Chef Simply Means Chief

A chef is a professional cook, especially one in charge of a kitchen. In French the word simply means chief or head; the full title is *chef de cuisine*, head of the kitchen, and English kept only the first half. *Chef* and *chief* are the same word borrowed twice, centuries apart. The kitchen brigade system, with a hierarchy of *sous chef* and station cooks, was formalised by Georges Auguste Escoffier around 1900.

• A professional cook. *A head chef.*
• Chef de cuisine — head of the kitchen. *Chef de cuisine.*
• Sous chef — the second in command. *A sous chef.*
• Chief — the same word. *A chief.*
• Latin — *caput*, a head. *The root.*

Word forms

• The chef designed the menu.Kitchen.
• Chef means head in French.Etymology.
• Escoffier formalised the brigade.History.

The kitchen brigade

• Chef de cuisine — in charge of the whole kitchen
• Sous chef — the deputy, literally under-chief
• Chef de partie — head of one station
• Commis — a junior cook learning a station
• Escoffier built the system on military lines around 1900

French *chef*, a head or chief, from Latin *caput*. English borrowed the same word earlier as *chief*.