What Does It Take To Become A Professional Chef

I have asked many chefs over the years what it takes to be successful in the food industry and decided to compile a list of their answers for you. At the end of the post, I also compiled some of the traits they find important to be successfully in this field. What I find interesting from looking at the chef’s responses is the common thread of how important it is to gain some experience before applying to a culinary school.

What Advice Would The Chefs Give To Anyone Thinking Of Attending Culinary School?

Chef Ruth Gresser, owner of Pizzeria Paradiso

"Work in a professional kitchen full time for at least one year before you decide to invest in school. During that time you should be able to determine if the food business suits you. If it does, your experience should lend some help in determining which school best satisfies your food interest."

Chef Jeff Huff, instructor at the Culinary Center of Monterey

"Do your own homework. Work in the industry whenever possible, during school holidays, nights, weekends or during summer vacation. Get exposed to the environment, the pace. There is no better way to know than by actually trying it out before you commit to a culinary school. By this I don’t mean to burn the candle at both ends and let your scholastic experience deteriorate at the expense of going to school AND working. Rather, when possible, get a position at a local restaurant, hotel or golf club and just get a feel for what it’s like."

Chef Jennifer Field, creator of www.pastrychefonline.com

"My best advice would be to work in a kitchen before deciding to go to culinary school. While Orlando Culinary Academy will accept anyone, experience or no, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) requires 2 years of kitchen experience before they will accept you. I think this is a sound practice. With the rise in popularity of The Food Network and other cooking shows (Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, etc), many young people might romanticize what it means to work in a professional kitchen. Give it at least a few months to see if working in a kitchen will be a good fit for you."

Chef Martin Laprise, author of My Daughter Wants to Be A Chef

"Go try it out first, and that goes for any career. Don’t EVER start culinary school without having worked in a restaurant first. Do dishes, wash the floor, even just ask to observe the kitchen during service time. It may scare you away, or it may re-enforce your desire to cook for a living - either way, you should find that out before spending money and time!"

Chef Todd Mohr, founder of Savor Hospitality Cooking School

"Begin with the end result in mind. Determine precisely what career you want to develop based on your new education. While I was some 15 years older than most students when I went to culinary school, I was curious about the amount of students that didn’t know what they wanted to do after graduation. Find where your passion is and pursue it. Perhaps you have dreams of being an Executive Chef at a large hotel or upscale restaurant, or an institutional facility like a hospital, college, or business cafeteria."

Chef Bertrand Chemel, Celebrity Chef

"The main advice I would give the student is to be dedicated and love what he or she is doing. He or she needs to have a willingness to learn and lots of passion. You can’t be in this business simply because you are looking for a job. As a chef, you work hard to refine your craft and, while you may not necessarily be in school for as long as a doctor or a lawyer, you definitely need to work as hard in order to become successful. It’s similar to the situation of a painter or an artist; they work very long hours to perfect their talent and their art."

What Are Some Personal Traits Chefs Find Necessary and Helpful?

Chef Ruth Gresser - Organized, resilient, goal oriented, a little compulsive, an ability to handle stress, social.

Chef Jeff Huff - Professional, respectful, dedicated, hardworking, organized

Chef Jennifer Field - Passion for food, ability to work in fast paced environment, attention to detail, leader

Chef Martin Laprise - Good listener, speedy, sense of humor, disciplined, leader

Chef Interview With Ruth Gresser of Pizzeria Paradiso in Washington, DC
part of my Novice2Pro Interviews with Professional Chefs

I met Chef Gresser after doing some research on pizza making in our outdoor wood-burning oven. I found her site and pizza videos and sent her an email. She was kind enough to answer my questions and after that take time out of her busy schedule to speak with me by phone for over an hour. You can see some of what I learned from Ruth on my Fresh Homemade Pizza Help blog posting.

Ruth may just be one of the finest pizza makers around and has been praised for her work by The Washington Post, The Washington Business Journal and the Zaget’s Restaurant Guide. She is a graduate of Madeleine Kamman’s Classical and Modern French Cooking School in Glen, New Hampshire and was a guest chef at the famous Chez Panisse in California.

I am very appreciative Chef Gresser took time to answer these questions and she offers great insight to anyone young or not-so-young thinking of going to culinary school to start a career in the food industry. Her honesty and frankness are quite refreshing. I hope you all enjoy what Ruth has to share with us and please be sure to check out her How to Make Pizza Videos. It starts with How to Make Pizza Dough here.

Chef Ruth, when we chatted on the phone you told me you were in the restaurant business for years before you decided to go to culinary school. What do you think originally attracted you to this industry?

Simply put I like to cook, I have always liked to cook and while I went to college to become a chemist, I didn’t like the way the labs smelled. Chemistry was the right path, just the wrong ingredients. Once I recognized that food chemistry could be a career, I was set on my present path. Food and chemistry brought me to the restaurant business and the pace, camaraderie, and exactitude kept me in it.

Your mom owned a catering business in Baltimore while you were growing up. How much of an influence was she on your chosen career path?

Food has always been a fundamental part of my family’s rituals and traditions, from steak sandwiches during football games to gefilte fish at the Jewish High Holy Days. My mother’s hearth was center of our household. So cooking and food became a passion for me and developed into a career. My mother also warned me that the path could be a difficult one. She cautioned that working in the food business meant that I would "be working while everyone else is playing".

You mentioned you were working in San Francisco at various restaurants when you decided to take some classes and then eventually worked with Chef Robert Reynolds at his popular Le Trou Robert. How did you decide it was time to take classes, how did you find Chef Reynolds and what effect did he have on your culinary education?

This question tests my memory neuro-pathways. What I remember is that I was working at a French restaurant In San Francisco, and that I was completely enamored with French cuisine. However the restaurant offered limited exposure and learning opportunities. I wanted to grow more, and grow more quickly, so I began researching other ways to advance my cooking knowledge. This led me to Robert and his school. Robert introduced me to careful, fine cooking based on solid technique, and this became the foundation upon which I then built a career.

I found it very interesting both you and Chef Reynolds trained with legendary culinary instructor Madeleine Kamman, who I just read began her teaching career right here in Philadelphia at the Adult Education School in 1962. Was Chef Reynolds a deciding factor in your moving back east to New Hampshire to study at Madeleine Kamman’s Classical and Modern French Cooking School?

One reason that I chose to work with Robert was because of his association with Madeleine. At the time Robert was teaching in San Francisco and Madeleine was teaching in France, so I began my studies with Robert. Working with him reinforced my intuition that Madeleine’s teaching was essential to my personal growth as a cook. He whetted my appetite, and while I learned much from Robert, the notion of studying directly with Madeleine was fueled rather than dampened. When Madeleine returned to the US, I jumped at the chance to study with her and at the first opportunity landed at her school in New Hampshire.

Can you tell us a little about Chef Kamman’s philosophy towards cooking and how it changed the way you approached cooking professionally?

There was an intellectual and historical framework for the way she approached food. The first day of class included a field trip to view the path of icebergs through the Green Mountains. The lesson, food is part of history and there is a lot more to learn than recipes. In the kitchen, everything was done with care, using quality ingredients, simple flavor structure - often based on a triumvirate of flavors, and solid technique. I found that I had a great affinity to Madeleine’s food and her teaching style. I soaked it all in and it has influenced all the cooking I have done since.

After moving to Washington DC and working in a few high end restaurants, you decided to make a dramatic change in your career and open Pizzeria Paradiso ranked one of the best restaurants in the DC area by The Washingtonian for 15 consecutive years. Wow! Why the change and how did you decide to focus on pizza?

It was time for a change for me. I wanted to work in a less formal, more accessible environment. I was convinced that fine dinning didn’t have to be the only venue for fine cooking. I took my experience and my knowledge and utilizing solid technique and quality ingredients applied it to the most popular food in America. The result has been well received and lots of fun. Yes, it was a huge change, but it has been a rewarding one.

Lot’s of high school students thinking of going into the culinary industry as well as adults looking to change careers contact me about the pros and cons of attending culinary school. I would like to ask you some questions about getting a culinary education that may help them with their decisions.

First, what advice would you give someone thinking of going to culinary school today?

Work in a professional kitchen full time for at least one year before you decide to invest in school. During that time you should be able to determine if the food business suits you. If it does, your experience should lend some help in determining which school best satisfies your food interest.

How important is a formal education? Is it necessary? What are some alternatives?

I believe by formal you mean a traditional cooking school setting. That kind of training is not essential but it may advance your education more quickly. Notice I did not say that it will advance your career more quickly, it may, but it may not. The most obvious alternative to a structured school education, is to work different positions at various carefully chosen restaurants where you can learn the business from inside the business.

Do hiring chefs look at what school someone attended? How much does the school they graduated from influence them?

What school an job applicant attended will factor in a chef’s assessment of a cook along with the applicant’s job experience and goals. I believe, in general, that an experienced, well-rounded applicant who performed well at school will have a good chance of gaining a position regardless of which school they attended. Of course there is the story of the chef that I worked for a long time ago who said he would never hire people from a particular school because his experience with graduates from that school had been negative. So yes, it can influence a chef in their hiring decision, both positively and negatively.

Let’s say I decide I wanted to go to culinary school, what criteria should I look at when choosing a school? (location, reputation, cost, faculty, etc)

I would look at the faculty first. There are a lot of people who can teach cooking. The question becomes are you interested in the kind of cooking they teach. Then there are great cooks who are not great teachers. I would research the faculty to determine if the people teaching at a school you are interested in attending make the quality of food you are interested in learning and that they can teach you how to make it.

What personality traits do you think are necessary to be successful in culinary school and then in the restaurant world after you graduate?

Organized, resilient, goal oriented, a little compulsive, an ability to handle stress, social.

In your opinion, what are the “right” reasons for going to culinary school?

You love to cook and you want to learn more and more about food and cooking and you want to learn it quickly.

What about the “wrong” reasons?

These days, I’d say don’t go to cooking school because you want to be a star chef.

(more…)

Culinary School, Cooking School or Just Some Cooking Classes - Where Should I Go?

Cooking as a hobby and as a profession have enjoyed a huge surge in popularity and prestige, thanks in large part to television networks dedicated to the art as well as shows designed to showcase culinary talent. As a result, opportunities to take classes to learn or hone your skills are more numerous than ever.

These programs run the gamut from stand-alone culinary schools to specific courses to teach niche skills to demonstrations at your local gourmet stores. Not all classes and programs are created the same, but that is not to say that one kind is more viable than another. Your personal goals will dictate the road you choose.

I often get emails asking me about culinary schools and cooking schools. People want to know what their path should be. While it’s a subject that isn’t often discussed, I think that enough people are confused by the vast array of culinary education opportunities out there that it’s time to look at the different types of culinary and cooking schools in depth.

Let’s look at definitions of different culinary education labels (culinary schools, cooking schools, etc) and examine the strengths and weaknesses of each. Then you can decide which path is right for you and your needs.

I want you to understand that there is no one right way to meet your career goals. You must find the path that works for you. There are plenty of incredible chefs out there who never attended culinary school. As a matter of fact, they are more the rule than the exception, although culinary school graduates certainly have more of a presence in 21st century kitchens.

Please do not think that, because of financial, time or geographical constraints, you can’t reach your goals. Culinary education is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. I want you to be aware of your options; you choose what works for you.

Culinary Schools

To be clear, I define a “culinary school” as a school that, as a stand-alone institution or as part of a chain of institutions, offers programs directly focused on the culinary or pastry arts and/or hotel and restaurant management. You can see a list of some top culinary schools in the United States listed by state on my web site.

Not all culinary schools are created equal. Some offer diplomas. If you earn a diploma from a culinary school, it means that you have successfully mastered the curriculum and met all criteria for graduation. The classes that you have taken are all focused on skills that are directly applicable to the preparation of food. You can earn a culinary diploma in 6 months to one year.

Other culinary schools offer Associate’s and/or Bachelor’s degrees. If you earn an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree, it means that you have successfully mastered all the culinary skills necessary for graduation. It also means that you have completed a paid or unpaid internship or externship and demonstrated competence in nutrition, management, culinary-related math and language courses. Generally speaking, an Associate’s degree program lasts anywhere from one to two years, and you can complete a Bachelor’s degree program in about three years.

Know that not all culinary schools hold students to the same standards. Some schools enjoy better reputations than others, even in the same family (Le Cordon Bleu in Scottsdale versus Le Cordon Bleu in Atlanta, for example).

Many culinary schools also offer what are known as “Enthusiast Classes.” These classes are designed for the home cook who is perhaps considering going into the business professionally. Enthusiast classes are also geared to passionate amateurs to get together, learn some new techniques, learn from a professional and work with state of the art equipment. You will certainly learn some skills in these types of classes and come away with some recipes, but they are not targeted towards professionals, and the skills you learn might not be applicable in the professional kitchen.

Pros: Prestige, top-notch culinary education, name recognition (Oh, you went to the CIA!), diploma, associate’s and bachelor’s degrees available, depending upon the school
Cons: Price, geographical constraints

Community Colleges and Technical Schools

Community Colleges and Technical Schools generally offer Associate’s Degree programs, although you could certainly sign up to take just one or two cooking courses at your local CC or tech school. Many of these schools are focused at two types of students: ones who need to earn an Associate’s degree before moving on to complete Bachelor’s degree studies at a four-year institution and working students who are interested in continuing education opportunities.

Not all community colleges and technical schools offer baking or culinary programs. Those that do, however, might be a viable alternative for someone interested in working in a professional kitchen. Community colleges generally charge much lower tuition than do culinary schools. While you might live hundreds of miles away from the nearest Le Cordon Bleu program or a Johnson & Wales campus, you could have a community college or tech school in your town that offers culinary associate’s degrees.

Pros: Affordability, location, Associate’s degree available, can just take a couple of classes
Cons: name recognition (You went where?), might not be available at every community college or tech school

Cooking Schools

While cooking school sounds similar to culinary school, there is a fundamental difference between the two. “Culinary schools” gear their classes to the professional (or to people who want to be professionals. “Cooking schools” are geared to teaching skills to the home cook. That is not to say there are not schools out there that call themselves “cooking schools” that are in fact what I would call “culinary schools” who train individuals who are thinking of entering the food industry or are very serious about cooking.

My friend Chef Robert Reynolds has a cooking school called Chefs Studio in Portland where he trains “cooks who need to take their skills to the next level; professionals who desire renewal, and also serious home cooks who wish to learn in the traditional French manner.”

Even some professional equipment manufacturers have cooking schools. Viking owns a cooking school that caters to home cooks of all ages. Viking Cooking School now has sixteen campuses throughout the US. Wilton has an extensive training program for amateur and professional cake decorators. Wilton’s main campus is Illinois, but Wilton offers basic and intermediate level cake decorating classes in almost every craft store in every town in America and beyond.

Hey, wait a minute - you said cooking schools are geared to teaching skills to the home cook. What’s this about professional cake decorators? While cake decorating is a specialty niche in the culinary world, it is more about artistic vision, painstaking technique and a steady hand than it is about cooking or baking. In that aspect, cake decorating doesn’t really fit into a culinary definition of cooking and baking in regard to taste, texture or ingredient function or cooking technique.

Stand Alone Cooking Schools

There are also stand alone cooking schools in many cities and towns across the US. Some cooking schools are run by chefs that continue to work cooking professionally, such as in wedding or party catering. Some cooking schools are run by people who, while not professional chefs, are exceptional cooks and want to share their love of cooking with others. Other cooking schools are geared for children and offer either afterschool or weekend/summer camp-type classes.

Cooking schools offer two general kinds of classes, demonstration and hands on. Demonstration classes are classes where the students are strictly observers. The instructor might lecture about a technique or a particular recipe and then demonstrate, cooking the entire recipe from start to finish. Students can ask questions and take notes (and possibly pictures), but they do not participate in the cooking.

In hands on classes, there might be a short introductory lecture, but then students are thrown into a technique or recipe, learning by doing with feedback and corrections from the instructor. You have to decide which type of class works for you. Demonstration classes might be great for someone who is a visual learner and who likes to take a lot of notes but might not want to demonstrate his/her skills in front of a group. Hands on classes are geared to kinesthetic learners—learners who learn by doing and moving around.

Some cooking schools offer stand alone classes. Some offer arcs of classes lasting four to six weeks and focusing on specific skills, and some schools offer a combination of the two. A home cook who feels confident in the kitchen but who would like to learn how to bake bread could sign up for a breads class. A new cook who doesn’t know a lot about cooking might sign up for an arc of classes focusing on basic cooking skills—knife skills, dry-heat cooking methods, etc.

Pros: many different schools geared to many different types of cooks, for the home cook (less intimidating), certificate of completion
Cons: Not geared toward professionals, no degrees available

Cooking Classes

Cooking classes is kind of a catch-all. Aside from classes offered through culinary schools and cooking schools, classes might be offered at a restaurant when the kitchen is closed, at a gourmet shop or a grocery store as a demonstration or even by local culinary clubs that might invite a chef to teach a class.

Cooking classes are most often geared toward home cooks (and potential customers, in the case of gourmet and grocery demonstrations). When I think of a cooking class, I think of a group of friends getting together for a social experience that involves cooking.

Pros: Social interaction, learning new skills
Cons: Not geared to professionals, no degrees available

Culinary School Resources

If you are interested in learning more about going to culinary school, cooking school or just want to take some cooking classes, be sure to check out my Culinary School Resources where you can read articles, chef interviews, find great books to read and find a listing of culinary schools near you. It is a growing resource and I will be adding more information monthly.