Questions from and for cookery apprentices.
I'm three months in and all I do is chop veg and clean. When do I actually learn to cook?
You are learning to cook right now, you just cannot see it yet. Knife skills, speed, organisation and cleaning as you go are the foundation of everything else, and prep is where you build them. That said, you should not be a free labourer: your training plan lists the units you must be taught, and a good kitchen rotates you through sections as you progress. Ask your chef what you need to show them to get a crack at breakfast eggs or the larder section. If months pass and nobody is teaching you anything, raise it with your TAFE teacher or apprenticeship provider, because training is the employer's side of the deal.
Answered by a qualified tradieQualified chef
I got absolutely flogged in service last Saturday and froze up. Is this job just not for me?
Every chef you admire has been buried in the weeds and frozen at least once. It is a rite of passage, not a verdict. The fix is boring: better mise en place, so service is assembly rather than invention, and calling for help early instead of drowning quietly. Say 'chef, I'm going down on grill' and a good team backs you up. What separates people who last is not never sinking, it is how fast they reset for the next docket. Give yourself a full year of services before you judge whether the pressure suits you. Most people find it becomes the part they miss on holidays.
Answered by a qualified tradieQualified chef
My mate at another restaurant reckons I should move because his kitchen is better. Should I switch employers mid-apprenticeship?
Sometimes yes, but move for the right reasons. A kitchen that teaches you nothing, works you unpaid hours or treats you like garbage is worth leaving: your training contract can be transferred to a new employer through your apprenticeship provider, and apprentices do it all the time. But do not jump just because another kitchen sounds shinier, because every kitchen has rough weeks and restarting trust costs you months. Weigh it on training: which chef will teach you more in the next two years? If it is genuinely the other one, talk to your provider about a transfer and leave professionally. Hospitality is a small world and reputations follow you.
Answered by a qualified tradieQualified chef
Should I spend big on a Japanese knife like the sous chef has?
Not yet. His knife is great because he can sharpen it and he does not leave it soaking in the pot sink. Buy a reputable budget chef's knife, learn to keep it screaming sharp on a stone, and put the leftover money into good shoes, because your feet clock more hours than your knife. When you can consistently sharpen an edge and your knife work is quick and tidy, treat yourself to a mid-range blade in second or third year. It will mean more then, and you will look after it properly. An expensive knife in a first-year roll is jewellery.
Answered by a qualified tradieQualified chef
The split shifts are killing my social life and I'm always tired. How do you survive the hours?
Honestly, you organise your life around the roster instead of fighting it. Your weekend is Tuesday, so make plans on Tuesday. Guard your sleep like it is your knife kit: blackout curtains, no doom-scrolling after a late finish, and actually rest on the afternoon break instead of running errands. Batch your own food, because cooks who live on chips and service scraps burn out faster. And check your roster is legal: awards have rules on breaks between shifts and overtime. If the hours are grinding you down long term, remember the trade has daytime corners, like hospitals, schools and corporate catering, and moving there later does not make you less of a chef. Plenty of us do our loud years in restaurants and our sane years in catering.
Answered by a qualified tradieQualified chef
