Cook (profession)
A cook is a person employed to prepare food for consumption, whether in a restaurant or institution, for a caterer or in domestic service.
In restaurants
Cooks may learn their trade through apprenticeship, particularly in smaller establishments, but the top restaurants hire from the graduates of professional cooking courses at culinary schools; these almost always involve some form of apprenticeship as well. In the larger restaurants there may be a hierarchy of cooking staff, culminating in the sous chef and the chef, and specialized roles such as saucier or patissier.
A typical progression might be:
- kitchen aide
- line cook
- sous chef or specialty chef, such as patissier, above
- chef
- executive chef or chef de cuisine (often simply called 'chef')
In domestic service
When used of residential staff the word cook may refer to the head of the kitchen in a great house or to a cook-housekeeper, responsible for cleaning as well. See cook (servant).