In Letters to a Young Chef, Daniel Boulud, cookbook author, chef, and owner of Daniel, Café Boulud, and DB Bistro Moderne in New York City, briefly covers what he believes are the most important building blocks to becoming a great chef. Boulud grew up on his family's farm in a tiny town near Lyons, France. Like most of today's great European chefs, he took his first kitchen job at the tender age of 14. But his lengthy, successful career in New York City has made him very aware that the path he took to get where he is is very different from the one young American chefs take today. His advice is wise, and could apply to other careers as well: find a mentor, use your connections, work hard, learn how something is done by a successful chef before you try out your own creativity, travel, explore, be loyal to your employer, develop your sense of taste, and learn all aspects of the restaurant business before attempting to go out on your own. Boulud's excellent advice comes from years of experience, and some of the most enjoyable parts of this little book are his anecdotes about the time he spent learning and paying his dues in legendary kitchens, and about the fascinating culinary icons he mixes with today. A quick read by a most fascinating culinary celebrity, you'll wish he shared even more, and that next time he puts pen to paper, it will be for a full-length memoir. --Leora Y. Bloom


From Publishers Weekly
You can say one thing for Boulud, owner of top-flight New York restaurants Daniel, Caf‚ Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne: he's not one for coddling. In this rather skimpy collection of advice to recent culinary school grads, he shoots straight from the hip. Working as a chef in someone else's restaurant wouldn't be his choice, he explains, or the choice of anyone with true passion, he implies. "Still, it is a life." Instead, these brief chapters on topics like finding a mentor and controlling one's ego and ambition ("I have a healthy dose of both," he confesses) are aimed at a very specific audience: those who want to open their own restaurants, and they'd better be young (over 30 is over-the-hill) and hungry-and not just for a perfect coq au vin. The book is long on generalities, but rather short on specifics. One exception is the chapter on wine and dessert, which explains that 10% to 15% of an average check is generated by the latter, and one-third by the former. Boulud can also be maddeningly contradictory, as when he lauds all things seasonal, then broadens the definition to include chanterelles from Oregon, because they reach New York in two days. A final chapter listing the 10 commandments of a chef (including keep knives sharp and learn the world of food) restates much of the previous information in pithier form. This book is the Monsieur Hyde to the Dr. Jekyll version of culinary training presented in Jacques Pepin's The Apprentice. Recipes not seen by PW.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Alice Waters
"This is such a charming way to convey the priorities and responsibilities of a chef. Daniel Boulud's enthusiasm is irresistible."


Emeril Lagasse
"'Taste, Taste, Taste.' Letters from the journey of one of the world's greatest chefs!"


Book Description
From the reinvention of French food through the fine dining revolution in America, Daniel Boulud has been one of the key innovators of today's food culture. A modern improviser with a classical foundation-a little rock and roll and a lot of Mozart, as he would say-who worked his way up from scullery boy to culinary celebrity, he speaks with the authority that can only come from a lifetime of experience in creating and serving spectacular cuisine. In Letters to a Young Chef, Boulud speaks not only specifically about building a career as a chef in today's world, but why anyone would want to do so in the first place. As he writes, "It didn't take me long to decide three things; I knew I loved to cook, I knew that I wanted to learn from the masters, and I knew that being a chef was the only thing I wanted to be." But while a love of food is the cook's guiding passion, the path to flourishing as a chef is one of long hours, arduous apprenticeships, and a painstaking dedication to technique and craft. With refreshing wit and candor, Boulud relates the exhilarating juggling act that is running a world-class kitchen-and how, in many respects, haute cuisine is a high calling indeed. Part memoir, part advice book, part recipebook, this delicious celebration of the art of cooking will delight and enlighten chefs of all kinds, from passionate amateurs to serious professionals. Daniel Boulud is the world-renowned owner and chef de cuisine of DANIEL, CAFE BOULUD, DB BISTRO MODERNE, and the catering company FEAST & FETES, all in New York City. After studying with the likes of Georges Blanc, Michel Guerard, and Roger Verge in France, he emigrated to the United States, working at Le Cirque before striking out on his own with DANIEL. He is the author of the Cafe Boulud Cookbook and Cooking with Daniel Boulud, and lives with his family in Manhattan.


About the Author
Daniel Boulud is the world-renowned owner and chef de cuisine of Daniel, Café Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne, and the catering company Feast & Fêtes, all in New York City. After studying with the likes of Georges Blanc, Michel Guérard, and Roger Vergé in France, he emigrated to the U.S., working at Le Cirque before striking out on his own. He is the author of Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook and Cooking with Daniel Boulud. He lives in New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From the reinvention of French food through the fine dining revolution in America, Daniel Boulud has been one of the key innovators of today's food culture. A modern improviser with a classical foundation -- a little rock and roll and a lot of Mozart, as he would say -- who worked his way up from scullery boy to culinary celebrity, he speaks with the authority that can only come from a lifetime of experience in creating and serving spectacular cuisine.

In Letters to a Young Chef, Boulud not only speaks specifically about building a career as a chef in today's world, but examines why anyone would want to do so in the first place. As he writes, "It didn't take me long to decide three things: I knew I loved to cook, I knew that I wanted to learn from the masters, and I knew that being a chef was the only thing I wanted to be." But while a love of food is the cook's guiding passion, the path to flourishing as a chef is one of long hours, arduous apprenticeships, and a painstaking dedication to technique and craft. With refreshing wit and candor, Boulud relates the exhilarating juggling act that is running a world-class kitchen -- and how, in many respects, haute cuisine is a high calling indeed. Part memoir, part advice book, part recipebook, this delicious celebration of the art of cooking will delight and enlighten chefs of all kinds, from passionate amateurs to serious professionals.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

You can say one thing for Boulud, owner of top-flight New York restaurants Daniel, Caf Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne: he's not one for coddling. In this rather skimpy collection of advice to recent culinary school grads, he shoots straight from the hip. Working as a chef in someone else's restaurant wouldn't be his choice, he explains, or the choice of anyone with true passion, he implies. "Still, it is a life." Instead, these brief chapters on topics like finding a mentor and controlling one's ego and ambition ("I have a healthy dose of both," he confesses) are aimed at a very specific audience: those who want to open their own restaurants, and they'd better be young (over 30 is over-the-hill) and hungry-and not just for a perfect coq au vin. The book is long on generalities, but rather short on specifics. One exception is the chapter on wine and dessert, which explains that 10% to 15% of an average check is generated by the latter, and one-third by the former. Boulud can also be maddeningly contradictory, as when he lauds all things seasonal, then broadens the definition to include chanterelles from Oregon, because they reach New York in two days. A final chapter listing the 10 commandments of a chef (including keep knives sharp and learn the world of food) restates much of the previous information in pithier form. This book is the Monsieur Hyde to the Dr. Jekyll version of culinary training presented in Jacques Pepin's The Apprentice (Forecasts, March 3). Recipes not seen by PW. (Sept.) Forecast: Boulud addresses a limited audience of young people on the verge of graduating from culinary school. The few curious foodies who do pick this up are likely to be disappointed, so expect less than stellar sales. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Talent and passion alone do not ensure success as a chef and restaurateur; also required are the complementary abilities to identify critical people and resources, organize and manage them, and ultimately deliver the best dining experience possible to one's customers. This is the straightforward message delivered by Boulud, author (Caf Boulud Cookbook) and well-known restaurateur (New York's Daniel and Caf Boulud), in this short, informative book. His targeted reader is the young chef, eager to embark on a challenging career with diploma in hand. Boulud describes the key factors that distinguish good cooks from great chefs, including a commitment to procuring top ingredients, managing diverse personalities, and welcoming new cooking and eating experiences. Anecdotes from his own career are tantalizingly sprinkled throughout his narrative. While Boulud's advice is undeniably sound, the device of couching it in the form of letters to beginners is sometimes strained. Nevertheless, this makes a fine companion to Jacques Pepin's recent The Apprentice: A Cook's Memoir. Recommended for larger public libraries. (Recipes not seen.)-Andrea Dietze, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Stern but realistic advice to those with their hopes pinned on the art of cooking, along with some strangely obvious culinary comments for such an audience. Boulud's short, formal-toned work is ostensibly aimed at those who have already logged some substantial hours in the kitchen: "You, on the other hand, having spent three years in cooking school, know a lot more about our craft than I did when I threw myself into this career." But why, then, does he write, "It all starts with heating the ingredients"? Doesn't his audience know, when it comes to roasting and saut￯﾿ﾽing, that this is the case, or that "braising means to cook on a braisier"? Such comments suggest that Boulud, celebrated chef at New York's four-star Daniel, among others, is reaching for a wider audience, but it also reveals a modest lack of focus, for most home cooks don't need to know his more arcane details-for instance, that venison "does not have space in its fibers to absorb and hold moisture." Still, there's information here that anyone with a glimmer of interest in top-level kitchen life will find intriguing, including even the dedication: "When you are not working, you are thinking about work." Boulud tells us everything from where the profits come from (dessert and wine) and what the team character of a great kitchen is like (woe to the sous-chef who forgets that "there is only room for one ego in a kitchen when the crush of service is on"), to the need for paying your dues at each station in the kitchen and the absolute necessity of attention to detail, from the quality of the ingredients to the welcoming smile of the maitre d'. Something more fascinating than advice and admonitions: the chance to live brieflyinside the head of a great chef who keeps more balls in the air than any juggler ever attempted.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Tim Ryan

"Beginning with his first taste of truffles, Chef Boulud shares tasty tidbits and truths of what it takes for aspiring culinarians to thrive and triumph in today's food world. Professional chefs and those just beginning their journey in our great industry will savor the lessons and advice from Daniel Boulud, a renowned authority on food and cooking; as he reinforces the most important lesson of all and the required skills for a successful culinarian today-culinary skills, management and people skills, and the ability to innovate and create."  — Ed. D., President, The Culinary Institute of America

"This is a priceless manual for anyone seriously interested in the restaurant world. Concise, pointed, informative, and candid, it explains simply to the neophyte chef the difficult but wonderful and rewarding world of the kitchen." — Jacques Pepin

"My life experience has taught me to work hard, never give up, and always put my heart into my cooking. This has brought me happiness and success in life. In his book, Daniel Boulud inspires young chefs with these important lessons from life and the kitchen." — Nobu Matsuhisa

"This is such a charming way to convey the priorities and responsibilities of a chef. Daniel Boulud's enthusiasm is irresistible." — Alice Waters