Posts by: murdrobe

i posted on here a while back asking roughly what to do when finished with my NVQ level 2 catering course and got some helpful advice but i wanted to update my situation and see if anyone else had anything to offer.

i have now finished college (waiting for my certificates to come through for both the NVQ2 and lvl 2 food hygiene)

i applied to go onto the level 3 course but was simply told i wasnt fast enough around the kitchen. my level 2 course contained a total of 1 real production lesson and no work experience, our class was stuck doing the prep work for it for the whole year, basically the college messed up and our class has to suffer for it as now i have no practical experience on which to look for a job and this is my problem.

at home i am teaching myself basic molecular gastronomy and doing things like trying to perfect my own recipes. but i need to find work or something so that i can carry this on as some of the equipment is rather expensive and there is nowhere that actually teaches this stuff that i can find by searching the internet.

i live in the north west of england i have some good restaurants on my doorstep like northcote manor is roughly 3 miles from my house, this is another part of my problem as appropriate chef jobs are hard to come by up here, especially with being told that im not fast enough in a kitchen.

basically my confidence is shaken, im very confident in my techniques, ingredient knowledge and stuff but i need something that would teach me how to behave professionally, and give me the confidence to do just that.

i believe a chefs job to have to be enjoyable to counteract the hard work, what i do not find enjoyable is being stuck working in some little grotty pub, cooking food i wouldnt serve to a pet nevermind a paying customer. i have been in this position allready and it just gave me the "cant be bothered" approach to it.

im like fighting with myself at the moment because its seeming like im trying to run before i can walk but i dont know what else to do. is there no way to get around working in some horrible place to gain the piece of paper saying i have experience?

i have an enormous passion for food that i just cant describe and i dont want to waste it, however i dont know what to do. i cant get a job without experience and i cant get the experience without a job.

what i would like to get into is just being a developer of food as i feel thats what i am, i could imagine myself living in a feran adria style laboratory and designing menu's for high class restaurants all day long, playing with new exciting ingredients, that would be my ideal job in the long term aspects of things.

i dont have any experience to say wether there is even a job title that falls under that nevermind how to get into it, im just wondering can anyone give me some advice as to what to look into doing as a next step towards that goal and how would i go about it?

i really just want something that gives me some freedom within the kitchen, every chef dreams of "making something theyre own" and of course my other option would be to look into starting something of my own but doing that with no exerience is 1 hell of a daunting task, i think i could do it but getting the backing for it with no experience is another task entirely.

you guys seem to have missed the point entirely, the guy just wants to see what effect it has once, hes not planning to eat it as a regular dietry additive from what he said, this is as bad as the people who whinge when someone eats insects or anything out of the ordinary like horse (in the Uk).

what is with this thing, how did they judge that these 4 dishes are the best in the world, theres more than 4 countries in the world so how can it that these can be named THE best, nobody has tasted everything...

The chefs that they get to cook the dishes, while theyre experience and record is great. how can you look at the worlds greatest food without including chefs from the fat duck and el bulli when they are repeatedly named the best by greater critics than these...

i appologise for the little rant here but its really annoying when they generalise food in this way, everyone has theyre own opinions but i dont think its right to say the worlds greatest cos there can always be something better, food is constantly something thats changing and being made better.

ive been looking for similar stuff myself without any luck, anyone know of some upcomming cookery competitions in the lancashire area? cos im about to finish a catering course at college and i think itd be a fun thing to test myself.

i believe its for nutritional value, as with most fruit and vegetables the most goodness is either in or very close to the skin, peeling them looses that and also when you peel you also loose some of the potato so its a way of looking like your getting more also.

what you said about sub-contracting is an interesting idea but i dont know how to get into it, if you have any advice regarding that itll be definatley worth looking into.

its not that my course was pure theory, we do cook, its just we learn recipes more than skills. at lvl 2 in my eyes it should be a confidence/skills course to teach you how to be in a professional kitchen where they are friendly and wont be over-bareing if you make mistakes but i was rather disappointed with blackburn college when realising this. cos now at the end of the course theyve thrown us into the deep end and said that we will cook a menu of our choice for the restaurant from the beginning to end.

i appreciate your advice and ill look into what you mentioned.

usually dried herbs have a slightly stronger flavour so if you wanted to follow the recipe exactly use slightly less but the best way to judge is to go by your own tastes, add 1/2 a spon full and if you think it needs more add the other 1/2 all depends really on how much you like the taste of basil.

treat recipes as a basic guide (with the exceptions of some pastries) you can add as much or as little as you want to your tastes.

yeah my confidence is lacking from having a bad experience when i 1st went to work somewhere voluntary to gain that bit of experience.

yeah i do think the same as you though, trying to gain nvq 3 and 4 would be a good idea but as im 19 the options to fund that are getting fewer and fewer. ill be 20 by the time my course finishes so even worse.

also apart from college there isnt really somewhere close enough to me that does the course and from what they are saying they are pretty much allready full for NVQ3 next year...

another problem with taking NVQ3, jumping from having no kitchen experience to then being in charge of it... i dont know how that would go

as for starting my own business though, the market for what im thinking is most certainly there and ive been looking into funding it and ive allready been offered help with suppliers from a great established business allready.

if i could work out the money and stuff to seriously do this, it seems like too good of an opportunity to pass up.

im taking an NVQ 2 professional cookery course atm thats due to finish soon and i dont know what to do at the end of it. the college i go to has made a huge mess of the course.

we get 0 kitchen experience from the course but come out with a qualification that allows us to walk into a job. i worked for a few weeks at a local pub but it didnt go so well. i had very little confidence in the kitchen when it came to it.

ive been really trying to think hard about what to do when finished, a simple working trainee chefs job doesnt interest me as my standards for food are higher than anything around me could offer. i dont see me being able to stick out a job making sub-standard food for very long.

at the moment im very experimental in my home kitchen and my parents hate me for it. i have a whole side board filled with spices/sauces ect. for me to find a job it would have to be the right 1, i have a great passion for the food and i can cook well but i would like some room to experiment when it comes to my chosen career path.

is it worth me just picking up a chefs job and forcing myself to do it to gain more experience do you think?

another option i am going to look into is trying to bring some quality of ingredients to the town where i live (Blackburn, Lancashire) as there is only 1 shop that sells good ingredients (Chilli Lime Deli that was shown on here before) there is nowhere that sells quality meat or fish, everyone on our markets are catering to the people who want cheapness over taste.

i dont know if there would be a market for that here. i have been offered by the owner of chilli lime to help me source the produce if i do go this way which was amazing of him but i dont know how to go about it either.

my third option would be to try and manage my own cafe or something but i dont know if blackburn has room for another cafe.

my problems with running my own business either as sales or actually cooking would be im only 19 i dont know all the rules of it nor do i know how to get funding for it.

at the moment i do really want experience but i want to learn things, different styles of cooking, different nationalities ect, the experience of doing the same sub-standard food that the places ive eaten in blackburn offer, wont interest me, itll be too hard for me to do.

i would love to learn how to cook other nationalities foods professionally, particularly chinese or indian food but ive asked around and none of the places near me could consider taking someone voluntary to learn as they only speak the language from where they are from.

another option i was thinking of was to become a kind of "Dial-A-Chef" it would give me a great way to meet new people and can freely experiment but i dont have my own transport so it could make life difficult. again im not sure of the rules with this as hygiene would come into play in a big way when transporting food.

in short HELP!!!

p.s i apologise for the huge post, im just so frustrated and dont want to just leach from my parents when i done. thanx in advance for any help

im taking an NVQ 2 professional cookery course atm thats due to finish soon and i dont know what to do at the end of it. the college i go to has made a huge mess of the course.

we get 0 kitchen experience from the course but come out with a qualification that allows us to walk into a job. i worked for a few weeks at a local pub but it didnt go so well. i had very little confidence in the kitchen when it came to it.

ive been really trying to think hard about what to do when finished, a simple working trainee chefs job doesnt interest me as my standards for food are higher than anything around me could offer. i dont see me being able to stick out a job making sub-standard food for very long.

at the moment im very experimental in my home kitchen and my parents hate me for it. i have a whole side board filled with spices/sauces ect. for me to find a job it would have to be the right 1, i have a great passion for the food and i can cook well but i would like some room to experiment when it comes to my chosen career path.

is it worth me just picking up a chefs job and forcing myself to do it to gain more experience do you think?

another option i am going to look into is trying to bring some quality of ingredients to the town where i live (Blackburn, Lancashire) as there is only 1 shop that sells good ingredients (Chilli Lime Deli that was shown on here before) there is nowhere that sells quality meat or fish, everyone on our markets are catering to the people who want cheapness over taste.

i dont know if there would be a market for that here. i have been offered by the owner of chilli lime to help me source the produce if i do go this way which was amazing of him but i dont know how to go about it either.

my third option would be to try and manage my own cafe or something but i dont know if blackburn has room for another cafe.

my problems with running my own business either as sales or actually cooking would be im only 19 i dont know all the rules of it nor do i know how to get funding for it.

at the moment i do really want experience but i want to learn things, different styles of cooking, different nationalities ect, the experience of doing the same sub-standard food that the places ive eaten in blackburn offer, wont interest me, itll be too hard for me to do.

i would love to learn how to cook other nationalities foods professionally, particularly chinese or indian food but ive asked around and none of the places near me could consider taking someone voluntary to learn as they only speak the language from where they are from.

another option i was thinking of was to become a kind of "Dial-A-Chef" it would give me a great way to meet new people and can freely experiment but i dont have my own transport so it could make life difficult. again im not sure of the rules with this as hygiene would come into play in a big way when transporting food.

in short HELP!!!

p.s i apologise for the huge post, im just so frustrated and dont want to just leach from my parents when i done. thanx in advance for any help