( 5 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Oct 26 2003
I liked this book and found it to give me the inspiration for becoming a chef. When you really love what you do in work, other parts of your life are usually less stressful. I also highly recommend:Study Guide for Baking: Key Review Questions and Answers by Melissa Heilman. This book was excellent for helping get excellent grades in my culinary baking classes
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( 5 of 5 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 25 2003
Becoming a Chef by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page is filled with information that anyone who wants to achieve greatness as a professional chef needs to know, based on the experiences of dozens of America's leading chefs (from Daniel Boulud to Emeril Lagasse to Charlie Trotters to Alice Waters). You find out what first got them interested in pursuing a career as a chef (including early memories of family influences) to what their first steps were (from first jobs to cooking school to externships) and how they made their way up the ladder to success. My favorite chapter is Chapter 9: Persevering In The Face of Reality, in which top chefs admit some of the boneheaded mistakes they made along the way, making it clear that even the greatest chefs faced setbacks along the way. Whenever I question my sanity for wanting to cook for a living (which is at least once a week), I pick up this book, open it to any page, and get inspired by remembering that we're all in it for the love of food and our common passion for cooking things that taste amazing and please others!
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( 3 of 3 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 9 2003
"Finally, a book that lets chefs speak for themselves! An insightful look at the complex life of a professional chef. Fascinating portraits of the people who have defined American cuisine -- who they are, and how they got to be where they are today. Anyone who is interested in becoming a chef will find this book invaluable: This is what it takes to make it."--MARK MILLER, chef-owner, Coyote Cafe (Santa Fe, NM)
