sous-chef

American  

[soo-shef, soo-shef] / ˈsuˌʃɛf, suˈʃɛf /

noun

sous-chefs plural

1. the second in command in a kitchen; the person ranking next after the head chef.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sous-chefs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sous-chef

< French, equivalent to sous under (< Latin subtus (adv.) underneath, below) + chef chef

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sous-chef sous-chefs

Now, “people are eating more chicken thighs—for protein, for flavor, and for economical reasons,” said Chef Eric Huang, Pecking House’s founder and a former Eleven Madison Park sous-chef.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

Nestle and fluff the ingredients of this sous-chef salad with cooked and raw vegetables.

From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2022

The cram course in haute cuisine food prep enabled Edebiri to approximate the skill set of a gifted sous-chef.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2022

Plump, red-haired and sassy, she and I immediately hit it off and at her request, I became her sous-chef of sorts.

From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2022

I ran back to the kitchen before one of them could offer to be my sous-chef.

From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks

But none have been promoted to sous-chef or chef de cuisine; the two women he identified as former sous-chefs there said they had never held that job.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2021

These two chefs, both in their mid-20s, have been promoted from sous-chefs to executive chefs, sharing the workload, at Oceana in Midtown Manhattan.

From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2020

But a few restaurants, including the French Laundry, give cleaners the stature of sous-chefs and extend titles that capture the broad range of responsibilities.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 7, 2017

In the kitchen, scores of cooks, sous-chefs, egg-separaters, garlic-peelers, ganache-cubers, silver-polishers, and plate-straighteners rushed around.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 26, 2017

It's an elite ranking, and after Achatz's toast, one of his sous-chefs, Andrew Graves, lifted his glass and confided, "I just want to say that I'm relieved."

From Time ● Dec. 27, 2010