Becoming a chef can indeed be a good career move if you have the right personality, passion for cooking up delicious foods and desire to feed and entertain. Most cooks dream of becoming a chef, which is okay since we all have to start somewhere and make our way up before we start wearing chef aprons. That is why you must do your best to become the best cook you can be. Here are five simple rules you ought to follow if you want to be a successful cook.
1. Go to Culinary School
While it’s true that you don’t need four years of schooling to become a cook, the skills and knowledge you will learn at culinary school are invaluable and will help set you apart from the rest. Having a degree shows that you are serious and can take on more responsibilities – responsibilities that prep you to one day become a master chef.
2. Get Experience From Working in a Restaurant
Find a job working in the restaurant kitchen. Working in a restaurant will give you the necessary experience to set you on the patch to becoming a successful cook. You might not start cooking food right away, as you may be tasked with other smaller responsibilities, such as washing dishes or clearing tables. This should not demotivate you but instead push you to work your way up the ladder and strengthen your resolve to one day command the entire kitchen and decide what you want to cook that day. It is essential for any chef to know how to work himself/herself around a kitchen, knowing how the kitchen and restaurant work before wearing the chef’s hat.
3. Cook often
Practice makes perfect – truer words have never been spoken. Every great chef made it to where they are today probably because they practiced cooking and got better at it over time. The more you practice, the more you reinforce the techniques you have learned and maybe even fine-tune them to suit your own personal style. Trying cooking your own food at least three times a week instead of ordering takeout.
4. Find a Mentor
If you work at a restaurant, perhaps you can ask the chef to mentor and push you to the limit. Besides a chef, you can also choose another industry professional to help you stay on course to become a successful cook. Whoever you choose to mentor you, make sure they have the right leadership skills to motivate you and offer guidance and constructive criticism.
5. Learn From Your Mistakes
Many of us are afraid to fail, but that shouldn’t be the case. Especially not if your dream is to becoming the next Master Chef. There is opportunity in failure that allows you to learn and to grow. Failure can help you become a better cook with each and every mistake you make. So instead of being afraid to make mistakes, which makes you afraid to take risks, see them for what they can be: opportunities to improve.
