How I’d Start Being a Chef in 2025 (If I Had to Start Over)

I'm Jack and I'm a chef and I own three restaurants in London this is how I would learn to cook if I could start again I'm going to break it down into eight different steps that I think will help make you a better cook step one

first steps you got to find your passion for food if you don't love food you're not going to enjoy cooking it's as simple as that now you have to experience the dishes that you want to recreate to know what you're looking for

or equally if you don't want to follow recipe and want to create your own things you need to at least have a a passion for different ingredients and coming up with new combinations and new flavors but you have to enjoy eating and you have to enjoy the process of

discovering new tastes as a fundamental First Step before you start cooking step two start with the basics nobody likes doing it but you got to learn the

fundamentals how to season basic knife skills uh learning to develop your palette learning to understand your palette get a classic cookbook learn how to make all the basic sources um learn

how to roast uh simple cuts of meat well well seasoned efficiently um and then learn some basic preparation techniques how to dice an onion Dice and cucumbers dicing turnips

etc etc using the right equipment for the job knowing which pan to use for certain things which frying pans which sauce pan using the right utensils the utensils are designed for a reason um so

don't be an idiot and use the right tool like a lot of other young Cooks is always trying to over complicate things too soon don't start making and stuffing chicken breasts with cheese and whatnot and all these other mushrooms and

wrapping it in this and wrapping it in that before you've learned the basics of how to cook don't mess around with those Basics until you have a fundamental very strong Foundation step three find your

style you're going to cook your best When You Believe In what you're cooking so find dishes that excite you Cuisines that excite you uh flavor combinations that excite you it might be a restaurant

uh you've been to that has certain ingredients that you like go out buy those ingredients buy a cookbook to that has does that cuisine experiment with those flavors that you know you're

already excited by uh because you're not going to get excited by just cooking a Cuisine because your wife says she wants that meal for dinner it's got to excite you or you're not going to fully believe in it step four cook to entertain

through honest and constructive criticism is how you're going to learn the best you're going to learn the fastest you're going to get honest feedback from your friends and family we have to take that criticism on board and learn to improve through that way

exactly like we do in a restaurant where we would take feedback from customers or other employees and um through reviews or mystery shoppers and then you use that information to get better getting

out of your comfort zone makes you learn about yourself step five step up your game now you've mastered some fun some fundamental Basics you can now layer your Basics up with some more complex uh

sauces garnishes uh meat or fish preparation techniques but using those more Advanced Techniques to complement your basic foundation so if you've just if your basic technique is that you've learned to roast the chicken perfectly

you're then going to compliment that with a maybe a more elaborate source and then you're just going to build levels of experience levels of flavor you can now invest in some useful tools a sharp

knife is a an essential piece of equipment now that knife does not need to be expensive but you need to learn how to keep it sharp that is a skill that lot lot a lot not a lot of people

have you can also invest in something like a meat probe or meat thermometer um this will give you a little bit more um consistency and precision with your Clipper step six understanding your food

a recipe will only take you so far I say to our chefs all the time like you can give a thousand people the same recipe you'll get a thousand different results um it relies on Instinct and intuition

um and how you interpret things you know I can say cook an onion for 5 minutes but it's going to depend on what heat you've got it on what pan you've got it in what's the surface area of that pan there's so many variables so you've got

to cook with a little bit of uh use your brain use your intuition go to your local green go to fishmonger Butcher and just have an honest conversation talk to them what's in season what's good price

what's good value today Often by eating seasonally you can actually eat a lot more affordably as well buying a out of season um cabbage in the middle

of the summer is going to be very expensive and and have a lot of air Ms whereas eating with the seasons will be more beneficial for your wallet um and also better for the environment and

better for flavor if you're used to buying chicken thighs from the supermarket Market boneless skinless chicken thighs uh try buying a whole chicken uh split it into three or four

meals use the thighs one day the breast another day use the bones to make a stock or a soup or a Ramen test yourself push yourself uh go that extra mile step

seven the journey never ends I've been goog in kitchen since I was 14 uh when I used to work parttime with my Dad I'm still learning new stuff every day from all the young chefs that we employ from all the different cultures and

backgrounds they come from you've got to take inspiration and you've got to learn from everything that's around you you can find inspiration in the smallest things whether it's going to e out in a restaurant seeing a beautiful ingredient

in a market or having a conversation with another young Chef step eight keep cooking for me I love cooking because I like to be able to zone now forget about everything else that's going on just

focus on what I'm cooking in front of me and it's not necessarily The Joy of Eating that product afterwards it's the joy of giving it to someone else and seeing their reaction for me personally in the restaurant I get so so much

satisfaction is into cooking and looking around the restaurant and seeing all these people enjoying the food um that's where I get the most enjoyment and the most satisfaction from keep practicing

and keep trying new things and it should be a fun experience thanks for watching and if um if you have any questions on what we've just been speaking about uh please drop us a comment and if you like our content give us a little Thumbs Up

And subscribe to our Channel