# Do Culinary Schools Teach Neatness?



## caterchef (Oct 12, 2009)

Do Culinary Schools Teach Neatness? 
Or is this something they are supposed to bring with them.
I have interviewed 6 chefs in the last 2 weeks in order to expand my operation.
I assign them an area to work to prepare a list of entrees.
And when I returned you would think a hurricane came through the kitchen.
Some had good culinary skills but, were so sloppy I had to refuse their employment.
I expect them to be neat and set an example for everyone else.
I had this problem while working as Banquet Chef in Country Clubs
when the Execs had dishwashers to clean up their mess. 
They would grab a cutting board and go to a different area for every project then leave it. 
The first thing I was taught as an apprentice was to keep my area clean.
I am just wondering if this is another area the schools are overlooking.
Or are they being taught they don't have to "wipe your a** when you take a sh**."
That was the term used when I started out over 50 years ago.
I don't think I should have to explain to chefs with over 5 years experience to do this.:thumb:


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## chefhow (Oct 16, 2008)

To me cleaning up behind yourself is common sense and should be expected by everyone from the top down.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

If they just recently graduated from culinary school, then they're "culinary school graduates" not Chefs. Please don't call them that, it just inflates their ego.

Most cooks with some experience know how to "Clean as you go", for if they do not, they incur the wrath of fellow employees or the Chef. 

Most schools focus on the work itself and not on how the students move. Marks are assigned to the actual food, but very rarely on how well or how long the cook takes to get the job done.


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

A Chef is a Chef when he/She takes everything that was learned over a period of years and molds it into Their own creative Ideas. A Chef learns professionalism in school, being neat is part of that process. All Chefs learned "Mise en place" in School, If they were messy during the hiring process just think of what they will be like later on................Good Luck...............Bill


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

No, no, no, no.....Say the word "Chef" and the recepient thinks TV shows, superstar TV Chefs, countless underlings to clean up and wipe the sweaty brow of the "Chef".

A Chef is the boss. Period. The one who hires and fires, who instructs and disciplines. . Think of it as the difference between the head coach of say, the Canucks, and the Team Captain. 

A cook is the one who prepares food. The one who cuts and cooks, and, to that extension, the one who makes who can keep his station reasonably clean at all timesns

99% of the kichens the new guy gets bugged so bad and so hard about cleaning up after himself, that s/he eventually learns it. The other 1% of the time the guy is the shop steward and would scream unfair hiring paractices if s/he had to so much as look at damp barwipe or a broom....


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