5 Ways to Prepare to Be a Head Chef
In the culinary world, the most prestigious career option is to work as a head chef. The head chef is the highest position in the kitchen, and it can take incredible skill, hard work and lots of training to achieve that title. If you’re willing to put in the time and work it takes to become a head chef, the role can be fulfilling as well as potentially lucrative.
You may enjoy creative freedom in the kitchen, or you can pursue being in charge at one of the world’s top restaurants.
Discover five of the best ways to prepare for a role as a head chef in the future.
1. Attend Culinary School
Not every head chef necessarily has to attend culinary school, but it can be the single most effective way to prepare. Aspiring head chefs can earn a full bachelor’s degree in the culinary arts, or they can take shorter certifications in anything from knife skills to baking and pastry.
Attending culinary school will boost your resume, ensure you learn the basics and make it easier for you to secure a job after graduation.
2. Apprentice Under a Great Chef
In order to become an amazing head chef, you will need to learn from the best. Although it might be tempting to strike out on your own as soon as possible, many chefs just beginning their culinary adventures can benefit from apprenticing with an existing executive chef.
By seeing how they run their kitchens, prepare food and handle busy rushes, you can learn more about excellency in a professional kitchen and what it takes to be a successful leader as well as a talented chef.
3. Create a Culinary Niche for Yourself
It is virtually impossible to become the best chef in every type of culinary field, so it makes sense to focus on a niche area where you can really excel.
Although it is great to learn how to cook a wide range of foods, you can stand out from the crowd by mastering one particular art form. You might decide to study vegan cuisine, avant-garde meals or Japanese ramen to help you become masterful in that particular field of cooking.
4. Taste New Things
One of the things that all great chefs have in common is a love for food. In addition to cooking lots of delicious items, make sure you are tasting as many things as possible.
Aspiring chefs might want to travel the world to taste authentic culinary offerings, and they should also visit farmer’s markets for fresh produce. Tasting a wide range of ingredients, flavors and cooked dishes can expand your palate and help you cook the best food possible.
5. Read as Much as Possible About Cuisine
Head chefs often have innate talents in the kitchen, but they also need to have a desire to learn more about their field. Reading cooking blogs, restaurant reviews and culinary magazines can be a smart way to stay current in the world of haute cuisine.
If your dream is to one day become a head chef and run a restaurant, then these five tips can put you on the right path toward culinary success.
Find out more about your opportunities to earn a culinary arts degree.
Interview With James Beard Award Winner Paul Kahan
Paul Kahan has won more awards than most other chefs in the United States, but do not expect to find him on a glitzy TV show. This computer scientist-turned-chef, who won the coveted James Beard Award for best chef last year, is very shy of the limelight; instead, he prefers to concentrate on his family and the couple of top Chicago restaurants he manages with his partners. The list includes nationally known restaurants such as The Publican and Blackbird.
Kahan was recently interviewed at Nico Osteria, his latest Chicago restaurant, which opened its doors to the public in December. He said: “Do I want to compete and do I want to hang out with a bunch of chefs, or do I want to hang out with my wife and work in my restaurants and go home on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and sit in the yard in the garden and drink a bottle of ice-cold rose?”
Kahan’s long relationship with food began with hanging salamis and slow-cooked corned beef at the deli owned by his father. When he turned 15 he helped at his dad’s smoked fish company in Chicago; however, this was not the start of his career as chef.
Instead he enrolled at Northern Illinois University, where he studied computer science and mathematics. He says that at that time he never even thought about becoming a chef; it simply was not a viable option.
After university it took Kahan only three months to discover that he hated working in a cubicle. This is when he left the computer industry and started working with renowned Chicago chefs Rick Bayless and Erwin Drechsler for 15 years. It turned out to be a great decision.
Today Kahan is one of the owners of One Off Hospitality, where he is also the executive chef. His partners include Donnie Madia, who was nominated in the best restaurateur category of the 2014 James Beard Awards. Together they run no less than seven restaurants in Chicago.
Among Kahan’s greatest fans are first lady Michelle Obama and chef, television personality and author Anthony Bourdain. Last year Kahan shared the sought-after James Beard Award for best chef with David Chang from New York – the chef behind the Momofuko restaurants.
Interview With Executive Chef Gerald Ward
The executive chef at Union Hospital in Maryland, Gerald Ward, spent his childhood years in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania. He loved sports; he played basketball, baseball and football when he went to college. Somewhere along the line, however, he discovered his real passion: baking and cooking. The Cecil Daily, the oldest newspaper on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, recently interviewed the chef. When asked how he got started in the world of culinary arts, Ward replied that he attended a small college with one aim only: to play football. The college, however, had a baking class, which he enrolled for. It was about commercial baking and to his surprise he found that he enjoyed it immensely.
After spending two years at Thaddeus Stevens College, Ward decided to enroll at the Atlantic City-based Academy of Culinary Arts in New Jersey.
Later he worked at the Fontainebleau Hilton in Miami, where he was fortunate enough to serve under one of the top five pastry chefs on earth. He still remembers how he stayed after work just to sit in his mentor’s chocolate room to learn the right way to roll marzipan. He was like a sponge soaking up knowledge in those days, he says, because he dreamed of becoming a top pastry chef.
Ward says a chef has to be good at multitasking. All the experience gained in one job can be used in the next one. Despite all his experience, he attended special classes to diversify his skills. He still often uses recipes that he prepared during the first years of his career.
A typical day at the Union Hospital starts at 5 a.m. with a meeting of staff members to discuss the day’s work. Breakfast starts at 7 a.m. There are many different responsibilities, such as in-house catering, a cafeteria, a coffee shop, regular day care, adult day care and meals on wheels.
The menu changes every three weeks. To be successful in his job, Ward has to trust others enough to delegate. He also orders food and meets with clients. His workday usually ends at around 4 p.m.
The best part of the job, Ward says, is leaving in the afternoon after making sure everyone is happy. He believes in an honest day’s work and this philosophy has helped him throughout his career.