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Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Kitchen Brigade & Roles

Line cook

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

/ˈlaɪn kʊk/nounCore term

In culinary arts & cooking, line cook means: A cook who works at one station on the line, the row of cooking equipment where orders are cooked during service.

In Turkish: aşçı, servis hattı aşçısı, istasyon aşçısı

How it is used

Mostly American English; British kitchens tend to use chef de partie and commis instead. Line cooks are often named by station: grill cook, sauté cook, fry cook. Working the line means cooking during service.

Example sentences

  1. We're hiring two line cooks for the summer season.

  2. She started as a line cook and became sous chef in three years.

Common collocations

  • work the line
  • experienced line cook
  • line cook position
  • hire a line cook
  • stationAn area of the kitchen where one cook or a small team prepares one type of food, such as the grill, fry, sauce or garnish station.
  • chef de partieA chef in charge of one section of the kitchen, such as fish, sauce, grill or pastry, often with one or more commis chefs working under them.
  • commis chefA junior chef at the start of their career who works under a chef de partie, doing prep and learning each section of the kitchen.
  • sous chefThe second in command in a kitchen, who helps the head chef, supervises the cooks and runs the kitchen when the head chef is away.

More terms: Kitchen Brigade & Roles

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