What does a chef do?
You spend the afternoon getting ready for two hours of chaos, and how well you prepared decides whether those two hours are cooking or panic.
Also called: cook, chef de partie.
A day looks like
- 1You read the bookings and work out what tonight actually needs — not what the menu says, what the tables ordered last Friday.
- 2Prep. Hours of it. Stock on, sauces down, everything portioned into the exact spot your hands will reach for at 8pm.
- 3Service. Six tickets on the rail, four pans going, and you are cooking three different dishes to land at the same second.
- 4The kitchen gets scrubbed to a standard most homes never see, and then you do tomorrow's order.
Hardest part
Timing. Anyone can cook one plate well. Cooking eight plates so they are all ready at the same moment is the actual job, and it cannot be rushed at the end.
Best part
A service where everything lands, nothing burns and the pass is clean by eleven. It feels like winning something.
How you actually become a chef
- At schoolYou can start at sixteen in a real kitchen. School food tech helps; nothing replaces service.
- TrainingA catering course, or a commis chef apprenticeship — most chefs learn on the line.
- How longTwo to four years to run a section. Longer to run a kitchen.
- Your first jobCommis chef — prep, plating and being shouted at by the clock.
Commis chefChef de partieSous chef, then head chef
Frequently asked questions
- Do you need to go to catering college to be a chef?
- No. Many chefs start as a commis at sixteen and learn entirely in kitchens. A course teaches you technique faster and safely, but the trade is learned during service.
- What is mise en place?
- French for 'everything in its place' — all the preparation done before service starts. It is the single biggest difference between a calm kitchen and a chaotic one.
- Is being a chef a well-paid job?
- It starts low and the hours are long and unsociable — evenings, weekends, holidays. It climbs steeply for people who become good enough to run a kitchen, and it travels anywhere in the world.
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