The soul of a chef : the journey toward perfection

With The Soul of a Chef, Ruhlman lays bare the vigorous competition necessary to become a Certified Master Chef at the CIA, a process in which the chef spends ten consecutive sixteen-hour days cooking in styles ranging from contemporary Asian to classical French, under relentless scrutiny. This intense, almost bizarre cooking test - ultimately an attempt to define an objective truth of great cooking - begins Ruhlman's journey into the dark heart of the profession and soul of a chef." "Ruhlman observes, cooks with, and writes about three distinctive chefs of different stripes - Brian Polcyn of the Five Lakes Grill in Milford, Michigan; Michael Symon, a rising star at Cleveland's Lola Bistro; and Thomas Keller, proprietor of Napa Valley's the French Laundry, and, the author argues, one of the best American chefs working today." "Ruhlman attempts to understand what makes one chef, and restaurant, successful and another not; when cooking rises to the level of art; why one should cook in the first place; and what, in the end, is the source of America's ravenous hunger for knowledge about food and cooking.