To keep up the increasing demand in the dining room, both the Chef and kitchen staffs have to manipulate tasks skillfully. In order to prepare and preserve the food’s quality, prep cook contributes their indispensable performance.
However, what does a prep cook do exactly? Let’s read on to acquire specific duties and requirements of this entry-level kitchen position.
What Does A Prep Cook Do?
Three Expectations You Need To Figure Out
When working in a fast-paced workplace, it requires a prep cook to exploit their expert skills of the culinary field. In fact, you need to peel, cut, chop and slice all kind of food fast and efficiently to catch up customer’s orders and satisfy the chef’s request.
As for your typical day’s duties, you have to prepare salads, strain soups, check the temperature of stored foods, plus fill dish washing and pre-measure ingredient correctly. Overall, you must ensure the cooking process flows smoothly.
Though prep cooks do not ask you to have a previous kitchen experience, employment will highly value you if you get used to cooking.
General Responsibilities
- Obey the chef’s prep directions.
- Prepare the components, simple dishes, or put together completed entrees.
- Preserve the excellent quality of the dish.
- Measure ingredients and seasoning the dishes up to specification.
- Label and stock all ingredients on shelves tidily to access them easily.
- Store food and other items properly.
- Wash dishes, take out the trash, and sanitize surface areas.
- Obey the hygiene regulation and nutrition standards.
Typical Duties Of A Prep Cook
You must be capable of preparing ingredient of the recipe and setting up cooking space for the chefs cooking. Here are five foundation skills that necessary for your career path as a prep cook.
Prep basics
You are required to master all the basic skills (etc., slice and dice like a chef). Also, it demands you to practice well the good hygiene to prevent an issue of contamination or spoilage. Besides, you are expected to work fast and neatly to finish work in a minimum of time.
Prep produce
Normally, many prep cooks begin their career with fruit and vegetable preparation. You have to master in handling food practices. Particularly, make sure fruits are washed and peeled properly, plus a vegetable is julienned, steamed or roasted to prepare for cook perfectly.
Prep meats, fish, and poultry
At this stage, a prep cook must work with cold ingredients handily. Specifically, you can cut and trim pieces to be able to minimize the food costs and enhance the restaurant’s profit. Also, you get used with skinning, filleting fish or cut meat into standardized portions.
Non-cook duty
Though you would not do related-cooking duties, you need to arrive early or at first to prepare food and set up the kitchen. Indeed, you need to recover equipment, fill fryers and preheat stoves. Also, you take responsibility of visiting the dry-goods and cooler areas to ensure all products labeled properly. Moreover, you would take charge of picking herbs, salad greens to remove wilted leaves.
Abilities And Skills Needed To Be A Prep Cook
Four Soft Basic Skills
As a prep cook, you cannot finish your job without other’s assistance. That’s why you need to be a helpful team-player who could integrate and communicate with others. Also, being a supportive part of the team could empower you to be advanced for a level-headed position.
So, if you want to be an ideal prep cook candidate, try to stay organized, keep a cool head to work effectively under pressure.
To ensure you meet the preparation requirements, you need to hear and obey the chief’s instructions carefully. Also, keeps your ears open would improve your skills.
This is a crucial condition that the prep cook needs to satisfy. Since you would deliver a proper preparation on time to run out a perfect meal, you have to exploit skillful hands and master use cooking essentials. Besides, it’s an advantage if you could work unappealing hours.
Long hours standing happens with all people who work in the kitchen, so as a prep cook, you need a good stamina. Also, with a great deal of endurance, you can control your work well despite being in an extremely hot condition.
Education Requirements
You will impress an employer with an accredited certification though there is no formal education needed to become a prep cook. As there are many training courses or culinary art schools, you should attend to widen valuable culinary experience.
Also, to be qualified to work in a professional kitchen or the food-related industry, you need to achieve a food handler’s permit. That’s why you need to enroll a two-hour class and a written test to get this precious license.
Opportunities For Your Career Advancement
After gaining skills and experience, prep cook would win the chef’s trust to be supervised more skilled tasks. In specific, you are allowed to make broth and trim meat. And these minor steps would help you climb up the ladder of your career.
And it would be more persuasive when you enroll in an associate’s degree program in culinary arts to gain extensive chefs work experience.
Since you have an aptitude work ethic and necessary skills, you would be highly recognized for a lead cooks or the kitchen’s station managers. In the end, being executive chefs would be within your reach.
Final Words
So, what does a prep cook do? There are many responsibilities they need to perform. It includes a preparations step, proper minor cook, cleaning task and item store. However, these accumulated experienced would build up the next level of your kitchen ladder.
Hope you would promote further in this culinary field. If you have any related question, just drop me a line below and see you later.