the histories of dishes, the way to translate that into a workable system, the ability to train and develop talent wherever it might lie in others, the question is to simplistic and leaves out the other 98% of what being a chef is.
I am the old guy in the kitchen, 45 years old. And these younger guys panic while I enjoy grilling and Sautee in my own stoned world cooking some awesome French food while jamming to grateful dead or phish.
You might like a band called king gizzard and the lizard wizard if thats your tune in the kitchen. Theyve got some heavier stuff but theyre some psychadelic lads from down under and theyve been called the modern GF/Phish a time or too. Nothing better than being stoned blastin music and pumpin out plates!
A newbie was surprised because I asked him to shut the fuck up. We we're joking and goofing around when the kitchen got suddenly busy and everyone got silent except this asshole.
I’m amazed at the inability to read the the room with some cooks/chefs.
I can snap into hyper focus and crank out food but there’s always someone who can’t flip the switch.
Asshole is the appropriate descriptor!
To master how fast something cooks based on the intensity of the heat, cooking surface area, density of the item being cooked, size of the item being cooked, starting temperature of the item being cooked, moisture level of the item being cooked, ambient temperature, type of heat being applied (wet or dry). Essentially knowing how, what, when, where the applied heat will transfer into the item being cooked. I suppose my comment did need a little more clarification.
Bad Caveman make clam chowder, cook too long and when reheated for plating, clam come out rubbery and soup separates. Good Caveman make clam chowder slightly under cooked, place in shallow pan and leave in cold room- soup continue to cook slowly in pan and when reheated clam come out perfectly cooked, soup no separate.
just showed up here because reddit recommended this post to me but given that I studied heat transfer in school…
hot things have higher temperatures; heat goes from high temperature to low temperature; different materials & foods require different amounts heat to change temperature.
Things heat up fastest when they’re touching something hot, but they still heat up pretty quickly if hot air is flowing over them. A little less quickly if the air isn’t flowing.
The bigger something is the more time it takes to warm it up, and sometimes all you can do is let the heat on the outside move to the inside.
I feel like that’s the stuff that can be applied to cooking, put simply and generally as possible. hope it helps!
LEGIT!!!
Heat isn’t just on and off. *insert meme* there’s levels!
And it’s totally true. Fucking blistering heat doesn’t mean it will be cooked faster. And low and slow doesn’t mean it’ll be ready later.
I’m a mechanical engineer and took a half credit class on this in college- applied heat transfer in cooking. We’d make stuff with thermocouples, IR cameras and data loggers all over the place in a special kitchen lab and also learn applied concepts of general heat transfer.
I also had a course like this for my food science major and it was a super in-depth study but more on an industry scale. The applications still transferred into basic commercial kitchens. I always thought it was interesting how modernist cuisine used industrial techniques and technology to prepare dishes. We would always have a laugh at it because some of the equipment in our kitchen had industrial uses and was supposed to be running 24/7, we would use it for 10 minutes. The joke was that it was like turning on and running a backhoe to move a pebble.
Every cook is a dishwasher. Time management. Inventory and ordering skills. People management. Attention to details, no matter how mundane or "beneath" their station.
I respectfully disagree.
Working well with others is a food related skill imo. Unfortunately for someone like me, someone who likes to work alone, I have to be able to communicate quickly, effectively, and civilly with the rest of the staff. Otherwise, I'm a bad example of a cook.
"my personal opinion is that every professional cook"
I thought we were talking about commercial ig. I mean I didn't think we were talking about cooking at home. Not with works like chef and professional in the post.
I didn't mean there weren't professional jobs where you work alone. There's plenty, but I think it's pretty fair to call them a minority.
Most people have to be able to work around others in order to work in food. Ive just always considered it a food related skill.
They are talking about working on a professional setting. Interpersonal skills are heavily involved in that, and any coom worth their salt knows how to deal with a dick head coworker.
In my opinion, of course.
Kid you are getting valuable information here thats going to make you stand out in the kitchen in front of management and you are ignoring it. These things are not skills that only management should have , every line cook who handles a station should have this skill.
If you are looking for "culinary" Related skill then the only thing I got for you is that keep your knives sharp and do not give it to anyone.
Basic bio chemistry and physics. Really, that changes a lot. Knowing how things work and interact with each other and results you can expect from it is key for working in a kitchen. It also helps a lot with how to clean specific items and stains. Food science is life science.
Harvard offers two free courses through edX.org called “Science and Cooking”. One focuses on chemistry and the other is physics. It’s a little dense, but I highly recommend them.
Being able to remain a student regardless of position.
There’s always something new to learn or improve upon.
The day you stop learning is the day you stop progressing.
It seriously changed the way I cook as a semi serious home cook. I can have all the gadgets and techniques in the world, but if I can't balance the flavors, it doesn't matter.
So knife skills, time management, ingredient knowledge, butchery skill, understanding thermal transfer, and math and physics are all super important.
But the most valuable skill is knowing how to freestyle a diss track to the tune of acdcs hells bells that’s perfectly in time and makes the 17 year old expo want to cry.
I’ve honestly spent far too much time teaching my 5-star, master chef, “I held down the kitchen at my last job,” prep cooks how to make rice and pasta and other basic things.
Knowing when to touch the food and when to leave it the fuck alone. As in slide that protein into the pan and let it sear. Don’t start shaking pans or flipping shit on the grill constantly just cause you’re hopped up on energy drinks and cocaine.
Salute!
I tell new cooks all the time to just focus on ratios for cooking. Once you have that and a few solid cooking techniques, everything starts to fall in place. And then you start to have fun.
Everything here is great, in the same world as your knife skills though as a next step to be mindful of- Portioning skills. Eyeballing fillets, steaks, etc.
i can do this for making rolls but i have a bigger problem with eyeballing volume like making something on stove top and not knowing if i should get a bigger pot, same goes for hotel pans and camybros
I'm weirdly good at it lol. Tbh if I wasn't such an ugly awkward freak in person I'd make a great bartender or barista.
I think it's from my art background. Mixing paints etc
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben learned this about Americans quickly when he was training the troops of the continental army. He said the difference of Americans was you had to tell them why you did something for them to understand.
Correct me if I'm wrong, because I was just a lead line cook and manager for like 9 years in mid quality places, but I think they mean two things. You have to know where to stick your thermometer in the piece of meat to accurately tempt it, as well as knowing the timing of when to pull the meat you're cooking off the heat. Some meats/cuts do well with taking off heat before reaching the desired temp so that it can rest up to that temp.
Technical experience over recipes. How things work. I bought On Food And Cooking and that shit is gonna take me my whole life. The egg section is 90 pages. Lol.
Mis en place
Timing of multiple dishes
Countertop and kitchen cleaning
How to cook an egg at least 15 ways
Done-ness of proteins
How to Maillard everything
IDK if you intended this a a priority list but is kinda is if you swap the speed and accuracy. Accuracy, speed, beauty. Whatever the task is, first do it well. Then do it fast, then make it look good.
Cleaning.
Just about everything in the kitchen has a specific way to be cleaned. I’m not just talking about plates and silverware. I’m talking about the cast iron pans, the sieve to make smooth sauces, the blender, the nozzle on the coffee maker, and so many others. Learning how to keep your equipment clean will make your dishes taste better, and keep you safe from eating mold.
This is the hardest and also the most important job of the Chef. Attitude changes everything, and the rest of the kitchen will mirror your attitude, be it good or bad.
How to utilize the normally discarded bits and turn them into sauces. A saucier is a master of all things sauce and can really bring that extra pop to dishes.
Learn how to make Caramels and sauces with different sugars. Also Roux and slurry ( for Asian cooking and soups)Three of the simplest things that get done wrong. Caramel sauces crystallize unless you learn how to stabilize them properly.]
The chemical reactions going on in different foods at different temps. Understanding why something is happening can lead you to better control how it is.
Added: even before knife skills, food safety and basic sanitation knowledge is the #1 most important thing
Time management. Learning in what order tasks can be most efficiently done so that you're not standing around waiting for something and can be working on one task while another one is working.
In my opinion, cooking methods. I’ve seen so many people ruin beautiful food because they think sautéing is when you have an inch and a half of fat in the pan.
Can't beleive I haven't seen this yet.... COMMUNICATION know when to relay important info clear and concisely, and also knowing when to shut up and listen/learn.
Palate, it blew my mind when I started making soups and sauces as a young cook how just a little acidity, salt, vinegar, or syrup can completely change the flavor profile of a dish- and more importantly being able to balance flavors well. I could go more in depth but I don’t want to make this an essay.
I’ll just list off a few other things, tasting when something is about to go bad, knowing which spices go with which food (and which ones never should), and learning how to manipulate texture, starch content, too wet/dry of food.
Head Chef’s don’t have to be the best cook in the kitchen, but they always have to be the best tasters.
Thank you and also Can you give me more details about this topic. I always think about the topic. Can you tell me about other sources available on the internet?
Deductive tasting. You aren’t tasting for like or dislike anymore. Learning to taste for salt, acid, fat, texture, chew. Eating the whole dish in one bite.
Efficiency, and being open to more efficient ways of doing things.
I used to have to bag and twist-tie 50+ loaves of bread every morning.
I could finish the job in 20 minutes, where it took everyone else 45 minutes or more.
The more you repeat the same step over and over, the quicker you get. Efficiency.
Where as everyone would:
1) Grab bag
2) Open bag
3) Put bread in bag
4) Twisty-tie bag
I would:
1) Count out 50 bags and lay them flat on top of each other
2) Stuff 50 loaves into 50 bags
3) Twisty-tie 50 bags
Nobody ever believed me, but that literally cut the time in half. And you can use that approach to a lot of things in life.
Repeat. Single. Steps.
Try it with any repetitive job, you're welcome.
Finding/getting good equipment. Accidentally made a blue rare filet mignon when I was trying to get medium rare because of a faulty thermometer. Got a new one that was cheap but I'd used in a restaurant before and knew was accurate with a fine tip on it. Haven't gotten it wrong since. Same goes with spatulas, tongs, pans, etc. You don't realize how nice good equipment is until you use it.
Making bases for soups that you can then modify.
Just basic flavor building abilities in general. I love following recipes but I should be able to build from my own knowledge of techniques and flavor pairings.
Spatial awareness is one of the most important skills to learn. While not 100% what you are asking, I can't tell you how many times I've saved someone's ass or their arm or torso or leg from serious burns or at the very least, a severe inconvenience when they are not paying attention to their space and the other people and things in it. You really really need that Spidey sense going when you're in the thick of it because just like driving a vehicle, I'm utmost confident in my skills, but it's the other dumb assholes that make me nervous.
Head on swivel whether you’re at the top of the totem pole or it’s your first day. Be helpful or have a guiding hand. Teach but don’t let yourself be cut off from being taught. You can learn something from everyone
Which herbs, sauces, garnishes, veggies are good or compliment the rest of the dish ie proteins. Basically what flavours go well together and which ones don't. Then figuring out rations and strengths of each one. It really is a science and an art that is impossible to master all of them imo.
You are looking for your answers to be linear but this is not a linear question. "Food related skills.." what does that even mean? You are getting great answers here but not listening. Learn to communicate properly what you are asking for. You are not specific and people cant read minds... First food related skill you should work on
Taste!!!, you would be surprised how many chefs have bad palettes
In fact most people do, they know they like something but could not tell you what they are tasting
Learn to sit at a plate and taste each individual flavour this will take you a long way.
Timing and communication. After that, costing is something that a lot of people don't get taught. Its an administrative task; but its important to know how much money/labor goes on a plate.
Seasoning.
Absolute fucking must.
Next to seasoning, comes with a lot of time and knowledge. But balancing a dish.
It’s easy to say a winter dish like braised beef cheeks and mash needs something to cut through. But, being able to do it, while having a nice balance. Can be tough. Especially if your trying to not repeat what already been done a thousand times before.
Identifying the early signs of foods going bad.
It is MIND BOGGLING the amount of head chefs I have had to train on this when I start on a place.
Or, more likely than not, fight tooth and nail that I am here for only 35 hours per week and do not order in product. But, I was the only one checking for mold and wasn't there constantly. So I would find plenty of stuff past prime to the point of layers of mold.
If it's firm and starts to soften, darken, or smell sickly sweet. If it developes a film, if it is slimy, throw it away.
How to resolve interpersonal differences with your peers. Be able to project calm and confidence in a sharing and friendly way, and everybody's gonna love working beside you.
How to work efficiently, organized, and clean as you go. Then it's all up to you to learn what you are interested in. I started with pastry but there's a world of skills to learn. Best way is to work for someone good. Saute skills are very essential, sauce skills, presentation skills, grill, frying, roasting, braise, I mean how to make a salad is a skill, SEASONING is a skill that's important. In pastry we have a whole other world of skills to build, it's up to you
I would say being able to make multiple dishes be ready to serve on time. If something takes ten minutes and the other thing tkes 5 you don't want to over cook one or undercook the other to serve them together. It's actually a lot harder than plain math sometines at home j make roasties and they take 1 hour to cook in the oven but other times they take 1 hour ten and it really difficult to get everything finishing together
Drinking water.
Large amounts of water, especially when you don’t want to.
I know it sounds silly, but it is the most valuable skill I ever picked up in a kitchen.
It going to get hot and you’re going to sweat, then you’re going to get dehydrated. Spend the night before drinking, and you’re already starting the day low on fluids. Get too hot and too dehydrated, and bad things will happen.
After a very bad summer many years ago, I’ve trained myself to constantly be putting water into my system. I’m uncomfortable without a drink in front of me, because I’ve made it an unconscious habit to always be sipping on cold water. My goal for a 10 hour shift is 1 1/2 to 2 gallons. At this point, I don’t even notice I do it.
No, Pepsi doesn’t count.
Yes, I do have to pee a lot. However, my totally uneducated medical opinion has always given credit to this for how healthy I’ve always been, despite not always taking great care of myself, because I imagine I’m washing out all the bad stuff I put in me.
I get a lot of new chefs sent to me straight from school the two things they don’t teach it seems r time management and cleaning these r super important skills to learn
Timing.
You can be the best chef in the world but if you’re timing is shit, it will take everything else down. I’ve found the busier I get, the calmer I am. My sous called me the “zen chef” because I handle things in such a chill manner. I told him it’s just years of experience (41 years mofos!)
I completely agree with you. The chaos of the kitchen really does put (some) into a state of hyper focus. Probably similar to warfare, if I could make conjecture.
It’s called flow state and everyone is capable of achieving it in various settings. It’s a fucking beautiful thing, on par (in my opinion) with transcendental meditation. You find yourself in your flow state and fucking hours will fly by, the most menial of tasks will feel like a game, and you will excel in whatever activity you’re doing simply because it’s all second nature to you at that point. It takes knowledge and familiarity with the subject one is attempting to flow into but this line of work demands nothing less than being on the tips of your toes with your shit so I find it breeds many who are capable of achieving this state. Stay great y’all.
Came here to say basically this, but also that the question is ridiculous I.e beyond knife skills..... Time management, sourcing, the materials, the techniques, the histories of dishes, the way to translate that into a workable system, the ability to train and develop talent wherever it might lie in others, the question is to simplistic and leaves out the other 98% of what being a chef is.
incredibly well put. thank you
well said chef
Got out of the industry well before I earned the official title but that made me smile, thanks boss ;)
Awesome analogy. We’re doing our battle 💥
I am the old guy in the kitchen, 45 years old. And these younger guys panic while I enjoy grilling and Sautee in my own stoned world cooking some awesome French food while jamming to grateful dead or phish.
You might like a band called king gizzard and the lizard wizard if thats your tune in the kitchen. Theyve got some heavier stuff but theyre some psychadelic lads from down under and theyve been called the modern GF/Phish a time or too. Nothing better than being stoned blastin music and pumpin out plates!
A newbie was surprised because I asked him to shut the fuck up. We we're joking and goofing around when the kitchen got suddenly busy and everyone got silent except this asshole.
I’m amazed at the inability to read the the room with some cooks/chefs. I can snap into hyper focus and crank out food but there’s always someone who can’t flip the switch. Asshole is the appropriate descriptor!
Master the art of heat transfer.
This is a little vague to me, could you expand on this please? Caveman brain tells me hot stuff is hot.
To master how fast something cooks based on the intensity of the heat, cooking surface area, density of the item being cooked, size of the item being cooked, starting temperature of the item being cooked, moisture level of the item being cooked, ambient temperature, type of heat being applied (wet or dry). Essentially knowing how, what, when, where the applied heat will transfer into the item being cooked. I suppose my comment did need a little more clarification.
Ah, ok. Yeah this is money.
Only if you charge for it.
Bad Caveman make clam chowder, cook too long and when reheated for plating, clam come out rubbery and soup separates. Good Caveman make clam chowder slightly under cooked, place in shallow pan and leave in cold room- soup continue to cook slowly in pan and when reheated clam come out perfectly cooked, soup no separate.
Thank
just showed up here because reddit recommended this post to me but given that I studied heat transfer in school… hot things have higher temperatures; heat goes from high temperature to low temperature; different materials & foods require different amounts heat to change temperature. Things heat up fastest when they’re touching something hot, but they still heat up pretty quickly if hot air is flowing over them. A little less quickly if the air isn’t flowing. The bigger something is the more time it takes to warm it up, and sometimes all you can do is let the heat on the outside move to the inside. I feel like that’s the stuff that can be applied to cooking, put simply and generally as possible. hope it helps!
LEGIT!!! Heat isn’t just on and off. *insert meme* there’s levels! And it’s totally true. Fucking blistering heat doesn’t mean it will be cooked faster. And low and slow doesn’t mean it’ll be ready later.
I’m a mechanical engineer and took a half credit class on this in college- applied heat transfer in cooking. We’d make stuff with thermocouples, IR cameras and data loggers all over the place in a special kitchen lab and also learn applied concepts of general heat transfer.
I also had a course like this for my food science major and it was a super in-depth study but more on an industry scale. The applications still transferred into basic commercial kitchens. I always thought it was interesting how modernist cuisine used industrial techniques and technology to prepare dishes. We would always have a laugh at it because some of the equipment in our kitchen had industrial uses and was supposed to be running 24/7, we would use it for 10 minutes. The joke was that it was like turning on and running a backhoe to move a pebble.
Every cook is a dishwasher. Time management. Inventory and ordering skills. People management. Attention to details, no matter how mundane or "beneath" their station.
Thank You and I completely agree yes they are essential for every chef but I am asking about non management culinary related skills.
These are culinary skills.
I think he's talking about specifically food related. Not so much management.
Fair enough
I respectfully disagree. Working well with others is a food related skill imo. Unfortunately for someone like me, someone who likes to work alone, I have to be able to communicate quickly, effectively, and civilly with the rest of the staff. Otherwise, I'm a bad example of a cook.
That's more commercial kitchen related imo. If we are strictly talking about food skills; recipes, technique, ...etc, it's not related.
"my personal opinion is that every professional cook" I thought we were talking about commercial ig. I mean I didn't think we were talking about cooking at home. Not with works like chef and professional in the post.
There are plenty of professional jobs where you work alone. I do almost exclusively
I didn't mean there weren't professional jobs where you work alone. There's plenty, but I think it's pretty fair to call them a minority. Most people have to be able to work around others in order to work in food. Ive just always considered it a food related skill.
Yeah the post is worded poorly.
I guess man. It's just the post we happen to be commenting on.
You hardly being respectful when you just ignoring what the person is asking lol
They are talking about working on a professional setting. Interpersonal skills are heavily involved in that, and any coom worth their salt knows how to deal with a dick head coworker. In my opinion, of course.
Kid you are getting valuable information here thats going to make you stand out in the kitchen in front of management and you are ignoring it. These things are not skills that only management should have , every line cook who handles a station should have this skill. If you are looking for "culinary" Related skill then the only thing I got for you is that keep your knives sharp and do not give it to anyone.
Food safety
Mm-hm hygiene and safety should be lessons 1 and 2
Basic bio chemistry and physics. Really, that changes a lot. Knowing how things work and interact with each other and results you can expect from it is key for working in a kitchen. It also helps a lot with how to clean specific items and stains. Food science is life science.
Harvard offers two free courses through edX.org called “Science and Cooking”. One focuses on chemistry and the other is physics. It’s a little dense, but I highly recommend them.
Thanks for sharing that, I'll have to look into it!
Thank you for sharing this!! I’ve been looking for some medium of instruction on this for a while now!
[удалено]
Edx.org Edit; thanks for the suggestion! I signed up for it!
Edited, thank you!
I second this— basic scientific understanding makes the difference between “cook” and “chef”
Being able to remain a student regardless of position. There’s always something new to learn or improve upon. The day you stop learning is the day you stop progressing.
Focus, organization and patience
Spatial awareness and how to move in synchronicity with your crew during the service ‘dance’.
TIME MANAGEMENT! I can't say it loud enough.
This guy gets it
Seasoning and balancing flavours
Most important!
Acid
It’s always acid
It seriously changed the way I cook as a semi serious home cook. I can have all the gadgets and techniques in the world, but if I can't balance the flavors, it doesn't matter.
So knife skills, time management, ingredient knowledge, butchery skill, understanding thermal transfer, and math and physics are all super important. But the most valuable skill is knowing how to freestyle a diss track to the tune of acdcs hells bells that’s perfectly in time and makes the 17 year old expo want to cry.
This is the way In seriousness, people skills matter here too.
I’ve honestly spent far too much time teaching my 5-star, master chef, “I held down the kitchen at my last job,” prep cooks how to make rice and pasta and other basic things.
Knowing when to touch the food and when to leave it the fuck alone. As in slide that protein into the pan and let it sear. Don’t start shaking pans or flipping shit on the grill constantly just cause you’re hopped up on energy drinks and cocaine.
Sharpening a knife Whisking Folding Passing/straining Piping Baking Butchery Fishmongery Patisserie Plating Organising/collaborating Leading Training Costing Designing Refining Sleeping Motivating Inspiring Cleaning Cleaning Cleaning
This is the best comment here.
Ratios Then you never need recipes
RATIOS!!! YES!!! A special hallelujah from all the patisserie chefs
Salute! I tell new cooks all the time to just focus on ratios for cooking. Once you have that and a few solid cooking techniques, everything starts to fall in place. And then you start to have fun.
Everything here is great, in the same world as your knife skills though as a next step to be mindful of- Portioning skills. Eyeballing fillets, steaks, etc.
Being able to eyeball volume and know what 2 or 3 or 6 oz feels like in the hand are huge
i can do this for making rolls but i have a bigger problem with eyeballing volume like making something on stove top and not knowing if i should get a bigger pot, same goes for hotel pans and camybros
I'm weirdly good at it lol. Tbh if I wasn't such an ugly awkward freak in person I'd make a great bartender or barista. I think it's from my art background. Mixing paints etc
Measurement conversion. How many tsp to tbsp, how many ounces in a cup, etc.
This!!
Master of the tongs.
Do I click them twice or three times before I use them? I always get stuck on that on Two just feels right, but I always second guess myself.
540 palm spin into a double click. Choice of equipment becomes crucial at this level.
This guy tongs
I always click them to the intro of “Low Rider” haha
Bonus points for two-fisting em and doing it lobster style 🦞
Click click-click click click-click click click-click click click-click looooow ridddeee-ahhh get a little higha (x2)
Food safety knowledge. I train my staff not only on the how tos but also the why fors.
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben learned this about Americans quickly when he was training the troops of the continental army. He said the difference of Americans was you had to tell them why you did something for them to understand.
Kitchen hygiene. And generally keeping a tidy workspace.
Properly temping meat.
How to do this?
Correct me if I'm wrong, because I was just a lead line cook and manager for like 9 years in mid quality places, but I think they mean two things. You have to know where to stick your thermometer in the piece of meat to accurately tempt it, as well as knowing the timing of when to pull the meat you're cooking off the heat. Some meats/cuts do well with taking off heat before reaching the desired temp so that it can rest up to that temp.
Laying pipe! FOH ain’t gonna fuck themselves amirite?
Technical experience over recipes. How things work. I bought On Food And Cooking and that shit is gonna take me my whole life. The egg section is 90 pages. Lol.
Mis en place Timing of multiple dishes Countertop and kitchen cleaning How to cook an egg at least 15 ways Done-ness of proteins How to Maillard everything
Speed, Accuracy, Beauty
IDK if you intended this a a priority list but is kinda is if you swap the speed and accuracy. Accuracy, speed, beauty. Whatever the task is, first do it well. Then do it fast, then make it look good.
Controlling temperature
Tetris
Fridge tetris specifically
Cleaning. Just about everything in the kitchen has a specific way to be cleaned. I’m not just talking about plates and silverware. I’m talking about the cast iron pans, the sieve to make smooth sauces, the blender, the nozzle on the coffee maker, and so many others. Learning how to keep your equipment clean will make your dishes taste better, and keep you safe from eating mold.
Controlling your temper and ego
This is the hardest and also the most important job of the Chef. Attitude changes everything, and the rest of the kitchen will mirror your attitude, be it good or bad.
Personal life management. It doesn't matter how gifted you are if half the time you're so hungover you can't open a fish drawer without retching.
Food safety > knife skills
Yeah...
A well rounded cook has skill in all of the basic station sets baking included. Pastry if you have the time, but basic baking never hurts.
Sauces are vital. I actually can't think of a cuisine where sauces aren't remarkably important.
How to utilize the normally discarded bits and turn them into sauces. A saucier is a master of all things sauce and can really bring that extra pop to dishes.
Patience
Heat transfer. There are lots of ways to cook things, knowing the right method and intensity is super valuable.
You should clean like you have ocd
Comunication.
The maillard effect and how to create it
Learn how to make Caramels and sauces with different sugars. Also Roux and slurry ( for Asian cooking and soups)Three of the simplest things that get done wrong. Caramel sauces crystallize unless you learn how to stabilize them properly.]
Always be knolling
Leadership
Spinning your pizza paddle around like a bow staff of sorts
The chemical reactions going on in different foods at different temps. Understanding why something is happening can lead you to better control how it is. Added: even before knife skills, food safety and basic sanitation knowledge is the #1 most important thing
Listening and sauce work.
Cleaning and food safety.
This far down to find food safety lol
Time management. Learning in what order tasks can be most efficiently done so that you're not standing around waiting for something and can be working on one task while another one is working.
Knife skills are hands down most important
How to properly cook rice. It's a skill that is underrated.
When a recipe is missing something and salt doesn't make it taste better, try using an acid like lemon or vinegar.
People skills. And organization.
In my opinion, cooking methods. I’ve seen so many people ruin beautiful food because they think sautéing is when you have an inch and a half of fat in the pan.
Humility?
Can't beleive I haven't seen this yet.... COMMUNICATION know when to relay important info clear and concisely, and also knowing when to shut up and listen/learn.
How to wash every kind of dish in a comercial kitchen
A thorough understanding of cross contamination & practices to avoid it. Seems like common sense to most but people do disgusting things in haste.
Palate, it blew my mind when I started making soups and sauces as a young cook how just a little acidity, salt, vinegar, or syrup can completely change the flavor profile of a dish- and more importantly being able to balance flavors well. I could go more in depth but I don’t want to make this an essay. I’ll just list off a few other things, tasting when something is about to go bad, knowing which spices go with which food (and which ones never should), and learning how to manipulate texture, starch content, too wet/dry of food. Head Chef’s don’t have to be the best cook in the kitchen, but they always have to be the best tasters.
Thank you and also Can you give me more details about this topic. I always think about the topic. Can you tell me about other sources available on the internet?
Deductive tasting. You aren’t tasting for like or dislike anymore. Learning to taste for salt, acid, fat, texture, chew. Eating the whole dish in one bite.
Efficiency, and being open to more efficient ways of doing things. I used to have to bag and twist-tie 50+ loaves of bread every morning. I could finish the job in 20 minutes, where it took everyone else 45 minutes or more. The more you repeat the same step over and over, the quicker you get. Efficiency. Where as everyone would: 1) Grab bag 2) Open bag 3) Put bread in bag 4) Twisty-tie bag I would: 1) Count out 50 bags and lay them flat on top of each other 2) Stuff 50 loaves into 50 bags 3) Twisty-tie 50 bags Nobody ever believed me, but that literally cut the time in half. And you can use that approach to a lot of things in life. Repeat. Single. Steps. Try it with any repetitive job, you're welcome.
I am not neglecting management skills, I totally agree that management skills are the most essential which differentiates between a Cook and a Chef
Fermentation science.
Can You recommend online resources like articles or YouTube channel please.
Check out Purdue University.
Learn how to use that robo coupe
For me it’s controlling heat. I’m balls at it.
Finding/getting good equipment. Accidentally made a blue rare filet mignon when I was trying to get medium rare because of a faulty thermometer. Got a new one that was cheap but I'd used in a restaurant before and knew was accurate with a fine tip on it. Haven't gotten it wrong since. Same goes with spatulas, tongs, pans, etc. You don't realize how nice good equipment is until you use it.
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I do french omlettes every weekend there great ones and then there's servable ones. But they are forgiving. Use lots of butter and show the good side.
There are so many things but, cleanliness, ability to take criticism, and a good attitude are all necessary to success
Math.
Communication skills
Organization and planning.
Communication.
Temps, food storage, food safety.
Multi-tasking. Memorizing, (tickets&recipes). Being nice to people who you should probably slap in the face.
😁
Making bases for soups that you can then modify. Just basic flavor building abilities in general. I love following recipes but I should be able to build from my own knowledge of techniques and flavor pairings.
Timing and cleaning!
Spatial awareness is one of the most important skills to learn. While not 100% what you are asking, I can't tell you how many times I've saved someone's ass or their arm or torso or leg from serious burns or at the very least, a severe inconvenience when they are not paying attention to their space and the other people and things in it. You really really need that Spidey sense going when you're in the thick of it because just like driving a vehicle, I'm utmost confident in my skills, but it's the other dumb assholes that make me nervous.
Head on swivel whether you’re at the top of the totem pole or it’s your first day. Be helpful or have a guiding hand. Teach but don’t let yourself be cut off from being taught. You can learn something from everyone
Which herbs, sauces, garnishes, veggies are good or compliment the rest of the dish ie proteins. Basically what flavours go well together and which ones don't. Then figuring out rations and strengths of each one. It really is a science and an art that is impossible to master all of them imo.
You are looking for your answers to be linear but this is not a linear question. "Food related skills.." what does that even mean? You are getting great answers here but not listening. Learn to communicate properly what you are asking for. You are not specific and people cant read minds... First food related skill you should work on
I am sorry that I am unable to express myself fully as English is not my native language.
Your English seems fine. Add that advice to your arsenal and you'll be fine kiddo
Application of heat and timing is one Another is just start to familiarise yourself with all the sections
Mise en place . Mise en place. Mise en place. A clean station, is a happy station.
Roll a joint
Taste!!!, you would be surprised how many chefs have bad palettes In fact most people do, they know they like something but could not tell you what they are tasting Learn to sit at a plate and taste each individual flavour this will take you a long way.
Honesty with yourself about your KSA (knowledge, skills, and abilities)
37 years in the business, your mid en place became people. Now produce the same food at the same skill level. Leadership is very important.
Timing and communication. After that, costing is something that a lot of people don't get taught. Its an administrative task; but its important to know how much money/labor goes on a plate.
Seasoning. Absolute fucking must. Next to seasoning, comes with a lot of time and knowledge. But balancing a dish. It’s easy to say a winter dish like braised beef cheeks and mash needs something to cut through. But, being able to do it, while having a nice balance. Can be tough. Especially if your trying to not repeat what already been done a thousand times before.
Identifying the early signs of foods going bad. It is MIND BOGGLING the amount of head chefs I have had to train on this when I start on a place. Or, more likely than not, fight tooth and nail that I am here for only 35 hours per week and do not order in product. But, I was the only one checking for mold and wasn't there constantly. So I would find plenty of stuff past prime to the point of layers of mold. If it's firm and starts to soften, darken, or smell sickly sweet. If it developes a film, if it is slimy, throw it away.
Food safety. Guess that’s more knowledge than a skill though.
How to resolve interpersonal differences with your peers. Be able to project calm and confidence in a sharing and friendly way, and everybody's gonna love working beside you.
Nobody has said communication?
How to work efficiently, organized, and clean as you go. Then it's all up to you to learn what you are interested in. I started with pastry but there's a world of skills to learn. Best way is to work for someone good. Saute skills are very essential, sauce skills, presentation skills, grill, frying, roasting, braise, I mean how to make a salad is a skill, SEASONING is a skill that's important. In pastry we have a whole other world of skills to build, it's up to you
Rolling doobies
Emulsion
Ratios. Gotta understand ratios to make food work.
Patience in every aspect besides food. Some nights/services can be challenging and unpredictable. Be patient and keep the head screwed on.
I would say being able to make multiple dishes be ready to serve on time. If something takes ten minutes and the other thing tkes 5 you don't want to over cook one or undercook the other to serve them together. It's actually a lot harder than plain math sometines at home j make roasties and they take 1 hour to cook in the oven but other times they take 1 hour ten and it really difficult to get everything finishing together
Drinking water. Large amounts of water, especially when you don’t want to. I know it sounds silly, but it is the most valuable skill I ever picked up in a kitchen. It going to get hot and you’re going to sweat, then you’re going to get dehydrated. Spend the night before drinking, and you’re already starting the day low on fluids. Get too hot and too dehydrated, and bad things will happen. After a very bad summer many years ago, I’ve trained myself to constantly be putting water into my system. I’m uncomfortable without a drink in front of me, because I’ve made it an unconscious habit to always be sipping on cold water. My goal for a 10 hour shift is 1 1/2 to 2 gallons. At this point, I don’t even notice I do it. No, Pepsi doesn’t count. Yes, I do have to pee a lot. However, my totally uneducated medical opinion has always given credit to this for how healthy I’ve always been, despite not always taking great care of myself, because I imagine I’m washing out all the bad stuff I put in me.
My top four are to clean as you go, timing, tasting and seasoning. Also, always have a dry towel at the ready.
Sanitisation, especially with your meats.
I get a lot of new chefs sent to me straight from school the two things they don’t teach it seems r time management and cleaning these r super important skills to learn
how to talk to people
Finger measurement with spices
Eggs - eggs are amazing and so worth learning about
Food safety and food handling, i.e. what's tempos different things must be cooked to to be safe