The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America
chronicles the adventures of writer Michael Ruhlman as he attends the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) on a mission write a book about the experience.  In doing so he develops a healthy obsession with brown sauce and roux and ultimately, almost without realizing it, the writer becomes a cook. Along the way he gives an exciting inside look at the hallowed institution, its chef instructors, dedicated students and its supreme leader and then president, Ferdinand Metz.  Although informative about cuisine and cooking, the book’s central focus is the hard work and commitment that goes into becoming a chef and the exhausting standards of the modern CIA. 80 hour weeks slaving in 120 degree kitchens and working longer and harder is identified as the path to culinary excellence. And there is no destination to this journey, for most the rewards come in the form of occasionally divine flavors, not celebrity and riches.