Professional Chef or Pastry Chef

[jess0680]

I am just curious to know if anyone could let me know the Pro's and Con's of working as a Professional Chef and a Pastry Chef. I would love to hear the opinions of professionals as I am currently trying to make up my mind for what course to take for school. I love doing both but I'm trying to find the most useful information to help me make my decision and I know posting a thread on the professional forums will probably be the best place to get feed back from

 

[greg]

Actually, posting in the pro forums is one of the pros of being a professional in foodservice, so I'm moving this to the students forum.

 

[soigneky]

It all depends on your personality, and what you want to get out of your career.  There is certainly no need to limit yourself to one or the other.  A pastry chef can always learn to be a CDP, and vice versa.  Were it me, I would choose the path that challenges my skills the most.  I've always found working a line more immediately gratifying (the heat of battle and all), and that's where my natural talent lies, so I might take the pastry path to broaden my knowledge base. 

Basically, if you take the path of pastry, expect to spend a lot of time working on your own with delicate projects.  If you take the more general-ed path, Professional Chef as you refer to it, then expect to be working as part of a team cranking out plates.  At least to start, anyway.

 

[jess0680]

I used to have a job as a waitress and I know how busy a restaurant could get but I'm not sure if I could personally handle being the chef or a chef. I do like cooking but I don't know how it would handle it career wise. I do like baking a lot because I can use my artistic skills but I just don't know how far it would get me. I don't know much about the industry but so far from what I have read, both being a chef and a pastry chef seem to be enjoyable jobs. I do like jobs that keep me busy and keep me going so I know I'd get used to the stress of it, my current job is pretty stressful, but I can't get anywhere with it and I need something more challenging. I do know how to cook really well, I'm fast at picking it up, baking I don't do as much but I'm pretty good, but I need practice. It's hard to pick one for the moment when you like doing both.