Category: General Food Recipes

The Basic Steps to Consider

There are so many people who take interest in becoming chefs themselves. They know that the career is indeed rewarding. A chef is someone who is inventive and skilled when it comes to cooking a delicious meal and coming up with an artistic presentation of the cuisine. But then becoming a chef is not completed overnight. The education itself lasts for about four years and it takes quite a while to establish a credible reputation.

If you are serious and you want a career in line with becoming a chef, there are some important requirements that you need to fulfill. Here are a few pointers for you to consider:

In your high school years, find a work in a restaurant as a startup for your experience. It would not matter if you do not land in a cooking position. Anyway, you will get exposed to it. You will get to know how it feels as you work for a long duration of time.

Secondly, you could ask the guidance counselor in your school if there are existing training programs designed for chefs within your community.

Look into the available culinary schools, training programs, certification, apprenticeships, and related jobs that would open up the formal training and hands-on experience for you.

Decipher the type of cooking which you aim for and the kind of kitchen surroundings that you prefer to work in.

You must understand that landing in apprenticeship jobs will first require you to start at the basicsmost probably with the kitchen jobs. As you further your education you also gain a lot more experience and your job post likewise escalates.

Gain the certification from the American Culinary Federation.

Take up the related business courses if you intend to manage your own business.

Keep yourself updated with the latest cooking style and kitchen equipment.

Focus on a particular specialization.

Be very sure that this is what you want for a career.

As you have decided that you truly want to be a chef, you must get the proper education from a reputable cooking school. The training that you would get is very important. There are several different programs that you may enroll at and receive training and earn the experience from varying mentors. There are those vocational programs, four-year or two-year college programs. You may likewise opt to avail of the training courses offered by some large hotel and other related establishments.

The curriculum of the schools differs but most importantly, you earn your knowledge through the practical application. Through the trainings, the students are taught to properly broil, bake, and prepare the food. The rest of the kitchen jobs are well emphasized and taught. More so, as you take up the related courses that are required to become a chef, you will get educated with the proper management and care for the kitchen utensils and equipment.

Your job description as a chef would include creating, planning, and pricing the menus; prepare and then cook the dish as per the specifications of the customer; arrange and then garnish the dish prior to its serving; supervise the performance of your staff, deal with the suppliers, and a lot others. With these things to bear in mind, you will need to employ a good dose of courage, perseverance and discipline. It matters a lot that you are decided and focused so that you will come up with fulfilling the requirements to become a chef.

Learning How to Become a Chef

In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to first learn about the definition of the word “chef”. Most people would define the word “chef” as someone who cooks professionally for a living. However, you should know that learning how to cook is not the only thing you should do in order to learn how to become a chef. In order to learn how to become a chef, you must learn how to define a chef by the way that he or she sees food.

For a chef, food is not merely seen as “good” or “bad”. In learning how to become a chef, you need to learn about the different factors that need to be in food. You need to learn how to take aroma, taste, texture, appearance and other factors into consideration when creating a dish. In order to truly learn how to become a chef, you need to learn how these factors combine to make something people will love.

In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to know the fact that there are different types of chefs. You need to realize that in order to truly become a great chef, you need to know who you are. You need to be able to focus your skills in a specific area in order to truly improve. Learning how to become a chef requires you to examine yourself and where your interests lie. This will help you determine which types of foods you specialize in.

There are a lot of people who try to become jack of all trades and learn to specialize in different types of dishes. However, in order to achieve mastery, you need to focus. There are a few chefs today who have mastered the art of cooking two or three types of cuisines. Even focusing on such few can be quite confusing since different styles of cooking require one to adjust his or her taste buds often.

In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to learn how to create your own dish. The difference between a chef and a cook is the fact that while a cook follows recipes, a chef creates them. You need to become innovative. In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to learn how to ask the question, What if?

You need to constantly explore different tastes and textures in order to find different ways to improve your cooking. Only by becoming innovative can you learn how to become a chef. Remember that becoming a chef does not end when you are employed. Becoming a chef is a lifetime task. In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to realize that there is no beginning and end to the task. Becoming a chef is a way. The journey is what defines you.

Learning how to become a chef also demands patience. There are people born with the natural talent for cookery but even these people need to study hard. This is because learning how to become a chef can be a difficult road to travail. Some people think that the stirring and slicing involved in cooking is not really that hard to do. But in order to learn how to become a chef, you need to understand that you won’t employ these skills occasionally; you will be stirring and slicing every day of your life. This means that you had better be patient with each task and learn how to do it properly and reflexively.

Keys to Becoming a Great Celebrity Chef

Iron Chef, Jamie’s Kitchen, and No Reservations these are just some of the television shows which brings chefs to peoples’ attentions. Many people today ask themselves what it takes to become the greatest celebrity chef. Many people are encouraged to go to culinary schools by the dream of becoming the greatest celebrity chef. Here are the keys to helping you become the greatest celebrity chef:

Skills People watch celebrity chefs because of their skills. They just have a way of doing stuff that makes it seems so easy. In order to become the greatest celebrity chef, you must first become a chef. You need to learn how to cook. Most celebrity chefs today gained experienced while they were still young.

However, the easiest and surest way you can get skills today is by going to a culinary school. If you truly want to become the greatest celebrity chef, then you have to start from the basics. You need to master the skills necessary to get you hired as a working chef and then you can start thinking about becoming the greatest celebrity chef. You need to learn about the delights of food. You have to learn about the different things you can do to completely change a dish.

2) Charisma People need to be interested in you in order for you to become the greatest celebrity chef. Some people call charisma the “x” factor. This is because of the fact that it is such a hard characteristic to define.

People should like you even if they don’t know what it is about you they should like. Becoming the greatest celebrity chef requires you to be able to transmit to people your passion for food. People should feel energized when watching you prepare a dish. You need to have people tuning in and staying tuned in to your show.

Captivate them. Many people say that charisma cannot truly be learned. However, you should know that you will be able to capture the interest of your audience and acquire charisma merely by being able to show that you are passionate about what you do.

3) Innovation In order to become the greatest celebrity chef, you have to be different from the other celebrity chefs on television today. What innovations can you bring to the table? Why should people watch you and not the others? Remember that all celebrity chefs today have skills and charisma. That’s why they’re on television.

But in order to become the greatest celebrity chef, you must arouse people’s interests. You have to find a new way of doing things that people must find interesting. Your innovative idea will help you sell your skills to the people. It will convince them that there are still things that they haven’t seen. In order to become the greatest celebrity chef, you must make people curious and then completely surprise them.

4) Connections Of course, in order for you to get noticed, you need to have connections. Even if you have an innovative idea, it is useless if you have no one to pitch that idea to. In order to become the greatest celebrity chef, you have to understand that the status always depends on other people. With the right connections, you can be sure to get that status quite easily. After that, the problem you must face is how to keep it.

Key Components on How to Become a Pastry Chef

Do you want to learn how to become a pastry chef? Many people think that in order to become a pastry chef, you need to graduate from culinary school. However, you should realize that learning how to become a pastry chef today can be quite easy. This is because all the information you need can be found on the internet. Here are some of the things that you need in order to become a pastry chef:

Passion People can be very passionate about different types of food. In order to become a pastry chef, you need to be passionate about pastry. You need to see more than just a piece of glorified bread. You need to see a whole universe of possibilities in pastry. You need to be driven to excellence. Everyone can become a pastry chef if they just follow recipes to the letter. However, you need to transcend that and become a great pastry chef.

Creativity The key to becoming a great pastry chef is creativity. The difference between a good pastry chef and a great pastry chef is the fact that one follows recipes while the other creates recipes. Creativity, of course, comes from passion. Creativity, however, needs to be unleashed. In order to make your creativity work for you and make you a great pastry chef, you need to be willing to experiment. This means that you need to be curious and ask yourself “what can I do to make this pastry better?”

Pastry, on its own is actually quite uninteresting. It is the different things that people do with pastry that make them great food. In order to become a pastry chef, you need to possess the creativity that can turn pastry from part of the main course to dessert.

Tools Of course, in order to unleash your creativity and become a pastry chef, you need to have the right tools. These tools will help you translate your creativity into the pastry. These will help you transform your thoughts into delectable creations. A huge part of becoming a pastry chef is knowing the right tools to buy. This is because these tools will serve as translators. Your talent and creativity will be limited by what tools are available for your use. This means that you have to find tools which will be able to let you express your creativity to the fullest. This will help you become a great pastry chef.

Patience Becoming a pastry chef requires a huge amount of waiting. You can only exercise your creativity for a certain period of time and then, you have to let the heat of the oven do its job. You need to learn patience in order to get through this part of making pastry. You have to accept that when the pastry is in the oven, there is nothing you can do but wait. If you don’t take any shortcuts, you will be rewarded with something that comes purely from your skills.

Practice In order to become a pastry chef, you need to become a pastry chef. The key to cooking is cooking. You don’t just learn how to become a pastry chef, you need to practice it. This is the only way to truly become a pastry chef. So what are you waiting for?

It All Begins With Loving Your Craft

Well, it basically starts with your passion. Without this component it would be easy for you to give up your hopes for a chef career or at least, settle yourself in the kitchen and do what you are supposed to do. Without passion, you would start looking at cooking as a mere work rather than something that you like spending your time with. Without passion, you would look at each kitchen as the last place you would ever want to find yourself in. Without passion, nothing would fuel you towards making a name in the cooking industry or making a mark for yourself that would help you believe that you are pursuing that one thing you were born to pursue.

Thats all it takes- passion, everything else is secondary.

Many chefs seem to have this special talent on preparing menus that are not only appetizing but also filled with so much love for their creations. However there are others who are simply in the food industry because they were field by their desire to know every crucial thing about cooking. Each chef has his or her own personal desire when it comes to this field. But there is usually one denominator found in most of them, that is the desire to cook for the love of cooking.

It takes many years to produce a chef that lets love into his creations and alongside it are the best of the craft he has. Coupled with education on this art, chefs are able to make eating not just a simple component of living but also a pleasure that invites appetite.

You can start educating yourself in becoming a chef through apprenticing with an expert chef or through attending a culinary at school. But it would be best if you undergo both preparations. Even expert chefs still go through a couple of restaurants so as they may find the actual field they would want to settle in. There are actually various types of chefs and each type has its own job description and own field of mastery. And even experts still subject themselves to several mentors so that they could gather as much learning as they could accommodate.

Training could be obtained through vocation programs which may either be a two-year or four year course. Chefs could also be trained through apprenticeship programs under the supervision of an expert chef, professional culinary institutes, trade unions and industry associations. Additionally, there are some restaurants and hotels that offer their own training programs.

However, there are other paths towards a chef job. Individuals who have taken courses regarding commercial food preparation could enter their chef career without having to spend years with low-skilled, low-paying cooking job.

Take note though that each institute or school has its won curriculum and standards. However, students are basically learning through continuous practices. Depending on the school, students are given either the fundamentals or the whole-scope of culinary arts. But in some schools, basic practices, procedures and knowledge are given and the handling of this knowledge will depend largely on the capacity and manipulation of each student.

There may be courses on food purchasing, food lost control, menu planning, determination of cost, size and food proportion, storage and selection of food and management of leftover foods to help minimize the waste. Also, public health rules and restaurant sanitation are included in the course.