Plates of glory: what it takes to be an elite private chef

Are you drawn to maximum culinary finesse, enthroned at the helm of a wealthy family’s kitchen? If so, then this video is for you.

Firstly, let’s clear something up right away: working as private chef to the elite may bag you a six-figure salary, but you’ll also have tonnes of responsibilities to keep you busy.

You could be living on your employer’s estate in your own guest house, but that may also mean going 10+ weeks at a stint without visiting your family. Seeing the world? Sure – you may well travel all over the world on yachts and private jets; then again – you’ll be expected to learn about languages and currency so as to gather the freshest ingredients wherever you go.

And while you may receive gifts like cash and expensive watches, you could also be on-call 18 hours a day. Just ask private chefs like Dean Harper and Michael Harwood, who’ve done everything from preparing caviar and champagne at 1am, to foraging on a deserted island to hunt down fresh pineapple.

To become good enough to be hired as a private chef, you’ll need a culinary degree from a great school like the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. You’ll also need lots of charisma and patience – essential when dealing with rude guests – and your responsibilities will include everything from menu-planning to post feast clean-up.

Then again, quality control will be yours to max out. Private chefs get to work with incredibly expensive ingredients such as a $12,000 Yubari king melon, Kobe beef that has been known to cost $1,475 for around 2.2kgs, or $25,000 for a 1kg tin of Almas caviar.

View the original video here.