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Title: The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection by Michael Ruhlman ISBN: 0-14-100189-5 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 31 July, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.41 (56 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Vivid flavors, vivid personalities
Comment: A couple years ago I read a profile of Thomas Keller's Napa Valley restaurant the French Laundry in Gourmet magazine. I cannot say that many of that magazine's article stay in my mind, but this one did. It was written by The Soul of a Chef's author, Michael Ruhlman. I recall a passage describing prep chef who, after spending hours peeling fava beans, placed them in water that was not at a sufficiently rapid boil. Keller told the chef to start completely over.This incident is included in Soul of a Chef and is an example of the way Ruhlman can select a moment which illuminates person's philosophy. It showed so clearly the lengths to which Keller will go to achieve perfection, and the high expectations he places on his staff.
Such characterizations would make this an interesting read even for the non-foodie--although it certainly helps if you have an interest in cooking. This book, together with his first one about The Culinary Institute (The Making of a Chef) are a great pairing.
Rating: 4
Summary: SEARCHING FOR EXCELLENCE
Comment: In his prior book, "The Making of a Chef", Michael Ruhlman wrote about what its like to attend the Culinary Institute of America and go through a rigorous chef training program. In "The Soul of a Chef", Ruhlman writes about the next step - being a professional chef and reaching for that always elusive standard of excellence. If you enjoyed TMOAC (a good book) and learning about the CIA, you'll enjoy TSOAC even more.
TSOAC is three stories. In the first, Ruhlman sits in and observes seven chefs, and one in particular, as they attempt to pass the ten-day Certified Master Chef examination, a rigorous test with a low passage rate. In the second, Ruhlman tells the story of Lola, a restaurant in his home town of Cleveland, and of Michael Symon, Lola's owner/chef and a rising star in his profession. And in the third, Ruhlman tells the story of Thomas Keller, the head chef of the French Laundry in Napa Valley, which some critics have declared to be the finest restaurant in America.
For the home cook who occasionally fantasizes about being a professional chef, TSOAC will be both stimulating and sobering. Being a chef may be interesting, but its not easy; in fact its damn hard work. The anxiety level created by the Master Chef Exam, the pressure Symon goes through to perform for reviewers and the demand for absolute perfection that Keller imposes on himself are all highly intense experiences - perhaps even to the point of being self-destructive.
Ruhlman is not only an observer, he is also participant in a sort of George Plimpton-like manner. In writing TMOAC, Ruhlman attended CIA classes as a student for a year. Between TMOAC and TSOAC, he worked as a cook for a period of time at a Cleveland restaurant. He knows many of the examiners in the Master Chef exam from his school days at the CIA. He helped out a little in Lola's kitchen. And while he did not cook at the French Laundry, he did spend part of his time there helping Keller write a cookbook. One gets the feeling that Ruhlman may be suffering from an identity crises - "Am I a writer about cooks, or a cook who also writes?", but for the most part his perspective is helpful. There is some enjoyment in hearing Ruhlman describe with some level of experience what its like for a restaurant to hit a rush on a big night, even if he is only a "paper chef".
Towards the end of his story about Lola (Part Two of TSOAC), Ruhlman is having dinner with a group of people that includes a restaurant critic of national repute. Ruhlman asks him whether he ever worries that being a food critic is in the end a shallow and self-indulgent way to spend one's life. The critic responds that he has thought about that and goes on to explain how a cookbook helped unite Italy by creating a common language and suggests that if a single cookbook can have such an impact, then the topic may not be so trite after all. Writing about cooking in America right now involves a subject of potential importance. There is lots of talk about a current culinary revolution, but no one has yet clearly defined exactly what that means. Ruhlman is helping us do that.
In the end, TSOAC is not just a book about a cooking exam and two cooks, its about what cooking and restaurants have become in America. Its a subject that is slowly becoming an important part of America's cultural fabric and, as with any such subject, it needs its commentators. Ruhlman is fulfilling an important role. We can only hope he will not conclude that the topic is too unimportant for further study.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Read, Good Insight into American Culinary Culture
Comment: '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 Heller, 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. Heller'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.
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Title: The Making of a Chef : Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America by Michael Ruhlman ISBN: 0805061738 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 15 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller, Susie Heller, Michael Ruhlman, Deborah Jones ISBN: 1579651267 Publisher: Artisan Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: If You Can Stand the Heat: Tales from Chefs & Restaurateurs by Dawn Davis ISBN: 0140281584 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain ISBN: 0060934913 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 08 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Cook's Tour : Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain ISBN: 0060012781 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 05 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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