7 Things Only Successful Chefs Know About Note-Taking [Whip up a Culinary Storm]

When you think of a chef toiling in a kitchen, sautéing onions on the stovetop, or carefully placing perfectly cooked sirloin on a plate, taking notes may not be the first thing that comes to mind. After all, cooking seems more about doing, doesn’t it? It’s not like the chef sits in on a lecture beforehand. So where are all the notes?

I hope you’ll take this opportunity to recall that recipes themselves are a form of note-taking. It’s a record of how to prepare food for a specific dish. There are ingredients to include and procedures to follow. The subject is “Scalloped Potatoes,” the headings are the ingredient and step lists, and everything else is supporting information.

But the truth is, a chef has more notes than just his recipes. We’ll get into that in later detail, but for now, let’s just say that there’s a ton that goes on behind the curtain — or behind the swinging door — at your favorite restaurant.

If your interest is piqued, stick around. We’re about to dive into 7 secrets that only successful chefs understand about the art of taking notes.

No Tool Is Perfect, but You Can Work With It Anyway

Despite the restaurant industry being absolutely massive today, there’s yet to be any sort of technology dedicated to centralizing the culinary process.

There isn’t any sort of central place to record, manage, or share recipes or techniques that chefs create.

The closest thing they get to a management system is inventory, which, while crucial to their work, is only peripheral to the art of cooking.

Nearly every profession has systems and tools built specifically for them, but chefs have somehow missed out on this privilege. Instead, they’re forced to utilize a combination of tools, none of which were intended for their profession, to manage their recipes.

As a result, their note-taking systems are less smooth than they could be. But professional chefs don’t just throw out the baby with the bathwater; instead, they find ways to make the tools work for them.

No note-taking method or system is going to be perfect. There’s always room for improvement and for tuning it more specifically to your needs. An imperfect resource can still be a great resource if you use it correctly.

Any serious note-taker, whether they’re a chef in a restaurant kitchen or a student in high school, can perform effective note-taking regardless of whether or not there are apps or software designed specifically for their field of study.

Adapt and Overcome

Chefs may not have specially designed software to organize their content, but they do just fine on their own. They certainly have a lot of things to organize: hundreds if not thousands of recipes, inventory, schedules, procedures, food costs, and more.

How do they manage it all?

The answer is simple: they adapt.

Chefs in restaurant kitchens or any other professional kitchen could tell you that they have a lot on their plate (no pun intended!). But the key to navigating it all and getting the food to the table on time is to be flexible and willing to use whatever approach is most efficient.

If that means using different organizational tools, then all the better.

A chef may use spreadsheets to keep track of multiple meals and mealtimes. She might use a notebook for her personal inspirations and experiments for new dishes, while all of her recipes go in binders or a digital storage space. Inventory needs might be tracked via software, while the actual inventory is organized just so in her kitchen and storeroom.

Servers may give her orders via handwritten notes or upload them to a shared application. Catering events or special meals go on her calendar; meanwhile, she may keep track of the grocery list and meal plan for her personal life in her personal planner.

Perhaps she runs a few cooking classes and has to manage correspondence with students, lesson plans, and all of the observations and ideas that those activities spark.

She might have a commonplace book where she dumps all of her ideas for flavor combinations, relevant websites, restaurant addresses, and quotes from chefs she admires.

The point is, there’s plenty to organize in the life of a chef. Note-taking is a powerful way for them to navigate it all with professionalism and aplomb.

Categorization Is Only The Starting Point

When it comes to recipes, there’s nothing more iconic than a recipe binder. It’s convenient, portable, and easy to access.

Chefs may have recipe management software where they can track all of their recipes in a digital format and easily edit and share them with others, but many also keep physical recipe binders. Physical copies are more convenient for kitchen use, which, of course, is where all of the chef’s real magic happens.

Even home cooks have their own binders or recipe boxes in which to carefully tidy their recipes by type, such as appetizers, entrees, and desserts, to make them easier to find.

The categorizations for food are endless. They could be organized by key ingredients, such as eggplant or pasta dishes, or by season.

You could organize them by the food pyramid, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, dairy, fats, and sugars. They could even be divided into high carb/low fat or low carb/high fat.

There are soups, salads, BBQ, and seafood. There are vegan options, vegetarian options, meat-lovers, keto, paleo, and every other kind of diet. There are dietary restrictions of a more serious kind as well, such as lactose intolerance or gluten intolerance.

Cultural dishes abound, with most recipes being influenced by one culture or another. There are also historical dishes and family heirloom dishes.

Some recipes were created for different holidays or events, such as St. Patrick’s Day or Thanksgiving. Others can be made year-round and will always be welcomed.

The possibilities are endless. And the point, dear reader, is that the note-taker has much to consider when categorizing their notes. A common misconception of note-taking styles is that categories are all that matter; simply choose your style, label everything according to topic, and go from there.

According to this mentality, how a chef chooses to categorize a recipe will identify it as being primarily in that category.

However, effective notes are not about connecting categories. Instead, they’re about connecting ideas. That way, there are fewer boundaries and more room for creative and critical thinking, which is exactly what a chef needs in the kitchen.

So when a chef evaluates a recipe, you’ll find that many of them place that recipe under several categories rather than just one. That way, their note taking method doesn’t overly simplify the content and hinder the chef’s creativity.

Notes Improve Thinking and Boost Content Creation

Some content creators struggle to produce enough material for each day, while others seem to overflow with creativity. Have you ever wondered what the difference is?

Personality might be one thing and motivation another, but a key pattern in productive writers is this: the commonality that prolific writers have in common is that they take notes.

This is across the board, from author Ryan Holiday, who credits the secret of note-taking for his writing, to Tim Ferriss, to journalists, to cooks.

Cooks understand that note-taking is about extending our abilities, not limiting them. Notes should encourage you to be more creative, productive, and prolific. Certainly, the culinary world has endless opportunities for developing new dishes.

We’ve already mentioned that cooks know how categorization dampens creativity, but there are other ways to think about note-taking that help them use the skill set to its full effect.

Let me ask you a question: What is the purpose of taking notes?

You may say that it’s to record material in order to have an external record of it. Maybe it’s to help with your working memory and retention. Maybe it’s to reduce information overload. Maybe notes will give you more effective communication.

All of these things are certainly benefits of taking notes. But are they the true purpose?

Here’s the thing: The point of note-taking is to help you think better.

Capturing information is the process, and retention is the side effect. But at the center of the entire procedure is idea development. Once you begin looking at your notes this way, you’ll find yourself thinking about them differently – and your creativity will explode.

Notes Are Most Effective When You Don’t Rely on Them Too Much

Most people hear “note-taking,” and they think of the student in the classroom who dutifully copies down whatever the teacher says.

This conventional approach to taking notes is actually the opposite of what note-taking is all about.

If you take notes so that you don’t have to work as hard to remember things, or if you take notes so that you’ll always know what to think about those subjects, then you should take a page or two from the cook’s notebook.

It’s not just about recording every piece of information in order to create your own always-accessible database; it’s also about engaging with that data and being willing to move beyond it.

Your notes should be a good, reliable friend that you can turn to when you need assistance. But you shouldn’t be married to them.

Cooks understand this relationship intimately. While they do record recipes so as to remember every minute detail of what makes a dish amazing, they also approach the information as an art.

If they looked at notes as merely recordings, their cooking would be rigid and unimaginative.

If they relied too much on their notes, they wouldn’t be able to work outside of them. Their craft would suffer because the knowledge they use would come from their notes rather than their own skills.

The categories created by notes can create a false sense of order and mastery; we may fall into the belief that everything can be broken down and codified into our little notebooks.

And while we can certainly capture a lot, this degree of specialization can dampen your creativity if you are unwilling to break those categories sometimes and trust your instincts.

Having the right skill set and then trusting their instincts is what turns an average cook into a master.

Review and Plan Ahead

Creating a multi-step dish is not for the weak of heart. It’s a process that requires dedication, discipline, and preparation.

Any good chef knows that you need to have a goal and an action plan to get there; if you have no concept of the end result, you’ll never make it.

In other words, chefs start with an end result and then work backwards, taking note of what needs to be done to create a delicious meal. Reviewing doesn’t wait until the stove is powered down and the souffle is taken out of the oven; instead, it’s part of the entire process.

If you’ve ever set out to follow a recipe, you know the drill:

• Read the recipe. Take a good look at it and read it carefully from start to finish. Visualize each step to make sure you fully understand the order of events and what’s required to make this endeavor a success. Recipes are full of nothing but important information.
• Collect all the ingredients. Make sure you have all of the ingredients required to complete the recipe in the amounts required and prepared as requested. Sometimes recipes will sneak in an extra ingredient or two that aren’t included in the list, so make sure you won’t be caught by surprise.
• Figure out the timing. Most recipes list a “prep time” and “total time” to give you an idea of how long it will take to make. Look at the order in which each element of the dish is made, taking note of when two or more steps can happen simultaneously. Sometimes a pause in the process is needed, and will be indicated by phrases such as “let rise,” “refrigerate until chilled,” or “marinate overnight.” Also keep in mind that prep time doesn’t always cover all of the preparation required.
• Learn any new techniques. Identify any new skills or techniques that you’ll need to learn to complete the dish. You don’t want to find yourself having a “how on earth do I do that?” moment in the middle of a time-sensitive task!
• Lay out the tools. Before beginning, it’s best to pull out all of the ingredients and equipment that you’re going to need. This will make the entire process go smoothly, quickly, and efficiently.

Planning in advance is not only necessary to ensure that you get to where you want to go and make the dish you set out to make, but organizing your processes also makes them less stressful, more relaxed, and more enjoyable.

Notes Are Made to Be Adjusted

Some of us have the tendency to view notes as concrete and final, as if they were originally published and neither a comma nor a tilde could be changed.

But, of course, this isn’t true. It’s always a great idea when reviewing to follow up with new ideas, add concepts from related topics, and write down your opinions as they develop in your own words.

Even there, though, you can see that there’s still a certain rigidity to that perspective of notes. It’s difficult to shift the structure or reframe the main ideas. Anything you add must build directly off of the foundation you’ve established, or it will be nonsensical.

Ideally, however, notes should be flexible and always have room to grow, morph, and take on new shapes. They should be able to keep up with you as your thoughts develop on the topic.

Chefs are a great example of this concept. A good recipe is never set in stone; there’s always room for improving, combining, or creating entirely new spin-offs.

In fact, sticking with the same recipes over and over makes the chef’s work quite rote and repetitive, fit more for a machine than an artist.

Start small, with minute modifications to recipes. Maybe the listed cook time isn’t to your liking and you prefer your cookies a touch crispier. Maybe you prefer butterscotch chips to chocolate chips, or sweet peppers to spicy ones.

You might want to remove an ingredient altogether or note an easier way to complete a step. Anyone who cooks regularly will find themselves making these little earmarks and putting their own spin on recipes. Keep adjusting them until they are exactly to your liking.

So, your notes should be able to evolve. But there’s actually a deeper level to it than that. In order to make more significant adjustments in the realm of cooking, a chef must put their knowledge into practice.

For example, you can’t swap out ingredients willy-nilly. Trading in an orange for a cucumber, for example, is going to have a big impact on the dish. The cook must have an understanding of what purpose each ingredient serves.

What does it add? What is its relationship with the other items? Only then can the cook know if they can replace it, and with what.

Some ingredients are there purely for flavor, such as spices. Others serve another function, such as mustard emulsifying a vinaigrette or flour thickening a sauce. You’re probably safe switching one root vegetable for another root vegetable, as they add different flavors but cook similarly.

Other ingredients are fundamental to the dish and simply can’t be removed, no matter how much you’d like to. Take the tomatoes out of a marinara sauce, and it’s no longer a marinara sauce. All of the other ingredients are optional, but not the tomatoes.

All this points to an even deeper fundamental truth about making adjustments in note-taking: You must truly understand each element and how it connects with everything else before you can start modifying it. You must be intimately familiar with its qualities, its function, and how it fits into the larger framework.

If you can do all that, then you demonstrate true mastery over your subject material.

Three Challenges to Start Taking Notes Like a Chef

Chefs can look at a recipe and identify patterns in the information: what is there, what isn’t there, how the process will function in reality, and if the methods are really going to work.

This is a skill that comes from years of practice in the kitchen, following recipes and building their own. As such, it demonstrates how a dedicated note-taker can engage with their notes in such a way as to understand them both forward and backward.

Cooking requires knowledge of the ingredients and the process, the ability to apply that knowledge and skills in the kitchen, and the mental flexibility to adapt and adjust a recipe as needed.

Anyone can begin thinking like a chef does, even if cooking isn’t their forte. All it takes is practice and a shift in perspective, all of which can begin by trying your hand at one of the following activities.

Assignment #1: Evaluate a Recipe

Choose a recipe. It can be one you love and are well-practiced in, or one that you’ve never tried but find intriguing. Rewrite it in your own words and style, listing the ingredients in the quantities that you prefer and arranging the steps in the order you would prepare them.

Spend some time considering what information needs to be included and what can be left out. In other words, which information is truly fundamental to the process and which is simply fluff that doesn’t add anything substantial.

Brainstorm what could be adjusted in the recipe, paying special attention to the ingredients and the steps. Can any items be swapped out? Can you replace or add steps to improve the recipe?

Assignment #2: Compare Recipes

This time, choose three recipes for the same dish. For example, pick three recipes for chicken pot pies, or three for ratatouille.

Take a look at the ingredient lists. Which ingredients are the same? Which are different? Do the same with the steps and the instructions at large. How long does each recipe take to make? Is the cooking time similar?

Taking note of all of the comparisons and differences, draft your own recipe. Why did you choose the ingredients you did? Which steps do you think are required, and which are optional?

Assignment #3: Prepare a Dish

Choose a recipe, perhaps one that you used for the first two assignments. Set out to make this recipe, starting by reviewing it and making notes. Check the prep and cooking times, plan your prepping, make any adjustments you think necessary.

Make the recipe, taking notes as you go.

After it’s complete, check your work. Did it meet your expectations? Was any part of the process unclear? Does the recipe require any further modification, or did it turn out exactly the way you wanted it?

Conclusion

Let’s take a moment to recap the 7 secrets that chefs understand about taking notes and how you can apply them to your life.

Don’t let imperfect tools hold you back. Different note-taking styles and software offer different features and uses; some will be more useful for your purposes than others. But even if no app exists to match your exact needs, you can still make note-taking work for you. The tools themselves are infinitely less important than the hands using them.

Quite likely, you’re already using several kinds of note-taking formats in your life. Maybe you have a to-do list, a grocery list, a calendar for your events, and a journal. Look for more ways that you can overcome your challenges and adapt your note-taking methods to suit your needs.

Notes are based on the concept of categorization; it’s one of the easiest ways to organize information. But the true value of information comes from how it connects with other pieces of information. Don’t fall into the trap of oversimplifying information and thus rendering it less versatile.

The practice of taking notes has tons of benefits, starting with helping you capture important information. But this is only the starting point; the real purpose of taking notes is to develop your ideas and improve your thinking. Keep that in mind when you pick up your notebook, and you’ll find your creativity skyrocketing.

If you can’t use your notes, there’s little point in taking them in the first place. There are tons of benefits you can derive simply by reading and reviewing what you wrote. But don’t become too dependent on them! You want your notes to work for you, not the other way around.

The reviewing process begins before the note-taking even starts. You have to have a conception of what you’re trying to accomplish before you begin, be it making a curry or drafting notes for a new book. Start with the end goal and work backwards to create a framework for action.

Notes are never completed; they’re always in progress. Don’t be afraid to add to them at a later date. It could be small adjustments or even large ones; don’t get stuck in the mindset that you know everything you need to know about a subject. Everything can grow, and your understanding can transform in radical ways.

Cooking in Your Own Words

Clearly, there’s much more to cooking than meets the eye. There’s a reason chefs have to attend culinary school! Courses can and have been taught on the topics that we’ve only briefly touched on today.

An ancient Chinese proverb says that the weakest pen is better than the strongest memory. A good chef uses both in his cooking, merging recorded knowledge with the type of intuitive knowledge built up through repeated practice and pattern-recognition. Prepare your skills to aid your creative thinking in the kitchen.

But the ability to take notes like a chef goes beyond the kitchen. It’s about grasping the information with your mind as well as your pen and boldly engaging with it through constant experimentation. Chefs take notes constantly throughout their day, in countless ways. Let’s take the time to learn from them.