The Making of a Chef - Softcover

Michael Ruhlman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805061738 ISBN 13: 9780805061734

Publisher: Owl Books, 1999

Synopsis

Now in paperback, the eye-opening book that was nominated for a 1998 James Beard Foundation award in the Writing on Food category.In the winter of 1996, Michael Ruhlman donned hounds-tooth-check pants and a chef's jacket and entered the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, to learn the art of cooking. His vivid and energetic record of that experience, The Making of a Chef, takes us to the heart of this food-knowledge mecca. Here we meet a coterie of talented chefs, an astonishing and driven breed. Ruhlman learns fundamental skills and information about the behavior of food that make cooking anything possible. Ultimately, he propels himself and his readers through a score of kitchens and classrooms, from Asian and American regional cuisines to lunch cookery and even table waiting, in search of the elusive, unnameable elements of great cooking.

About this title

Review:

"Well reported and heartfelt. Ruhlman communicates the passion that draws the acolyte to this precise and frantic profession." --Peter Kaminsky, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Anyone who is thinking about atting a culinary school, or even getting into cooking period, should read "The Making of a Chef" to understand the intensity of effort, the sincerity and the focus that all cooks must have in order to succeed." --Charlie Trotter, chef-owner of Charlie Trotter's
"Ruhlman's love of cooking bubbles on every page." --Marcia Goldberg, "Plain Dealer "(Cleveland)
"Any reader who has ever wondered what it's like to be at the center of the cooking maelstrom of a fine restaurant will feel as hurried, harried, sweaty and ultimately as satisfied as a line cook at the end of a long shift with no complaints from the customers." --The New York Times

From the Back Cover:

In the ultimate food-lover's fantasy, journalist Michael Ruhlman dons chef's jacket and houndstooth-check pants to join the students in Skills One at the Culinary Institute of America, the most influential cooking school in the country. His goal is to document the training of America's chefs from the first classroom to the Culinary's final kitchen, the American Bounty Restaurant. The result becomes more than a rote reportage of a school for cooks. Ruhlman learns to cook as though his future depends upon it, and this complete immersion enables him to create the most vivid and energetic memoir of a genuine culinary education on record. He learns fundamental skills and information about the behavior of food that make cooking anything possible. But he also finds that a professional cook needs more than just knowledge and skill. Ultimately Ruhlman propels himself and his readers through a score of kitchens and classrooms, from Asian and American regional cuisines to lunch cookery and even table waiting, in search of the elusive, unnameable elements of great cooking.

About this edition

• Publisher: Owl Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0805061738
• ISBN 13: 9780805061734
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320