Personal Chefs

The Steps to Becoming a Chef by Canadian Recipes of the Great White North

2011-10-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

The Steps to Becoming a Chef - The Hard Truth

So what do you do? Get an education first important step. Make sure it is a “certified” school. Go through the Culinary Arts Program (usually it takes three years) and take a weekend or night home business course.
The Culinary Arts Program will give you a good base to start. But, you are not ready yet!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

It is very important to get “On the Job Training”. The best place to go,for example: Banff Springs Hotel. In other words, head for the large hotel chains.
Don’t just accept them, check them out carefully:

1. Use the Internet to find more information about the “Hotel Chain” that you are interested in.
2.Ask questions and check out the “Executive Chef” on the Internet and check out his/her past performance.

3.Go as a customer and try the “Dining Room” – the question should be “Would you serve this food to your family with pride?”
4.Check out the back of the Hotel – Do you see cooks smoking at the back door? This is poor management: a “Red Flag”.
5.Ask the servers what they would not recommend and why?
6.Ask as many questions that you are concerned with.
7.Don’t be afraid to ask how much you are going to get paid and the position that is required of you.

Canadian Recipes of the Great White North

8.Is there a special contract? For example, Resort Hotels require that you stay a minimum of six months to one year. Why? Because they require someone that is committed to their career and they can’t afford to loose staff, like most cities are doing.
After three to five years at one of these type of “Resort Hotels” you should get enough training.

Remember, training for a chef is a long haul. So you better “Love” Cooking. I mean love it. Your commitment to this kind of career is extremely important to your “Foundation”.

A very good example is the growth of a “Tree”. If a tree is not well rooted, it will fall in the first wind.

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“You” are that tree – you must get the proper training, before you can further your career and raise your income.
Most chain Resort Hotels in Canada & United States will offer a standard training procedure:
Cook I
Cook II
Cook III
Chef de Partie
Sous Chef
Executive Chef
(Notice: No Station Cooks like in Europe)

Some chain Resort Hotels even have a position called “Junior Sous Chef”. After each position they are suppose to give you a raise. If they are a good Resort, your income should be very competitive.
Don’t “jump” the standard training procedure. Don’t let the hotel move you up from Cook I to Cook III for example. Learn all the positions and get the right training.

Time and the right training is an important factor to become a good Executive Chef.

Make sure that the Hotel treats you with a proper attitude

A good Hotel will give, “Employee of the Month” a free room for the weekend and all meals for you and your family. A good executive chef will look after you. They will explain why you are doing something wrong and also praise you when you have accomplished a task. They should also let you know when you have improved.

After you have reached a “Sous Chef” and experienced in handling up to 3000 customers, then you are ready to become your own chef.

An Executive Chef is a title given by the resort, club and restaurant.

You have now reached three choices:

1.Become an Executive Chef with a chain resort hotel
2.Start up your own restaurant ( if you have a spare two million in your pocket – and that is just the beginning)
3.You become your own Personal Chef.

As a Personal Chef you can run your own business at a relatively low cost and over head. But, you must advertise by “word of mouth” and throughout the Advertising Market(that’s another blog).

I hope this gives you a good understanding of becoming a Chef in the Hospitality Industry. If you “Love Cooking” this career can be exciting.

Check out:

Canadian Recipes of the Great White North

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Career as a Chef by Canadian Recipes of the Great White North

2011-10-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Career as a Chef by Canadian Recipes of the Great White North

First and most important rule in becoming a Chef - you must get the right training by a certified school.

Unfortunately, there are too many cooks without the proper training or skills within the hospitality industry.

Look into programs that offer a Culinary Arts Program or apply for an apprenticeship program under the Canadian Government. In order to begin an apprenticeship program you must already be employed with a major hotel or restaurant. With the apprenticeship program is ideal for you if you require financial assistance. It takes up to three years of going to school eight weeks out of each year with the remainder time of working under a qualified chef.

Honey Lemon Cheese Cake with blueberry Coulis

In my time of training, the executive chefs come from England, France, Germany and Italy. Their European training was very harsh and demeaning to a young cook starting off. A good example of this would be Chef Ramsey's Show : Hell's Kitchen. But, don't get scared yet - Hell's Kitchen is just a show. Mind you that is exactly the way it was for me when I was being trained in the kitchen by European Chefs - We called them: The Old Way after Star Trek Series...the Old Ones, ( you had to watch star trek to understand this)

Now, unfortunately in Canada there are no standards that restrict a smaller restaurant from hiring certified chefs, simply because they can't afford to pay a chef of a mere $30,000 per year ( yeah - were not talking money here). But I do understand the overhead costs of a small restaurant - its hard for them to make a living. But, what they don't understand,( which Las Vegas Hotels now understand) is that, when you bring in a qualified chef with over five years of experience - he will draw in more customers - bringing you a higher net profit in the end.

So - in the end, all they are looking for is a pulse, which means a lack of trained people in the hospitality industry. So each restaurant or corporation will hire Managers to control the budget.
Another name for this is “Cost Control”. The Manager is guaranteed a bonus at the end of the year, if they keep the labour and food cost in line.

What happens ?

You get some Managers that are on a “power trip” and push their weight around. And some of them don’t even have training in the Hospitality Industry at all.

They received their “Business Training” – which usually is a one year course.
This kind of attitude sets themselves up for cooks that have either no training or received their cooking methods from the street.

Now - don't get me wrong.

There are qualified Food & Beverage Managers that really do care about the Executive Chef they hire. They are professionals. They will go through a long process of finding an Executive Chef with a good reputation, excellent cooking and management skills, good menu planning that will suit their clients and are certified red seal chefs. Preferably with culinary medals and awards. It is also a good idea to belong to the C.F.C.C ( now know as : in 1963-1982 the organization was called the Canadian Federation of Chefs de Cuisine. When the importance and role of the professional cook was recognized, the name was changed to Canadian Federation of Chefs & Cooks : http://ccfcc.ca/en/ )

Canadian Recipes of the Great White North was with the CFCC for over 15 years and a member of the board of directors as Membership Director. But, then the CFCC came too expensive for me to continue. Most hotels and private golf clubs will pay for your yearly membership - just make sure you add this into the conditions of your contract.

The CFCC is trying their best to improve the education of journeyman cooks :
Restaurants, hotels, private clubs, food chains and large corporations see the Membership in the Canadian Culinary Federation is available to any and all persons who actively seek and involve their career paths as a Cook Apprentice, Journeyman Cook, Professional Chef/Cook or Culinary Professional.

With Employment lines coming and going through a revolving door on a steady basis. Jobs may be available, but the training is not always there. Just be sure you ask if they have a certified red seal chef that is able to sponsor you in your apprenticeship program. The Apprenticeship Program of Alberta requires that the Executive Chef in charge sign the necessary papers with a copy of their journeyman papers and number on file. If the chef can't or will not do an apprenticeship program for you; this is a red flag.

So - here is the main problem with North America Chefs in relationship to European Chefs:

First of all everyone likes to use the word “Chef” ,but very few are actual certified journeyman cooks. You don't really become a Chef until you are appointed as one with a Hotel or Large Restaurant chain. And to make it worse yet - it's the attitude of the main public: “Oh - your just a cook”.
Where as in Europe the training as a Chef starts after the ninth grade. Most are brought into a well known hotel and basically trained with just food and board. It may of change lately, but this is the way it was 20 years ago. They may receive an income now. After a long training period of five years the cook will go through all the stages:
Cook I
Cook II
Cook III
Station Cooks - meat station/ garde manger station/ fish station/ vegetable station/ bakers station
Chef de Partie
Jr. Sous Chef
Sous Chef
Executive Sous Chef
Executive Chef

It use to be in Europe that a “Chef” was well paid and just as important as a Doctor. On TV you find the “miracle” Chefs that are making around $250,000.00 per year. And the Celebrity Chefs make from two million to eight million a year.
But, the reality of being a Chef is a lot lower than you see on TV. Most Chef’s make between $30,000 to $45,000 per year.

In reality, it's a long haul to become a Certified Red Seal Chef. You must really really love cooking and able to work long hours. This is the reality, and just maybe one day you will become a Celebrity Chef with your own TV Show like Chef Ramsey.

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I hope this gives you a good understanding of becoming a Chef in the Hospitality Industry. If you “Love Cooking” this career can be exciting.

Canadian Recipes of the Great White North :

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Secret Technical Skills of a Chef

2011-08-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Technical Secret Skills of a Chef

Each profession has some kind of technical skilled experience you just wouldn't know unless some one actually showed you. For example how do you expect to know how to prepare Dover sole, clean squid or how to cook octopus, unless you were trained.

Throughout a Chef's Career he/or she is always learning new skills handed down by the chef's
expertise. Each Chef will have their own unique skilled craft, from ice sculpturing, performing in
world culinary art shows or just simply come from a part of the world that has that speciality cooking
skills.

Depending on their career, some Chef's will become artistic bakers perfecting their refined art or
perfecting that chocolate souffle and some will become powerhouse chefs like Gordon Ramsey.

Other's will publish their own cookbook, like Canadian Recipes of the Great White North. While some chefs will go onto showcasing their skills on TV, like Canadian showcase celebrity chefs Michael Smith and Corbin; most Chefs aren't recognized socially.
[ Corbin is on Foodtv Network - We use to work with him and he even babysit my kids]
But there are great Chefs out there. Support your Chef and/or Restaurant.

With all the skills and experience a chef may have, respectable chefs are those that never forget their
roots. No matter where they proceed on the ladder of success they will always acknowledge their
counterpart chefs that they met when they were just "greenhorns".

Can you Show a Technique?

Technique can know be shown on YouTube, but it looks easier than mastering the skill itself. Before I took front stage in a world culinary salon in Edmonton, I trained three years before; first as a apprentice and then hands-on helping prepare different techniques.

And along the way you learn a very valuable secret that can't be learned in school. Learning a trade
secret is harder to obtain, because some arrogant chefs will not share his skills and take it to their
grave (sort of speak). You must first retain Trust with the chef who takes you under their wing, and
then just maybe, he or she will share their trade secret.

Chef's trade Skills or Secrets

Every profession has some sort of trade skill that can only be known if you were trained or shown.

Some examples of chef's trade skills,secrets or cooking skills are:

Preparing techniques for fish:

Deboning and filleting fish, like salmon
Skining and deboning Dover Sole

Preparing techniques for Culinary Art Shows:

Preparing Chaud froid with a milky smooth texture
Plate Presentation
Using special template forms to make irregular shapes, like triangles or half moons
Marking food items with special tools for presentation
Making stars formations with root vegetables

Preparing Skills for poultry:

Deboning quail, turkey or chicken
Preparing Chicken Gallontine

Preparing Skills for Garde Manger:

Dressing a Salmon
Making a gallontine or pate'
Cutting techniques for exotic fruits

Baking Skills:

Preparing Souffle
Making a eight layer cake without it falling over
Knowing the temperament of chocolate
Preparing exotic shapes with swirls
Understanding and knowing the technique of cooking sugar for example: caramel

Preparing techniques for vegetables:

Potatoes - Chateau/ Parisenne / Duchess / Scallop / blanching

Five Base Mother Sauces:

Sauces are made by five base sauces called Mother Sauces. From these Mother Sauces you can make what is called Derivative Sauces meaning second sauce.

Caesar Salad

The Five Base Mother Sauces are:

Bechamel - milk based sauce
Espanole - brown sauce & Demi sauce (refined rich brown sauce that has been reduced by half)
Veloute - white sauce made with chicken, fish or veal stock
Tomato - of course tomato base sauce
Emulsified Egg - based egg sauce to produce hollandaise, mayonnaise and bearnaise

Bechamel Sauce:
With this base sauce add certain ingredients to make:

Mornay Sauce - is with base bechamel sauce and shredded Gruyere & fresh Parmesan cheese

Espanole Sauce (Brown Sauce):
With this base brown sauce you add certain ingredients to make:

Bordelaise - which is an reduction of red wine and marrow.
Peppercorn - brown sauce with shallots and minced green peppercorns
Famous Robert Sauce - Dijon mustard, white wine, shallots, butter and a touch of cream
Chasseur Sauce - Sliced mushrooms, shallots, red wine, tomato sauce or concasse', minced fresh garlic and fresh chopped parsley
Maderia Black Pepper Sauce - fresh ground black pepper, shallots, maderia wine, butter and cream
Chateaubriand Sauce - Dijon mustard, minced garlic, fresh chopped parsley and cognac
Perigueux Sauce - maderia wine and chopped truffles
Lyonnaise Sauce - Saute sweet white onions, butter and a touch of cream

Veloute Sauce:
There are three kinds of Veloute Sauces - Fish Veloute, Chicken Veloute and Veal Veloute - with this base sauce add certain ingredients to make:

Cream of Mushroom Sauce (chicken or Veal veloute') - fresh sliced mushrooms,shallots,white wine and a touch of cream (33% whole whipping cream)
Cream of Curry Sauce (chicken or veal veloute') - with fresh curry spices and white wine
Supreme Sauce ( only with chicken veloute') and rich 33% whipping cream
Hongroise Sauce - Spanish paprika spice, white wine, shallots and minced garlic

The Famous Alfredo Sauce - made with 33% whipping cream and minced fresh garlic. Additions but not considered Alfredo are : sliced mushrooms and green onions.

Tomato Sauce:
With this base sauce add certain ingredients to make:

Bolganaise Sauce - half ground beef & pork meat,minced garlic, finely chopped sweet white onions, red wine
Diablo Sauce -hint of whole chili pepper, minced jalapeno pepper, red peppers and red wine.
Cacciatore - tomato base dish with chicken

Emulsified Egg Sauce: Emulsified Sauces is the base sauce for:

Hollandaise Sauce ( find recipe on facebook : Canadian Recipes of the Great White North)
Bearnaise Sauce - add reduction of Tarragon with red wine
Charon sauce - add tomato sauce to your bearnaise sauce
Mayonnaise - add a touch of Dijon mustard, salt, peppers and select spices
Aioli sauce - also known as garlic cream sauce
Maltaise sauce - add blood oranges to hollandaise
Mousseline - add rich 33% whipping cream to hollandaise
Remoulade sauce or Tartar sauce - even though it is made with chopped gherkins pickles, additions of this sauce can be horseradish, anchovies and capers.
Caper Sauce - capers, minced fresh garlic

The list of sauces can go on with the modern poutine sauce or the Italian sauces - Neapolitan and
Pizzaiola from Naples, Amatriciana and arrabbiata from Rome, ragù and bolognese sauce from Bologna and of course the famous Pesto sauce made with roasted pine nuts, fresh basil within a rich olive oil.

Conclusion:
As you can see from the above techniques there are several skills to learn in the cooking industry. This is just the tip of the iceberg of cooking technical skills.

Canadian Recipes of the Great White North
He has worked across British Columbia and Alberta with finer hotels and restaurants.
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