Sous Chefs Learn from Masters While Leading Othersby Kirk Bangstad To be a chef, you’ll probably need a formal education at a reputable culinary school. If you ultimately want to rise to the top of your profession, attending culinary school is only the first step of a much longer chef education. Culinary school will give you the basic skills you need for the professional kitchen, but a great part of chef education is working as part of a professional kitchen team. Many successful chefs often spend time as sous chefs in large restaurants. Sous chefs answer to the head executive chefs who prepare menus and concoct new dishes. While sous chefs generally don’t have as much creative input, they are in charge of actually preparing dishes for customers. By spending some time as a sous chef, a young cook expands his chef education as an apprentice to a more experienced chef. Learning as a Sous ChefTo move beyond the role of sous chef, it is often necessary to consider the first few years of your career as an extension of culinary school. For example, Brendan Cox, the current executive chef at the swank Circle Bistro in Washington D.C., honed his style as a sous chef under his mentor, Chef John Spinnichia. Sous chefs, like Cox in his formative years, can learn a lot from executing a recipe that has been created by a talented chef. While preparing countless meals, a sous chef will automatically incorporate certain food blends into their own culinary repertoire. If you learn to embrace the role of sous chef as a step in your culinary career, you should be able to learn a lot. SourcesAbout the AuthorKirk Bangstad is a singer living in Chicago, IL. Having received his B.A. in Government at Harvard, Kirk previously worked as a management consultant.
Posted on June 21, 2006 at 03:10 PM
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