sous-chef

noun

ˈsü-ˌshef 

variants or sous chef

plural sous-chefs or sous chefs

: the top assistant in a professional kitchen

The typical restaurant kitchen is set up so the absence of the head chef is not felt in the dining room. It is the assistant, the sous-chef, who is usually in charge of production, with the head chef the administrator and creative force.

—Florence Fabricant

The relationship between chef and sous-chef can be a particularly intimate one, for instance, and it's nice to have someone with a similar background and world-view when you're going to spend almost every waking hour together.

—Anthony Bourdain

Examples of sous-chef in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Her background is as an executive chef at Birmingham’s Hippodrome theatre, having previously worked as a sous-chef at Marriott hotels. —Adam Crafton, The Athletic, 4 Aug. 2024

And her Sydney, a sous-chef at one of the most hectic, anxiety-inducing restaurants in Chicago, would know. —Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 27 June 2024

Along with being the namesake, Purdie is the head chef, sous-chef, host, captain, busser, and dishwasher. —Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2024

Dylan Dreyer's three boys make the best little sous-chefs! —Emma Aerin Becker, Peoplemag, 19 July 2024

The project comes attached to her father’s irritatingly handsome sous-chef. —Staff, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 July 2024

That is no coincidence: Kernel’s chief culinary officer, Andrew Black, was a sous-chef at Eleven Madison Park, a three-Michelin-star restaurant with a $365 tasting menu, located a block away from Kernel. —Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 18 Apr. 2024

The family of one of my sous-chefs is very involved in the creation of Japantown in San Francisco, and that’s just amazing to me. —Jessica Carbone, Saveur, 3 Apr. 2024

Dodin jumps in as a sous-chef, taking the time to teach a young girl, Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire), a potential apprentice with a perfect palate. —Katie Walsh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, short for sous-chef de cuisine "second in command of the kitchen"; sous "under," preposition and prefix, going back to Old French suz, soz, going back to Latin subtus "in a lower position, underneath, below," derivative of sub "under" with -tus as in intus "inside, within" — more at up entry 1, chief entry 3, cuisine

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

sous–chef

noun

ˈsü-ˌshef

variants or sous chef

: the top assistant in a professional kitchen