Hot, busy and fast-paced, there are few workplaces quite like the professional kitchen. From the constant stream of new orders to the seconds between perfect and overdone, restaurant kitchens are charged with an energy and pressure you'll struggle to find elsewhere. The chefs who call them home might thrive off the adrenaline, but it’s by no means a career for everyone. Most of us will have felt a fraction of that stress when cooking for a crowd at home – maybe we’ve plated up later than planned, or grimaced at some messy presentation when a dinner party recipe didn't quite go to plan. There is, of course, far less wiggle room for restaurants, whose dishes must not only be perfectly cooked, garnished and plated, but also consistent and on time.

When we think about the elements and steps that go into making just one dish, and multiply that by multiple courses and dozens of diners (often at the same time), it's easy to see how the strain snowballs. It’s certainly not an easy task, and one that makes organisation crucial. Understanding which chef is doing what, when and where is the reason a party of twelve can order twelve different dishes and have them arrive simultaneously. It’s also why kitchens have traditionally relied so heavily on structure – ultimately, chefs need to know that everyone in the team is doing their bit.

The basis of the hierarchy found in most restaurants has its roots in the nineteenth century, when French chef Auguste Escoffier (dubbed 'the king of chefs and the chef of kings') set out a series of principles that would revolutionise French cuisine and, later, wider fine dining. As well as formalising the five mother sauces (Hollandaise, tomato, béchamel, Espagnole and velouté), Escoffier created his kitchen brigade system while working at the Savoy in the capital. Like most around that time, the kitchen was rowdy and disordered, and Escoffier put his military background to use as he set out to calm the chaos. 

The brigade system – a detailed hierarchy of over twenty kitchen positions – proved to be hugely influential, and remains the bedrock of most European restaurants today. Though some of its elements have inevitably fallen out of fashion, others are as relevant as ever, including chefs de cuisine (otherwise known as head chefs) and sous chefs. Few fine dining restaurants go without a pâtissier, or pastry chef, while chefs de partie (line cooks) remain the bread and butter of kitchens. Though we might struggle to find a restaurant with all of Escoffier's roles (he included everything from a potager, a soup chef, to a confiseur, for candies and petits fours and a rotisseur, for roasted meats), his entry-level commis chef role is still the starting point for most budding chefs today, while stagiaires and dishwashers remain common sights (though having both a plongeur, for dishes, and a marmiton, for pots and pans, might be something of a luxury).

If the goal was organisation, the brigade system certainly worked. It also created clear progression routes for chefs and, chef Richard Bainbridge says, meant chefs de partie could become experts on their station. Richard has worked in various restaurants, from Galton Blackiston's Michelin-starred Morston Hall, where he was just one of three chefs when he started out twenty years ago, to bigger kitchens where structure was key, including the three Michelin-starred The Waterside Inn in Bray. Both ways of working have benefits, he says: 'When you do a bit of everything, it opens your mind to everything, but you don't ever get the chance to master anything. At The Waterside, I was on butchery, where I stayed for eighteen months. You really practice those skills, as well as everything from ordering to organisation. I teach my young chefs the skills I learnt there now.' 

Some of the reasons that Escoffier's system has been forced to evolve over the years are fairly simple – it's structure is, to start with, enormous, and so many specifically-focused roles aren't realistic for space and budget-squeezed kitchens. Instead, most adopt a streamlined version, picking the most important elements for their menu and working with chefs in a more versatile way, combining roles where needed (Stosie Madi, for example, of The Parkers Arms in rural Lancashire, headed up her kitchen solo for some time after opening, before building a small team). The brigade system was, also, moulded with classical French and European cooking in mind, rather than cuisines from around the world. Changes in restaurant concepts are also mirrored in their kitchens, including chef's tables and open kitchens. Often found in smaller, intimate spaces, a smaller team of chefs is put on display in a more interactive, fluid experience, in which chefs have to adapt and take on different roles, including front of house. Simon Rogan's Aulis, for example, has just twelve covers, and sees head chef Charlie Tayler double up as host to his guests each service.

Though Tom Tsappis, chef patron at Perthshire's Killiecrankie House, understands the enduring nature of the Escoffier brigade, it's not a system that works at their restaurant. 'The system has been around for a very long time now for a reason – it works,' he says. 'Many of the top restaurants in the world still operate that way, and whilst we ourselves do not, I think there will always be a place for it. Particularly in larger restaurants offering multiple menu options, with large teams and even larger dining rooms, it provides a recognisable structure for chefs to slip into and understand what is expected of them.' At Killiecrankie House, there are only three chefs in the kitchen and no a la carte menu which, Tom says, makes it 'fruitless' to have people focusing on meat cookery or sauces, for example. A fixed system also risks limiting chefs' input, he says; instead his chefs focus on something different every service. 'Each of us takes responsibility for a certain amount of dishes or components every night,' he nods.

At Benedicts, Richard Bainbridge's Norwich restaurant, the kitchen is a blend of his experience and a good reflection of an evolved Escoffier. His head chef oversees the restaurant's meat and fish sections, alongside chefs on garnishes, vegetables, canapés and pastry sections. All, though, chip in to help out where it's needed, Richard says. And though traditionally restaurants might have only had their head or sous chef at the pass, at Benedicts, Richard makes sure more junior members of the team are up there too. 'In the past, sous chefs would be at the pass and I'd be a worker bee,' he laughs. 'I run that in reverse; the younger ones are on the pass with us, understanding how the kitchen runs, learning a respect and love for the food and not feeling intimidated by the pass.'

From the lively rush of a grand hotel kitchen to the intimacy of a chef's table restaurant, different kitchens have equally as diverse needs, influenced by their size, cuisine and style. Escoffier's system certainly transformed kitchens and left a legacy which is evident today. But as our fine dining and restaurant scene continues to take different shapes, so too does how its kitchens run.