Table of Contents

The Soul of a ChefPart One: Certified Master Chef Exam (or the Objective Truth of Great Cooking)
Part Two: Lola
Part Three: Journey Toward Perfection
Epilogue: It Begins When You Wake Up
Appendix
Acknowledgments

About the Author

Michael Ruhlman is the author of nine non-fiction books, one collection of novellas, and nine cookbooks (most recently The Book of Cocktail Ratios) and co-author with various chefs of ten other cookbooks. Best known for writing about food, chefs and the work of professional cooking, he has also written for The New York Times, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Gourmet magazine, and other publications.

Reviews

“Ruhlman sets out to perform a task even restaurant insiders would find difficult: to delve so deeply into the hearts and minds of a few select chefs that he may discover the essence of haute cuisine.
"Amazingly enough, he succeeds—by turning his investigation into an adventure story, a hold-your-breath-while-you-turn-the-page thriller that's also an anthropological study of the culture of cooking.” -- Anthony Bourdain, The New York Times

Writer and trained chef Ruhlman (The Making of a Chef) claims to be searching for the essence of what drives a great chef. In 1997, he attended the Certified Master Chef exam at the Culinary Institute of America, the most grueling, comprehensive, and controversial cooking test in America. He observes and interviewed, among others, Bryan Polcyn of Five Lakes Grill in Michigan. Next he moved to Cleveland to report on another star chef, Michael Symon of the Lola Bistro and Wine Bar. The third section of his book concerns Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in the Napa Valley, called by many the best chef working in America today. Each section of the book is fascinating in itself, especially the introductory section on the Certified Master Chef exam, an ordeal of almost hellish intensity. Unfortunately, his search for "the soul of a chef" is laid over what are essentially three separate pieces. Less than the sum of its part, the book will eventually test anyone's patience for reading page after page of menus and description of nouvelle cuisine creations. An appendix offers a selection of recipes from each chef profiled. Recommended for large public libraries.DTom Cooper, St. Louis P.L., MO Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.