Becoming a Chef Signed Edition

Additional Details

Description: Essential reading for anyone who loves food, Becoming a Chef is an entertaining and informative insider's guide to the chef's profession, providing the first behind-the-scenes look into some of the most celebrated restaurant kitchens across the nation. 

More than 60 of America's leading chefs discuss the inspiration, effort, and quirks of fate that turned would-be painters, anthropologists, and pro football players into culinary artists. Their candid, engaging stories provide thought-provoking insight as well as practical advice to all who aspire to join their professional ranks and to all food lovers interested in the secrets of running a successful restaurant or creating inspired cuisine at home. 

Which leading chef used to spend his entire allowance as a child on cream cheese so he could create "the ultimate cheesecake"? Which started out cooking at a three-star restaurant in France -- for customers' dogs? Which once lived in a mud hut in Africa? Which cried for three days after being reviewed by The New York Times? Which watched his first restaurant in Alaska, not to mention his life savings, literally go up in flames before going on to create top restaurants on both Coasts? 

Becoming a Chef discusses the many influences -- including childhood memories, formal apprenticeships, world travel, memorable meals, and beloved books -- that keep chefs' creativity burning bright as they strive to satisfy their patrons, their critics, and themselves. This ground-breaking book provides a candid perspective on the complex life of today's "celebrity chefs," who need the business savvy of entrepreneurs and the innovation of artists to thrive in this most demanding and rewarding profession, named one of the top 10 for the 1990s in terms of career opportunities. 

Other features of Becoming a Chef include: 

• Recipes from top chefs representing cherished culinary memories, from Larry Forgione's grandmother's Chocolate Cake, to the Spaghetti Alia Carbonara Joyce Goldstein perfected while living in Rome, to a Creme Bailee Napoleon inspired by Michel Richard's first kiss! 
• Special interviews, including Lydia Shire on early influences, Mark Miller on tasting, and Patrick O'Connell on customer service 
• A history and timeline of the culinary profession 
• Listings of leading cooking schools, culinary organizations, and publications 
• Biographies of the more than 60 top chefs interviewed 
• Original, artistic photographs capturing the essence and spirit of the profession  

Becoming a Chef is a book not only for aspiring chefs, but for all people with a passion...for food, for excellence, for understanding what it takes to be the best. 

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Condition: Good condition. The opening page has the owner's name in ink (autographs are on a different page).