Meaning & use
commis chef
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A junior cook who prepares basic ingredients and does simple tasks under a more senior chef.
Grammar: Countable: a commis chef, the commis chef, two commis chefs.
Patterns
- work as a commis chef
- a commis chef in a restaurant
She started as a commis chef and learned to chop vegetables and make stocks.
The head chef asked the commis chef to peel the potatoes before service.
After two years as a commis chef, he was promoted to chef de partie.
Word forms
| plural | commis chefs |
|---|
Common combinations
- work as a commis chef
- He worked as a commis chef in a busy hotel kitchen.
- a commis chef position
- The restaurant advertised a commis chef position for immediate start.
- train as a commis chef
- She trained as a commis chef at a culinary school.
- promote a commis chef
- They promoted the commis chef after he showed real skill.
Synonyms and how they differ
- kitchen assistant
- A broader term for anyone helping in a kitchen; a commis chef is specifically training to become a chef.
- line cook
- A line cook already runs a station during service, while a commis chef usually does preparation and support work.
Word family
- chef noun
- A trained professional cook, usually the most senior person in a kitchen.
Commonly confused: commis chef or sous-chef?
commis chef vs sous-chef
A sous-chef is the second-in-command in a kitchen, far more senior than a commis chef.
Practice
In a professional kitchen, who is most likely to be given the job of peeling vegetables and measuring ingredients?
Choose one answer.
A commis chef is the most junior cook and does basic preparation tasks. The sous-chef and head chef are senior roles with management duties, so they would not normally do this work.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “commis chef”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.