Tom Colicchio taught himself to cook by studying the cooking manuals of Jacques Pepin. Mario Batali worked as a dishwasher at a New Jersey
pizza parlor. Emeril Lagasse learned the art of pastry at a local Portuguese bakery.Everyone has to start somewhere.If you’re thinking about starting a culinary career, but aren’t quite sure how to make it to the ranks of Top Chef, look no further. We’ve broken down the culinary ladder into three basic rungs that, with the right training, you’ll be able to climb. Check it out:

Step #1: Enroll in Culinary School
It takes a lot to be a chef. Chefs have to know how to sear a piece of tuna, sauté fresh asparagus, and reduce a sauce down to perfection-sometimes all at once. In addition, they must know how to oversee an entire kitchen staff, handle knives without losing any fingers, and keep the refrigerator at the right temperature so the meat doesn’t spoil and the desserts don’t freeze.

To learn all of this (and a few other tricks that come in handy), most chefs start their career by going to culinary school. There, you’ll get the hands-on experience you need to make your way around the kitchen.

Step #2: Get Some Experience Under Your Belt
Despite what the reality shows say, no one graduates from culinary school and becomes the next Gordon Ramsay. First, you have to prove that you can hold your own in front of a char grill on a busy Friday night.

When you graduate culinary school, use the connections you made their to find a position as a chef de partie, also known as a station chef or line cook. Yes, it will be grueling and consist of long hours, but it’s a great way to get the experience you need. Many restaurants rotate their line employees through different stations, which allow you to perfect your skills and handle any complicated order that comes your way.

Step #3: Work Your Way Up
Once you feel confident in your culinary skills, what’s next? There’s a variety of positions underneath the executive chef that will allow you to climb the culinary ladder.

Expediters work to coordinate all the different entrees and ensure that they come out on time. (They’re sort of like an orchestra conductor, but of the kitchen.) Head cooks oversee and supervise the other workers on the line. And Sous chefs are second-in-command to the executive chef, ordering inventory, helping with menu creation, and running the kitchen in the chef’s absence.

Any of these positions will give you the leadership and management experience you need to eventually become an executive chef yourself.

Ready to get started?
Find out more about culinary schools and programs on this culinary degree programs page.

Home chef cooking tools allow home cooked meals to be served throughout the day in one convenient location. Home chef cooking tools will also allow meals to be served in an elegant manner. Home chefs can create creamy soups and they seem to taste better when they are ladled into bowls. Lasagna will be easier to serve with large serving spoons that are capable of slicing portions out of the pan and not scooping the portions into an unsightly clump on the plate. Cooking tools give cooks more control while serving hot foods and guests seem to enjoy meals more because they are on the table.

A home chef can orchestrate a marvelous meal when using cooking tools designed for outdoor living lifestyles. Family barbecues will go off without a hitch when the cook is using tools that allow them to grasp large cuts of meat and flip them in an instant. Home chefs that enjoy outdoor cooking will keep other home chef cooking tools indoors. Partitioned plates can be used to re-warm foods that were cooked on the grill earlier in the day.

Covered dishes can be home chef cooking tools that are perfect for busy lives. People can save money by carrying lunches to work in these sealed containers and home chefs do not have to bear great expenses by keeping the house stocked with disposable containers. Storage containers are one kitchen tool that home chefs rely on immensely. These tools allow foods to be prepared ahead of schedule, and frozen quickly for use on a later date. Some meal menu items can be stored in the refrigerator to provide fast snacks when children come home from school in the afternoon.

The home chef cooking tools can make entertaining at home a fun experience. Home chefs can maintain a myriad of wine glasses and other useful glass choices that are prefect for drinking champagne. Tabletop drink dispensers could turn any event into a more celebrated gathering when chocolate sauces are used as one of the cooking tools for the evening of festivities. Home chef cooking tools will allow guests to serve foods from covered containers and make clean up after an event an easy task to accomplish.

A home chef can make any corner of the home a great place for guests to mix and mingle if the right kitchen furniture is in place. Some guests prefer to sit in barstools while conversing with family and friends and others prefer to use the standard kitchen table chairs as the place where they will exchange information with friends. Some home chef cooking tools will keep children occupied for some time because kids enjoy making custom-built sandwiches that are filled with the ingredients on hand at a party and they choose to use tools such as tabletop grills to heat them.