From the Bottom Up
Breaking Down Two Different Paths to Become a Chef
As I woke up this morning I was thinking about two different kinds of chefs. The first chef takes the traditional route of going to culinary school, learning from instructors in a classroom setting and then in an instructional kitchen. These chefs will learn theory, culinary history, nutrition, food safety, and the basic principles of hospitality management.
They will be able to take the time to learn the methods and procedures that their instructors will task them with. They will be exposed to various types of cuisine and have some of the best ingredients at their disposal. When they graduate culinary school they should be fairly versed in a variety of styles of cooking. I would call this the modern traditional path.
The second kind of chef is the kind who has worked their way up through various kitchens with the intent of one day becoming a chef. This person usually gets to start at the bottom of the kitchen as a dishwasher or a type of utility person, in the brigade system this is known as the kitchen porter. An ambitious dishwasher or kitchen porter will be looking around and observing the chef and line cooks, soaking up all of the secrets of the kitchen.
They will ask questions, take on new prep tasks, and volunteer for every single shift that they can. They are usually limited to learning the cuisine of the specific kitchen that they work in so to learn different cuisine they will have to find another kitchen and continue their quest to become a chef. This is the old-school path. You can read about the path that I took here in a recent article called,
Late Nights, Long Hours, and Low Pay
I am going to be honest with you, every time someone tells me that they want to become a chef, I cringe a bit, and a small part of me dies for them. Why? It’s because I think about the late nights, long hours, and low pay. But just like any bad relationship, you start to remember the good times and appreciate the struggle that got you there.
These are the two primary pathways for achieving the same culinary goal, both pathways can lead to very successful careers. I wouldn’t say that one way is necessarily greater than the other, it just depends on what kind of a person you are and how you learn the best. You have to ask yourself the question do you learn best by being shown a task by someone who has been doing it day in and day out for years or do you prefer a more formal setting with an instructor and other students?
When embarking on your culinary journey you have to realize that whatever path you choose will come with its own set of advantages and challenges. The path that I took was anything but easy and for some reason, I loved it. I loved learning the job the hard way. It was a more hands-on approach and it fit my learning style. I sometimes feel like I didn’t choose the kitchen, the kitchen chose me, and once I had a taste of it I wanted more and more.
I remember certain points in my career thinking, “Am I a chef yet”? As if someone was going to just come up and tell me, hey buddy, you are now a chef! Although If I had gone to culinary school someone actually would have told me that I was a chef, there would have been no second guessing or imposter syndrome. I would have known for sure. Am I a chef, that question is similar to, am I a writer?
Culinary schools can provide a structured environment in which to learn and progress through various courses such as knife skills, cooking techniques, food safety, and kitchen management. Culinary schools also allow you to gain a well-rounded understanding of global flavors and ingredients. Furthermore, culinary schools are heavily entwined with industry and can provide students with internships that can greatly help them in their future careers.
Learning the culinary world on the job can be a school of hard knocks when choosing to forgo a formal education. Similar to culinary schools, on-the-job training can come with its own set of unique hurdles to jump through.
One of the biggest challenges as well as one of the greatest advantages to this method of learning is that you gain real-world experience, ideally in a restaurant that has actual customers with real expectations. This is a huge piece of knowledge that you can glean from working your way through a restaurant kitchen. This should tell you in general where the bar is set and that you need to develop a sense of urgency like yesterday. Coming right out of culinary school a young chef may not have as good of a sense of urgency as a chef who is learning on the job.
For me the biggest advantage that this culinary path offers is that you can work side by side with some very experienced culinarians. Everybody has their own way of getting the job done in a kitchen and if you pay attention and ask questions you just might learn something.
The chef who learns through osmosis has to be self-motivated and able to learn autodidactically, for example, in my off time I was obsessed with learning the craft. I would look up the cuisine of a different culture and attempt to make dishes that sounded interesting. Learning the mother sauces of French cooking was something that I was determined to learn all on my own.
In my opinion, no matter what path you take to become a chef, it’s still a long hard road. It’s a super competitive industry and chefs can be some of the most egotistical people on the planet. I would know, I have been guilty of that in the past. However, if you can harness your ego and work your way up the ladder, then you may just succeed where others have failed.
Right on man! You describe it beautifully!
Funny enough, I was a "school of hard knocks" kind of guy for sure, but our KM was a CIA grad.