45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Swift, entertaining and thought provoking read, October 6, 2007
This review is from: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School (Hardcover)
A great book! As a culinary grad myself, I'm impressed how well the author caught the feverish vibe of being a culinary student. The behind the scenes look at Le Cordon Bleu is fascinating. Her story is funny and touching, and the writing is great. As a book, it's a fast read. I got it yesterday from Amazon and finished it this afternoon. It's one of those books that I was sorry when it ended. It made me wish I could drop everything and run off to Paris, but I will have to settle for trying the French onion soup recipe in the book instead.
Her "who am I? How did I get here?" questioning of her life makes this book of interest even to those who aren't necessarily into cooking. As she notes at the end, the lessons she learns from her culinary training extend beyond the kitchen. If you liked "Eat, Pray, Love" by Liz Gilbert or "Heat" by Bill Buford, then you'll certainly like this book.
Update on March 31: I bought my mom the audio CD of this book for her birthday. I was surprised to find that it came with a separate non-audio CD that has all the recipes so you can print them out. It makes a nice little booklet.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Trials and triumphs in the world's most famous cooking school, March 13, 2008
This review is from: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School (Hardcover)
The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry is a riveting memoir of one woman's journey through the hallowed kitchens of Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Fresh from a corporate layoff in her London office, Kathleen Flinn chases her childhood dream to attend Le Cordon Bleu, encouraged by then-boyfriend Mike. Kathleen's love for cooking came as a result of necessity: after her father's early death from cancer when Kathleen was a teenager, she took over cooking for her family, eventually exploring the works of Julia Child and other cuisines. As an adult, her job in journalism allowed her to dabble in food writing and to indulge her love of restaurants, cooking, and food around the globe (including a brush with food poisoning from undercooked pig kidneys in China).
Kathleen's witty observations of Cordon Bleu demonstrations and classes are culled from 600 pages of personal notes, 120 hours of audio recordings, and selections from the 300-plus recipes in the Cordon Bleu curriculum, so readers are instantly immersed into the grueling world of elite chefdom, including less appetizing ventures such as gutting fish, removing tendons and glands from chickens and guinea fowl, beheading rabbits, and chopping live lobsters in half (this book is definitely NOT for the squeamish). However, such visions are tempered by sweeter notes, including puff pastry and delicate sauces described in detail.
Kathleen describes her new friends and classmates in detail, along with her continuing explorations of Paris and her struggles to improve her rusty French. One of the book's most touching moments involves a visit from her sister, who had planned on studying at the Sorbonne but gave up her place (and her dreams of studying in France) when their father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Small moments of everyday Parisian life provide a pleasant counterpart to break up the monotony of daily classes. Other domestic affairs include Kathleen's new relationship, a visit from annoying houseguests, and several medical emergencies.
The Sharper Your Knife includes many of the recipes alluded to in the text, and the back of the book thoughtfully includes a recipe index for faster retrieval. Traditional selections include Beef Braised in Red Wine, Chicken Cordon Bleu (which has no affiliation with the school), Rabbit or Chicken with Mustard Sauce, Chocolate Souffle, and Duck With Orange Sauce. Some of the author's personal favorites include Minestrone Soup, Gumbo from Paris, and Banana and Nutella Crepes.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting memoir of cooking and Paris, April 25, 2009
I wasn't sure how I was going to go with this memoir of a journalist who spends a year at the "world's most famous cooking school" Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, but I was surprised at what a quick read it was.
Kat's adventures both in cooking and life through basic, intermediate and superior cuisine and the smattering of French life was compelling enough that I ran through the book in only a couple of sittings. Flinn is a good writer, but I found some of the metaphors between the food she was cooking and her life a bit contrived and trite (love is like a quiche, it has to be cooked at the right temperature and savoured with consideration - these are not Flinn's words, but she offered up similar cringe worthy metaphors) and I really did get sick of how hearing about how wonderful her husband is.
Flinn includes a lot of recipes in the book, but I have to say that French haute cuisine is not for me and I wasn't tempted to try any of the recipes. However, I did enjoy the book and I loved how Kat took a bad situation where she was retrenched from her job and turned it into the experience of a lifetime, the fulfilment of a long held dream and a completely new pathway in life. Leap and the net will appear!
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