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An Updated Making of a Chef in the works

FabulousFoodBabe

By FabulousFoodBabe
in Food Media & Arts

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FabulousFoodBabe

FabulousFoodBabe

Posted
Posted (edited)

I heard somewhere, from someone who should know, that Michael Ruhlman is doing an updated Making of a Chef -- kind of like the CIA revisited. Anyone else heard about this?

Edited by FabulousFoodBabe (log)
"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
Angela Alaimo

Angela Alaimo

Posted
Posted

I've heard they're letting all kinds into that place these days.

"I'm not looking at the panties, I'm looking at the vegetables!" --RJZ
silverbrow

silverbrow

Posted
Posted

that's slightly aggravating as I only took delivery yesterday of a copy of the original version.

Michael - is it due out soon, should I return my so far unblemished copy to Amazon

Michael Ruhlman

Michael Ruhlman

Posted
Posted

I'm at work on another book about the continuing evolution of the chef in american culture. I do revisit the CIA to look at how things have changed there and how those changes reflect larger changes in the industry. book won't be out for a year at least.

Please keep your pristine copy of making of a chef close to your heart.

Angela Alaimo

Angela Alaimo

Posted
Posted

My copy is incredibly Unpristine, but I like it that way.

Hey, did Chef Pardus ever realise his dream and go teach in California?

Angela

"I'm not looking at the panties, I'm looking at the vegetables!" --RJZ
Hest88

Hest88

Posted
Posted

This is the best news I've had all week. But I have to wait a whole year?

tetsujustin

tetsujustin

Posted
Posted

I must say, from when I read the book right before I entered the school till when I just graduated, I was expecting a lot of the same, but most everything's changed.

Sure, update when I leave. It would've been interesting to see how you would've gone about your business since most everyone at the school has a copy of your book now... I'm sure you weren't such a big celebrity before when you attended.

And as of a couple blocks ago when I saw him, Chef Pardus is still in New York and not in California. Actually, as of like... a week and a half ago, he was leading a group of students around Vietnam to go market hopping with the Chef from Bao 111.

Looking forward to it.

Really Nice!

Really Nice!

Posted
Posted
I've heard that, too.

Four words that needed editing?!? :blink: If you need help with the book, I'd love to volunteer!

:biggrin:

Love your work, Michael.

Drink!

I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward. --John Mortimera

Michael Ruhlman

Michael Ruhlman

Posted
Posted
It would've been interesting to see how you would've gone about your business since most everyone at the school has a copy of your book now... I'm sure you weren't such a big celebrity before when you attended.

This actually made it more difficult. I can walk for days through my beloved cleveland and no one will know (or care) who I am, alas. But at the CIA, I'm...well, let's just say I get a momentary glimpse of what it's like to be Bourdain. Unless Bourdain is there, in which case, I'm back to being me again as the students swarm on him like flies to ... nevermind. (I'm not jealous, really!) Being back at the CIA good for the ego, but it sucks for actually gathering the info I need since I prefer to be inconspicuous. It can also be embarrassing when i try to help out on the line and completely fuck up the eggs.

The place changed my life, too, so there's a bit of the can't-go-home-againness to the experience.

FabulousFoodBabe

FabulousFoodBabe

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
It would've been interesting to see how you would've gone about your business since most everyone at the school has a copy of your book now... I'm sure you weren't such a big celebrity before when you attended.

Being back at the CIA good for the ego, but it sucks for actually gathering the info I need since I prefer to be inconspicuous. It can also be embarrassing when i try to help out on the line and completely fuck up the eggs.

The place changed my life, too, so there's a bit of the can't-go-home-againness to the experience.

Hah! That's what I call a real student experience, when fucking up the eggs can be subjective.

Will you say how much of the book deals with how the place has changed, since your first book? (Tetsujustin is right -- almost everyone has your first book and lots of people cite it as the reason they enrolled. I'm one of the others, who has your book on raising boys, as well. )

Oh, hey. I can't offer editorial help, but I can be your snitch. :hmmm:

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
chefzadi

chefzadi

Posted
Posted
all good journalists need their snitches, thanks!  my guess is about a fifth of the book will take place at the cia.

Will any of it take place at one of Le Cordon Bleu campuses?

LCB North America has 14 campuses.

LCB International has about a dozen.

Certainly broadens the potential reader base thousands and thousands.

I can be reached via email chefzadi AT gmail DOT com

Dean of Culinary Arts

Ecole de Cuisine: Culinary School Los Angeles

http://ecolecuisine.com

simdelish

simdelish

Posted
Posted
  It can also be embarrassing when i try to help out on the line and completely fuck up the eggs.

OOOOHHHHH, I see! :hmmm:

Mr. "see-what-you-can-do-with-this-egg-in-10-minutes" ....

maybe we should call in TE and MT! :laugh:

I like to cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food.

turkeybone

turkeybone

Posted
Posted
My copy is incredibly Unpristine, but I like it that way.

Hey, did Chef Pardus ever realise his dream and go teach in California?

Angela

He's teaching Asia in K-1 currently, so unless he went and came back, I'd say the answer is no.

Coming from a background in psychology, I spend a lot of time observing people and how they act. In my group there's a wide berth of personalities -- lots of bright eyed kids who want to work with TK and DB and all the rest; kids who always have to mention that they worked in a classical french restaurant since they were 14 (yet can't tourne worth a fudge); and the kids who only seem to know how to say "yes, chef! no, chef! I'm sorry, chef".

It's all a matter of time before they get "broken", and the real test is whether they keep going even after they realize what they're getting into.

Rico

godito

godito

Posted
Posted

Asia.... K-1 kitchen... Chef Pardus.... man that brings back a lot of memories! Makes me want to go back to school to visit. I'm sure Michael's book will put me in that nostalgic place that only reading, eating some of your mom's cooking or maybe fado can put you...

Follow me @chefcgarcia

Fábula, my restaurant in Santiago, Chile

My Blog, en Español

FabulousFoodBabe

FabulousFoodBabe

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

In my group there's a wide berth of personalities -- lots of bright eyed kids who want to work with TK and DB and all the rest; kids who always have to mention that they worked in a classical french restaurant since they were 14 (yet can't tourne worth a fudge); and the kids who only seem to know how to say "yes, chef! no, chef! I'm sorry, chef".

What IS it with those "in the business since I was 12" types?

There were a couple of people on my team we nicknamed "Erik(a)," though the book didn't say whether she cleaned anything (these people didn't, but fit the rest of the character).

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
Angela Alaimo

Angela Alaimo

Posted
Posted
My copy is incredibly Unpristine, but I like it that way.

Hey, did Chef Pardus ever realise his dream and go teach in California?

Angela

He's teaching Asia in K-1 currently, so unless he went and came back, I'd say the answer is no.

Coming from a background in psychology, I spend a lot of time observing people and how they act. In my group there's a wide berth of personalities -- lots of bright eyed kids who want to work with TK and DB and all the rest; kids who always have to mention that they worked in a classical french restaurant since they were 14 (yet can't tourne worth a fudge); and the kids who only seem to know how to say "yes, chef! no, chef! I'm sorry, chef".

It's all a matter of time before they get "broken", and the real test is whether they keep going even after they realize what they're getting into.

Thanks, turkeybone. I'd always wondered what he was doing, without resorting to hunting him down on the Internet like some kind of stalker.

The one time I was there I did meet Chef Coppedge, and he gave us still-warm brioch for a snackie. My son's cooking class, who I went with, were in awe.

"I'm not looking at the panties, I'm looking at the vegetables!" --RJZ
turkeybone

turkeybone

Posted
Posted

The one time I was there I did meet Chef Coppedge, and he gave us still-warm brioch for a snackie.  My son's cooking class, who I went with, were in awe.

It's been awhile since I read the book myself, it'll be an interesting re-read now that I've bumped into many of these personalities (haha I even saw Roland Henin at one of the career fairs, just to drop some more names :raz: ), and heard tons of fun little stories (like a kid who would march up to Mr. Metz's office and complain about the food he'd get from skills).

Rico

  • 2 weeks later...
Matthew Sievert

Matthew Sievert

Posted
Posted

My copy of "Making of a Chef" is very non-pristine.

Where might I get a hardcover copy of the book?

The more time I spend working with cooks and learning how to cook. The more I think about the type of person it would take to excel at, and beyond the CIA.

These days I think it would take a very serious devotion to the craft. Someone who can go beyond the tuition and the prestige of the school.

jgm

jgm

Posted
Posted
My copy of "Making of a Chef" is very non-pristine.

Where might I get a hardcover copy of the book?

There is at least one for sale on eBay right now.

Also, you can go to www.powells.com and there are used copies of the hardcover edition available.

  • 2 weeks later...
silverbrow

silverbrow

Posted
Posted

Ok further to my earlier post I actually hadn't just bough the making of a chef, but had bought the soul of a chef so am I pleased I didn't return it. Anyway, having just eaten my way through the book in about two days I think it's fantastic. I'm not one to brown-nose but as insights into a culture goes this is a brilliant book. I think the way that the three chefs are looked at to describe wider trends works particularly well. Michael I'm interested to know whether Brian did ever go back to the CIA to get his CMC?

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