How many categories of cooks exist and what do they mean?

The cook is one of the few professions that is relevant at all times. There are quite a lot of applicants and employers in all areas of cooking - in the restaurant business, in canteens and even bistros. Moreover, it is often required to work not just a cook, but representatives of this profession who have a certain rank. We’ll talk about this article about what it is, how important a discharge is to the specifics of a cook’s work, and how it can be improved.

If we talk about almost all existing professions, each specialty has several steps that show the professionalism of a person and his skills in work. The profession of a cook is no exception. Here, a potential employer can preliminarily evaluate talent and professional qualities only after learning the rank of a cook.

This indicator is not just a numerical prefix to the profession itself. This is an abbreviated digital designation of the skills of a person who has received this specialty. Wherein to get the highest - 6th grade - is immediately impossible. For this, in addition to secondary vocational education, it is necessary to undergo special training courses.

A person with the highest professional rank is not just a cook, it is also a technologist and a professional waiter. Such people are true experts in their field. The form of discharges was created back in the USSR, but even today it has not lost its relevance. A discharge determines not only skills, but also a certain range of tasks that a person can perform. To understand this in more detail, it is necessary to study this system in detail.

Currently, the state classification contains information on 5 main categories of cooks. Unofficially, there is one more. It is automatically assigned to those people who have just entered courses or study in government institutions in this profession. Holders of the so-called first category in the kitchen can only be observers, in the worst case they are allowed to perform rough work - washing dishes, peeling vegetables and fruits.

The first official category is 2. Its owners perform without fail the same functions as the cooks of the 1st category. In addition, they must do the following work:

• evisceration of poultry, game and fish;
• meat cutting;
• thawing frozen foods under the right conditions;
• sorting and washing berries, mushrooms, vegetables and fruits;
• slicing bread.

Such workers should know not only the basic requirements for the quality of products, but also the basics of their processing, the rules for cutting carcasses, half carcasses of beef and pork, butchering poultry and fish for preparing a wide variety of dishes.

Cooks of the 3rd category have the right to perform in the kitchen the same functions as the specialist of the previous level. But his main responsibilities are:

• boiling cereals, vegetables, meat and fish;
• cooking soups of various kinds;
• production and bringing to readiness cutlets, meatballs and meatballs;
• baking fritters and pancakes;
• making dishes from eggs.

Such a cook has the right to cook only the simplest dishes that do not require specific knowledge or the use of complex appliances. A specialist of this level should also know not only the requirements for food quality, but also the rules for cutting meat, poultry and fish, the form of slicing various products for preparing a variety of dishes.

A cook of 4 categories is a higher level of preparation. His job responsibilities include preparing dishes such as:

• complex and multicomponent salads of meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables with fruits;
• snack and stuffed dishes;
• exotic soups;
• jellies and jellies.

This specialist also prepares simple pastries, dumplings and dumplings, dishes from nutria and rabbit. A chef with 4 categories should know how hardness and acidity of water affects the time and preparation of a particular product and its taste. Know the organoleptic properties of products, the timing and rules of their storage.

The cook of the 5th category is a professional in his field. He, in addition to cooking almost any dish, must be able to make new recipes and write technological maps for them. Their main difference from the masters having 4 category is that they can cook medical, dietary or the most refined dishes:

• jellied dishes of meat, fish or their assortment;
• stuffed bird or game;
• steam dishes;
• various sauces and fillings;
• complicated baking.

You can get the fifth category of a cook by taking special courses at specialized educational institutions.

A 6th grade cook is a master chef. Such specialists are in great demand at any time, including today. They know how to cook absolutely all kinds of dishes, they know the intricacies and secrets of preparing complex dishes, in particular pastes, mousses, cakes, whole young piglets and profiteroles with various fillings.

Masters of this level also know the technology of cooking some national dishes of other countries. Only the person who already has a secondary special culinary education can become the owner of the 6th category.

Quite often, for various reasons, cooks need to increase their rank, with the exception of those who already have it 6. At present, this can be done in two ways.

This option is suitable only in cases where a person already has a secondary specialized specialized education. If the previous 5th grade is obtained by taking courses, then you must go to a culinary college.

After graduation, you will need to pass complex exam testsbased on the results of which a decision will be made on the assignment of the next rank and, accordingly, a special certificate will be issued - a diploma.

In this case chef makes a statement to the management of his company. He is sent to students to a more experienced master and determine the duration of his studies. As in the previous version, upon graduation, a decision will be made to increase the level and, accordingly, to increase the load and increase wages.

In the Soviet Union, cooks with a higher than average rank should be able to it is equally good to carry out all types of work and cook absolutely all products equally equally and variably.

There is currently no such requirement. On the contrary, the majority of highly skilled cooks prefer to choose some narrow focus in cooking, for example, to cook only pastries, meat, fish or even just one dish - pizza. This specialization allows you to develop and prepare or create new culinary masterpieces as much as possible.

And today even those who have the lowest second rank are hired as cooks. In elite catering establishments, again, during the Soviet era, this was not the case. Direct cooks were allowed only to cooks with a discharge of at least 5. Only the cook who knew how to cook at least all the national dishes of the Union republics could receive the 6th category. Today this rule is conditional.

Those with a grade of 3 or 4 had to work as apprentices in the kitchen for 3 years for each increase in their level. Today, many elite establishments are returning to this practice.