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A review by sjj169
The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute by Michael Ruhlman
4.0
I'm a food lover, I love talking about it, reading about it, preparing it, and yes, eating it. Chefs? They are some of my rock stars.
I recently picked up Michael Ruhlman's book [b:Ruhlman's Twenty: The Ideas and Techniques that Will Make You a Better Cook|11972889|Ruhlman's Twenty The Ideas and Techniques that Will Make You a Better Cook|Michael Ruhlman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348534265s/11972889.jpg|16935854] from the library and loved how he takes the simplest food items and actually makes you think about them.
In 1996 Ruhlman enters the Culinary Institute of America aka the CIA as a student. They know he is writing a book based on his experiences there but he gets the same criticism's he would face as an average student. I didn't see any of the chef instructors and being too harsh though. They demanded perfection and you understood what they wanted from the beginning.
As a chubby little foodie this book was a mecca of just rolled up wonderfulness. I worked in a few local restaurants in my teenage and early 20's but not to the level of the fine dining experiences that this book lets you get a glimpse of. I think in a different life I would have headed this way. I tend to obsess about food, the why's of why it is used the way it is and how to take simple food and make it taste better than that dish that you pop into the oven out of the freezer.
This book gives Ruhlman's experiences with that. He seems to keep wanting to point out to his fellow classmates that he is a writer, not a cook. But along the time in the school he realizes that he is a damn fine cook.
This book gives insight to the beginning of meals: from stock, to butchering the meats, to chopping vegetables. All that stuff that you never think about when eating away from home.
I loved it because it gave me a glimpse of a career that I covet.
I recently picked up Michael Ruhlman's book [b:Ruhlman's Twenty: The Ideas and Techniques that Will Make You a Better Cook|11972889|Ruhlman's Twenty The Ideas and Techniques that Will Make You a Better Cook|Michael Ruhlman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348534265s/11972889.jpg|16935854] from the library and loved how he takes the simplest food items and actually makes you think about them.
In 1996 Ruhlman enters the Culinary Institute of America aka the CIA as a student. They know he is writing a book based on his experiences there but he gets the same criticism's he would face as an average student. I didn't see any of the chef instructors and being too harsh though. They demanded perfection and you understood what they wanted from the beginning.
As a chubby little foodie this book was a mecca of just rolled up wonderfulness. I worked in a few local restaurants in my teenage and early 20's but not to the level of the fine dining experiences that this book lets you get a glimpse of. I think in a different life I would have headed this way. I tend to obsess about food, the why's of why it is used the way it is and how to take simple food and make it taste better than that dish that you pop into the oven out of the freezer.
This book gives Ruhlman's experiences with that. He seems to keep wanting to point out to his fellow classmates that he is a writer, not a cook. But along the time in the school he realizes that he is a damn fine cook.
This book gives insight to the beginning of meals: from stock, to butchering the meats, to chopping vegetables. All that stuff that you never think about when eating away from home.
I loved it because it gave me a glimpse of a career that I covet.