![]() ![]() ![]() Some smaller kitchens may not even have a sous chef, while larger operations can have more than one – there are also a few variations that can precede the title to further specify hierarchy executive, junior or senior.Įach specialised chef is an expert in their respective field, and as such a hierarchy generally does not exist between them. The role will typically overlap with the head chef’s, but the sous chef will tend to be more hands-on and actively involved in the day-to-day running of the kitchen the sous chef will also fill in for the head chef when they are off, as well as a chef de partie when needed. The sous-chef de cuisine is second in command, and translated it literally means ‘under chef’. Sous Chef (aka Second Chef, Under Chef, Assistant Chef) The head chef generally controls the whole kitchen, from managing kitchen staff and controlling kitchen costs to liaising with suppliers and creating the menus.ĭepending on the restaurant and the individual themselves, much like CEOs of the corporate world, the head chef will often leave much of the day-to-day running of the kitchen to individuals lower down the hierarchy, such as the sous chef. It takes many years of culinary education and often decades of experience within multiple positions in a professional kitchen to achieve the role of head chef. The clipped form maître d' began to be used in American English in the 1940s, and though a maître d' is clearly in charge in a restaurant’s dining room, back in the kitchen, there’s no question as to who is the chief.Head chefs roles are often more managerial in nature Head Chef (aka Executive Chef, Chef de Cuisine)Ĭhef de Cuisine is the traditional French term, and although it’s slightly more common in European kitchens, head chef is the title that’s used most prevalently around the world. A parallel term that came from the cousin Romance languages of Spanish and Italian is majordomo. But maître d' is a very unusual word because the d’ seems like a cliffhanger: if de is the French equivalent of of and d’ simply its abbreviated form that is used before a vowel, what is this person a “master” of? The full term is maître d'hôtel, which literally means “master of house” ( hôtel being a word still used in French to designate a grand house as well as a place where travelers can rent rooms). It is a synonym of masterpiece.Īnother truncated French term that is used in restaurants is maître d', meaning “headwaiter” or “manager.” Maître is one of those twice-borrowed French words it is simply the French spelling of master. Another chef term refers to a leading work of art rather than a leader who is a person: chef d’oeuvre, pronounced \sheh-deuhvr\ in French and \shay-deuhvr\ or \shay-DERV\ or \shay-DUV\ in English. In later editions, chef d’ école (“leader of a school of artists”) was added. Chef itself meant “head” in Old French, and comes from the Latin word for “head,” caput.īesides chef de cuisine, the 1934 Unabridged edition included chef de cabinet (“private secretary”) and chef de train (“railway guard” or “conductor”). Typically, these more recent borrowings retain French spellings. Given that so many fancy food terms come from French-think of sous vide, chiffonade, crudités, and even à la carte and the term haute cuisine itself-another surprise is that chef by itself has no specific connection to food or cooking at all: it’s the French spelling of the word that gave us chief, meaning “boss” or “leader.” The “skilled cook” meaning of chef is an abbreviated form of chef de cuisine, meaning “kitchen head” or “kitchen chief.” Like some other words that have come to English from French, chef was borrowed twice the first time it became chief with a general meaning of “leader,” and then, some five centuries later in the 1800s, it was borrowed again with the more specific meaning. Though 'chef' is a common word in English, it has a different meaning in French-and was already borrowed to create the word 'chief' some five centuries before we started using it to mean "skilled cook." ![]()
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