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Certified Chef Quick Overview

Grades and Titles:

There are five titles/ levels of certification:

1. Certified Trade Cook/Chef

Employed or have been employed as a: commis - cook - working chef

Documented evidence of four years full time experience Successful training program equal to level 3 in commercial cookery acquired from an approved training institute.

2. Professional chef

Employed or have been employed as a: working chef, chef de partie, station cook/chef, restaurant cook/chef

Documented evidence of seven years full time experience Successful training program equal to level 3 in commercial cookery acquired from an approved training institute.

3. Chef de Cuisine

Employed or have been employed as a: working head chef, chef who supervises a commercial kitchen, executive sous chef.

Documented evidence of twelve years full time experience Successful training program equal to level 3 in commercial cookery acquired from an approved training institute.

4. Executive Chef

Employed or have been employed as a: head chef supervising multiple kitchens

Pre-certification conditions apply. Entry is open to all Certified Professional Chefs and Certified Chef de Cuisines who have fourteen years full time experience.

5. Master Chef

Employed or have been employed as an: executive chef, senior chef, food and beverage director, head chef

Pre-certification conditions apply. Entry is open to all Certified Professional Chefs and Certified Chef de Cuisine who have fifteen years full time experience

About Certified Chef:

Certifiedchef.com is a web site site dedicated to promoting organisations involved in certifying professional cooks and chefs.

Certified chef is also the procedure that used at salonculinaire.com to assess chefs for certification

Salonculinaire.com is an Australian web site targeting professional commercial chefs, who seek to continuously improve the professional standards of the industry.

Salonculinaire.com is not an association; it is an internet network of professional cooks and chefs.

Applicants must agree to the principles underpinning the Australian Culinary Codes of Practices to be approved as a subscriber.

As of December 2009, over 500 chefs have applied and been individually approved as subscribers.

Salon Culinaire.com has many features, including a web-based culinary knowledge assessment system.

Associations and organisations may contract salonculinaire.com to utilize the web-based knowledge assessment service on a fee for service basis.

Reasons may include:

a) Online quizzes

b) Pre-employment culinary knowledge screening service

c) Culinary knowledge competitions

d) Certification of commercial cooks and chefs at various levels

Features:

A major feature of the certified chef service and procedure is it's flexibility to assess chefs’ knowledge.

Technical questions can be selected with different degrees of difficulty, ranging from the basic understanding of a commercial kitchen operation and professional food preparation, to advanced culinary knowledge and kitchen administration.

The testing system uses a database of questions that are linked to over fifty technical cookery subjects and subdivided into 100 subcategories The assessment process minimizes the risk for cheating:

a) Tests are timed. (Inhibits online or book research, as the candidate either knows the answer or not)

b) The questions are randomised (Inhibits using two computers, one for research and one for the assessment)

c) The keyboard is locked and inhibits the use of the right mouse key to access data while in test mode)

d) Limited number of tests

e) The number of test attempts can be configured from one to unlimited

f) The system can provide instant feedback from a simple pass grade, to complex comments. (Or if required, complete confidentiality)

Rational:

This is not a trade certificate. But a certification of a complete career.

Certified Chef is an industry driven, peer evaluation of an applicants skills, attitude, knowledge and experience that quantifies a career path to provide an overall capability statement.

Certified chef is not related to any state or national regulated or authorized training program.

Certification benefits the genuine chef who wishes to be identified as a professional commercial chef

The process enhances value as an employee, and self esteem.

The assessment process equates a persons expected "S.A.K.E" as would be expected in an industry role.

For example technically a commercial cookery teacher is not a “chef de cuisine”, however may successfully fulfil the requirements that equates them to a chef de cuisine. Or a chef de cuisine having only one kitchen under their control, may not be technically be an executive chef, however may demonstrates that they have the "SAKE" equal to that required of an executive chef

Advantages:

Depending upon the level of certification

a) Identifies the chefs commercial cookery knowledge base

b) Includes industry experience as a measure of competence

c) Provides a measure of a chef’s professionalism

d) Identifies a skilled artisan who has a commitment to excellence

e) Demonstrates competency and commitment to the trade of commercial cookery

f) Provides evidence of the chef’s ability to commercially prepare food

g) Provides evidence of the chef’s ability to manage a kitchen and supervise staff.

Examination Subjects:

Question types consist of: Calculations - Essay - Match - Multiple choice - Short answer - True / false

Determined by the level of certification, questions are selected at random from the following subjects:

Personal and social identity subjects:

* Professional Attitude * Skills Assessment * Ethics and conventions

Culinary subjects:

Buffet * Butchery and meat cookery * Cakes * Canapés * Culinary preparations * Culinary techniques * Culinary terminology * Eggs and farinaceous * Equipment * Fish * Fruit, Herbs and spices * Global culinary knowledge (Advanced) * Global culinary knowledge (Basic) * Hot and cold Sweets * Larder * Methods of Cookery * Mise - en - place * Pastry * Poultry and game * Product and stores * Salads and vegetables * Sandwiches * Shellfish * Stock soups and sauces * Yeast Culinary related subjects: * Compliance * Food science * Hygiene and HACCP * Menu planning * Nutrition * Occupational Safety * Stores Control Kitchen

Administration subjects:

Kitchen Administration (Basic) * Budgets * Performance appraisal * Quality control * Time management * Kitchen Administration (Advanced) * Human Resource Management * Financial interpretations * Management styles * Environment Sustainability

Integrated question subjects:

Communications, Conflict resolution, Documentation, Par levels, Practical creativity, Problem solving Purchasing, Standard recipes, Stress management, Tendering, Negotiating, Training, Wastage, Yield testing

Organisation exclusive questions:

a) Unique questions may be added to the database by an organisation

b) Questions emanating from an external source are uniquely identified in the database and belong to the forwarding agent for their sole use

c) The correct answer to a specific technical question must be able to be authenticated

Insignia:

A certificate of attainment will be issued from each association to all successful candidates

Optional items may include medals - lapel badge - window decal - office plaque. Only registered certified chefs will be able to purchase/obtain.

Admission Criteria:

Applicants are required to submit:

Documents that prove successful completion of a base commercial cookery qualification equal to a level three apprenticeship in commercial cookery. E.g. College certificate - Trade papers etc)

A full current resume Passport size photo

Administration fees

All other documents are optional, however will assist the organisation in the final evaluation.

Admission to Executive Chef and Master Chef

Admission to Executive Chef requires Certified Professional Chef or above

Admission to Master Chef requires Certified Chef de Cuisine or above

Applicants should only send photocopies of qualifications

All photocopies must be verified.

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