im a nurse but i want to be a chef! :D any tips? - Page 3

I got my start at cooking in the Army National Guard. The Guard got called up for a forest fire and I volunteered to help (I had joined the Guard after I got out of the Army). Instead of putting me in communications (which I was trained for) they put me in a kitchen. I liked it and the mess people liked me. Afterwards I got a transfer to kitchen duty. I spent the rest of my time in the Guard cooking. While I was in, I was in high demand, other units requested me for their exercises so I spent much more time in the kitchen than a normal Guard cook. I reached the point where I was often in charge of the kitchen. However I never had any formal Army training in cooking.

 

After I got out I went to a culinary school. And then worked at several, managed a few, and even owned a couple restaurants. Now I no longer cook professionally, though I'm not ruling out doing it again.

 

I have to support what most of the people before me said - you should find a restaurant and try it out before you devote yourself to cooking. Cooking can be a highly stressful job and you have to be the type of person who can deal with that stress and hopefully thrive in it. I've seen a lot of people come into a kitchen thinking they would enjoy the job and then discovering that it was nothing like they believed it was going to be. This was more evident when I was in the Guard as we would often get people from another MOS (job) volunteer to fill empty slots in the mess staff for the 2 weeks of annual training, many of them only lasted a day - and this was institutional cooking (one meal for everyone), normal restaurant cooking can be even more stressful, I've seen a lot of new cooks fresh from school burn out quickly also. Very few of the people I went to school with lasted more than a year or two.

 

You might be the type of person (like myself) who enjoys being on a line and learning to take the tickets 5 or more at a time and timing the preparation of the food for those tickets so that they all come up hot and ready to be plated at the same time and then moving to the next 5 (when you're in the groove this is a wonderful feeling - I've actually been told it's fun to watch me when I'm doing it also), or you might enjoy being a prep cook and doing the back work behind the line (I also enjoy this), or maybe you'll like working as a saucier (most the kitchen I worked in this was often also the prep or line cook), or a pastry cook. But whatever you might later decide was your niche, I truly believe you'd benefit from experiencing what it was like working in a running kitchen before you committed yourself to culinary school.

Edited by Dropkick - 2/6/13 at 9:41pm

This post was on here a while back, Stick to Nursing for a living Cook for a hobby.

I didn't go to culinary school, I was trained by a professional chef who did graduate from a culinary school. I worked & learned his techniques at the same time. I told him that I learned to cook from my grandmother & it was my favorite pasttime so he volunteered to pass his knowledge down to me. It was like attending Culinary School without the cost. Yes, he gave me exams, too. "You have one hour to cook Oysters Rockefeller for me that is so delectable that I hunger for more." I did just that, by the way ... he loved it! If you can afford to attend Culinary School, great. If not, start talking to professional chefs who graduated from Culinary School to see if anyone will be willing to train you & give you frequent exams during your training to prove what you have learned sunk into your brain.

Glad you learned the right way. Now try and make Rockafefeller in much less then an hour.

hello....I work part time in health care as a dental hygienist and part time as a chef.  I have a BS in dental hygiene and have been working for years in the field. I became passionate aobut becoming a chef about 5 years ago. Because of my age , cost, and guidance from some chefs I opted to find chefs to let me stage and apprentice to learn from. I bought textbooks, cookbooks, magazines and have read constatnly to study and learn. I have slowly built up my skills and began earning money cooking. I have gradually dropped back my schedule in the dental office as my chef work has increased. I rely on the steady and good income from dentistry to float me as the chef work in not always constant. I have found a way to make it work for me. I absolutely love it. It is very hard work. You are tired and exhausted from long hours on your feet, but it's good.  I dont want to be in a restaurant full time at this point. It doesnt pay well enough and the work takes its toll on the body, so I will stay in both professions.

YOu have the same option with nursing. It's very easy to work just 1 or 2 days a week and find a culinary venue that will fit with that.

Good luck!

Okay...I left a medical career to go to school for landscape design...best choice ever and then upon moving to the usvi got involved in restaraunt work   Start with working for a catering company. It will give you skills and a sense for the job...

keep cooking a passion, not your occupation. I worked for many years cooking and am very happy I didnt turn it into a life long career. Food for me hasn't been tainted or ruined by the long long long hours on the line year after backbreaking year. rather, i get to be creative and still passionate about the craft at home without it being ruined by 12 hours in someone else's kitchen. 

 

do your own thing. find some way to make food a part of your life without making it the bill payer. you'll appreciate it more, unless you have a shot at your family or others funding your own venture, your own restaurant, if thats the case, get to work and leave nursing behind pronto!

Please, don't let the personal experiences of some of the members stop you from pursuing your dream. I worked retail for 5 years and had a good job in a large office supplies store before I decided to enroll in culinary school. I'm 26 years old and starting in a new field it's hard but if you have the drive and the passion all the sacrifices will be worth it. You have to do what makes you happy. It's true that the hrs might be bad and it is a very demanding field, but the satisfaction you get when people enjoy your food it's priceless.

When my brother's childre came to me in high school asking what they should do with their lives.  I always told them (and have told many kids in the intervening years) go with your passion.  But having been in the food service industry for many  years........   If I had it to do all over again, I'd go a different route.  My aunt and uncle owned (and cooked, waited tables, washed dishes themselves - totally hands on in all avenues) and all my cousins and I worked for them summers and holidays.  I've been a line cook, dish washer, sous chef, pastry artist, cake decorator, etc. for many years (I'm 60 now by the way) and burned out from it all.  I so wish I had gone on to college like  my parents wanted me to, tho I have no clue what subjects I'd have gone for, but anything is better than what I'm doing now.  My nephew wanted to cook in the worst way so he joined the Navy and was a shef on a submarine for many years.  When he got out he started as head of the kitch in a hospital.  He now is head of maintence in that same hospital.  Hates to cook now.  Yes, I'm good at what I can do in any kitchen, but after many years of having to work holidays, weekends and nights.....  NO MORE for me!

Go for it i'm a private Chef and I love cooking for people I like to see people smile when they have my food. If you like cooking then go to cooking school

hi! i guess i could connect with you on this matter. i was previously and engineer and really wanted to be a chef/cook and a lot of posts here are right.. get your feet wet, test the waters if you do like it .. go ahead and pursue what you want.  i have saved close to 90% of my previous salary just to put myself through culinary school, remember if it is your desire/passion you will find a way.. = )

Subscribe to my profile I think u will like being a private chef make more money what school do u plan to attend

At the end of the day you need to ask yourself what would you want to do every day even if no one paid you. Are you intrinsically motivated or do you work for income? How do you define quality of life? Being a chef can be a dream and a nightmare at the same time. It's not for the faint of heart. The ability to love food and cook well is not limited to only chefs. Good luck with your decision.

Restaurants and being a chef are my passion, have been for going on 40 years now; however I would not do it every day even if no one paid. Unfortunately, I haven't found anyone to pay me for walking barefoot on the beach, but I consider that as an indirect reward of my profession.

Has anyone noticed that this thread is over two years old? I think the window for actionable advice has probably closed.