Sous Chef or Monkey

I just had to laugh when wifey read this out to me.

A reputable business in CQ is advertising for a Sous Chef. A great job for a qualified chef to step into, well you would think so.

Firstly lets talk about the job of a Sous Chef.
The Sous Chef is second in charge of the kitchen which means he/she must have a considerable amount of knowledge to understand what is required to run the kitchen in the absence of the head chef.

This knowledge doesn't just happen, you need to gain experience in real kitchen life, and lets just clarify that a pub, sandwich bar, fast food outlet and any other place that thinks it is a classy food establishment but isn't, don't count. You come to me with your poxy 5 years in and out of the above you are just waisting mine and your time.

The Sous Chef will be the engine of the kitchen the person who cooks, checks, orders, beats, grills and gives you the bollocks before the head chef has to be disturbed. He is the Head Chef's lynch man and will generally have one objective and that is to become a Head Chef themselves. That means basically that they will be doing everything that the Head Chef does so that when the opportunity arrives they can slip right in and take over without any drama.

A good Sous Chef must not only have fine cooking skills and posses a great deal of ability in all areas of the kitchen, but must also be a motivator and a leader. It is with great leadership that one can motivate the team to reach better standards.

In very large kitchen brigades there will be many Sous Chefs, 5 or even 6, each with a particular area of control and from these will be one leading Sous Chef often known as the Executive Sous Chef. The lowest or newest Sous Chef would be known as the Junior Sous Chef, but even at this level one not to be messed with, as they will be wanting to jump up the ladder too, and will do what ever it takes to get there, lets face it, who wants to be called junior for a long time?!!

So to become a Sous Chef, a chef will need to have experience in a vast amount of kitchen knowledge. As the career of a young chef begins they will be an apprentice, this will span from say 2 to 4 years depending on country and establishment. Here I wish to point out that you want to be learning from, and in a good kitchen, not an Average Joe place where they buy in the majority of time consuming and hands on jobs, for example stocks and sauces, soups and vegetables, cakes and pastries. This will tell you something about the quality of management and also the chefs that are employed, once again do some research.

After the completion of the apprenticeship the next level is a Commis Chef. The Commis Chef is a chef that does a lot of work and gets grilled for everything. Basically the hardest years in the young chefs life. He is qualified and is expected to perform, that is where the pressure begins, a lot of basic work is done, but with greater ability and knowledge to be learnt. Again the larger the establishment the more levels of Commis Chef you will find 1st commis, 2nd commis, and sometimes even 3rd commis.

The next promotion will be to a Chef de Partie, or if its a large place they will sneak in a Demi Chef de Partie. This is where you get to shine as a chef, it is where you are in control, or not, as the case may be, of a whole section. The kitchen is broken down into sections, I will leave the great detail to another post but for now they are larder, sauce, fish, grill, veg, pastry, butcher, and so on. The smaller the kitchen the more the sections become one, for example, the grill and fish will join, the sauce and veg will join. The butcher will be omitted, you get the picture. So you see that the bigger the establishment hopefully the better the kitchen will be set up with the chefs and sections for all to learn.

As a CdP it is your responsibility to have your area in control and set for every service. This is your opportunity to shine as an individual leader of a team, generally the CdP will have his own DCdP and commis that will work with him to run the section. It is here that the future sous chefs are born, only with determination, readiness and drive will you outshine your opponents, the other CdP's, to get chosen as Sous Chef, am I building a picture of how it all works, can you see that a Sous Chef is not just a general chef from some average hole, he/she is, and should have worked bloody hard to be given the title and gain the respect of which a Sous Chef should have?

Now with all this experience and knowledge, you would probably have been working hard at your chosen career for a minimum of 5 to 7 years and even then you are becoming a young Sous Chef. After 7 years of grafting and slaving your hours behind the stoves of many kitchens, you would hope to break into some better pay level, especially as Sous Chef with the responsibility of the kitchen in your hands at some time or other.

With the minimum wage staying at $543.78 per week that is $14.31 per hour based on a standard 38 hour week. Now I don't know any chef that does a 38 hour week, you've got to be dreaming, right? I also find it very confusing all this bullshit award system for each different hotel, motel, cafe, resort in each different state and so on, so lets cut the crap and get to the point, which is for $40-45,000 per year I won't get out of bed and nor should you if you have good background experience and knowledge. For a start you'll probably be expected to work about 50-60 hours a week, now you do the math, are you willing to work your arse off for about $14.90 per hour with all your talent, surely you're worth more than that, I know I am.
So back to the advert, a Sous Chef for $40-45,000, or a monkey, the choice is yours.
I understand that the industry pays poor but that is a joke. Especially for a place that charges customers $12 or $14 for a bowl of soup of the day, what the.....

If we charge the customers more for the product that's fine, we all know that commodities are not cheap, and restaurants need to make money to stay open, the question is, how greedy do some need to become?
Go and feed your monkey you moron, I'm going back to bed....................

image credit:dannyboyster

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Chefs Uniforms, The Reason Why...

The chefs uniform. When asked the reason behind why Chefs wear checkered pants, the average Joe responded with "because generally Chefs are so dull they cant think of anything a bit more 'flavorsome' (pun intended) to wear".

But the real question is 'Do Chefs even know why they wear what they do?'

Up until a Hellraiser himself actually asked me if I knew the reason as to why I put on that uniform I wear 5 days a week, I had no idea there even was a reason.

But the truth is behind every little detail of a chefs uniform is a very valid explanation as to why it has been designed like it is.

Chefs Hat

Lets start with the Toque Blanche (Chefs hat).
Many people may think it is to keep stray bits of hair falling into food, and that's very correct, it is. But why does a traditional chefs hat have exactly 100 pleats in it? And why are some chefs hats higher than others?
The 100 pleats in the Chefs hat resembles all the ways in which to cook an egg.
Traditionally the Chef would have to demonstrate that he knew every way to cook an egg before receiving the honorary hat.
When designing the uniform, chefs decided that Chefs hats should be of different sizes, to distinguish the cooks from the Chefs. The tallest recorded Chefs hat in History was supposedly 18inches tall worn by Marie-Antoine Careme.

Chefs Jacket

Much of the chefs uniform has developed out of necessity. The jacket, for example, is double-breasted so it can easily be reversed to hide stains that may accumulate throughout the day; the double layer of cotton is also designed to insulate the Chefs body against the intense heat of the stove or an accidental splattering of hot liquid.

Chefs Buttons

Cloth buttons were even developed as they are able to withstand the constant washings and abuse buttons get in the kitchen from the pots and pans.
Now while on the subject of buttons, traditionally it was only the Executive or Head Chef that wore black buttons. Sometimes the Sous Chefs would also don black buttons as a sign of superiority and to distinguish the hierarchy of the kitchen brigade.

In very large establishments that often have several kitchens and up to 100 Chefs, black buttons would also be of great value so a passer by could identify who is in charge of that certain kitchen. Everyone else would wear white buttons as a sign of respect to those in a position of power.

Chefs Pants

The same rules apply with Chef pants. Majority of the kitchen brigade would wear checkered pants with the hounds-tooth print to camouflage spills and stains which might occur on the pants throughout he day.
Only the Executive Head and Sous Chef would wear black pants to further distinguish there superiority. Black pants were also practical for theses chefs as they could go to meetings without having to change their pants.

Chefs Neckerchief

The Neckerchief today is used mainly to give a finished look of the Chefs uniform, but traditionally it's use was to soak up body sweat while working in the hot kitchen.

Chefs Aprons

Chefs aprons must always be below the knee due to spillages being able to run off an apron and onto the floor rather than soaking straight into pants, thus burning a chefs leg.

As you can see from the brief description above, there is a reason why Chefs wear what we do. Many Chefs prefer to adhere to traditional chef's attire-the chefs uniform and its history are something to be proud of. On the other hand, it is understandable that a chef would want to be expressive.

As with anything, the chefs uniform will continue to evolve, who knows what the future has to hold? One thing is certain though, the image of a chef, in a full chef uniform, a pristine white jacket and toque, is recognized the world over as a professional.

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