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Shelf Number | Material Type | Copy | Shelf Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 641.572 BOU | Book | 1 | Standard shelving location | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
From the reinvention of French food through the fine dining revolution in America, Daniel Boulud has been a witness to and a creator of today's food culture. A modern improviser with a classical foundation (a little rock 'n' roll and a lot of Mozart, he'd say), he speaks with the authority that comes from a lifetime of preparing, presenting, and thinking about food-an ancient calling with universal resonance.In Letters to a Young Chef, Boulud speaks not only of how to make a career as a chef in today's world, but also of why one should want to do so in the first place. As he himself puts it, it is "a tasty life." The love of food and the obsession with flavors, ingredients, and techniques are the chef's source of strength, helping the young chef to survive and flourish during the long years of apprenticeship and their necessary sacrifices. Part memoir, part advice book, part cookbook, part reverie, this delicious new book will delight and enlighten chefs of all kinds, from passionate amateurs to serious professionals.
Author Notes
Daniel Boulud is the world-renowned owner and chef de cuisine of Daniel, Cafe Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne, and the catering company Feast & Fetes, all in New York City. After studying with the likes of Georges Blanc, Michel Guerard, and Roger Verge in France, he emigrated to the United States, working at Le Cirque before striking out on his own with Daniel. He lives with his family in Manhattan
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
You can say one thing for Boulud, owner of top-flight New York restaurants Daniel, Caf? Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne: he's not one for coddling. In this rather skimpy collection of advice to recent culinary school grads, he shoots straight from the hip. Working as a chef in someone else's restaurant wouldn't be his choice, he explains, or the choice of anyone with true passion, he implies. "Still, it is a life." Instead, these brief chapters on topics like finding a mentor and controlling one's ego and ambition ("I have a healthy dose of both," he confesses) are aimed at a very specific audience: those who want to open their own restaurants, and they'd better be young (over 30 is over-the-hill) and hungry-and not just for a perfect coq au vin. The book is long on generalities, but rather short on specifics. One exception is the chapter on wine and dessert, which explains that 10% to 15% of an average check is generated by the latter, and one-third by the former. Boulud can also be maddeningly contradictory, as when he lauds all things seasonal, then broadens the definition to include chanterelles from Oregon, because they reach New York in two days. A final chapter listing the 10 commandments of a chef (including keep knives sharp and learn the world of food) restates much of the previous information in pithier form. This book is the Monsieur Hyde to the Dr. Jekyll version of culinary training presented in Jacques Pepin's The Apprentice (Forecasts, March 3). Recipes not seen by PW. (Sept.) Forecast: Boulud addresses a limited audience of young people on the verge of graduating from culinary school. The few curious foodies who do pick this up are likely to be disappointed, so expect less than stellar sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
Talent and passion alone do not ensure success as a chef and restaurateur; also required are the complementary abilities to identify critical people and resources, organize and manage them, and ultimately deliver the best dining experience possible to one's customers. This is the straightforward message delivered by Boulud, author (Caf? Boulud Cookbook) and well-known restaurateur (New York's Daniel and Caf? Boulud), in this short, informative book. His targeted reader is the young chef, eager to embark on a challenging career with diploma in hand. Boulud describes the key factors that distinguish good cooks from great chefs, including a commitment to procuring top ingredients, managing diverse personalities, and welcoming new cooking and eating experiences. Anecdotes from his own career are tantalizingly sprinkled throughout his narrative. While Boulud's advice is undeniably sound, the device of couching it in the form of letters to beginners is sometimes strained. Nevertheless, this makes a fine companion to Jacques Pepin's recent The Apprentice: A Cook's Memoir. Recommended for larger public libraries. (Recipes not seen.)-Andrea Dietze, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Do You Really Want to Be a Chef? | p. 1 |
| Mentors | p. 13 |
| The Trinity of Heat | p. 29 |
| Your Sense of Taste | p. 41 |
| Ingredients | p. 53 |
| Wine and Pastry | p. 61 |
| The Grand Tour | p. 71 |
| Desire, Drive and Discipline | p. 79 |
| Self-Management: Interest, Ego, Focus and Teamwork | p. 89 |
| Passing the Who Cares Test | p. 97 |
| The Front of the House | p. 107 |
| Is There Life After Restaurants? | p. 117 |
| The Ten Commandments of a Chef | p. 121 |
| "You Are What You Have Cooked": A Selection of Favorite Recipes | p. 125 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 163 |
| About the Author | p. 166 |