In London, your scope to cook up a kitchen career is practically limitless if you’re creative and can face the mind-boggling task of sampling and creating gorgeous dishes everyday. Take this quiz to see if you’ve got your chef hat on when it comes to cookery lingo…

What is…..
A beggar’s purse?
A)    A plastic cup
B)    A mini crepe topped with caviar and crème fraiche

A century egg?
A)    A really, really rotten egg
B)    An egg preserved by being covered with lime, ashes and salt before being buried for 100 days

Dolce?
A)    & Gabbana?
B)    sweets

Ziti?
A)    As in ‘I can’t go out cause my face is really ziti’?
B)    Macaroni

Mountain oysters?
A)    Oysters with a taste for adventure
B)    The testicles of a calf, sheep or boar, which are sautéed, deep-fried, braised or poached. Yummy!

Answers:
Mostly A’s – Don’t apply for Hell’s  Kitchen just yet...
Mostly B’s – You’ve got it whipped!


Think the choice of sandwich fillings is boring?
Trying to decide between an egg mayo or chicken club sandwich? Here are some alternatives that are available at a price…

•  The von Essen Platinum Club Sandwich, Cliveden House Hotel,
• £100: Iberico ham, poulet de Bresse, white truffles, quail eggs, semi-dried tomatoes and fermented sour  dough bread
• The McDonald sandwich, Selfridges, £85: Wagyu beef in 24-hour fermented sourdough bread
• Sarnie made for 1999 Manchester Food and Drink Festival, £170: Russian beluga caviar and oysters soaked in champagne.

Still tempted to try your hand at being a chef? Read on for some routes in..
Many chefs start without any formal qualifications and learn their skills on the job. But nowadays, there are many ways of getting your foot in the kitchen.

If you’re 16 years of age or older, you can apply for a modern Apprenticeship. After about three year’s work, you will have practical experience and you will have gained a Level 3 National Vocational Qualification (NVQ).

You can study full time at a FE college or chef training school. There are also several City & Guilds qualifications at different levels. You can study C&G courses in food preparation and professional cookery  as well as more specialised areas such  as patisserie.

Commis Chef
This is the first rung of the ladder for newly-trained chefs. A good standard of education is expected, including GCSEs (A-E) in English and Maths. Many employers offer apprenticeships, or trainee chefs can take full or part-time college or university courses.

Chef
Planning meals, hiring and firing staff and dealing with suppliers will all be part of your responsibilities. It’s important you’re organised, can work as part of a team and are able to handle stressful situations. You will complete an Apprenticeship or NVQ after around three years’ work and along the way, you’ll have gathered valuable practical experience.

Baker
You don’t need formal qualifications, but GCSEs (A-C) in English, Maths or Food Technology come in handy. You may also study for an HNC in Professional Cookery or Professional Patisserie either on a one-year full-time or two-year part-time basis.
 

Find Catering courses in the UK and Catering courses in London. And to learn more about general Cookery skills, browse Cookery courses in the UK and Cookery courses in London.