Cooking is a competitive art form, and in order to become successful chef you must have a wild passion for culinary adventure that sets you head and shoulders above the competition. Years of education and training, ingenuity and dedication will put you on the platform, but you must also gain experience and be willing to experiment with flavors and techniques to create your own style. Success as a chef is often gauged by one's training and education, but as the culinary world continues to shift and grow, success can also be obtained by combining one's training, education and experience with creativity and dedication to hard work.
Instructions
1. Evaluate your present cooking style and preference. Consider the culinary areas and styles where you thrive and feel comfortable, and focus on honing your abilities in that area. Getting comfortable will give you the confidence you need to start thinking outside the confines of that style, so you can experiment.
2. Educate yourself and apply to a well-known culinary school to get your degree. Even if you think you know cook, culinary school will teach you about theory, planning, budgeting, sanitation and execution, giving you the tools and credentials you need to enter into the competitive world of chefs on the outside.
3. Balance your education with hands-on kitchen experience. You may have to juggle to carry the weight of school and a part-time culinary job, but gaining experience in the kitchen now will help you get a better job later.
4. Further your training by apprenticing under a well-established master chef who specializes in your preferred area of expertise. In order to gain an apprenticeship, you need to demonstrate a strong willingness to learn and absorb their wisdom, as well as possess a creative edge.
5. Test to receive your certification as a master chef. After you have completed your education and apprenticeship, you can apply to take the master chef certification test. During this test, you will be required to demonstrate your range of knowledge in all areas of the culinary field. You are generally required to have accumulated between 5,000 and 6,000 hours of education, training and experience in order to qualify to take the certification test.
6. Apply for jobs in three to five star restaurants to start your journey toward successful chefdom. If you have garnered enough training and experience during your years of education, you may be able to get a job as a master chef, overseeing the responsibilities of the kitchen and making a name for yourself as a chef.
7. Take pride in every dish you prepare, no matter what that dish is, to build a strong reputation with the patrons of the restaurant in which you work. The more people who enjoy your dishes, the more word of mouth advertisement you will get, drawing in larger crowds and providing you and the restaurant with a successful patronage.
8. Compete in competitions against other chefs to earn yourself further recognition. A chef who was won a culinary arts award will draw in crowds and get their name out there. This will also alert food critics and bring them in to see if you are really all you're cracked up to be as a chef. Impressing a food critic and appearing in print will garner future successes and bring in more patronage to the restaurant where you work.
9. Consider starting your own restaurant. Once you have enough experience and have made a name for yourself, it's time to branch out and make a stand with your own restaurant. Conceptual planning is necessary in creating a unique restaurant that stands out among the others and draws in a crowd.
Tags: master chef, certification test, culinary school, education training, experience have