Nowhere without talent

A real chef must be able to cook soups, meat dishes, side dishes, salads, and much more. Any dish should be not only tasty but also beautiful. So, you need to learn how to decorate it. In addition, you need to know the peculiarities of human physiology and the rules of food compatibility – this will allow you to competently create a menu. A cook should also memorize the standards for storing and processing various products, be able to calculate the number of calories in a particular bowl, and distinguish quality products from spoiled ones. In general, the culinary profession requires a person to have a whole set of knowledge from various fields. In addition to cooking technology, he or she must understand chemistry, fine arts, and design. But even with the necessary information and solid experience, the master is constantly learning, because there are many dishes, there are interesting recipes from other countries that have yet to be discovered. The desire and ability to improve are not the least of the qualities of a true culinary specialist.

And, as already noted, a true cook must be talented, because without a vocation for cooking, you can prepare a dish that you can’t eat, even if you don’t deviate from the recipe. It’s no secret that there are plenty of unfortunate chefs who can only become famous for their tasteless dishes, made in a hurry, carelessly, haphazardly.

Among other things, a person who has chosen this specialty will need a rich imagination, a love of creativity, and ingenuity. Cooking strictly according to a recipe is great, of course, but a skilled chef always strives to improve a dish or even create a new one, to make a seemingly ordinary dish unusual. But in this situation, it’s important not to overdo it, to bring out the flavor.

Naturally, the chef must be neat, clean (for example, if a customer, having ordered lunch in a restaurant, finds hair in the plate, the reputation of the chef and the establishment where he works will suffer) and at the same time work quickly so as not to keep guests waiting long. Other advantages include observation and patience.

And most importantly, it is impossible to become a chef without having a culinary taste (its absence is called “broodiness” or “aspiration”). Such a person has no place in the kitchen. And to prevent a cook from having a temporary bordeaux, special rules for taking samples were developed long ago. A knowledgeable chef tastes dishes strictly in a certain sequence, periodically rinsing his mouth with water or some kind of decoction. In general, a good cook is a hungry cook. It’s impossible to taste food on a full stomach because there is a rule: a cook doesn’t eat until he has prepared dinner. Many people today have forgotten about this, and it’s a pity.

There is one more distinguishing feature of a professional: a chef from God will never allow himself to smoke – tobacco kills the olfactory and taste perceptions. In addition, you need good eyesight, intuition and memory, because you need to remember recipes and determine the degree of readiness of products by eye. As you can see, cooking is a real art, it is not for nothing that it was named after the tenth muse of Kulina.

The work of a cook is physically demanding, because he works in the kitchen exclusively with his hands, in the heat, and sometimes not only cooks, but also carries heavy multi-liter pots. He has to get up to the stove in the dark, because he has to feed the first visitors breakfast. And then there’s the stress of over-salting the jet, or the right product turning out to be spoiled, or an urgent order coming in. And since a cook spends all day on his feet, he can get an occupational disease, such as arthritis or varicose veins. So it turns out that this specialty is not for women. In previous centuries, only men worked in the kitchen, and in Soviet times, women came to this field, which suddenly became unprestigious. Knowing how hard it can be for a cook, you realize that you can’t last long without love for the profession. No wonder there is so much staff turnover in catering companies, especially among young people who do not realize at first how difficult this job is. But if a person copes with the first difficulties, he or she will never trade in their specialty for anything.