A Chef is a person who cooks professionally in a professional kitchen setting, the term is used only for the one person in charge of everyone else in the kitchen, the executive chef.
Culinary is a word associated to, or connected with, cooking or a kitchen. Increasingly, Chefs are required to have a knowledge of the science of food and an understanding of diet and nutrition. Their roles have grown into more of a management position. The Positions would be open in, restaurants, hospitals and a variety of institutions
The Kind of School:
Culinary Arts ..... Traditional College and Universities
Chef .... Vocational Schools : Chef School
Kinds of Degrees offered:
Associate Degree : Two Year Degree
Bachelors Degree: Four Year Degree
Culinary Arts Specialties:
Restaurant management: Culinary management Catering management
Management of the restaurant or business. Also over sees all the employees and the daily operations of that business.
Chef Specialties and their duties:
Executive chef:
The Executive Chef is in charge of everything related to the kitchen, including; menu creation, staff management and all business aspects. The position requires a great deal of cooking experience. It also requires a great knowledge of management and business.
Chef de Cuisine:
Is more common in French style. In some establishments this title is used to designate a chef who is the head chef at one location of an operation that has multiple locations where the corporate chef has the title executive chef
Sous Chef:
Is the direct assistant of the executive chef and is second in command. They are usually responsible for scheduling. The Sous Chef fills in for many of the other workers as needed. Smaller restaurants may not have a Sous Chef, while larger operations may have more than one
Expediter or Announcer:
The expediter takes the orders from the dining room and the orders to the different stations in the kitchen. This person usually puts the finishing touches on the dish before it goes out.
Partie Chef, Station Chef or Line cook:
Is in charge of a area of production. In large kitchens, each station chef might have several cooks or assistants. In smaller kitchens the station cook is the only worker. Line cooks are often divided into a hierarchy of their own, starting with "First Cook", then "Second Cook", and so on as needed
Sample of the classes:
Culinary Arts: Food service production, food service sanitation, nutrition, stock and sauces, American regional cuisine, dining room management, introduction to baking & pastry, storeroom operations and meat cutting.