ACF or College?

[Anonymous No.5255790]

I need advice from any certified Chefs on /ck/. I've been in the restaurant industry for about 9 years now, and I want to be certified as a chef. I could go to my local college, which would earn me the title of Sous chef, but I feel like I can get a better title than that. My question is should I go to school for Sous Chef, or apply through the ACF for Chef due Cuisine testing? Anyone have any experience/ advice on this?

[Anonymous No.5255844]

>>5255790
Get a degree in Engineering. Anyone can cook, not every one can engineering if ya know what I mean.

[Anonymous No.5255853]

>>5255790
>certified as a chef.
u wot m8

[Anonymous No.5257752]

just saw this tired as fuck and was about to hit the sack but if this is still up tomorrow morning (330am here) ill type it up. sorry just take too long to do it now

[Anonymous No.5257766]

>>5255790
Also a few questions to help me help u what kind of experience do u have. What kind of foodservice do u work in/have u worked in? What do u want to ultimately want to do? What are the reasons u want to get certified? A better job? A pay raise? A different position? How much time and money do u have to put into your education? Srry for shitty type. Postin from phone

[Anonymous No.5258077]

>>5255790

>Taking food seriously, wanting to elevate the craft
>Posting on /ck/

Choose one.

[Anonymous No.5258108]

>>5257766
Don't worry about it, I post from my phone too. I've been in the industry for about 9 years now. I'm currently just cooking in fine dining but for past jobs I've done scheduling, interviews, inventory, and have managed over a max of 13 people at one time. I've never worked in fast food, but my previous managing job, as well as most of my others, were in casual dining. As for my goals, all of the above you said. I also want the title as sort of a personal goal for myself. As for money, I have some saved up but am willing to spend as much as necessary. My main concern is the my colleges program gives you the title of Sous chef, whereas I feel I'm overqualified for that, and can get the title of Chef de Cuisine.

[Anonymous No.5258110]

>>5258077
Haha good point.

[Anonymous No.5258629]

>>5258077
whatever dude i post on here but i also post on egullet, stella culinary and cheftalk. I come on here to help people who also enjoy food. its attitudes like that that really discourage people from experimenting and getting better.

[Anonymous No.5258631]

>>5258629

People still go to egullet? Every time I go there it's like last post july of 2 years ago.

[Anonymous No.5258680]

>>5255790

first off go ahead and eliminate the local college course. Sous Chef is not a designation an accreditation can give. its a position in the kitchen hierarchy not something you can take with you and chances are their courses are bullshit.

i dont even like to hire people from CIA or Johnston and Whales and those are "Top Tier" Culinary Schools. IMO culinary school in america these days is a joke. they are over priced for what you get and are being flooded with people who think they can go to culinary school and walk out and own a restaurant when in my experience they cant do shit. In C school ins five ppl working on one plate making it perfect. in the real world is one person working on 5 (or more) and making every one exactly the same.

I think you should be required atleast a year or two working in a kitchen before they even admit you to C school but thats just me.

if you qualify for Certified Chef de Cuisine Position go for it but know that it will take some time to come to fruition. You have to have your employer say that youve had three years as a Sous Chef or chef who supervises a shift or station(s) in a foodservice operation. Must have supervised at least two full-time people in the preparation of food. as well as 30hrs in each nutrition, food saftey and sanitation, and supervisory management PLUS 100hrs continuing education.

all this has to be done BEFORE you can take your written exam which is not easy and then assuming you pass it your practical which is even harder. you can fail for stupid things like misuse of a hand towel. points off for unshined shoes etc. Practice practice practice. you also have to provide your own dishes cookware and food for the exam so you want to make sure you can pass it the first time or it gets expensive.

if you do pass then you must complete 80 continuing edu hours over the next 5 yrs and recertify every five years plus ACF membership dues.

[Anonymous No.5258687]

>>5258680
not trying to discourage you IMO an ACF certification is miles ahead of anything else offered in american and as an employer youd be lucky to have one on staff esp outside of the big culinary cities ( NYC, Chicago, Dallas, LA, etc) just trying to let you know what youre in for so youre not suprised.

personally i reccomend to my guys who want to go t o C school is 1 of 2 things either apply for a good culinary school overseas (france, spain, portugal, japan, whatever type of cuisine you are most interested in) or take the $ you would spend of culinary school and use it to travel abroad and learn that way. spend a year working here and a year working there. we dont have enough time behind us in america to have a really rich culinary history so you really cant get the same kind of education here as you can elsewhere.

also if you want to open up your own place someday i highly recommend that you take some small business and finance classes. you dont need a degree just take the ones you need. one of the biggest mistakes chefs make is thinking that since they can run the BOH that they can run a business with just those skills. its a lot harder than it looks.

also to help you along the way some things you should check out are stellaculinary, chefsteps, cheftalk, starchefs, worldchefs.org and modernistcuisine.com lots of great info there.

also there is a rouxbe torrent on TPB that i highly recommend and pick up a copy of Rhulmans Ratio. a really indispensable book. look for things about technique rather than recipes also need a copy of le repertoire de la cuisine. some other great ones are escoffier cook book, jacques pepins complete techniques, and larousse gastronomic but Ratio and Repertoire and the two main ones i reccommend.

good luck hit me up with anymore questions

also gardemanger.com

[Anonymous No.5258767]

>>5258687
Thanks a lot, I really appreciate all the advice. My last question is about the sanitation, nutrition, and food safety. You said you need that PLUS CEH? They weren't very clear on their site whether the 90 hour course I found for it applies to the CEH.

[Anonymous No.5258787]

>>5258687
P.S. The school I'm referring to is Columbus State Community College. If that means anything at all.

[Anonymous No.5258811]

>>5255790
you don't go to school to earn the title of "sous chef"

a sous chef is what you become when you get a job as a sous chef, which is means your the assistant chef

[Anonymous No.5258832]

I was in a similar bind, OP. Luckily the owner of the restaurant I was working at ponied up the cash to certify me. It (certification) looks good on a resume and keeps you in a higher salary bracket when applying for new jobs. Of course, if you suck at cooking and restaurant management, then you should proably go to Le Cordon BLeu or wherever they churn out these talentless faggots who can't cook on a line.

[Anonymous No.5258836]

>>5258811
>>5258680

Just to quote from the Columbus State Community College Culinary information
" The graduate, upon successfully completing the American Culinary Federation (ACF) national written and practical exams will qualify as a Certified Sous Chef (CSC)"

[Anonymous No.5258841]

>>5258811
There's certifications for this shit now. It means you pay more. I get these fucking cooking school bastards applying for jobs all the time. About 10 percent of them can handle high volume, and they don't think they have to deck brush the fucking floors. I hire Mexicans instead.

[Anonymous No.5258847]

>>5258787
Yeah honestly any school that isnt specifically a culinary school (or allied art institute) isnt worth the time or money unless you do something like chemistry with a food science concentration but you dont really need to do that unless you want to either work for a big company like best foods, monsanto, americas test kitchen etc or want to be a Ferran Adria & DEVELOP new techniques for modernist cuisine(molecular gastronomy though i hate that term)

and as ive said i think american culinary school is a waste of time & money you spend a little over a year learning the classics(sauces stocks knife skills and basic techniques) and almost a year on bullshit like english and hummanities and then if you want a bacchelors instead of associates you have 2 more years of basically just business management with a restaurant focus. while this is good and useful its nothing you cant learn working in different kitchens and making $ instead of spending it plus you get real world experience and sites like chefsteps and the rouxbe torrent covers it all too. there was an article im sure you can find if you look for it about the countrys top chefs like Ripert being asked if they were starying out today if they would go to school or not. most said theyd rather just work under some really good chefs.

if there is some chefs you really like around you send them a letter(preferably a paper one) telling them who you are what you do and that youd love the opportunity to work underthem when ever a spot opens up youd be suprised how much they respond to that and IMO id much rather hire someone whose worked under Riper, Bucose, aduriz, redzepi, keller etc with no degree than a culinary grad

[Anonymous No.5258857]

>>5258767
and yes the CEH is in addition to the other courses but the ACF has it listed here http://www.acfchefs.org/ACFSource/Certification/CEHOpportunities.aspx

and if you do there online quizes every month you can rackem up

also it seems your college is basically just offering a course to prep you to pass the CSC exam by the ACF which IMO is still a waste of money but altogether different than a lot of colleges independent culinary programs. its nothing that with 9 yrs of experience a bit of practice and studying up you can pass yourself for a fraction of the cost

[Anonymous No.5258862]

>>5258841

mexicans are the backbone of the american foodservice industry

[Anonymous No.5258864]

>>5258862
Yes, I thank their Pagan Catholic Madonna every day for them, and their tiny, quick hands and strong backs.

[Anonymous No.5258880]

>>5258864
lol like what couple in the history of marriage hasnt consumated the thing. maybe not on the first night but at somepoint. would have been much more believable if they just said she was unable to have kids instead of a married woman who never had sex. why the fuck even get married and what guy would agree to that shit

[Anonymous No.5258891]

>>5258880
It is not up to me to question the Mexicans and their strange gods.

[Anonymous No.5258893]

>>5258880
did I miss a post here or what

[Anonymous No.5258900]

>>5258893
talkin bout catholics and the love of their maried but still "virgin" mary

[Anonymous No.5258905]

>>5258857
Gotcha. Thanks again for all the advice.