Sous. What does it mean? What does it really mean? When you are a sous chef you are Middle Management. You are between a rock and a hard place. You have a little power, but not all of it. You have a dash of authority, and maybe a pinch, but rarely an armloadful. Sometimes your chef will back you, and sometimes not. {But your job is to back your chef, no matter what. At least in front of the kitchen. What you discuss or fight about behind closed doors is on you, or the two of you.} The sous chef and chef are to look like a unified front. On everything and everywhere. You work too many hours. It's a thankless position. You want to be a brother among cooks on the line but the truth is you can't always be their friend. In fact it's a good idea if you try not to make too many. The sous chef is somewhere between chef du partie and chef de cuisine. It's a stepping stone. It tests your mettle. And every emotion you own. The sous chef is the chef when she's absent. The sous chef is the chef when he's hungover from the night before. The sous chef is the seer of all things, taster of all mis en place, receptacle of all blame, babysitter, mother and father of all cooks, translator of all languages, orderer of all goods, trainer of all below and herder of all above in rank. The sous chef is therapist, dominatrix, Priest, coach, coxswain and Captain. The concept is that the sous chef has been in your shoes, could do a better job at filling them than you, but can get you to be as good as her. The sous chef has an eye on the chef's job, but never lets on. That sous chef, he's good at being all things to all people. It's a hard position. Being a sous chef has little to do with the title and all to do with what you make of it.