Saturday, January 3, 2009

Tips for Working in the Kitchen

Working as a chef or cook is stressful at the best of times, but if you have a chaotic kitchen without any order or management, things can get way out of hand and turn into a huge mess.

This any well oiled machine, the kitchen must be run professionally with each person knowing their place and doing their job efficiently. The kitchen manager must make sure that everything is in order, along with the assistance of the kitchen staff, waitrons, head cook and chefs.

The kitchen manager is sometimes the executive chef or the chef manager and they are responsible for making sure that the chef jobs, sous chef jobs, pastry chef jobs, assistant jobs, waitron jobs, and other executive chef jobs are all filled and correctly done in the kitchen. If there is a chef or waitron, assistant or member of the kitchen staff that is out of place and not doing his or her job, the kitchen manager must correct this.

The executive chef jobs are many and you have to have the entire run of the kitchen as far as the food preparation is concerned. You must be able to work at all the stations and check on the food being prepared by the assistants and preparers, as well as the food being made, and the food going out garnished to the customers. The chef job you have is to make sure all the food is perfect and you are not to leave the kitchen at any point. You will have your own station that you work at making and preparing the dishes, although you will not usually plate your own food.

Sous chef jobs fall into line directly behind the head chef and you will usually be responsible for all the small details of the meal you are preparing. You and the executive chef must work together and act as a unified front in the kitchen. Sous chef jobs will entail doing some things and making some meals that you might do another way if you were in charge, but you are not, so you have to follow the head chef's lead all the way. The sous chef jobs that you find in larger hotels or restaurants are more than one, and you could be sous chef of meats, soups and starters, puddings, vegetable dishes and others sections of the kitchen. Each section will have their own station and you will have to make and create the menu that the head chef prepares. Sometimes you will also plate the meal, although this is also done by the commis chef or chef de partie.

The pastry chef jobs and assistant jobs in pastry are all run quite independently from the rest of the kitchen. The pastry chef jobs consist of the executive pastry chef, and go all the way down to assistant pastry chef. All the desserts and pastries are prepared in this section of the kitchen and you will have no say in any of the other food items that are being prepared. In the kitchen the pastry chef will work separately from the other chefs and cooks and only work with the pastry team. The pastry chef jobs will also involve ordering products and making arrangement just like the head chef of the kitchen.

Waitron jobs are one of the very important aspects that make the kitchen run smoothly. The waitrons will have to collect the meals as they are ready to take out and serve to the customers. Waitron jobs are always in demand and many students and working parents turn to getting waitron jobs for the quick, easy money. The kitchen staff is also ready to make the kitchen a calmer and easier place to work. The kitchen staff must make sure all the equipment and tools are washed and ready for each shift, as well as cleaning and organizing the kitchen.

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