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If you’re a food lover you might have heard the name of chefs. There are many types of chefs who work in a restaurant to prepare delicious food items for customers. Right from preparing food to advising fellow chefs, these professionals are responsible for performing various duties.
If you’re someone curious to know about chefs, this article is for you. In this article, I’m going to give you a comprehensive guide on the types of chefs in hotels. Let’s explore!
What Is a Chef?
Derived from the term “chef de cuisine”, the word “chef” refers to the head, or the director of the kitchen responsible for creating the menu, supervising workers, and preparing delicious meals for food lovers in a restaurant, hotel, or resort. There are a wide variety of chefs out there each with their unique types, names, skills, roles, and responsibilities.
Types of Chefs You Need to Know
As you know the definition and the meaning of the word chef, it’s time we explored the types of chiefs. Following are the top 8 types of chefs you should know!
Executive Chef
The first one in our list of types of chefs, the executive chef is the supreme position in the chef hierarchy. It takes years of hard work, skills, and excellence to become an executive chef. They are also considered “head chefs”, as the majority of kitchens employ the same person for both positions.
You should keep the fact in mind that the executive chef isn’t responsible for preparing food and dishes. Rather they guide other chefs and oversee the kitchen and operations. An executive chef supervises and, at times performs a taste test of the prepared food and makes sure the dish is up to the standard prior to reaching customers.
Sous Chef
Another type of chef is a sous chef who works closely with the executive chef. They are responsible for overseeing the chefs and keeping the entire kitchen on time. At times, sous chefs get involved in decision-making as they ensure the chiefs work hand in hand intending to accomplish their responsibilities.
Apart from having a culinary degree, a sous chef needs to have excellent leadership skills as they are consistently entrusted with providing training to new chefs and assisting executive chefs in implementing the restaurant’s concept.
Chef de Partie
Chef de partie, another type of chef, is the next type of role in the kitchen. They specialize in certain items on the menu and supervise the station management. These chefs often initiate as line cooks prior to being promoted to chef de parties.
Chef de Partie collaborates with the executive chefs in order to create menus and prepare essential ingredients for meals. They are responsible for reporting both the sous chef and executive chef at the end of the day in the restaurant. They need to have a graduation degree from a culinary school and experience in a restaurant.
Fish Chef
The fish chef takes charge of expertly selecting, preparing, and cooking sustainable seafood in a kitchen. Right from halibut to sushi, fish cutlets, and fish and chips, the fish chef has to ensure that each dish prepared in the kitchen has delicious flavor and complimentary sides.
These chefs may also initiate partnerships with local suppliers intending to source the best-caught fish for the restaurant. Besides, they also report to the executive chef while collaborating with a variety of cooks in the kitchen. Most fish chefs must have a culinary degree and restaurant experience.
Meat Chef
Also known as the rotisserie, or roast chef, the meat chef is another type of chef in a restaurant kitchen. These chefs tend to roast, braise, or broil a variety of meats to bring out the idea of an executive chef. Meat chefs might also be responsible for purchasing meat from local stores to prepare in the kitchen.
Meat chefs also report to the sous chef, or executive chef to make sure the meat meets the restaurant’s standard. These chefs have to have a degree in Culinary Arts.
Vegetable Chef
Vegetable chefs tend to be in charge of preparing and cooking many veggies and starches for each meal. Right from slicing vegetables to tossing salads with spicy dressings, these chefs ensure each vegetable complements and enhances the flavors of the dish. They might also prepare toppers, soups, or stand-alone vegetable dishes for the entire meal.
The majority of vegetable chefs need to go to culinary school, specifically those willing to specialize in vegetarian and vegan food.
Pastry Chef
The next type of chef on our list is a Pastry chef who specializes in baking and creating sweets. They tend to prepare everything from candy to lavish cakes, and then devise new menu items. Pastry Chefs need to have specialized training in the Pastry Arts, which is different from the Culinary Arts. You can find most culinary institutes providing Culinary Arts and Pastry Arts degrees and diplomas.
Executive chefs and Pastry Chefs sometimes work hand in hand, specifically in restaurants where dessert remains as significant as the main course. Besides, they occasionally work together to prepare recipes that amalgamate sweet and savory ingredients. If you’re someone interested in enjoying, baking, pastry, and dessert, the Pastry Chef role may be the right choice for you.
Personal Chef
Last but not least, the personal chefs don’t work for others in professional kitchens. For these chefs, it’s more common to work in private locations to cook for different clients. To put it in a nutshell, personal chefs are entrepreneurs.
Personal chefs tend to serve food to a multitude of locations. They visit client’s houses in different locations to prepare food for multiple families. These professional chefs may visit their clients’ houses once or twice to seek to prepare food using their client’s space. Besides, they may cook food at a commissary kitchen as well as deliver packed items to consumers, with instructions.
Wrapping Up!
That’s all about the types of chefs! I tried to mention multiple chefs in this blog. Hopefully, it’ll help you expand your understanding, distinguishing the curiosity about the types of chefs.
