Things To Consider Before Pursuing A Career As A Pastry Chef
Apr 6, 2015 | 12:00 pm
A pastry chef is one of the important parts of the brigade de cuisine system within any professional kitchen. Pastry chefs are obviously in charge of arranging, baking, and adorning the desserts. Being a pastry chef is definitely not for everyone, but if you are more than inclined to work and be part of a professional kitchen environment and have part in making delicious and creatively pleasing food, then you may want to think about pursuing a career as a professional pastry chef.
First of All
However, there are considerations you need to make before you decide to pursue a career as a pastry chef. First of all, you need to have the qualities of a good pastry chef like having excellent attention to detail. Baking is as much a science as it is an art and more often than not, it is about careful measurements and precision. As a pastry chef, you may need to go through a number of minute, detail oriented processes before you can actually produce the final results of your creation. On top of that, it is necessary that a pastry artist is able to meticulously embellish a dessert and bring small visual particulars to the ultimate result in order for it to be artfully served.
Creative imagination is another important trait for pastry chefs. Ingenuity and inventiveness is required to prepare menu items, create original sweet creations, and finalize a visually captivating dessert. Good pastry chefs are more than able to artistically add distinctive touches to make an exceptional dessert. As said before, baking and pastry creation is a combination of science and art. Aside from the creative aspects of this job, it is crucial that pastry professionals obtain a comprehensive understanding of the scientific disciplines behind their masterpieces. As an example, pastry chefs need to have knowledge about proper measurement techniques, the blend of different ingredients, along with food nutrition.
The Standard of the Profession
Before you pursue a career as a pastry chef, you also need to understand the basic responsibilities accorded to this profession. The first thing you need to learn is how to work with your executive chef when planning what dessert items to create that will also complement with the menu for the day. As a pastry chef, you will need to continuously research and look for new dessert items that can be included in the daily menu, so you can attract more customers.
A pastry chef may be expected to teach other staff in the kitchen to possibly put together or plate different dessert items for the day. Apart from preparing the pastries and other baked sweets, a pastry artist must figure out the proper garnishes, combinations, and toppings to come with each specific menu item.
Since there are lots of things to do as a pastry chef, you must expect to be on your feet for longer periods of time. You will also need to be up and awake at much earlier hours to start the preparation. Before you consider pursuing a career as a pastry chef, these are some of the things you need to think about that may help you with your decision.