If you want to thrive as a chef in Australia, then you need to have a full set of skills at hand. A career in the culinary arts is extremely demanding, but also brilliantly rewarding. As a chef, you can leave work every day with the satisfaction that you have made some people’s day better with your food. It will keep you on your feet, but it will also keep you engaged. If this sounds promising, then take a look at our list of the 10 skills you need to make it as a chef:
- Passion for Cooking
If cooking comes mechanically to you, then maybe you shouldn’t consider turning it into a career. If you want to make it as a chef, then you should be truly passionate about cooking. If putting a dish together inspires you and fills you up with positive energy, if you feel engaged in the preparation process and eager to taste the result, then you might have what you need to thrive. Food cooked with passion always stands out.
- The Willingness to Keep Learning
If you want to become a chef in Australia, then you have to be ready to meet the people’s standards every single day. You have to build a very solid skill base and get your certifications, of course, but the learning process does not stop there. In fact, you should be ready to keep learning for the rest of your career to be able to keep up with culinary trends and maybe even start some of your own.
- The Ability to Act Fast in Stressful Situations
Australian kitchens are abuzz all day long, but during lunch and dinner rush, the level of stress can reach some impressive heights. Everybody on the staff is doing the best to deliver the orders, but the pace makes it a demanding moment. Sometimes, things don’t go as planned and you have to be ready to act fast. You need to have a plan B for your recipes and communicate it to your team and all in time for the next order.
- Creativity
One of the things that Australians love most about food is a creative spin on their favorite dishes. It should be subtle enough to preserve the body of the dish, but thrilling enough to make something they know taste exciting. To make it as a chef down under, you need to be creative.
- Curiosity
Aside from creativity, you also need curiosity. This is the element that unleashes your creative power and makes experimenting with dishes a fun and exciting process. If you want to find out what a dish tastes like when you add a key ingredient that accentuates the taste, then you will find new and delicious ways to cook those Australian-favorite dishes.
- Physical Endurance
A career as a chef is thrilling, but it is also physically demanding. Not only do you have to be on your feet for hours on end every day, but you also have to chop, stir, and mix your ingredients. Even with help, that gets tiring after a while. If you’re up for the physical challenge, then you will make it in the culinary business.
- Attention to Detail
A recipe has to be perfect down to the very last ingredient for the final dish to have an exquisite taste. To make sure this is done every time, you have to be able to spot inaccuracies with ingredients and dishes. For this, you will need great attention to minute elements. If you have a keen eye for detail, it will serve you well during your career as a chef.
- Assertiveness
The success of a kitchen relies heavily on the communication between the people working there. Especially during those busy times of the day, you have to be assertive in communicating with your team. This ensures that people understand what you want from them and that your tone is strong enough for them to respond to but soft enough to not sound demanding. That sweet spot in the middle is assertiveness and it will do wonders for you in the kitchen.
- The Ability to Accept Criticism
Even the best of chefs receive criticism from customers, managers, reviewers, etc. Preparing a dish might be an exact science, but tasting it is entirely subjective, so for each dish you make, you should be prepared to receive both positive and negative feedback. A good chef learns from the negative feedback and uses it to make his dishes even better.
- Leadership Skills
As a chef, you have to lead the entire kitchen staff. A dish is not only the food on the plate, but the entire experience of eating it, and you are in charge of providing customers the full experience every time. To do this, you need to coordinate the entire team and to observe them continuously.
So, do you think you have what it takes to be a chef in Australia? How many of these skills do you have and do you think you’re ready to be a chef?
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