🧑‍🍳 Cook

A cook is a professional who plans and prepares dishes from recipes or under the direction of a chef. Under the ISCO-08 occupation classification (unit group 5120), cooks work in hotels, restaurants, on ships, on passenger trains and in private households. They check food quality, weigh and mix ingredients, adjust oven temperatures and keep the kitchen clean.

In the classification, a chef is a separate occupation: the chef plans menus, monitors supplies and safety and directs other cooks. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2025 the country had about 2.7 million cook jobs with a median pay of $36,640 a year, and 220,000 jobs for chefs and head cooks, with a median of $62,470.

Milk and dairy products are among the most frequent ingredients: milk goes into porridge, pancakes, omelettes, purées, soups and sauces. A classic example is béchamel sauce: butter and flour are heated together, then milk is poured in. It is one of the basic sauces of the classical culinary tradition.

Cooks also use olive oil for frying. In reviews it performs as well as or better than refined vegetable oils, and in a home deep-frying experiment all grades of olive oil withstood 24–27 hours of frying, against 15 hours for a blend of vegetable oils. Wine is another kitchen ingredient: according to USDA tables, about 25% of the alcohol remains in a dish after an hour of stewing, and about 5% after 2.5 hours.

Why it matters to you. Alcohol from wine does not vanish after a few minutes of boiling, so dishes with wine are not always suitable for children or for anyone who avoids alcohol. And olive oil, extra virgin included, is suitable not only for salads but also for frying.