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

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

First, while a sous-chef was permitted to assist Baci with the prep work and cleaning the kitchen area, Baci herself had to do all the cooking. —Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 14 June 2023

Working as sous-chef at the Boonville Hotel in Anderson Valley, Krissy Scommegna observed a general principle of the restaurant. —Naoki Nitta, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Apr. 2023

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