There was a certain amount of jumping around within some of the day-to-day stories that I found distracting. Otherwise a really terrific book. ( )

know what the difference is between a home chef, and a kitchen chef. ( )

Enjoyable and informative book that really makes me want to go to culinary school. I know I wouldn't actually enjoy the life of a chef, but it was a lot of fun to read about the education that provides one route to that career. ( )

I love Ruhlman's thoughtful writing, especially when it involved food and cooking. This was no exception!

I would recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about cooking professionally. While there are way to incorporate that into a balanced live... most people cannot. And, honestly, I do not think I EVER had the sheer physicality required of a pro cook/chef!

Thing is, though, even us less-energy types can strive for excellence...albeit not in the food service industry! I find some restaurant "tricks" to be very helpful indeed when I am cooking or planning for small groups; how to stage things so the prep is mostly done before dinnertime is enormously helpful even when one is only having a few people over for a casual dinner! Instead of getting "in the weeds", we can relax and enjoy the company when there is only minimal prep necessary a la minute. This is very useful to us home cooks! as is the ability to choose and plan out recipes that can easily be transported, and finished on location with minimal effort and time. Books written about professional cooking can help with this even for us more modest and less intense cooks.

I did come out of reading this book with an increased hankering to attempt: proper classical stock (prob chicken); consomme; brown sauce; various pates etc; and get another sourdough starter working for bread.

Also with an increased respect for plating, which is probably my worst flaw. Even though of necessity we will always be "casual"- even with pretty formal food!- when we are being "fancy" we should probably give more thought to presentation rather than just flavor. ( )

I've been on a chef kick lately, and this chronicle of part of the 2 year program at the Culinary Institute of America was great fun. What an obsessive lot! ( )