What is the Definition of a Chef?

Reading a post today someone stated that the word Chef is used too loosely. I think is is also. However there are self trained Chefs and others who have trained under schooled Chefs as an apprentice. Do you need schooling or is apprenticeship acceptable? Heck I own atleast 500 cookbooks or more and have watched a cooking show just about everyday over the past 30 years but I dont consider myself a Chef. Is there a difinitive criteria to wear a Chef Coat or to be determined a Chef?

...Russ

Russ,

I'm the one with the rant about the word "chef". I do believe that a person does not necessarily need formal schooling; apprenticeship under a chef is the time-honored way to become a chef. However, a chef needs to know certain skills. The first episode of 'Top Chef' this year illustrates this point. The contestants were challenged to put their spin on classical dishes. Several didn't know how to prepare the original classical dishes (such as chicken piccata or a souffle)and Chef Tom called them on that. (By the way, I don't know how to make a souffle, either).

When I worked at a resort in Wisconsin, the sales staff insisted on addressing me as Banquet Chef so that their clients "felt" good about meeting with me. I was very uncomfortable with this; again, I'm a damned good cook and proud of it, but, I'm not a chef.

A Chef is technically any person who cooks for money.

Practically speaking, my experience has been that in hotels or other houses that really take themselves seriously, You'll have more than one person in the kitchen called 'chef'.

There's the Executive Chef, head chef of them all, and a lot of times they mostly do paperwork although they may design menus and some executive chefs have a great hand in the day-to day operations....tasting sauces etc.

Sous Chef is generally the guy who's in the kitchen every day, making sure that things are done the right way. He might do schedules etc, and assign duties. He for sure will be tasting sauces and doing quality control everywhere.

Some places will call the lead line cook or pantry cook the 'pantry chef' or whatever and everybody else in that section works under her.

I think if you want to call yourself Chef you'd better be able to run a kitchen, top to bottom: you should know how to design and execute menu; control costs; know all applicable laws, regulations and policies that would affect the institution; you should know the classic dishes; and you should be able to perform any duty BOH that may be required. It would be a great help if you could also pass knowledge to less experienced folks.

That said, anybody who wants to can call themselves a chef. I've worked in foodservice all my life, mostly, and I don't refer to myself as a chef, even though I do perform those duties.

I've heard chef is derived from chief. I don't buy that at all, but I buy the intent. In my layman's view, I see a chef as someone with soem culinary trainig (school or apprentice) who is head of kitchen (exec chef) or kitchen area (pastry chef). They are administrators, setting menus as well as schedules to make sure their ideals are carried out. I am less picky of whether these chefs are actually rolling up their sleeves in the kitchen on the night I am there, as I come with the expectation that they have cut their teeth by some log times in front of a stove, and am fine if they are just setting menus and decor now. If, however, you are just lending your name to the place and cutting a ribbon and have no hand in what is being served and presented, I don't agree with being able to say you are chef at that restaurant. And for myself, I think a restaurant is a must, I am not chef in my own home.

quote:

Originally posted by blizzardstormus

Russ,

I'm the one with the rant about the word "chef". I do believe that a person does not necessarily need formal schooling; apprenticeship under a chef is the time-honored way to become a chef. However, a chef needs to know certain skills. The first episode of 'Top Chef' this year illustrates this point. The contestants were challenged to put their spin on classical dishes. Several didn't know how to prepare the original classical dishes (such as chicken piccata or a souffle)and Chef Tom called them on that. (By the way, I don't know how to make a souffle, either).

When I worked at a resort in Wisconsin, the sales staff insisted on addressing me as Banquet Chef so that their clients "felt" good about meeting with me. I was very uncomfortable with this; again, I'm a damned good cook and proud of it, but, I'm not a chef.

I have made souffle but never with great success. And the other reasons I asked the question is I thought it would get some interresting responses and after watching Hells Kitchen for the first and last time last night. I asked myself what makes that cast of idiots chefs? I would not work for any of them nor would I let them work for me...Russ

Well there are many schools of thought on this subject.
Julia Child can be a good example of an apprenticeship type chef.
She didn't even know how to cook untill her mid 30s and had to learn out of nessesity. A natural hand in the kitchen and a great talent. She also learned or picked the brain of some of the best, but never operated a restaurant.
None the less so many great trained chefs refered to her as Chef.
In France it was at one time a Title, and had to be bestowed much like a knights title.
Chow Jim

Chef de Cuisine is literally the Boss of the Kitchen. Probably paid and possibly formally trained, but not necessarily so on either count. That's my interpretation and I'm sticking to it. pb

Oh, I could get SNARKY on this one! The definition of a chef is someone who wants to work 100 hours a week in a blasting hot kitchen with a bunch of knuckleheads who rarely show up for work on time....or even at all... for not a lot of pay!

Chef is the French word for chief. The full term is chef de cuisine. That means kitchen chief. Implicit is that there is a staff, otherwise you are just the cook.

Sous is the French word for "under". A sous chef is the "under chief", i.e. the assistant chief. As a business can have more than one vice-president, a large kitchen may have more than one sous chef.

This is all from the Brigade kitchen organization system developed by Escoffier. If you want to read more about it, the Wikipedia entry covers it well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigade_de_cuisine

That's the traditional, official version. Of course, language being what it is, anyone can label himself a chef, if he chooses. There is no law to say that he cannot.

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

Oh, I could get SNARKY on this one! The definition of a chef is someone who wants to work 100 hours a week in a blasting hot kitchen with a bunch of knuckleheads who rarely show up for work on time....or even at all... for not a lot of pay!

I've read that "60% of chefs are alcoholics, the rest are just heavy drinkers". Perhaps, it's the nature of the profession? pb

Only 60%? Lawyers win. LAWYERS WIN!!! Got to go find my flask, now.

I am a famous chef... but only in my own mind. I was a paid cook two times, just Tex Mex. I worked under a Tex Mex chef who did not know how to make a souffle. I was maybe a Tex Mex sous chef at my 2nd cooking job. Is it possible to give a French name to a Tex Mex cooking job?
Joe

edit; Does anyone know what they call a "soux chef" in Mexico? Im Texas we call them the "head cook", at least in a Tex Mex joint.

Read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. He has a lot to say about the subject.

I have a friend who graduated from culinary school in Phoenix, AZ., and one of the first things they were taught was how to use knives properly, and cut items appropriately. I thought that was interesting. Also interesting, I attended a few sessions conducted by a chef (real chef) at The Buttes in Tempe, AZ., and he explained the pleats in the chef's toque (sp?), defining the number of ways that particular chef could fix eggs.

I think there is much that a person must learn in culinary school, among which are the mother sauces, etc., and therefore, the title "chef" is well earned once the education is completed. Interesting subject.

My idea of a "real" chef is someone like Sarah Moulton (who does a wonderful job of teaching), Mario Batelli (again, a fine educator) and their counterparts. There are probably millions of good cooks, but again, probably relatively very few really great chefs.

And lleechef probably hit the nail on the head with her description of a "chef." And she sounds like she has the experience to really know about what she talks.

Donna

The place that I work right now.....

Our "Head Chef", {his title is Executive chef}, has no real working knowledge of our menu. He has his title because he is a "numbers" man. He is great with the inventory. Our "Sous Chef" is, like 24 years old, but very talented. Our menu is great. I will eat virtually everything on our menu, and will recommend most everything. Our Sous chef is responsible for our menu. Our Executive Chef cannot make anything on our menu when he HAS to be behind the line. He is there because someone has to control the inventory. He is a great pastry chef, but we buy our desserts from outside. His forte' is controlling inventory. And delegating responsibility.

This is not always the norm. I know that in restaurants that are "Chef-owned" that the Chef is more hands-on. But, the Chef that I work with is clueless. I still refer to him as "Chef".

One of my close friends is the executive chef for a resort in CA that has 4 different restaurants. He has no formal chef training, only experience in many nice places and a knack for motivating and inspiring his staff. He told me that when you are recognized as a chef by an owner or General Manager, you become a chef. Meaning, if someone wants to call you a chef-you're a chef. Now, any decent place will not recognize just anyone as a chef, because they don't want the reputation as easy or non-credible.

What I am geting from this is that a Chef is the person that makes things happen, and folks get fed, and they like it, and come back! Could that be the definition? Hey, thats a valuable talent! They should pay Chefs more!
Joe

I was a Sioux Chef. I worked under Chef Sitting Bull!!!! We Cooked a Mean Buffalo

quote:

Originally posted by Foodbme

I was a Sioux Chef. I worked under Chef Sitting Bull!!!! We Cooked a Mean Buffalo

You sous crazy, that was a horse!

Someone mentioned Hell's Kitchen. As much as I like Ramsay's other show, Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen is a complete joke. It is not a cooking show by any means. It is obvious from the people they choose to come on the show that they are just looking for trainwrecks to happen. In one particularly ridiculous episode last season, they had the losing team (the men) go out DURING dinner service and get bags of ice for the women's team. Of course he's over the top on Kitchen Nightmares, too, but there is a lot of good in that show.

dwhite

I was certified by the Colorado Culinary Federation, Chefs du cuisine in 78.
The requirements were being sponsored be a member. You then gad to accumulate so many points in food shows. Along the way you were rewuired to accomplish certain tasks like a merit badge, It ended with a series of tests, Written, oral and a practical.
Some one out of the CIA was a certified COOK. They still needed to do the deal, In fact in the 70s they had a bad rep as screamers and Prima Donnas,
britt

Hhhmmm, I am currently working at two restaurants. The first place is run by someone who has been in charge of many kitchens in this area. He created the menu for this kitchen that opened 2 years ago. It's his baby. We just won first place for Best American restaurant in our region of CT., according to Connecticut Magazine.
He hates it when I call him chef. His name is Darrin....

I am also involved with a restaurant that will be opening very soon. It has a very interesting menu with a New England slant. Waygu pot roast anyone? I think that we will be charging about $10.00 for the Indian pudding...
He has never run a kitchen as a chef before, and it might be showing. Point is, my first phone call from him was "Hello, I'm Chef J." Based on what experience?
However, I will not quibble about either menu where under their names is the title, Executive Chef.

My favorite story is when we went to Alan Wong's in Oahu. He owns a few places on the islands, so it was doubtful he was there that night. On the bottom of the menu was his name as Executive Chef. After that was the listing of various chefs, sous chefs and a few other titles.
It is a very open kitchen and you can see things happening. Everybody was wearing caps on their heads. I asked my other family members if they could guess which one was the chef? They couldn't tell. I told them that it was the guy without a cap on....

In closing, I too have opened and run kitchens as a 'chef', but I have never really called myself that. I call myself....

mark

Regarding Hell's Kitchen, it is a trainwreck type show, not of the caliber of either version of Kitchen Nightmares. I watched Tuesday's episode as I have never seen this show before.
I just wrote that I am involved with a new restaurant. We went through our first few days of just getting things together. The kitchen staff has a few of the same people that was on the show's premier episode.

The Black Ramsey = I have one who is 300 lbs. I laugh as he referred to himself as a old school pro. His previous job? Olive Garden.

The guy with the incredible toque = The kid who just came from CT. Culinary School.

Dominic, who was the first to go = The night saute guy who hasn't cooked in a pro kitchen in 16 years.

What I am trying to figure out is which one I might be?

mark