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Title details for Knives at Dawn by Andrew Friedman - Available

Knives at Dawn

America's Quest for Culinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d'Or Competition

by Andrew Friedman
Sean Runnette
Audiobook
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The Bocuse d'Or is the real-life Top Chef, a biannual cooking competition in France featuring teams from twenty-four countries vying for the top honors. Named after Paul Bocuse, one of the greatest, most influential living chefs, the Bocuse d'Or has become the most sophisticated and closely watched cook-off in the world. Ironically, though American cuisine now rates among the best in the world, a U.S. team has never placed among the top three in the competition. In 2008, under the auspices of renowned chefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller, the two-person U.S. team of Timothy Hollingsworth and Adina Guest trained in a specially outfitted facility in preparation for the 2009 competition with the goal of a best-ever showing for the United States.


With unparalleled behind-the-scenes access, Andrew Friedman follows the American contestants and other hopefuls as they spend months training to cook and serve their dishes just once, over the course of five and a half tense hours, in an arena filled with a thousand screaming spectators. Along the way, he paints intimate portraits of Boulud and Keller, two of the leading culinary figures of their generation, revealing their hopes and aspirations for their protégés as well as for American cuisine. Through this compelling sports-meets-cooking story, Friedman explores the clash of culinary titans and cultures in a real-world kitchen stadium and ratchets up the suspense of who will reign supreme.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 2, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400195091
      • File size: 319855 KB
      • Duration: 11:06:21

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The backstage drama behind the world's most esteemed culinary cooking competition is revealed in Friedman's treatise on the legendary Bocuse d'Or. Teams from 24 countries vie for the 2009 prize. In preparation for the U.S. team's participation in the Bocuse, Friedman follows the contestants through months of grueling training and practice cook-offs. Sean Runnette ideally captures the impeccable French accent required to pronounce so many dishes and the names of legendary French chefs. He also excels at a variety of international accents as required to portray chefs from all over the globe. Most notably, he imparts the competition's mounting suspense as the aspiring chefs, their vainglorious mentors, and struggling protégés strive for the prized honor. Mouthwatering descriptions compete with a tangible passion for food throughout. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 2, 2009
      Every two years, chefs from around the world gather to compete in the Bocuse d'Or, a grueling cooking competition that gives participants just five and a half hours to prepare a full menu of elaborate fish and meat dishes (with their own choice of supporting ingredients). As the 2009 contest drew near, restaurateurs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller were determined the U.S. would send a team that could finally bring back a medal; Friedman (Breaking Back
      ) follows the quest through the selection of two cooks from Keller's French Laundry and stays with them until the final showdown. It's great fly-on-the-wall reporting that captures both the obsessive, perfectionist mindset of great chefs and their creative spontaneity under pressure—as small a matter as the sudden, intuitive selection of celeriac as an ingredient in a tart becomes a moment of high drama. The pace is relentless, but Friedman's observations of Timothy Hollingworth and his assistant, Adina Guest, as they struggle to rise to the challenge will have foodies riveted all the way through. Even those who don't care about the intricate details of a nine-course meal could learn something about entrepreneurship and project management from this story.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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