How to Work Effectively as a Cook

It’s no news that Chefs and Cooks are extremely sought-after jobs in today’s society. Many international students are studying commercial cookery but being a chef or a professional cook is no easy task. Chefs and cooks are in charge of preparing, cooking and presenting exquisite cuisines for patrons to enjoy which is no small feat. They are under immense pressure to prepare meals on time, organise menus, and basically oversee the running of a kitchen.

Doing this requires skill, knowledge and great attention to detail. This is what makes Commercial Cookery courses very important because being a chef is more than just cooking. So although you may have the creativity to whip up a meal, can you run a kitchen? Can you make sure all the dishes are delivered to customers on time? Essentially, can you be an effective cook that can be counted on? To be an effective cook, you need to learn the 3 most important skills starting with:

ORGANISATION AND PREPARATION

Being a chef is more than just having the skills to make a meal, you must learn how to work in a team and how to lead them. Being organised and prepared in an establishment is everything, especially in restaurants, hotels, and other food service establishments. Did you prepare for an influx of customers? Can you handle the myriad of orders coming in on a busy night? What happens when you can’t cook, can you ensure that the kitchen is in order and staff know exactly what to do? Are all the ingredients available? Are you going to make sure that pizza night isn’t ruined because your kitchen ran out of pepperoni? Or is your kitchen in absolute chaos? 

To work effectively as a chef and professional cook, you must develop a systematic approach to how things are done. You can start by making sure all orders are processed and served in a timely manner, and that the kitchen unit is openly communicating for a coordinated and productive approach to meeting service deadlines. You must establish what has to be achieved before, during and after each service and have a system where each member of your team is aware of their responsibilities. And each variable in the production process has been broken down into detailed plans if you wish to succeed. 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, the next step is even more important.

COOKING AND PRESENTING MENU ITEMS

Do you know how to use various commercial cooking equipment? Can you work cooperatively as part of a kitchen team? Do you follow workplace safety and hygiene procedures? Do you maintain the cleanliness and tidiness of the work environment? And can you cook menu items? 

An effective cook must be familiar with kitchen equipment, how to use the knives, grills, ovens etc and how each piece of equipment operates. You should also know how to take it apart safely, wash it and correctly reassemble it ready for use.

That’s not even scratching the surface because you should learn how to cook menu items using appropriate cookery methods. You should be able to adjust menu items and ingredients to meet special requests or dietary requirements of customers. You should be able to work cooperatively as part of a kitchen team, delegate tasks appropriately, follow workplace safety and hygiene procedures and maintain cleanliness and tidiness of the work environment. 

So far you’ve learned that being an effective cook is much more than making food, but the information in this article is simply a fraction of what you will learn in our cookery courses. However, there is one final skill you must learn.

END-OF-SHIFT REQUIREMENTS

The final customer walks out the door, you breathe a sigh of relief after a long night, you hand your apron and get ready to go home. Right? Wrong! Because service is over doesn’t mean your night is, as a cook you still have some things to do. 

What happens to the leftover food? Tomorrow’s another day so are you restocked? What do you do with the remaining food items you didn’t cook today? Do you just send your staff home without a debrief on how the day went and what could be done to improve? An effective cook does all of the above and even more. 

You have to consider feedback from customers and guests on quality and service. You should prepare your team for the required tasks for the next service period, store food items appropriately to minimise food spoilage, contamination and waste, clean dirty equipment and utensils, tidy your work area and many more.

ARE YOU AN EFFECTIVE COOK?

Being an effective cook is not as easy as it seems. And the information presented in this article represents less than one percent of what international students like you will learn as cookery students in SIC. So what next? Things are heating up, the fire is boiling and you have a choice to make. Are you an egg or a potato? Will you become a hardened, seasoned and effective cook like a boiled egg or will you soften up like a boiled potato? 

The good news is that we create effective cooks that go on to succeed and become leaders in their fields. Do you want to join our alumni of successful cooks? Register for any of our Commercial Cookery or Hospitality courses today or Enquire here for more information.