Rating: 
Summary: Great Read, Good Insight into American Culinary Culture
Review: 'The Soul of a Chef' is the second of Michael Ruhlman's journalistic explorations into the world of culinary life in America. The book contains three long essays that chronicle parts of the careers of three different chefs at three different levels of achievement. Thus, the journey toward perfection is more the journey of the author than it is a journey by a single chef.The first essay is a telling of the events in one examination for the title of 'Certified Master Chef'. The certification is carried out and bestowed by the Culinary Institute of America, often characterized as the Harvard of American cooking schools. The examination runs for more than a week when, on each day, the candidate must complete a particular task. The candidate knows the object of each task at least a day in advance, so they may at least mentally prepare for their challenge. Almost all tasks are taken from the pages of classic French cuisine, some lifted almost directly from the pages of Escoffier's books on the subject. Out of about a dozen qualifiers competing at each session, held once every six months, usually only two or three candidates pass the test and are awarded the title. The author participates in the competition under the ruse of being an inspector from a fictional qualifying organization that is verifying that the tests are worthy of an imaginary certification. In that way, the author can observe and interview all the candidates without arousing suspicion or apprehension in the candidates. Thus, this book picks up the narrative on American culinary careers at very much the same place the author left off at the end of his first culinary investigation 'The Making of a Chef'. Most candidates have been chefs for a few years and are looking to add to their credentials and marketability, especially those who work as consultants to food service organizations. In many ways, this chapter is the most interesting, as it holds your interest to see if the featured candidates in the narrative will achieve their certification. The second essay had a much weaker hold on my interest, although the quality of the writing was equal to that in the first essay. The essay title, 'Lola' is the name of a major Cleveland restaurant whose owner and head chef is Michael Symon, a CIA graduate, who may be familiar to some of you as one of the co-hosts on the Food Network show 'Melting Pot' where he and Wayne Harley Brachman explore eastern European cuisines. In addition to this distinction, Symon has been recognized as a 'Food and Wine' best new chef, so he really does not need the kind of recognition one achieves by earning the Certified Master Chef award. Symon's position in the middle essay is a sign of his rank above the CIA Master Chef candidates and below the very top of the American culinary scene represented by the chef in the last essay. The most interesting episode in the tale of Symon and 'Lola' is in the story of a visit by John Mariani, a major American restaurant critic where it seems as if just about everything goes wrong. The moral of this story to me is its demonstration of how difficult it is to maintain 100% food quality in a very good restaurant. There is a very good reason why the executive chef stands at the expediter's table and checks on outgoing dishes. The connection between the second and third essays is the fact that Symon and his new wife go to Napa Valley to dine at the French Laundry restaurant for their honeymoon. The third essay takes us to the very top of the American culinary hierarchy of achievement. It deals with the career of Thomas Heller, the owner and executive chef of The French Laundry. He has been recognized as the best chef in California, followed by recognition as best chef in the country by the James Beard awards. His quest for perfection is legendary. It is no coincidence that Ruhlman is the co-author of Heller's 'The French Laundry Cookbook' as I am sure this essay was done at the same time as he was working on the cookbook. Heller's reputation is well known among foodies, so I won't dwell on it here. I will only recommend this essay, plus a chapter in Tony Bourdain's 'A Cooks Tour' as excellent profiles of this very important American chef. For knowledgeable foodies, this book is a pure delight. Just knowing how to make pasta Puttanesca enhances one's enjoyment of the story in the second essay. For non-foodies, the book will appeal as well or better than other famous journalistic essays such as Tracy Kidder's 'Soul of a New Machine'. The book contains some recipes. Highly recommended reading.
Rating:
Summary: It was the best
Review: A Book Review The Soul of a Chef This was a book that we didn't have to read but I chose to for culinary history class. This was a book that really caught my eye. From the beginning it seemed like it was going to be good. It didn't let you down because it was so into the human story but yet at the same time it gave you good information that you need to know for being a chef.
I found that this book gave you a great look at where you would like to be one day in your career and gave you someone to look up too. My favorite was the women chef because it seemed like she had so much more work to do then the men. She just stuck out as a hard worker who never gave up and it gave me something to really look up to. All in all this was the best book of the year. Instead of focusing on the history it actually showed you something that will be even more useful in the future then knowing what happened 50,000 years ago in northern Africa. I truly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who asked about it.
Rating:
Summary: Vivid flavors, vivid personalities
Review: A couple years ago I read a profile of Thomas Keller's Napa Valley restaurant the French Laundry in Gourmet magazine. I cannot say that many of that magazine's article stay in my mind, but this one did. It was written by The Soul of a Chef's author, Michael Ruhlman. I recall a passage describing prep chef who, after spending hours peeling fava beans, placed them in water that was not at a sufficiently rapid boil. Keller told the chef to start completely over.This incident is included in Soul of a Chef and is an example of the way Ruhlman can select a moment which illuminates person's philosophy. It showed so clearly the lengths to which Keller will go to achieve perfection, and the high expectations he places on his staff. Such characterizations would make this an interesting read even for the non-foodie--although it certainly helps if you have an interest in cooking. This book, together with his first one about The Culinary Institute (The Making of a Chef) are a great pairing.
Rating: 
Summary: A Real Eye Opener
Review: As a first year culinary student I have found a lot of the information that I have been given is very overwhelming and makes you think twice about wanting to become a chef. And although this book does show the exhaustive traning and life of a chef, it was very interesting and also challenging. It makes you realize all of the things that you have to go through in order to become a chef. Becoming a chef is not for weaklings or lazy people! This book is a real eye-opener and I think that anyone who is interested in becoming a chef should read it. I also like the way it is written; almost like a mystery novel-you keep reading so that you can find out what happens!
Rating:
Summary: For the serious chefs-to-be only
Review: I started this book on my way to eat at the "surreal" French Laundry and am glad I got the inside look as well as eat the magnificent food. The writing is funny, personal, and informative. If you love to cook, and to eat out at restaurants of all caliber, this is a quick and fun read for you.
Rating:
Summary: SEARCHING FOR EXCELLENCE
Review: In his prior book, "The Making of a Chef", Michael Ruhlman wrote about what its like to attend the Culinary Institute of America and go through a rigorous chef training program. In "The Soul of a Chef", Ruhlman writes about the next step - being a professional chef and reaching for that always elusive standard of excellence. If you enjoyed TMOAC (a good book) and learning about the CIA, you'll enjoy TSOAC even more. TSOAC is three stories. In the first, Ruhlman sits in and observes seven chefs, and one in particular, as they attempt to pass the ten-day Certified Master Chef examination, a rigorous test with a low passage rate. In the second, Ruhlman tells the story of Lola, a restaurant in his home town of Cleveland, and of Michael Symon, Lola's owner/chef and a rising star in his profession. And in the third, Ruhlman tells the story of Thomas Keller, the head chef of the French Laundry in Napa Valley, which some critics have declared to be the finest restaurant in America. For the home cook who occasionally fantasizes about being a professional chef, TSOAC will be both stimulating and sobering. Being a chef may be interesting, but its not easy; in fact its damn hard work. The anxiety level created by the Master Chef Exam, the pressure Symon goes through to perform for reviewers and the demand for absolute perfection that Keller imposes on himself are all highly intense experiences - perhaps even to the point of being self-destructive. Ruhlman is not only an observer, he is also participant in a sort of George Plimpton-like manner. In writing TMOAC, Ruhlman attended CIA classes as a student for a year. Between TMOAC and TSOAC, he worked as a cook for a period of time at a Cleveland restaurant. He knows many of the examiners in the Master Chef exam from his school days at the CIA. He helped out a little in Lola's kitchen. And while he did not cook at the French Laundry, he did spend part of his time there helping Keller write a cookbook. One gets the feeling that Ruhlman may be suffering from an identity crises - "Am I a writer about cooks, or a cook who also writes?", but for the most part his perspective is helpful. There is some enjoyment in hearing Ruhlman describe with some level of experience what its like for a restaurant to hit a rush on a big night, even if he is only a "paper chef". Towards the end of his story about Lola (Part Two of TSOAC), Ruhlman is having dinner with a group of people that includes a restaurant critic of national repute. Ruhlman asks him whether he ever worries that being a food critic is in the end a shallow and self-indulgent way to spend one's life. The critic responds that he has thought about that and goes on to explain how a cookbook helped unite Italy by creating a common language and suggests that if a single cookbook can have such an impact, then the topic may not be so trite after all. Writing about cooking in America right now involves a subject of potential importance. There is lots of talk about a current culinary revolution, but no one has yet clearly defined exactly what that means. Ruhlman is helping us do that. In the end, TSOAC is not just a book about a cooking exam and two cooks, its about what cooking and restaurants have become in America. Its a subject that is slowly becoming an important part of America's cultural fabric and, as with any such subject, it needs its commentators. Ruhlman is fulfilling an important role. We can only hope he will not conclude that the topic is too unimportant for further study.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, beautiful book.
Review: In this book, Michael takes us into the kitchens of the CIA once again. He shows us some of the best chefs in the country, as they labor under the enormous stress of taking the CIA's 'Certified Master Chef' exams. He then travels to two of America's finest restaurants and explores the character of the Chefs who created them. Along the way, we meet some other colorful characters and some very delightful-sounding food. That's it in a nutshell. The reason I love this book is because it shows the heart and intensity of what I can only call the 'love of food' and the 'striving for excellence' that both of these Chefs possess. The discussion of their ingenuity in creating new dishes is very interesting as well, but it is the sheer PASSION for cooking that Michael communicates to us that kept my eyeballs glued to the pages. I have now read both of Michael's books on this subject: The Making of a Chef and The Soul of a Chef. I finished them both in about two weeks and my understanding of the world of cooking, not to mention my faith in the human race (how could you not love a species that is capable of such positive, again, passion??), has simply been...transformed. Thank you, Michael.
Rating:
Summary: Kitchen fun...
Review: Michael Ruhlman had a lot of fun writing this, a set of three longer works about three chefs. Each vignette is well told and builds upon the delight and insight of the previous section. The first section covers a group of chefs taking the Certified Master Chef exam, focusing on one specific chef. The second on a chef in the mid-West. The third section focuses on Thomas Keller and the French Laundry. The food sounds wonderful throughout the book and I enjoyed the insights into cooking that each section brought out. In a previous life I spent a good bit of time in a commercial kitchen, so this brought back a lot of interesting and fun memories, coupled with the delight of cooking. If there's one section that I didn't appreciate so much, it's the last bit on Keller, where Ruhlman goes a bit too goggly-eyed over His Personal Hero the Greatest Chef in America if Not the World. ::sigh:: I'm sure the food was outstanding, but it seemed to go on a little too long. And if I even see the word truffle again this week, I swear I'll scream.
Rating:
Summary: Great book about dedication to one's profession
Review: Ruhlman divides his work into 3 parts. The first part chronicles the intense Certified Master Chef exam. The second and third parts deal with the lives and cooking of Michael Symon of Lola in Cleveland and Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Yountville, CA. The book's title pretty much says it all. The chefs portrayed in this book strive for nothing less than perfection, and Symon and Keller have apparently reached that level with some of their creations. Ruhlman's description of the CMC exam reveals what an intense and harrowing experience this test of cooking skill is. He follows seven candidates through ten days of the examination which everyone fails but one. He then proceeds to describe the work of Symon and Keller. Both chefs' stories are inspirational in that they prove that success has as much to do with dedication and diligence as innate talent. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand not only what it takes to be a great chef but what it takes to be successful in any profession. The only difficulty I had with this book was that I did not understand many of the cooking and food terms the author used. A glossary would have been nice. Anyway, a great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Partially satisfying sequel
Review: Ruhlman's first book, Making of Chef, was a terrific, in-depth account of his time as a journalist/student at the Culinary Inst. of America. For people with some appreciation for the tradition and craft of cooking, it's full of "So that's how" moments and conveys the so-different challenges of being a professional chef. It's also personal and dramatic. Just a pleasure to read. This book is the uneven sequel. The book is in three parts. 1) An account of one's year's Certfied Master Chef exam/cook-off at the CIA; 2) the story of Michael Symon and his highly successful Cleveland restaurant, Lola; 3) likewise Thomas Keller and his Yountville, CA phenom The French Laundry. Part 1 is a gripping and fitting follow-on to the first book. He follows the contestants through their week of mystery-ingredient cook-offs, portraying their triumphs and failures through moment by moment. After a while, you can predict when that consome is going to break, too. Part 2 covers interesting ground in portraying the day-to-day workings of a successful restaurant. But Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain's story of NYC's Les Halles, is more insightful and Bourdain's dark, wry voice can't be beat. In Part 3 Ruhlman faithfully details Keller's obsession with craft. It's a love note to Keller and the restaurant that in the end didn't quite hold my interest. Hard to push aside thoughts that it would help sell the cookbook the two wrote together. If you liked "Making", you'll enjoy part 1 enough not to regret having bought the book. Otherwise, unless you're a habitue of Lola or French Laundry, I'd pass.
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