Synopses & Reviews
The intoxicating beauty of food and the irrepressible desire to create luxurious cuisine led a young woman to abandon her life in academia for culinary school. But the richness she discovered there was not limited to methods of cooking.
With a camera and tape recorder in one hand and a saute pan in the other, Carol W. Maybach recorded recipes and lessons, photographed the simple beauty of food, and captured the wisdom and cooking secrets of her chef instructors in their own words. These culinary experts, among them an ex-record producer who cooked for Frank Sinatra and a secret serviceman's son who grew up in the White House kitchen, have helped shape staff at such top restaurants as The French Laundry. Jean-Georges, and Charlie Trotter's. They also teach the unsung heroes of the cooking world --the young man in a chef's toque working his way up at a local hotspot, the woman searching out the best homegrown produce at a bed-and-breakfast --people who are passionate about creating delicious food.
In Creating Chefs, readers learn how to prepare basic and more complex dishes through the eyes of a student. Each recipe comes complete with notes from the chef instructor, emphasizing the crucial points of preparation. Original illustrations not only provide a peek into a student notebook as if the recipes were presented in class but also help readers to master technique. These pages strive to teach readers where their meat comes from, to understand the nuances of a delicate egg white, and to appreciate the value of the culinary arts.
For those who know food, cooking is not a job; it's a love affair. It's not the prestige that brings them to the kitchen, it's not the corner office, and it's definitely not the paycheck. But, as revealed in this unique cookbook, in the hearts and minds of chefs, they do have it all. Every passionate cook, beginner and professional alike, will cherish Creating Chefs.
Synopsis
Go behind the kitchen doors of America's finest culinary institutes and learn how to prepare dishes like Pan-Seared Sea Bass Puttanesca and Roasted Banana Tiramisu from the instructors themselves--experts in teaching classical cuisine. The recipes are complete with notes from each chef emphasizing crucial points of preparation, and are paired with gorgeous black-and-white photographs and step-by-step illustrations on techniques like butterflying a tenderloin or plating the final dish. In addition to opening their kitchens, these chefs open their hearts, revealing how to create truly innovative food.
The author, an accomplished writer and photographer as well as a passionate cook, embarked on this project while attending a grueling fifteen-month culinary program. With a camera and tape recorder in one hand and a sauté pan in the other, the aspiring chef captured inspiration from twenty-eight chef instructors, ranging from an ex-record producer who cooked for Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston to the son of a Secret Service interpreter whose childhood was spent at Jacques Pepin's elbow in the White House kitchen. She takes us on the journey, offering an inside look at attending a culinary school. The recipes, the techniques, the lessons on food and life, and portraits of the chefs are all here, in a package that combines elegance and practicality.
Synopsis
"Becoming a Chef" meets the "French Laundry Cookbook" in this volume filled with recipes and lessons from culinary school.