Brief description of the chef's job. Profession chef: sounds delicious

Every adult knows how to cook at least a little. Even a man who is very far from cooking is able to fry scrambled eggs or master the “most complex” process of preparing naval pasta. However, this does not mean he can be called a cook. A cook is a specialist whose professional activity is related to preparing dishes. Good chefs are highly valued and can make a brilliant career, but to skyrocket to the heights of success you need to really love your profession, constantly improve and not be afraid of experiments!

This profession is very ancient: the first cook can be called a Cro-Magnon man, who accidentally put a piece of meat into the fire and realized that it tasted better that way. This, of course, is a joke, but there is a large grain of truth in it: there is no more honorable and ancient profession on earth than “breadwinner”! In all centuries, good cooks have been highly valued. They had many cooks and cooks under their command and were persons close to the nobles. Naturally: if you don’t trust the cook, then what should you eat? The proud title of “cook” was somewhat discredited during the Soviet Union, in which the inferiority of the public catering system of that time played a significant role. Most of our compatriots believed that they simply cannot serve tasty food in an ordinary canteen. Indeed, dishes were often prepared with gross violations of technology. A cook today cannot afford such “pranks.” In a market economy, competition exists between any enterprises catering: from high-end restaurants to budget eateries! Do you want to work in a prestigious institution? Please comply!

The essence of professional activity

Chefs are in demand in food industry(for example, in workshops for the production of semi-finished products), trade (in cooking), in catering establishments of any level (from garden and factory canteens to Michelin-starred restaurants). Wealthy people They also hire personal kitchen wizards. There is a certain specialization within the profession. For example, the professional responsibilities of a culinary chef include:

• calculation of starting products and finished dishes;
• preparing various dishes in accordance with established recipes (all technological stages);
• determining the readiness of products based on instrument indicators and appearance;
• decoration of ready-made dishes;
• division of products into portions.

A pastry chef also performs similar duties, but he deals only with sweet dishes. He requires even more imagination and artistic taste. Cook-technologist – the highest level in the organization production process on the spot. It is he who is in charge of compiling a list of necessary products, assessing their quality, and calculating consumption. A technologist can develop new recipes and draw up technological maps of relevant processes. He is obliged to instruct chefs, monitor the process of preparing dishes and their storage conditions, since it is the chef-technologist who is responsible for the quality of the finished product.

Cook: pros and cons of the profession

A cook is an interesting and creative profession, with good career prospects. And you’ll never go hungry when you’re on the stove. But there are also disadvantages to it:

• risk of getting better,
• difficult working conditions,
• high responsibility for the quality of work.

What qualities should a chef have?

For a good cook, the following are especially necessary:

• knowledge of the technology of preparing various dishes and the ability to implement it in practice,
• ability to handle the equipment necessary for preparing dishes,
• good eye,
• ideal tactile, olfactory and taste memory,
• ability to understand various products,
• good coordination and fine motor skills;
• physical endurance,
• creative thinking,
• developed sense of time,
• responsibility and punctuality,
• desire for professional improvement.

Despite the fact that cooking is considered a traditionally feminine activity, the best chefs in the world are men!

Where are the chefs trained?

You can become a cook simply: just complete short-term courses based on secondary education. Depending on the program and duration of study, graduates are assigned the appropriate qualification ranks (up to 6th). The most prestigious at the moment are training and advanced training courses for chefs at the Higher School of Cooking Art (Moscow). In every major Russian city there are colleges of the food industry and nutrition, where they train chef-technologists with secondary specialized education. But get a job good place It's easier with higher education. In the capital alone there are three universities that train food technologists of the highest qualifications.

Cook: salary and career

A good cook can quickly “grow up” to become a technologist, or even a production manager. But the top of the career ladder is the position of a chef in a fashionable restaurant: this is not only a very high salary, but also universal respect and excellent conditions for culinary creativity. Comparing the salary of a chef at a five-star hotel restaurant and a school canteen worker is at least unethical: they are at different poles. But we can give average figures for the industry. In Moscow, a cook's salary ranges from 22-35 thousand rubles per month; in Russia as a whole, the range is wider: from 12 to 38 thousand. But the chef will not go hungry at any salary, and this must be appreciated!

COOK

General information about the profession

The profession of a cook is one of the oldest in the world. A restaurant, canteen, café, snack bar, and cookery are unthinkable without a chef. The importance of this profession is difficult to overestimate. How a person eats affects his health, mood and productivity.

Cook- a specialist who prepares food in catering establishments. Of course, almost anyone can cook something edible. What then is the difference between amateur and professional cooking? Yes, the fact is that a chef can cook something truly delicious from the same ingredients and be able to serve it to the table with taste. Also, a chef is not only a person who knows how to prepare dishes technologically correctly and in strict accordance with the recipe, but also a specialist who loves his work, receives sincere pleasure and joy from it when the results of his work delight his clients.

The profession of a cook has developed along with civilization. Since ancient times, society has trusted the best cooks to prepare food, because tasty and healthy food is not just the satisfaction of a natural life need, it is also a guarantee of health, and, if you want, pleasure. It is not surprising that later professional chefs began to provide food preparation services mainly for rich and noble people, and only with the development of the restaurant business did this profession once again become widespread.

Owners of cafes and restaurants know very well that the success of an establishment directly depends on the skill of the chef, on the variety, exclusivity or exoticism of the dishes offered. This profession has acquired particular importance in our age of speed and constant time pressure. People eat less and less at home, and more and more in public catering establishments. And if we remember that food for a person, as we have already said, is not only a source of energy and nutrients, but also great taste pleasure, then it will become clear that a person who can give food special taste, will always be in demand. In addition, we should not forget that cooks are indispensable not only in cafes and restaurants, but also in institutions such as kindergartens, schools, and hospitals.

Advantages of the profession:variety of activities, creativity, demand in the labor market.

Profession restrictions:not always comfortable conditions labor, you must have a medical record.

Type and class of profession

The profession of a cook belongs to the “Man - Nature” type, as it is associated with working with natural objects (products), it requires a high level of development of observation, attentiveness, and physical endurance.

Also, the profession of a cook can be classified as a “Human - Artistic Image” type, since it requires imagination and aesthetic taste, creative abilities, and imaginative thinking.

The profession of a cook can also be classified as a “Human-Technology” type, since in it one may encounter the operation of technical devices and the management of technical devices.

The profession of a cook belongs to the “executive” class, as it is associated with the execution of decisions, work according to a given model, compliance with existing rules and regulations, following instructions, etc.

Contents of the activity

Cooks work in canteens, restaurants, cafes, and pastry shops. They prepare various dishes and confectionery products in accordance with recipes. The cook controls the quality of products and compliance with the rules of their storage, monitors compliance with hygiene and sanitation standards. The cook must know the basics of cooking, the requirements for preparing various dishes and processing products, recipes, diet recipes, and also be able to work with kitchen utensils.

The responsibilities of the cook include the following functions: receiving raw materials and processing them, preparing cold appetizers, hot dishes, preparing dishes for serving and distributing dishes (if there are no waiters).

Modern chefs use in their work various machines (automatic and semi-automatic) designed for processing flour and preparing dough, for cleaning and cutting vegetables, as well as all kinds of mixers, mixers, dosers, etc.

A cook is a creative profession. The taste perception of dishes depends not only on what products and spices are included in them, but also on how beautifully they are decorated. The cook is the direct creator of a good mood among visitors who want to eat tasty and good food.

Requirements for knowledge and skills

To successfully master the profession of a cook, basic knowledge of natural science is required.

The cook must know:

• basics of cooking;
• requirements for preparing various dishes and processing products;
• cooking principles dietary dishes;
• recipes for preparing and decorating dishes, etc.

The cook must be able to:

• work with kitchen utensils;
• prepare dishes in accordance with recipes;
• process various products etc.

Requirements for individual characteristics

To be successful as a cook, you must have the following professionally important qualities:

• penchant for service work
• ability to concentration,
• a penchant for working with natural objects,
• penchant for manual labor,
• physical endurance,
• a penchant for creative work.

Working conditions

A cook can work either independently or in a team that may consist of several specialists. Most often, representatives of this profession work indoors. These can be the premises of canteens, cafes, restaurants. The work takes place mainly while standing, in motion, using special tools. As a rule, this is a mobile activity associated with activity and physical labor.

A chef in his work is often limited by the requirements of the recipe and the wishes for the final result of the work on the part of the owners of the establishment in which he works. Often, only chefs with their own reputation can dictate their will and show independence in their work. It is important to have a medical record.

Medical contraindications

Medical restrictions for the cook:

• diseases of the musculoskeletal system;
• nervous system;
• cardiovascular system;
• organs of vision, smell;
• immune system;
• various shapes allergies (particularly to food products);
• various infectious diseases (for example, tuberculosis).

If these diseases are present, working as a cook can lead to deterioration of health, as well as create insurmountable obstacles to mastering and growing within this profession.

Paths to obtaining a profession

You can obtain a profession as a cook in professional educational organizations, as well as undergo vocational training and retraining in organizations engaged in educational activities.

Graduates of professional educational organizations are most often assigned the 3rd category, which allows them to work as assistant cooks. To reach the level of a chef, you need to achieve ranks 5-6. Possible development paths for a chef:

Specialization and development of related areas.

Chefs can specialize in specific areas of culinary art, dishes of a particular cuisine, etc. But professional development will require constant specialization and additional education. Mastery in this profession can be achieved at the level of a chef, who is not only a specialist, but also a leader.

The advantages of being a chef are endless. But there are also disadvantages. And when you choose a specialty, you need to know exactly all the advantages and disadvantages of a particular profession. That is why today we will look into the pros and cons of being a chef.

The profession of a cook is one of the most ancient. In principle, most people on the planet will be able to cook something edible for themselves and friends, however, this is not enough to be called a chef. A professional chef is someone whose culinary skills have been brought to perfection. The advantages of being a chef in modern world even more numerous than, say, in the Middle Ages.

This profession has been formed almost since primitive communal times; at all times there have been people who knew how to cook food better than all other tribesmen. And there have always been those who felt the need for this kind of service. Therefore, the profession of a cook has always been in demand. Despite all the pros and cons of being a chef, a person’s desire to eat tasty food has always been at the heart of cooking. And a person who mastered this skill could make history in tsarist times and eliminate any enemies through their stomach. Kulina was a cook for the ancient Greek gods of medicine and health, Asclepius and his daughter Hygeia (who gave the name to the science of hygiene). In honor of Kulina, the art of preparing dishes was called cooking.

What are the pros and cons of being a chef?

As in any other business, there are pros and cons of being a chef. First of all, it is worth knowing that in order to work as a cook, you need such personal qualities as a good and sensitive taste perception and simply good taste in every sense, good sense of smell, tactile sensitivity. A chef simply really, really needs good imagination and creative inclinations, a good eye, a dynamic mind, the ability to multitask, and the ability to improvise. A sense of time is necessary to notice the cooking time of dishes. The cook must be able to quickly and accurately estimate by eye the required amount of liquid or bulk products, must identify deviations from the desired technological process during production, must be able to recognize the freshness of products, and know the technology of preparing dishes. A good cook controls his time, distributes it correctly, is resilient and energetic. The cook has good fine motor skills, excellent coordination, and is a responsible, punctual and prudent person.

The advantage of being a cook for a man is that it is easier for him to find a good job. It is believed that the best cooks are men. But many women do not agree with this and try to refute this stereotype with their professionalism and talent. This profession is highly respected and valued in society, because nutrition is one of the fundamental needs of the human body and lies at the base of the pyramid of needs.

Despite the fact that time does not stand still, the pros and cons of being a chef have remained unchanged for many centuries.

Advantages of being a chef

The advantages include, first of all, that this is one of the most creative and people need professions. Therefore, it always not only brought joy, but also paid well. In modern Moscow, for example, the salary of a good cook in a fashionable restaurant is measured as a sum with many zeros. In this matter there is always room for flights of fancy and manifestations of ingenuity. Chefs are in great demand, especially if the chef specializes in some rare area of ​​cooking. Employers lure good chefs and hold on tightly to such personnel. In addition, for everyday family life professional skills will be very useful to pamper your home with interesting dishes.

One of the advantages of being a cook can also be attributed to the fact that in catering establishments a talented cook can easily make a career up to a chef. Gurus of the profession are in demand all over the world; they are invited to give master classes and consultations in different countries peace. Cooking brings people together.

Disadvantages of being a chef

The disadvantages of the profession include the fact that this work is very responsible and requires physical endurance. After all, you will have to stand on your feet all day at a hot stove; not everyone can stand it. With all this, you will have to constantly keep your attention sharp so as not to forget or miss anything. During the working day there is almost no opportunity to somehow relax. And the chef must also monitor the actions of the entire team and direct the work of this production mechanism. Also, there is a risk of injury during work; cooks work with sharp and hot objects and can get cut or burned.

When comparing the pros and cons of being a chef, you must first of all understand what you want to achieve in your professional development, what you expect from your work. For someone who goes into this field by vocation, the advantages of being a chef clearly outweigh the disadvantages.