The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection
by Michael Ruhlman
List Price:
Our Price: $6.40
You Save: $9.60 (60%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.98 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Michael RuhlmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-08-01
ISBN: 0141001895
Number of pages: 370
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection
Book Review: Great Read, Good Insight into American Culinary Culture
Summary: 5 Stars
`The Soul of a Chef' is the second of Michael Ruhlman's journalistic explorations into the world of culinary life in America. The book contains three long essays that chronicle parts of the careers of three different chefs at three different levels of achievement. Thus, the journey toward perfection is more the journey of the author than it is a journey by a single chef.
The first essay is a telling of the events in one examination for the title of `Certified Master Chef'. The certification is carried out and bestowed by the Culinary Institute of America, often characterized as the Harvard of American cooking schools. The examination runs for more than a week when, on each day, the candidate must complete a particular task. The candidate knows the object of each task at least a day in advance, so they may at least mentally prepare for their challenge. Almost all tasks are taken from the pages of classic French cuisine, some lifted almost directly from the pages of Escoffier's books on the subject. Out of about a dozen qualifiers competing at each session, held once every six months, usually only two or three candidates pass the test and are awarded the title. The author participates in the competition under the ruse of being an inspector from a fictional qualifying organization that is verifying that the tests are worthy of an imaginary certification. In that way, the author can observe and interview all the candidates without arousing suspicion or apprehension in the candidates. Thus, this book picks up the narrative on American culinary careers at very much the same place the author left off at the end of his first culinary investigation `The Making of a Chef'. Most candidates have been chefs for a few years and are looking to add to their credentials and marketability, especially those who work as consultants to food service organizations. In many ways, this chapter is the most interesting, as it holds your interest to see if the featured candidates in the narrative will achieve their certification.
The second essay had a much weaker hold on my interest, although the quality of the writing was equal to that in the first essay. The essay title, `Lola' is the name of a major Cleveland restaurant whose owner and head chef is Michael Symon, a CIA graduate, who may be familiar to some of you as one of the co-hosts on the Food Network show `Melting Pot' where he and Wayne Harley Brachman explore eastern European cuisines. In addition to this distinction, Symon has been recognized as a `Food and Wine' best new chef, so he really does not need the kind of recognition one achieves by earning the Certified Master Chef award. Symon's position in the middle essay is a sign of his rank above the CIA Master Chef candidates and below the very top of the American culinary scene represented by the chef in the last essay. The most interesting episode in the tale of Symon and `Lola' is in the story of a visit by John Mariani, a major American restaurant critic where it seems as if just about everything goes wrong. The moral of this story to me is its demonstration of how difficult it is to maintain 100% food quality in a very good restaurant. There is a very good reason why the executive chef stands at the expediter's table and checks on outgoing dishes. The connection between the second and third essays is the fact that Symon and his new wife go to Napa Valley to dine at the French Laundry restaurant for their honeymoon.
The third essay takes us to the very top of the American culinary hierarchy of achievement. It deals with the career of Thomas Keller, the owner and executive chef of The French Laundry. He has been recognized as the best chef in California, followed by recognition as best chef in the country by the James Beard awards. His quest for perfection is legendary. It is no coincidence that Ruhlman is the co-author of Heller's `The French Laundry Cookbook' as I am sure this essay was done at the same time as he was working on the cookbook. Keller's reputation is well known among foodies, so I won't dwell on it here. I will only recommend this essay, plus a chapter in Tony Bourdain's `A Cooks Tour' as excellent profiles of this very important American chef.
For knowledgeable foodies, this book is a pure delight. Just knowing how to make pasta Puttanesca enhances one's enjoyment of the story in the second essay. For non-foodies, the book will appeal as well or better than other famous journalistic essays such as Tracy Kidder's `Soul of a New Machine'. The book contains some recipes.
Highly recommended reading.
Summary of The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection
In his second in-depth foray into the world of professional cooking, Michael Ruhlman journeys into the heart of the profession. Observing the rigorous Certified Master Chef exam at the Culinary Institute of America, the most influential cooking school in the country, Ruhlman enters the lives and kitchens of rising star Michael Symon and renowned Thomas Keller of the French Laundry. This fascinating book will satisfy any reader's hunger for knowledge about cooking and food, the secrets of successful chefs, at what point cooking becomes an art form, and more. Like Ruhlman's The Making of a Chef, this is an instant classic in food writing-one of the fastest growing and most popular subjects today.For his first book, The Making of a Chef, hands-on journalist Michael Ruhlman attended the most prestigious cooking school in the U.S., the Culinary Institute of America. He also earned his chef's whites and began cooking professionally. Ruhlman ventures further into the secret lives of chefs with his second book, The Soul of a Chef. This enthusiastically researched report is divided into three parts: The first concerns the Certified Master Chef exam, a brutal weeklong cooking marathon that measures the skill levels of professional chefs. The second and third parts of Ruhlman's book are devoted to the careers of two different chefs, Michael Symon of Cleveland's Lola Bistro and Thomas Keller of Napa Valley's legendary French Laundry. The thread connecting these three tales together is Ruhlman's quest for culinary perfection: Does it exist? Is it possible? How is it even measurable? Ruhlman does indeed stumble onto the realization of his high-minded ideal, serving up a palatable conclusion for hard-core foodies equally obsessed with the perfect meal. --Sumi Hahn Almquist
History Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in History Books
All the King's Cooks: The Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palaceby Peter Brears
Souvenir Press; Published: 2011-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.92
Price in other shops:
From the Jewish Heartland: Two Centuries of Midwest Foodways (Heartland Foodways)by Ellen F. Steinberg, Jack H. Prost
University of Illinois Press; Published: 2011-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops:
Favorite Dishes: A Columbian Autograph Souvenir Cookery Book (The Food Series)by Carrie V. Shuman
University of Illinois Press; Published: 2000-12-27; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Vegetables: A Biographyby Evelyne Bloch-Dano
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2012-04-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.46
Price in other shops:
Ambitious Brew : The Story of American Beerby Maureen Ogle
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2006-10-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.88
Price in other shops:
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Mealsby Michael Pollan
Penguin Audio; Published: 2006-04-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $24.54
Price in other shops:
Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at the Tableby Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate; Published: 2007-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.62
Price in other shops:
Moveable Feasts: From Ancient Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of the Food We Eatby Sarah Murray
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2007-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.88
Price in other shops:
A Taste of Ancient Romeby Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1994-05-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.50
Price in other shops:
A Short History of the American Stomachby Frederick Kaufman
Mariner Books; Published: 2009-02-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Man Who Ate Everythingby Jeffrey Steingarten
Vintage; Published: 1998-10-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.87
Price in other shops:
The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchenby Michael Ruhlman
Scribner; Published: 2010-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.72
Price in other shops:
Becoming a Chefby Andrew Dornenburg, Karen Page
Wiley; Published: 2003-10-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.68
Price in other shops:
Letters to a Young Chef (Art of Mentoring)by Daniel Boulud
Basic Books; Published: 2006-03-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.89
Price in other shops:
Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eatby Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas
Gotham; Published: 2011-03-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.66
Price in other shops:
The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chefby Marco Pierre White
Bloomsbury USA; Published: 2008-05-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.75
Price in other shops:
The Reach of a Chef: Professional Cooks in the Age of Celebrityby Michael Ruhlman
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2007-05-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.00
Price in other shops:
Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany (Vintage)by Bill Buford
Vintage; Published: 2007-06-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.64
Price in other shops:
Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cookingby Michael Ruhlman
Scribner; Published: 2010-09-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops:
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of Americaby Michael Ruhlman
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2009-03-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.62
Price in other shops: