Sous Chef Work

The sous chef mainly provides a type of assistance work in the field of kitchen. They basically work under the supervision of main chef of any restaurant. They are meant to acquire their proficiency in food preparation. However, they also look after the other related operations such as serving customers, supervising other staff members, provide training to new staffs, keeping record of all needs in kitchen area, oversee the hygienic conditions in working area. They can perform their culinary skills in varied working places like restaurants, casinos, cruise parties and likewise. As a result, the sous chef work carries a great importance as it is one of the initial level of working in the case of chef career. Following are some essential features of the sous chef work provided:

Academic qualification of a sous chef

The academic qualification of a sous chef depends on the basis of the requirement by varied organization. Many renowned organizations demand for your certified degree in associated field from any culinary school. The duration of course is minimum of two years. On the other side, if you have completed any apprenticeship program in chef work then it can be the additional advantage for your work. However, your excellence or prior working experiences in the same field is also considerable for many organizations. Besides that, a full fledged training and several programs including culinary operations is also provided by the firms once you are hired by them.

Duties of a sous chef

The sous chef basically starts his work by working under some senior head chef of any restaurant. Therefore, every sous chef performs definite set of duties in his working field. Following are general duties are mentioned below:

• The primary duty of sous chef is to learn entire procedure regarding food preparation including special cuisines and dishes of specific area.
• The sous chef may also perform his work of supervising new staffs at working place.
• Apart from preparing delicacies and dishes, the sous chef also perform other operations like dish washing and supervising cleanliness of the kitchen area.
• It is the duty of sous chef to regularly evaluate the kitchen needs for the food preparation.
• At the same time, after gaining experience in chef work, you may need to perform a supervising duty regarding performance of rest of staff members in the kitchen.

Desired skills required for sous chef work:

The sous chef work may require specific set of personal skills for excelling the job of chef. Following are some beneficial skills for sous chef work are mentioned below:

• Quick learning ability: As sous chef work is entirely an entry level work in chef industry, therefore you must develop good learning skills in order to learn complete procedures of food preparation and other related culinary operations from head chef.

• Organized behavior: A sous chef must possess an organized behavior as their overall work requires a systematic dealing of operations for providing quality services to the customer.

• Strong decisive power: The sous chef may require to run the organization in the absence of head chef at times, therefore many duties regarding main food preparation like ordering rest of staff members and allocating work to them, etc. can easily be fulfilled with the help of strong decisive power.

• Good leadership quality: If you are performing supervising functions as given by the head chef, then your strong leadership quality is the major requirement for this job.

Work environment for a sous chef

The sous chef normally faces a highly risky working condition during his work. The sous chef may need to stand and cook for prolonged hours in the kitchen, therefore, the sous chef needs to be physically strong and healthy. At the same time, cooking operation deals with various harmful ingredients and heat exposure as well. So, there are quite chances of being suffered from respiratory inflammation or infections.

Career advancement

The sous chef has got several career opportunities in experiencing their work as a sous chef. First of all, after gaining few year experience, you can directly be appointed as an executive chef or head chef in the same organization. On the other side, on the basis of your working capacity and proficiency in other activities like supervising other staff members, etc. are the considerable qualities for promotion. However, some other related positions like culinary instructor and professional involved in kitchen designing can also be experienced in later phase of the career.

As a result, we can conclude that sous chef work is basically an assisting job position who helps the head chef through various culinary operations.