Professional Cooking: Are You Ready to Start Your Culinary Arts Journey?

Many people enjoy cooking and think they have the ability to turn out delicious and innovative meals. If you want to be a professional chef, being able to cook is just part of the job description. Let's take a look at what it means to be a professional chef and what will be required of you.

Are you Ready to Be a Professional Chef?

If you want to be a chef, you must be able to multi-task and have a diverse set of talents.

Here are just some of the key attributes that are critical if you want to dedicate your life to creating culinary masterpieces:

• Be able to cook a wide range of foods, both traditional and ethnic.
• Have an artistic eye in order to execute the food and present it in an appealing way.
• Stay on top of new handling and cooking procedures to stay ahead of new cooking trends.
• Have the ability to stay cool in stressful situations.
• Treat customers with consideration and respect and be able to resolve issues with opinionated or rude customers.
• Have the ability to price out menus, master recipes, know portion size and plate food, so that each dish you send out of the kitchen is profitable.
• Be knowledgeable when it comes ordering food and managing inventory in order to reduce costs and lower waste.
• Organization is key. Stations need to be organized and well planned out in order to cook and deliver food promptly without sacrificing quality.
• Be patient with other staff members. A kitchen is like a well-run machine, each station and cook needs to work together…from the timing of food preparation to sending the meal out of the kitchen, the kitchen staff needs to work together as a cohesive unit.
• You must be ready to set an example for the rest of the kitchen staff. From culture to cleanliness, customer service to plate presentation. The chef sets an example and standard of excellence that should be adhered to by the rest of the team.

Home Chef or Pro Chef, are you Ready to Run a Professional Kitchen?

There’s a huge difference between enjoying cooking and becoming a professional chef, and you should know the difference before you make the leap.

The best way to get a hands-on experience in the culinary/hospitality industry is to work in a restaurant before you jump in with both feet. This experience will give you a bird’s eye look at what your career path will be like.

If you want to become a professional chef, please keep in mind the following:

• Unlike home chefs, you will have to turn out a wide variety of menu items, within a required amount of time. You will no longer be leisurely moving about your kitchen at your own speed.
• You will need to be able to operate numerous types of professional kitchen equipment like salamanders, deep fryers, professional ovens and other essential equipment.
• When you create a meal at home, you don’t have to price out the ingredients and calculate how much the dish costs. This is critical if you are to run a professional kitchen and make a profit.
• Home cooks can put together a menu with items that they like, a professional chef needs to plan a menu so that the courses work together, and the finished plate creates a balanced meal.
• Chances are that a home cook will not have to deal with their food being sent back, but this is the norm for professional chefs. Get used to dealing with the public and being able to amend menu items due to dietary restrictions or remake returned items due to personal taste.
• Lastly, those working in a restaurant kitchen need to understand it is their job to turn out great meals every time, with little room for error. The restaurant success and your professional reputation depend on it.

Hone Your Skills and Get Your Degree

You might wonder how in the world you're going to learn all of these vital skills. The good news is that a quality culinary arts program doesn't just teach you how to cook, it teaches you how to be a professional chef. Although a culinary education isn't mandatory, it's a great way to build a professional foundation.

Do you feel called to be a chef? If you want to earn an Associate of Applied Science in Culinary Arts, ECPI University offers this course of study at an accelerated rate. For more information, connect with a skilled admissions advisor today.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

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Gainful Employment Information – Culinary Arts - Associate’s

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