Are you a cook or a chef?
It may seem as if these words are interchangable: after all both individuals may wear a chef’s hat or coat, work in a kitchen and prepare food.
However, every chef was once a cook who went on to learn new skills and create new combinations that cooks can then follow.
As Wolfgang Puck, the celebrity chef and restaurateur said, “A chef is a mixture of maybe artistry and craft. You have to learn the craft really to get there.”
A cook uses a recipe (probably designed by a chef!) They might have some know-how, but the chef has real knowledge. The chef is an innovator, invents recipes, knows raw ingredients and how to combine them.
A true chef understands the flavor profiles and combinations at such a fundamental level, at the first principle level, that they don’t even use a recipe.
A cook may be very skilled at following a recipe and have quality control, consistency and diligence. They may even make some slight variations, but they need the recipe.
The chef, on the other hand, understands how the recipe works, sees patterns and opportunities and can change the recipe to fit the problem to be solved. They even create recipes. It’s about concept in addition to process and result.
Both cook and chef are useful.
(If you think this post is about cooking, you may be a cook rather than a chef.)
3 Comments
Every subject or endeavor has essentially the same sort of continuum, and for each one we’re all on that line somewhere. We all fit and each place on the line is valuable. We can, if we so choose, shift our positions a bit, though perhaps we’re right where we want/need to be on a given subject. Our position doesn’t define us or our worth.
How insightful, Fay! And it is a poignant reminder that whether we are a cook or a chef, we are of value and serve the greater good. It takes all of us in this life we live. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here.
I guess I just love to cook. Sometimes my meals taste better than others, but pople seem to eat them and enjoy. What I love is the great conversations that come from sitting around the table while we dine.