As in the yet-to-be famous, (un)known saying, "You can take the chef out of the cook, but you can't take the cook out of the chef." In other words, being a cook is not synonymous with being a chef. A chef is a cook, but a cook is not necessarily a chef.

Yep, it's true that your mom, your Uncle Pete, and your friend can cook - Mom's pancakes are wonderful, Uncle Pete's barbecue makes you drool in anticipation, and your best friend's spaghetti sauce should be patented - but alas, they are still merely cooks, not chefs.

Chefs must not only be wonderful cooks, they must also develop menus, stay on top of food costs, manage a staff - plus wear the hats of human resource professional, accountant, teacher, sometimes Mom and Dad, and sometimes friend (or enemy), as well.

Creativity plays a major role in a chef's profession. Not only must the food be impeccably prepared, but also its presentation must be artful and designed to appeal to the most discriminating taste buds. Chefs are also expected to create new, never-before-seen dishes and for this, a mastery of all types of foodstuffs is required - meats, fish, poultry, herbs, spices, even wines.

These descriptions are, of course, for Executive Chefs. There are a plethora of underlings that also retain "chef" as part of their official title: sous chef, pastry chef, saucier chef, garde manger chef, and more.

A cook needs nothing more than a desire to work in the kitchen and deftness with a whisk and spatula, while a chef needs years of training and apprenticeship for certification - almost all of it done on his or her feet.

One way to look at it is this: Any good hamburger flipper can be a cook, but a chef is the one who created the "Imported Gruyere Cheese With Porcini Mushrooms Hamburger Deluxe" on the menu at the five-star restaurant you visit only on Mother's Day or on a very hot date.

Of course, there are the rare occurrences where a really good cook - the so-called "gourmet cook" - should, for all practical purposes it seems, be classified as a true "chef." But, alas, without that stamp of approval, the certification from an accredited culinary school or college, the gourmet cook must remain satisfied with the little-lower-than-the-angels "cook" designation. And one must remember the other requirements of managing a kitchen, staff, and the ability to create - not merely follow a recipe. A true chef MAKES the recipes, THEN follows them.

Even the act of creatively and exquisitely preparing food does not a "real" chef make. Chefs are a breed apart. Absolutely passionate about food, if they were not creating dishes for pay, a true, dyed-in-the-wool chef would be inventing sumptuous gastrointestinal delights just to appease his or her innate preoccupation with food, and the creative preparation and presentation thereof.

So if you feel you can tell the difference now between a "cook" and a "chef," you are at least part of the way toward an understanding of this prestigious profession. If not, stick to the fast-food joints and greasy-spoon diners where your talents will be better appreciated. Please.

Recommended Reading:

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