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Any tips for red seal exam?

post #1 of 34
12/8/06 at 10:00am
Thread Starter 
This is only my 2nd post here. I've been cooking for well over 10 years now. I did a culinary program ages ago, but never actually wrote my red seal! :blush: Most of my time has been spent in small bistro type restaurant in Toronto (were papers have never really been required) but I've done stints in BC and France aswell. Now with a young family I absolutley MUST move away from the restaurant scene. I'm now moving toward teaching at the college level. So obviously it is time to write the exam. I've submitted my hours and school docs to the apprenticeship office and I'm about ready to write. So anyone got any tips for the Canadian exam? Any words of wisdom? Anyone know of any sample exams on line, or good study guides???

Thanks to all for your help.
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post #2 of 34
12/9/06 at 3:56am
McB - I'm going to copy your link and email it to a bud of mine in Muskoka and another in Ottawa. They'll likely be better able to help you out than me.

Good luck on your test (and Go Leafs!).

Ciao,
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post #3 of 34
12/10/06 at 11:29am

red seal

hi there McB; I was asked by Steve to send you any info on the TQ exam. We had two apprentices write their tests recently; the main thrust these days is on sanitation!!! go figure and on food theory.
My advice to you is to look to those areas as well as grounding your self in the costing and menu planning modules.
Search out any people that you know in the industry that have recently done the test and ask them what they thought of it. Also get hold of Skills and Trades Ontario for some info- not too specific but should give guidlines.
I did myCCC exam last year and found it similar to the cooks test in how broad it was, not so much depth for that advanced.
good luck
dave
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post #4 of 34
12/10/06 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the tips guys. Nice of you to find time to reply during such a busy time for everyone! If most of the focus is on basic food theory and food safety I don't think I've got to much to worry about. I guess some things however might be stuff I do with out even thinking about. So might be worth reviewing. I wonder if the length of time I've spent away from school might be a challenge versis someone only two or three years out??
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post #5 of 34
12/11/06 at 3:09am
Dave! Thanks for popping in and answering. I knew you'd know more about it than I.

Ciao bro,
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post #6 of 34
12/11/06 at 5:18am
Hello McB, I was schooled in George Brown College in downtown Toronto. I know a number of chefs there and all of them have papers, a few wrote them recently. You could always pass by there, talk with a few of them and I'm sure they'll be more then happy to give you a few pointers.

Good luck and cheers!
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post #7 of 34
12/11/06 at 7:33pm
anytime Steve; Glad to help a fellow culinarian
McB let us know how you did...bye the bye why do you want to teach and don't they require CCC accreditation nowadays?
The life of a working cook vs. a teaching cook is so much more varied and full of vigour!
have many friends that moved to the college teaching post and still do two or three shifts a week in the restaurant, not for want of money either!
anyway good luck with the exam and all your choices'
d
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post #8 of 34
12/12/06 at 7:07pm
To teach at the college level, the CCC designation is required.
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post #9 of 34
1/2/07 at 9:51am
hey McB have you gotten around to setting up an appointment for writing yet? done any research into the teaching accreditation needed?
let us know what is going on.
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post #10 of 34
12/17/07 at 8:14pm
im starting my apprenticeship in the spring im a dishwasher for now.. >_< but anyways some of my past coworkers have talked of a author his last name is gislin and the book is known as the gislin its a book to use to study for the red seal test but ive tried google searching and i can find any info on it if any of u know any books i can use to study for the red seal exam i'd like to know cuz i dont anything about food theory or the temperatures for storing the food and all that stuff thanks a lot ahead of time ^_^
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post #11 of 34
12/18/07 at 9:40pm
Well, thats part of an apprenticeship mizz. You have to complete 6000 hours to get your seal in Canada. If after your 6000 hours, you do not understand about temperature, you have no hope in achieving your red seal.
To study for my seal I used On cooking, and the professional chef volume 8. I also tried to use everything I read.
Get out there, get dirty, and get ready to learn.
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post #12 of 34
12/18/07 at 11:05pm
lol my chef told me to do the food theory class at college... and im getting the 5th edition of professional cooking by wayne gesslin its used to study for the red seal but like ive been asking liek to every1 what is the red seal exam on? my chef said there will be questions about like the different knives how to make a vinaigrette sanitation food theory what else is my question? and are u sure its 6000 hours he said it was liek 3000 or something im going to be doing the apprenticeship fulltime 5 days a week so how long would that take for the whatever amount of hours for the apprenticeship to be done? he told me a year and a half
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post #13 of 34
1/20/08 at 11:16pm
Assume you work 40 hrs a week
Assume you work 50 weeks out of the year
40 X 50 = 2000 hrs/yr
You are required 3 blocks/yrs to write the cook's red seal exam.
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post #14 of 34
1/20/08 at 11:25pm
ok assume he bull***** the red seal ppl and says i worked a lot of doubles i dunno my friends who are chef de parties said it can be done so i dunno
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post #15 of 34
1/20/08 at 11:42pm
You might be able to cheat it a little but whats the point. Take your time, explore the vast world of food and above all enjoy it. Learn as much as you can but you can't learn it all at the same time.
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post #16 of 34
1/20/08 at 11:43pm
true you got a point.
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post #17 of 34
1/21/08 at 6:11pm
hey guys

I was wondering if anybody knew any sites I should be studying from or that provide information regarding the Red Seal Test.

Any help would be greatly welcomed, thanks!!
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post #18 of 34
1/21/08 at 7:22pm
I was just looking for info on the exam. I'm a little tired of browsing the web, it's not that easy to find. I'll give it another try some other other day but I'll let you know if I find anything.

-soup-
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post #19 of 34
1/21/08 at 8:09pm
Yeah, I here what your saying bro, thanks!!
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post #20 of 34
1/21/08 at 10:22pm
jsut get profession cooking for canadian chefs sixth edition thats what everyone uses to study for the red seal
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post #21 of 34
1/21/08 at 11:26pm
You won't happen to have a pdf to that would you bro??
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post #22 of 34
1/22/08 at 7:33am
i dont... i own the book but try searching bittorrent sites for it u may find an ebook of it in a pdf format....
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post #23 of 34
1/22/08 at 9:12pm
No, no it’s not. I just finished college last spring at Fanshawe in London Ontario. Only one of the chefs had his C.C.C. , and he just got it a year and a half ago. All the chefs that were born in Canada had there red seals, except one. She had a culanary management deploma and a B.A. in history. There were three chefs from Europ and they had done there apprenticships there so the didn’t have “red seals”
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post #24 of 34
1/23/08 at 7:11am
It's been my personal experience here in Vancouver that VCC (Vancouver Culinary College) does not require the C.C.C. to teach either. What is required is a Provincial Instructor's diploma (which I had just completed), a fair amount of experience, and, alas, the Red Seal. That being said, the head of the Culinary Dept. told me that honestly, even though I had good credentials, I would have to "wait until one of the Instructors dies before a postion opens up"....

I do have my Swiss Trades "Cooks Apprenticeship" (3 years) which was well recieved by the reviewing board, and some 20 years experience in Europe and S.E. Asia. They were dead serious about the Red Seal though, some kind of Gov't/HR requirement....
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post #25 of 34
4/3/08 at 8:33am
Hello, im a contract worker here in Alberta, graduated culinary arts in the Philippines. how is the fastest way to get a red seal? thank you
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post #26 of 34
4/3/08 at 9:26am

red seal

I am currently in the process of applying to write my red seal exam in Vancouver BC
I'm not sure of the process in Alberta but In BC you are required to to have 8100 hours, approx. 4 years full time experience , before you can write the exam. Once they receive the application form they said it is a month wait list to go and write.

I'm not sure in your case how they apply your school hours in the Philippines and if you have any other work experience.
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post #27 of 34
4/9/08 at 2:06am
chefexams .com-dummy tests & such.

Best way to study is by doing. That is, having the experience.

Next best is the professional cooks line guides level 1-3. Alot of the red seal questions are straight out of those guides & the Gisslen. Problem is is that the test is 150 questions randomly generated from a bank of about 6000 questions.:eek:
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post #28 of 34
8/5/08 at 6:16am
ok guys let me set a few questions to rest here.
Firstly to give some background. I am a certified chef who runs a hotel kitchen and I have two apprentices signed under my tutelege(if you do not know what that word means look it up!!)
The requirement here in Ont. is 6000 hours-no dicking around- you have to put in the whole 6k or prove that you have worked with a qualified cook(red seal) to get a reduction, but at the end of it all the time must be spent in a kitchen. That time is calculated on a 40 hour work week over the course of fifty weeks; as an apprentice you get no more because as an employer I can't work you longer than that!!
If you have a chef that will "cheat" for you the only person that suffers is you-give yourself three years at school/working to learn from others. I tell my commis' to be a sponge-that means to be quiet and learn form others around you.
Secondly, if you are a foreign worker, I do believe that through the CCF you can find all the information you need. It used to be that you needed a chef to say "yes he knows his/her stuff"
Thirdly, if you want information on time/temperature ask the health dept. as they are the people that set the rules in the first place.
Remember 4-60 and no longer than 3 hours.

Hey Mizz, I know this is a little after the fact but did you get signed up and are you finding it to be all you thought it was?
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post #29 of 34
8/5/08 at 6:41am
try the food lovers comanion, its a good book.:D
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post #30 of 34
8/5/08 at 10:47am
I wrote the exam a couple months ago
chef33 has the best advice here
The best way to learn is by doing. I have 20 yrs experience and when I wrote the test I found most of it to be common sense. But, some of the test they are looking for very specific answers and procedures.
If I didn't brush up on some of the information I wouldn't have known it.
Refer to Professional Cooking 6th edition by Wayne Gisslen. It is an expensive book but it is a very good investment. Try to get the latest edition for more updated resources and information, but earlier editions will have a lot of the information you need.
and professional cooks line guides level 1-3
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