My stepson who is 22 came home from College for the Summer. We all thought he was returning to college this fall to continue his studies. Well...he gave us the Big announcement this weekend....he is taking a year off and has decided that he wants to become a Chef.
LOL...his Grandparents bout had a stroke.....but they have since gotten more used to the idea.
Any tips from you Guy's for someone that wants to get started in the profession ?

Terrific news Francie!!! My step-daughter graduated from the Culinary Institute in New York, and we swap ideas all the time, and Eddie calls her quite often to ask "How do I?" questions.

Only suggestion I can make in starting him along his career is advise him to pay attention and give 100% of effort, if he does that all the rest will fall into place!

During that year off, get a job in a restaurant, any job, be it waiter, dish washer, errand boy, whatever. Before you spend that money, make sure you know what is involved.

I'm hoping that Kevin and Nan and Joey jump in on this one, because there are two things he has to know, and the professionals can fill in all the details of the first, which is:

1. The culinary industry is not the Food Network. FN has, intentionally or not, glamourized the business all out of proportion. Basically it's a lot of hard work at relatively low pay. And you don't just become a chef. You earn the title, which can take years of working various stations and positions.

2. If he means he intends going to culinary school to learn the trade, that's fine. But not if he's floundering around trying to find himself. Culinary schools can run upwards of $30,000 in tuition. Just seems to me somebody better be damn sure before making that sort of committment.

Great news!

Does he understand the reality of it all???

Has he ever worked his butt off in the restaurant industry - and I don't mean wrapping rat burgers at a local fast food joint?

Does he understand that with all the "glory" of cooking there is a lot of cleaning, prep work, board of health issues, customer satisfaction, employee issues, ordering, etc.

You don't put on a chef's hat, stand there in your pretty whites and play with food.

There are time issues - preparing dishes so that everything is done at the same time and that the customers are satisfied. And you never have only one dish to prepare at a time.

You also need to be able to take orders, give orders and work well with many others.

I've run enough restaurants - I've worked every job there - I wouldn't hire anyone to do a job unless I did it myself and I did it the way it was supposed to be done and turn out a certain way. I've done it all - and I mean every bit of it.

Long, long hours - aching bones - sheer exhaustion - it's no pretty whites in an eight hour shift. The later a restaurant is open - the longer your hours - especially when someone doesn't show up.

My suggestion - get a job as a busboy if he has to - work into prep - try his hand as a line cook and take it from there.

And be prepared when working for others - you waste nothing. I've seen owners fire someone over too much waste - after all - it cuts deep into the profits.

I hope he doesn't have blinders on for this one and that he realizes - things he hates to touch, smell or cook won't matter - it HAS to be done. And all cooked the way the customer wants - not his way.