[Sun]

Originally Posted by Nadeest

Thank you for the lovely compliment, Sun. I have a long ways to go, yet, before I am ready for that title. One of my classmates made Sous Chef right out of culinary school, but I don't want that, yet. I have too much to learn, right now.

I didn't do much cooking, before I started transition, back in 07, so I have a lot of gaps in my knowledge right now, that most experienced cooks don't have. For instance, I had never roasted a whole chicken, before I was in my first semester (in culinary school), yet I had roasted a whole turkey, in the past.

Right now, I am hunting for a job for my internship (Co-Op course) so that I can finish and obtain my degree. Class starts in the middle of January, and I hope to have a lot of the required hours by then. I am also taking some baking classes, at present, as I never really did much baking, except for making sourdough bread. I am enjoying these classes, and hope that it will help enable me to work over on the other side of the kitchen, if I am asked to help out.

Hi Nadeest,

I believe that you will find that your core instruction will empower you with the skills and knowledge to jump right in to any kitchen and succeed. There is constant learning and challenges which should be fun as it seems that you enjoy learning. The value of a classical education is that everyone "speaks" the same culinary language in a kitchen where the training is classical French. What I like about a catering kitchen is that you can work many stations.On a traditional line, you get to focus on one area in particular. I tend toward the saute', grill, oven myself, usually hot items on a menu, appetizers to entree's. Depending on the size of the establishment you could wind up just working one area or rotating around. A small to medium sized restaurant is great for getting maximum exposure to many of the preparations.

Becoming a Sous Chef right out of school could be a great opportunity because the individual can literally become the Executive Chef's apprentice or right hand, but that is a rare event. The great thing that you have working to your advantage is that culinary trained cooks are still in a minority in this industry, many learn on the job. So if a Chef needs someone to work a grill, or just make souffle's for 6 hours, you will have those skills in place to do so.