/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>6352446
>Should I become a chef?
If you like working shitty hours for low pay you might become a cook. If you manage to distinguish yourself as a cook maybe you'd have a chance to consider becoming a chef.

>>6352446
>is it worth it to go trough culinary school to be a chef?

No, not really. Start as a low job in the kitchen like the dishwasher or prep cook and work your way up.

>> I only heard bad things about the job like you're always stressed out, you work a lot more than other people for not much more money etc.

Yeah, that's pretty much true. but it's the same whether you go to culinary school or not. only difference is if you go to culinary school you get to start your new career with a buttload of student loans!

>>I really like cooking and I'm interested in learning more.
See if you can get a job (or perhaps even volunteer) at a local place to see how you like the industry.

About the finish my second semester at this culinary program at a community college and I would not suggest it. If it was a few months ago I would probably tell you to go but the more I do this school shit the more i hate it. Do what everyone else is saying -- get a job in a kitchen as a prep/dishwasher then decide. I am currently working part time while going to CC and I wish i could just drop out and work more hours because i learn a shit load more from working.

>>6352446
Get a job in a kitchen before you go to school. That way you can at least see first hand what you'll be getting into.

The first thing I was told on the first day was how many chefs commit suicide, get divorced, and are addicted to pain pills
I went to a community college for one semester. I got my Hep A vaccine and got servsafe certifide. Those last two are an employers biggest concern besides knife safety. You're first semester you'll learn kitchen safety, some knife skills, mother sauces, and a few other important things. If you're able to get a decent job within that first semester (and you should) see if you like it. It's an unforgiving industry but if you really have a passion and a drive for it you should at least try.
Consider all of this.

long hours, physical pain, stress sure
but there is no feeling in the world after finishing a service..its fantastic

>>6352446
The thread pretty much answered your question, so as a french culinary graduate, I'll echo their sentiments.

Don't go to culinary school, its a waste of time and money. Really its only for the really wealthy or stupid. ( I fall in the stupid category btw)

Half of the people in my class are either really rich or have rich parents.

Now I'm working a 12$/hr cook job in a super stressful and busy restaurant. It is miles away from the glamor they showed on TV.

Honestly, I am beginning to be extremely disillusioned with it. I love cooking but boy was it a mistake to become a chef.

you don't go through culinary school to become a chef, you go through culinary school to become a cook and eventually work your way up to becoming a chef

personally I wouldn't do it unless mommy and daddy are going to pay for it

>>6352489

this, a lot of people romanticize the career and end up fucking miserable

>>6353180
When I'm employed is when my family eats out the most. The passion is just sucked out of you. I feel you so hard, bro.

Not OP but also considering to go to culinary school this September. The school I wanna go to tests its students to see who enters and who doesn't and I feel I don't know enough right now (only started cooking for real very recently), so what is the best way to learn cooking? This may seem like a weird question but the tests are in June and I don't have much time to focus on it 24/7. Is there like a path to follow? Right now I'm just seeing stuff like how to debone a chicken and training knife skills with random vegetables and then do some random recipes I find on my mother's cookbook.

Pic is of the school I wanna enter

>>6353180
the worst thing about culinary schools is that they turn out so many graduates that have never worked in a kitchen but somehow believe they're ready to run one. if I can offer anyone going to culinary school one piece of advice it is that when you get a job in the industry and the chef tells you something, the answer is yes chef, not we did it this way in school or but this way is better, just yes chef

>>6353198
I should add that it's a very recent thing and that's why don't know most of the basic things. I like cooking though, and seems to me the only way out of my "forever-a-salesman" life (I decided it was a good idea to study film and cinema in college, the most useless thing ever)

>>6352446
>>6352446
This is very important and I hope you listen to me, despite that it's going to be a contradiction in a few seconds.

Don't listen to 4chan for life choices.

Don't fucking do it.

The only good piece of advice is along the same line "get a job near the industry and decide for yourself".

And that's only marginally better because you don't get any idea wtf a captain goes through from mopping the deck. It's actually a pretty bad suggestion to decide on whether or not to become a chef by washing dishes, having been a dish washer I got to tell you I wished I was the chef.

That doesn't matter though.

The people on 4chan are the kind of people that have a lot of opinions about everything and love saying when they hate something, even if it's part of something they love.

So the only advice I can give to you is go talk to a chef and get the fuck out of here.

Every opinion, even to some extent mine, can fuck right off. We're a bunch of no nothings when it comes to life advice and as a general rule we should not be listened to.

>>6353198
Build your palate, try different recipes, binge on master chef (occasional tips and tricks of the trade) plus recipe ideas, MAKE VERTICALS FOR CK. you learn SO MUCH when you try out your own recipes and make it up as you go. Also really helps with organization. Get any veggies that are on sale and chop your fucking ass off. Watch instructional videos and get your shit cut right. You'll be eating a ton of stir fry but it pays off.

>>6352446
Kitchen manager\cook here, never went to school never wanted to work in food, but I passed servsafe this month..Im an artist at heart, but mcdonalds, pizza places, sandwiches shops, that all happened. I make 15\hr at a casual restaurant, stressful as it is, its good experience to have because it seems like people are always looking for cooks\chefs. My boss went to restaurant school in her 50s..from what Ive seen if youre a hard enough and dedicated worker you don't need that schooling, but if you can afford it, never turn down an opportunity to learn.

>>6353211
Thanks man, seems I'm on the right path then. Just one thing, what does "MAKE VERTICALS FOR CK" mean?

>>6353222
a vertical is a recipe in a vertical image form with pictures of the process

it takes the right kind of crazy. cause to make it you gotta work harder then everyone. the better the rep of the place you work at the less money you get. but man i love it.

>>6353595
>the better the rep of the place you work at the less money you get
How the fuck does that work?

>>6352446
how much do you love working in a kitchen/doing stuff like costing dishes?

being a chef is a labor of love. I'm not just talking out of my ass either. It's long, demanding days that never end. It's low pay to effort ratio. It's only something you do if you can't let yourself do anything else. That said, if you've the drive it is definitely rewarding.

I haven't bothered reading the thread so I don't know your background, but I'd recommend if you haven't, work in a kitchen for about six months and talk with the chefs. See it first hand and partially live it.

If anything I said earlier even kind of doesn't sound like you, keep cooking as a hobby. You'll be happier.

Where are you from? Apprenticeships are the way to go, if you can get one, do that instead of fulltime school.

Can anyone give a typical culinary school syllabus? (In as much detail as possible please, even if copypaste)

>>6353785
The same as any other major business I would think. More money coming in means more for the greedy fucks running the place to keep.

>>6354594
I was apprenticed to a decent chef when I was in high school.
Now I'm a qualified chef, with the same piece of paper as anybody who went to a culinary school. The only difference is that I've got four extra years experience on any of them motherfuckers.
Hell, I don't even work in kitchens any more. I got lucky with a small business I started with my friend so am comfortable without being in a kitchen. But I will always have those skills, and that education for the lean times.
>>6354608
An apprenticeship is different, but I had to get hygiene tickets, duty management tickets. I had to prove my knife skills, I had to memorize all sorts of details about cooking and food. Food safety details, the cuts of meat, food history. French cooking, Chinese cooking, Italian cooking, English cooking.
Also just look up 'typical culinary school syllabus' you fat fuck.

>>6354641
I was going to but something stopped me lol. I might have a chance to do an apprenticeship soon but I'm in two minds about it. The restaurant looks really good, with sourcing local ingredients, farming their own honey and shit like that but it would mean earning £13,000-£16,000 for 2 years and then not a lot more for the rest of my life

>>6354676
>the rest of your life
That's a bit of a fucking strange way of looking at it, bruv.
Look at it this way; you spend the next 2-3 years learning a skill that could literally take you round the world while your dickhead mates fuck about failing to finish a university degree. You earn a bit of money (make sure to put just a little aside, 1.5k squid will go a long way in Thailand or whatever) and in doing so you make your life better. I don't even fucken' work in the industry, mate. I gave that up years ago, but I'm better for having done my apprenticeship, and I've got a skill and the qualifications to prove it. I've got something I can always do up until the day I retire.
How old are you?

Would Culinary school be worth it if I know I can get out with no debt?

>>6354685
25 tomorrow. Already did a useless degree. Wish I just did a trade now

>>6354690
How valuable is your time?

>>6354690
If you're in a position where you can go to higher education and come out with no debt do a fucking law degree or medicine.
>>6354694
Happy birthday.
See I thought you were five or six years younger. I'm only a couple years older than you so it's a similar position.
Do you reckon you can do the work? I guarantee you'll be too tired to spend much of your money on anything.
Will you be able to survive on your meager income? I know it's different in your mid twenties. I've got business loans to repay and shit, I can't just spend my money like water.
Why do you want more education? If it's for lack of anything better to do, I'd recommend rethinking, but if you love it do it.

>>6354703
Pretty. But I still would be working as an apprentice, I'd just try to do both.

>>6354707
I'd be coming out with no debt because the two years is only $13k, 7k if I do good my first year

>>6352446
The way I got into it was asking around high end restaurants if they wanted an apprentice where I'd pay for my own tuition. After a couple of months I asked chef if there were any courses I could do where the tutor comes to me rather than me going to college and I ended up doing that instead without having to pay shit for it.

You'll only wear yourself out even faster if you go to college alongside working kitchen hours. And yeah the hours and pay are shit but it's also the most fun I've ever had in a job before.

I only know of one person that was able to make something of his culinary degree. But he is gay and immediately moved out to California after graduating. He had some connections. Everyone else I knew ended up working diners or small restaurants with a shit ton of debt.

you should be a chemistry chef

thats what im interested in like formulating the flavorings and stuff for products

fuck being a chef

>>6354768
Is his name Joey?

>>6354622
>More money coming in means more for the greedy fucks running the place to keep.
Ok but it implies that the better you get the less you make, that's absolutely retarded. I understand not giving you a raise and keeping the difference but that implies something else entirely.

If you DO go to chefs school: go to a small one that is well-connected to high-profile restaurants. Get to know your instructors, bust your ass, and do everything you're told. Use the school's connections to stage or get work at high-profile restaurants. Bust your ass and do everything you're told.

The only reason to go to school is the network, and that's only valuable if you don't have to impoverish yourself to do it. Which, if you're going to CIA, Cordon Bleu, local college, etc you will probably be doing anyway.


The important thing is work ethic. Show up, put your head down, get the job done, ask questions if you need to, be accountable for your work. You don't need to go to school for shit like that, you just need to man up and do it.

>>6353211
By the way, I'd like to thank all anons for those verticals. No substitute for actually seeing what it's supposed to look like. Documenting failures as well as successes helps us all learn.

Just read that Pepin had a stroke. Feels bad man. Would recommend any of the old PBS documentaries of him, Julia Childs, or others over the game show format.

>>6352446
If you're learning to cook for yourself/friends, don't do the school thing unless you have money to burn. They're like degree mills: take your money and promise you you'll be the next Hubert Keller. You might learn something but no more than you could learn from a community college or any cooking-related meetup.

As others have said, cooking professionally is hard as fuck. I couldn't do it. Having learned to cook by spending a few years fucking around in the kitchen and reading/watching everything I could about it for the first year, I have the utmost respect for those who do.

Been working as a Chef for the past 7 years. Recently enrolled in a HVACR trade program. Never looking back.

>>6352446
Man.. I'm turning 21 in april, and am graduating from culinary school on the 15th of May this year.
If I could go back, I wouldn't go to culinary school.. I landed a paid internship at the nicest fine dining restaurant in ND, and now have a job there on weekends. I mean, I love food and everything.. but I don't want to work my ass off for nothing for the next 10 years.

Idk man, do what you want.. But I wouldn't enroll if I had a second chance.

>>6355642
All upstart cooks want to work for places run by chefs who are famous in the local scene because they (believe that they) can learn a lot. This is true most of the time.

Also, because these joints are super busy most of the time, they will pay you "shift pay" because hourly would be expensive. It ends up being around $100 a day + free beer after closing for working open to close. In Chicago, at least. It's pretty fucking stressful.