What does it take to be a chef?
How do you know if you are cut out for it?
What should I be prepared to face?
2007-03-04 16:10:30 · 5 answers · asked by Koko Butta Kream 4 in Food & Drink ➔ Other - Food & Drink
Be prepared to work under pressure and handle stress with grace. You should have a complete understanding of all meats, spices, herbs, tools, equipment, etc. ---you will need to master dietary needs and also how to balance your meal components. You should be creative, not just artistic but learn to blend various food elements and cooking styles to create something unique. If you do not want to work hard and don't care if the people you create meals for smile and feel satisfied, then you will not enjoy a culinary career. Test yourself to see if you're cut out for it. Put together a succession of dinner parties on for your friends and their friends. Do the work and serve them yourself. Then ask yourself this: Were they happy? Did they smile and enjoy each course? Did someone complain that there wasn't enough to go around or did you forget to accomodate for extra guests? Did you enjoy doing the work? Are you willing to clean up the mess? These are just a few of the small things to consider. If you can't do this in your own home, you definitely won't want to do it as a profession. Cooking is FUN!! And making people happy is even better, but be prepared for what awaits you because being a chef is nothing like they show you on the Food Network. If this hasn't scared you, then I wish you the best in your decision. If you're the right kind of person for it then you will do well and you will love what you do!
2007-03-04 16:34:06 · answer #1 · answered by Tejas 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are serious about it read a book called Becoming a Chef by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. It was a great read for me while I was in Culinary School. Its a collection of master chefs talking about their experance growing up in a kitchen, stories, and thier food. Its one of the best books to read as a young culinarian to get a glimpse of what kitchen work is like.
From personal experiance if you're not prepared to work about 60-70 hours a week, you're not prepared to face anything. It takes so much time and devotion to become great.
Check out that book, best of luck
2007-03-04 16:18:42 · answer #2 · answered by 7 Words You Can't Say On T.V 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you have to really love cooking.
Being a chef is a very high pressure job. You have to think fast, be able to sustain a very fast pace at work and be willing to work long long hours.
Starting out, you will also have to run the gaunlet of doing all the crappy work in the kitchen before you get a chance to move up the ladder.
2007-03-04 16:21:28 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have to have endurance and not mind working in the heat and sweating. You have to be fast, and organize stuff in your mind on what needs to be done first, next, last. And more importantly, you have to have the love of the job. It's not just cooking, it's loving what you do and wanting to please customers. It's being creative. And it's a life passion. If you don't have that, you can't be a chef.
Unless you're Thomas Keller, but that's a different story because I hate him.
2007-03-04 17:45:56 · answer #4 · answered by chefgrille 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think you would already need to have the ability to
1. mutli-task
2. clean as you go
3. come up with recipes on your own
4. cook without a recipe
5. love to cook
6. be able to follow direction
7. be able to have someone tell you to redo it 10 times and not get mad
8. be a fast paced person who loves to stand on their feet for 10 to 12 or even 16 hrs a day without sitting or eating yourself....
9. be willing to get up at the crack of dawn and not go to bed till the crack of dawn... lol
2007-03-04 16:21:48 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋