Rating: 
Summary: Incredible!!
Review: BECOMING A CHEF is an incredible volume for anyone seriously considering a career as a chef, as well as those of us that like goofing around in the kitchen on the weekends. The authors interviewed some of the top chefs in the country, unearthing their backgrounds, and getting their input on the best way to achieve your dream as a professional chef. If, like me, you just like whipping up a grand meal on the weekend or holidays, this is a superb place to read up on techniques and great recipes. Each chef provides classic recipes from their restaurants, and each one I've made has been an instant favorite! --Dan Taylor
Rating: 
Summary: You have to dig for the good stuff
Review: Dornenburg and Page assembled some really interesting insights and experiences from many US chefs and sprinkled the book with some of their recipes. First the good stuff...When the chefs tell their stories, you get some interesting and entertaining insight into the restaurant world both here and abroad. The discussion of the apprenticeship process in Europe is facinating, as are the stories about how various chef's started. Now the not so good stuff... The recipes are not well edited at all. In some cases little information about ingredient quantities is provided, and the procedure descriptions are hit-or-miss at best. Don't risk a big dinner party on these recipes unless you've tried them out first. Also, the authors include several pointless tables addressing things like who once worked for whom.
Rating:
Summary: You have to dig for the good stuff
Review: Dornenburg and Page assembled some really interesting insights and experiences from many US chefs and sprinkled the book with some of their recipes. First the good stuff... When the chefs tell their stories, you get some interesting and entertaining insight into the restaurant world both here and abroad. The discussion of the apprenticeship process in Europe is facinating, as are the stories about how various chef's started. Now the not so good stuff... The recipes are not well edited at all. In some cases little information about ingredient quantities is provided, and the procedure descriptions are hit-or-miss at best. Don't risk a big dinner party on these recipes unless you've tried them out first. Also, the authors include several pointless tables addressing things like who once worked for whom.
Rating: 
Summary: A book of magazine sidebars
Review: Dornenburg and Page's book reads like a collection of magazine sidebars of the kind familiar from Elle Decor or Gourmet. Apparently, the authors interviewed dozens of chefs, and then cut the interviews apart and re-organized them loosely by topic. It would be an interesting game to see if a reader could place an interview snippet into the right chapter -- the whole book felt homogenous to me. Most quotes are one or two paragraphs, which creates a choppy pace. I couldn't develop a feel for any of the individual chefs, because all of their quotes were out of context. On top of that, the book contains additional sidebars, just to emphasize its bite-sized nature. These sidebars consist of more quotes and a lot of lists organized by topic such as chefs' favorite childhood foods, first food related job, and what they thought they'd be when they grew up. On the other hand, for reading in one or two minute bursts, or for readers who prefer magazines to books, this book would be ideal. Although pitched as serious advice to potential professional chefs, the book does a poor job of providing information for potential students. Yes, there's a list of cooking school addresses, but only about a dozen of the hundreds to choose from in the U.S., and no real discussion of how they vary or of possible alternatives. There's very little discussion of the career paths a chef can take other than that of celebrity chef, because they only interviewed celebs. The book is chock full of interesting recipes, many of which are things chefs like to cook but aren't "appropriate" for their restaurants. Others are like the six page recipe from Jean-Louis Palladin for a terrine of whole foie gras and black truffle, which runs a whopping 6 full pages plus 2 additional half pages, whose ingredients would cost a week's salary, and whose preparation would require a week of labor. I enjoyed the quotes from the chefs, and found some of the lists (like must-have cookbooks according to chefs) very useful. Mostly, though, it was like thumbing through old magazines (the book's seven years old as of this reviewing). I also enjoyed the black and white journalistic photos, which are rare in cooking related books; although given the cost of this book, there should be beautiful color plates. All in all, I found Ruhlman's "The Making of a Chef" provided much more insight into the educational side of cooking school (at least the CIA), whereas his "The Soul of a Chef" did a much better job of getting inside the head of a few "successful" chefs. What every aspiring chef should really read, though, is Bourdain's over the top dose of reality, "Kitchen Confidential". Dornenburg and Page's book is more of a whitewashed cooking network version of professional cooking, where it's all about the purity of the ingredients, the clarity of the vision, and last but not least, the primary grist for this book's mill, the charismatic sound bite.
Rating: 
Summary: 1996 JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER for Best Writing on Food
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: An intimate, personal conversation with America's top chefs.
Review: Ever wonder what got people like Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Charlie Trotter interested in cooking in the first place? Why top chefs like Patrick O'Connell (who never went to cooking school) wouldn't hire someone without a culinary degree? What it was like for chefs like Emeril Lagasse when he worked at restaurants in France as a stagiaire? How chefs like Rick Bayless and Mary Sue Milliken got their first jobs in the restaurant business? What chefs like Mark Miller and Bradley Ogden got out of their travel experiences, and how they were changed as chefs in the process? What the favorite books are of chefs like Lydia Shire and Michel Richard, and what they learned from them? What some of the dumb mistakes made by great chefs like Jacques Torres were, and how they persevered? And why leading chefs like Alice Waters believe that "being a really good cook has to do with having a point of view"? Becoming A Chef will provide all the answers, and so much more. This is one of the best books I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: An intimate, personal conversation with America's top chefs.
Review: Ever wonder what got people like Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Charlie Trotter interested in cooking in the first place? Why top chefs like Patrick O'Connell (who never went to cooking school) wouldn't hire someone without a culinary degree? What it was like for chefs like Emeril Lagasse when he worked at restaurants in France as a stagiaire? How chefs like Rick Bayless and Mary Sue Milliken got their first jobs in the restaurant business? What chefs like Mark Miller and Bradley Ogden got out of their travel experiences, and how they were changed as chefs in the process? What the favorite books are of chefs like Lydia Shire and Michel Richard, and what they learned from them? What some of the dumb mistakes made by great chefs like Jacques Torres were, and how they persevered? And why leading chefs like Alice Waters believe that "being a really good cook has to do with having a point of view"? Becoming A Chef will provide all the answers, and so much more. This is one of the best books I've ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring! Life-Changing!
Review: For most of my life I have felt fundamentally different from the people around me because of the profound importance food plays in who I am and how I relate to the world. This book artfully and carefully gives the reader a look at both immence pleasures and back-breaking work wich accompany a life as a chef. At the same time, the authors are able to chronicle the careers and lives of the most important chefs of our day.
Rating:
Summary: A classic in the field that is recommended at top schools.
Review: From the National Culinary Review's HISTORY OF CULINARY EDUCATION IN AMERICA: "Upon its publication in 1995, BECOMING A CHEF offered the first compendium of answers to some of the most common questions an aspiring chef can ask." From The Culinary Institute of America: "In preparation for your studies and career, we offer you this helpful list of recommended readings. You may find this extra preparation to be an opportunity to gain a sense of what is occurring in the industry that you are joining. This reading list has been selected by the faculty and administration at the CIA and supplements the required reading for your individual course work. Good luck and happy reading! Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, BECOMING A CHEF. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1995. Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, CULINARY ARTISTRY. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996."
Rating:
Summary: Two more reasons to buy this book
Review: I agree with all the other posted positive reviews. This book was a revelation, gave my cooking studies aspirations focus, is very thorough, and was an instant personal classic. I loved this book for a second reason: It opened up the ethos of American cooking to me in the same way that Beck, Bertholle, and Child's Mastering the Art of French cooking did for French cooking. The world of Kamman, Waters, et al.--the exciting cooking of and going on in our own country--was foreign to me until I read Becoming a Chef. Also, the "Chef's Top 20" list of essential cookbooks is worth the price of the book.
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