Are We Chefs or Cooks?

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I could have sworn a topic like this was posted already. But, if it is, I can't find it. So, let's start the discussion here.

A year or so after I started taking cooking seriously, I recall doing something cool with a particular recipe. I can't recall what that thing was, but I do recall that it was clever, and it worked beautifully. At that moment, I found myself thinking

I'm not just a cook anymore; I'm a chef!

I think I decided this because the sophistication of what I did was well beyond what an average cook might have done (and well beyond what I'd ever imagined doing myself).

Now, I can't help but laugh at that. I've grown so much as a cook in the years since then, and one of the things I've realized is this:

I am NOT a chef!

I came to that conclusion after doing a lot of research on the topic. The "research", of course, meant googling other discussion forums that went over the same topic (maybe this is why I thought we talked about this here). My reasons for concluding that I'm not a chef are these:

• No one pays me to cook for them
• I am not otherwise employed in any sort of charitable use of my cooking (as someone working at a soup kitchen would be, even though they volunteer their services).
• I never attended a culinary institute.

No matter how good I might get as a home cook, I am simply not a chef because of those things, and I will never be unless the above changes.

Actually, now that I recall, that last point was what helped make my mind up: I talked to a woman who was about to graduate from a culinary institute. She said something along the lines of "...and, after I graduate, I can start calling myself a chef." She certainly had far better credentials than anything I've ever had.

But, while I feel that way, I'm curious to hear what others think. And, yes, I know that a few of us ARE actually chefs...those either currently or previously employed, or those who have attended a culinary institute. But, aside from that: do you think of yourself as a cook or a chef?

 

[medtran49]

I think technically you can only be called a chef if you have successfully completed a comprehensive culinary course.

But, with that said, I've successfully cooked, prepared, and cured things that a couple of chefs we know have never done, not even while in culinary school, so not sure what I'd call myself.

 

[detroitdad]

Depending on how my dish turns out I might call myself a professional home amateur chef

Then my wife and son just look at me and shake their heads

 

[Morning Glory]

Definitely I am a cook not a chef. But I think I can call myself a 'recipe developer' in relation to creating my own dishes.

 

[Herbie]

I call myself a 'good home cook' and am inspired by recipes rather than follow them. I love learning other peoples home recipes so have picked up recipes from around the world.

 

[Duck59]

For a very reasonable price (about seven million quid), you could get marketing consultants to call you an advanced catering strategist or some such drivel.

 

[CraigC]

I look at it this way, comparing Culinary School graduates to Scuba Instructor Coarse graduates. The are certain minimal requirements to pass an Instructor Evaluation and become one. Yes, you can call yourself a Scuba Instructor, but there are many I would not want to train family members, friends or anyone for that matter.

I'm sure that many of us could put some of those Culinary School grads to shame, but we are still home cooks. I have pretty good outdoor cooking skills, but don't call myself a BBQ Pitmaster.

 

[oddduck]

Frankly i just don't see why it matters...i don't even call myself a cook...i must eat therefore i must cook and cook food i like. Recipes are merely suggestions and there is only one i follow to the T and that is my gramma's molasses cookie recipe cause you just don't mess with perfection. Sometimes i just throw things together based on what i think will taste good and it usually does.

I just don't think it matters if you go to school or not to be a chef. I always figured chefs are professionals that not only cook but run a team in professional kitchen but if someone wants to call themself a home chef i am not going complain. Now you might see me roll my eyes if you start calling yourself a master chef cause frankly i roll my eyes at the cooks in the masterchef show getting the title master chef. To become a master at any skill you better have spent a huge amount of your life honing that talent not the amount of time it takes to film a tv season's worth of shows.

 

[detroitdad]

Frankly i just don't see why it matters...i don't even call myself a cook...i must eat therefore i must cook and cook food i like. Recipes are merely suggestions and there is only one i follow to the T and that is my gramma's molasses cookie recipe cause you just don't mess with perfection. Sometimes i just throw things together based on what i think will taste good and it usually does.

I just don't think it matters if you go to school or not to be a chef. I always figured chefs are professionals that not only cook but run a team in professional kitchen but if someone wants to call themself a home chef i am not going complain. Now you might see me roll my eyes if you start calling yourself a master chef cause frankly i roll my eyes at the cooks in the masterchef show getting the title master chef. To become a master at any skill you better have spent a huge amount of your life honing that talent not the amount of time it takes to film a tv season's worth of shows.

I like this. From now on. I'm calling myself an "amateur chef"!