See The World as a Pastry Chef
2 Dec
I am seventeen and i am seriously considering a career as a pastry chef.I have had a passion for cooking and baking since i was very young and have been experimenting in the kitchen for almost ten years.Since i am self taught and know one else in my family really likes to bake my food experiments haven't always been great,but now i think i do a pretty decent job and evryone loves my food.
but i guess my questions are: how well do you have to cook/bake to go to cooking school?
did you find cooking school very challengeing?
did you find work right away after you finished cooking school?
and i would just like to hear about your all around experience in culinary school
im eagerly awaiting your answers and thank you in advanced!
I am a classically trained chef from Canada, and if your passionate about the field I say go ahead, that is one of the things you have to want and believe in and want to be a good chef of any kind and to answer your questions here is what I can say:
1. It is not nessessary to be a great chef or cook before or to enroll in a culinary school, you learn a lot there, but as I said you need to want to be there and have the drive to be a good chef in the end.
2. I had a bit of an advantage, I went to a High School up here in Canada that was a technical trades school and had worked in a kitchen, bakeshop and restaurant setting for 4 years of my H.S education, see if there is one your are, but at 17 your almost or are threw school.
3. I was on a government apprenticeship here and had been working for 1 year before going to school (15 weeks Basic), then a year more in the hotel I worked at, 15 more weeks of the advance program and then 1 1/2 years later, I wrote my chefs exam, and after that I had no problem with getting work, most culinary schools help with on the job placements and internships after you course is done.
4. I enjoyed the school as it taught me alot of the things you cannot learn on the job, also you learn management and other business skills, the experience makes you a better person and then your ready for the work place and have the background and confidence you gained in that setting, plus you also get to work with a mulitiude of different people and pieces of equipment, some you may never see on the job or again in your career.
5. Well I spent 20+ year in the Hotel business, travelled to all but 3 of the provinces here in Canada and did short stints in Montego Bay Jamaica, Singapore and Tokyo Japan, but travel to Europe and other Asian countrys while working.
I hope I have been of some help, you sound like you have the passion so I would check out the schools in your area, they give tours and have career days so you can look at the place in operation and see what is there and what to expect if you do take the leap.
3 Responses for "question for professional chefs and pastry chefs?"
I am a self taught chef and like you I started young cooking and baking at the age of 7. I currently get paid for teachig people how to cook, shop and execute difficult to easy menus. That being said I sometime wonder what I would have gained from going to a culinary school for 6 months. There are some gaps that I can see I am missing and I think culinary school would have helped.
I would recommend applying to CIA, AI or LCB (Nationally recognized) for a certificate program to help jump start your career. However, I would work in a kitchen or bakery for 1-2 years to see if the pace and long hours are your cup of tea and before dropping $50K on your cooking program.
References :
you could have never baked at all to go to some cooking schools. most notably the le cordon bleu schools here in the states. they have about 14 or so. i went to the one in portland, or called western culinary institute. they are all corporate owned and care only about more studentsand more tuition. the have way too many in the classes and charge way too much for tuition which they raise about every 3 months. if i were you i would try starting out in a kitchen with a pastry chef. usually chefs would rather teach someone new rather than one who has gone to school and learned bad habits. to get into a good kitchen with a good pastry kitchen you will have to do whats called stageing (pronounced stahje) it is working for free basically. you would have to do this if you went to culinary school. bototm line, try saving yourself 40k to 50k, especially if you have taught yourself alot as it is.
References :
I am a classically trained chef from Canada, and if your passionate about the field I say go ahead, that is one of the things you have to want and believe in and want to be a good chef of any kind and to answer your questions here is what I can say:
1. It is not nessessary to be a great chef or cook before or to enroll in a culinary school, you learn a lot there, but as I said you need to want to be there and have the drive to be a good chef in the end.
2. I had a bit of an advantage, I went to a High School up here in Canada that was a technical trades school and had worked in a kitchen, bakeshop and restaurant setting for 4 years of my H.S education, see if there is one your are, but at 17 your almost or are threw school.
3. I was on a government apprenticeship here and had been working for 1 year before going to school (15 weeks Basic), then a year more in the hotel I worked at, 15 more weeks of the advance program and then 1 1/2 years later, I wrote my chefs exam, and after that I had no problem with getting work, most culinary schools help with on the job placements and internships after you course is done.
4. I enjoyed the school as it taught me alot of the things you cannot learn on the job, also you learn management and other business skills, the experience makes you a better person and then your ready for the work place and have the background and confidence you gained in that setting, plus you also get to work with a mulitiude of different people and pieces of equipment, some you may never see on the job or again in your career.
5. Well I spent 20+ year in the Hotel business, travelled to all but 3 of the provinces here in Canada and did short stints in Montego Bay Jamaica, Singapore and Tokyo Japan, but travel to Europe and other Asian countrys while working.
I hope I have been of some help, you sound like you have the passion so I would check out the schools in your area, they give tours and have career days so you can look at the place in operation and see what is there and what to expect if you do take the leap.
References :
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