Saturday, February 12, 2011

The vision

Most kitchens are similar in that there is a head chef who cares about the food that they serve, and of course the people under him/her, sous chef, cooks, dishwashers, etc. While you can contribute your ideas and possibly help recreate dishes, maybe even create your own special, the restaurant follows the head chefs vision.

The owners may have come up with the idea, but the head chef is the one who takes that idea and makes the food, and what is a restaurant without food? Everything that comes out of that kitchen plays to the chefs vision of their restaurant. The recipes and plating should be kept the same, unless approved by your chef.

One thing you must keep in mind as a cook is that you were hired to aid in maintaining the head chef's vision, and because it is usually the head chef who does both the hiring and firing, it would you well to follow his vision. If you think about the average cooking career, you will realize that usually a head chef does not have much time to work as the head chef. On average after the age of about 50 you are too old to keep up with the younger workers in the kitchen, and lose much of your value. If you start at age 20, as a dishwasher/kitchen helper till 25, cook till 35 (where most people get stuck), sous chef till 40, and if you are lucky you may (unlikely in most cases) become a head chef, until the very early retirement at age 50. So have respect for your head chefs they worked hard to get there, and deserve to have their vision fulfilled.

6 comments:

  1. Do you think of posting some recipes and hints too? Cool stuff.

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  2. Wow, I've never worked in the culinary business and never really understood what goes on behind those kitchen doors with the head chef, That's alot of work to become a head chef, but I'm sure its quite the rewarding experience.

    Stick to the game friend and that will be you one day!

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  3. goes with any other job to. If you start at the bottom and stay with this place for a good 10 years you'll work your way up. But at the same time its difficult because everyone on the bottom is competing against each other to work their way to the top

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  4. i never new about this vision.

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