I'd suggest you use a equipment manager like Outfitter. It takes some time to intially setup an outfit and keep it up to date, but then you can set a hotkey or automated script to change to your desired setup when you need it. Perfect example is having a fishing gear set and an raid gear set. A bonus with Outfitter is that if you change an item from your established gearsets, it will change its icon to show you that you're not wearing the full set (e.g. it will show you the icon for the Kirin Tor ring if you have that temporarily equipped).

There is one specifically for the Chef's Hat. Didn't they just talk about it last week?

The built in gear manager is pretty simple to use and it works well enough. Just make a raid gear set in that, and pull a link to your action bar. Before the raid, just click that button, and you know you'll be in correct gear :)

I use Power Auras to track when I am in a group with my fishing pole equipped. I don't know if it could be done to track that ring or the chef's hat, but it works great for the fishing pole.

(For those with power auras, simply tell it to track when Fishing is available to cast, as that ability only becomes available when you have the pole equipped.)