Books like Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman

When Helen, believing she's dying, urges Winnie's daughter Pearl to learn the truth, Winnie retells her own past—from a small island near Shanghai in the 1920s through wartime China to her 1949 arrival in America—revealing hidden family secrets.

Anthony Bourdain’s candid memoir chronicles his evolution from kitchen journeyman to globe‑traveling food critic, revealing the changing world of gastronomy and the people shaping it.

Lucy Knisley, celebrated cartoonist and the daughter of a chef, shares her life’s milestones and culinary adventures in a witty, food‑centered memoir, each chapter framed by the dish she was eating and a hand‑drawn recipe.

Ruth Reichl’s memoir chronicles her life from a childhood shaped by food to her rise as a celebrated culinary writer, capturing the people and places that defined her passion for cooking and storytelling.

Julia Child’s bestselling memoir chronicles her journey from an awkward newcomer in 1948 France to the beloved American cooking icon she would become.

Michael Ruhlman chronicles his journey from journalist to chef, detailing his hands‑on training at the Culinary Institute of America and the spirit that drives professional cooks.

David Lebovitz recounts renovating his Paris apartment, weaving humor, recipes, and life lessons into a vivid portrait of American life in France.

A mindblowing account of life at the adrenalin-fuelled kitchen frontline - the story of a career spent working in grungy diners and other down-and-dirty joints, Cooking Dirty takes the kitchen memoir to a rough and reckless new level.

Michael Ruhlman explores how chefs have risen from kitchen hands to cultural icons, examining the dramatic shift that has turned restaurant cooking into a form of performance art and the chef into a celebrity‑CEO.

"Named one of the five favorite culinary books of this decade by Food Arts magazine, The Professional Chef is the classic kitchen reference that many of America's top chefs have used to understand basic skills and standards for quality as well as develop a sense of how cooking works. Now, the ninth edition features an all-new, user-friendly design that guides readers through each cooking technique, starting with a basic formula, outlining the method at-a-glance, offering expert tips, covering each method with beautiful step-by-step photography, and finishing with recipes that use the basic techniques. The new edition also offers a global perspective and includes essential information on nutrition, food and kitchen safety, equipment, and product identification. Basic recipe formulas illustrate fundamental techniques and guide chefs clearly through every step, from mise en place to finished dishes. Includes an entirely new chapter on plated desserts and new coverage of topics that range from sous vide cooking to barbecuing to seasonality Highlights quick reference pages for each major cooking technique or preparation, guiding you with at-a-glance information answering basic questions and giving new insights with expert tips Features nearly 900 recipes and more than 800 gorgeous full-color photographs Covering the full range of modern techniques and classic and contemporary recipes, The Professional Chef, Ninth Edition is the essential reference for every serious cook"--

What does it take to perfect a flawless éclair? A delicate yet buttery croissant? To pipe dozens of macarons? The answer is: an intimate knowledge of the fundamentals of pastry. In The Art of French Pastry award-winning pastry chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, cofounder of the renowned French Pastry School in Chicago, gives you just that. By teaching you how to make everything from pâte à choux to pastry cream, Pfeiffer builds on the basics until you have an understanding of the science behind the ingredients used, how they interact with one another, and what your hands have to do to transform them into pastry. This yields glorious results! Expect to master these techniques and then indulge in exquisite recipes, such as: brioche, napoléons / Mille-Feuilles, cream puffs, Alsatian cinnamon rolls / chinois, lemon cream tart with meringue teardrops, elephant ears / palmiers, black forest cake, beignets, as well as some traditional Alsatian savory treats, including: Pretzels, Kougelhof, Tarte Flambée, Warm Alsatian Meat Pie. Pastry is all about precision, so Pfeiffer presents us with an amazing wealth of information—lists of necessary equipment, charts on how ingredients react in different environments, and the precise weight of ingredients in grams, with a look at their equivalent in U.S. units -- which will help you in all aspects of your cooking. But in order to properly enjoy your "just desserts," so to speak, you will also learn where these delicacies originated. Jacquy Pfeiffer comes from a long line of pastry chefs and has been making these recipes since he was a child working in his father's bakery in Alsace. Sprinkled with funny, charming memories from a lifetime in pastry, this book will have you fully appreciating the hundreds of years of tradition that shaped these recipes into the classics that we know and love, and can now serve to our friends and families over and over again. The Art of French Pastry, full of gorgeous photography and Pfeiffer's accompanying illustrations, is a master class in pastry from a master teacher. - Publisher.

New Professional Chef is a culinary text from the Culinary Institute of America that introduces professional cooking techniques with an emphasis on quantity cooking for aspiring chefs.

xix, 313 pages : 29 cm