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  • Beaten, Seared, and Sauced by Jonathan Dixon - Excerpt

    Written by

    Jonathan Dixon
    958 views7 pages
    Millions of people fantasize about leaving their old lives behind, enrolling in cooking school, and training to become a chef. But for those who make the decision, the difference between the dream and reality can be gigantic—especially at the top cooking school in the country. For the first time in the Culinary Institute of America’s history, a book will give readers the firsthand experience of being a full-time student facing all of the challenges of the legendary course in its entirety. On the eve of his thirty-eighth birthday and after shuffling through a series of unsatisfying jobs, Jonathan Dixon enrolled in the CIA (on a scholarship) to pursue his passion for cooking. In Beaten, Seared, and Sauced he tells hilarious and harrowing stories of life at the CIA as he and his classmates navigate the institution’s many rules and customs under the watchful and critical eyes of their instructors. Each part of the curriculum is covered, from knife skills and stock making to the high-pressure cooking tests and the daunting wine course (the undoing of many a student). Dixon also details his externship in the kitchen of Danny Meyer’s Tabla, giving readers a look into the inner workings of a celebrated New York City restaurant. With the benefit of his age to give perspective to his experience, Dixon delivers a gripping day-to-day chronicle of his transformation from amateur to professional. From the daily tongue-lashings in class to learning the ropes—fast—at a top NYC kitchen, Beaten, Seared, and Sauced is a fascinating and intimate first-person view of one of America’s most famous culinary institutions and one of the world’s most coveted jobs. To read more about Jonathan Dixon or Beaten, Seared, and Sauced please visit Crown Publishing Group at www.crownpublishing.com.

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    Millions of people fantasize about leaving their old lives behind, enrolling in cooking school, and training to become a chef. But for those who make the decision, the difference between the dream and reality can be gigantic—especially at the top cooking school in the country. For the first time in the Culinary Institute of America’s history, a book will give readers the firsthand experience of being a full-time student facing all of the challenges of the legendary course in its entirety. On the eve of his thirty-eighth birthday and after shuffling through a series of unsatisfying jobs, Jonathan Dixon enrolled in the CIA (on a scholarship) to pursue his passion for cooking. In Beaten, Seared, and Sauced he tells hilarious and harrowing stories of life at the CIA as he and his classmates navigate the institution’s many rules and customs under the watchful and critical eyes of their instructors. Each part of the curriculum is covered, from knife skills and stock making to the high-pressure cooking tests and the daunting wine course (the undoing of many a student). Dixon also details his externship in the kitchen of Danny Meyer’s Tabla, giving readers a look into the inner workings of a celebrated New York City restaurant. With the benefit of his age to give perspective to his experience, Dixon delivers a gripping day-to-day chronicle of his transformation from amateur to professional. From the daily tongue-lashings in class to learning the ropes—fast—at a top NYC kitchen, Beaten, Seared, and Sauced is a fascinating and intimate first-person view of one of America’s most famous culinary institutions and one of the world’s most coveted jobs. To read more about Jonathan Dixon or Beaten, Seared, and Sauced please visit Crown Publishing Group at www.crownpublishing.com.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    958 views7 pages

    Beaten, Seared, and Sauced by Jonathan Dixon - Excerpt

    Written by

    Jonathan Dixon
    Millions of people fantasize about leaving their old lives behind, enrolling in cooking school, and training to become a chef. But for those who make the decision, the difference between the dream and reality can be gigantic—especially at the top cooking school in the country. For the first time in the Culinary Institute of America’s history, a book will give readers the firsthand experience of being a full-time student facing all of the challenges of the legendary course in its entirety. On the eve of his thirty-eighth birthday and after shuffling through a series of unsatisfying jobs, Jonathan Dixon enrolled in the CIA (on a scholarship) to pursue his passion for cooking. In Beaten, Seared, and Sauced he tells hilarious and harrowing stories of life at the CIA as he and his classmates navigate the institution’s many rules and customs under the watchful and critical eyes of their instructors. Each part of the curriculum is covered, from knife skills and stock making to the high-pressure cooking tests and the daunting wine course (the undoing of many a student). Dixon also details his externship in the kitchen of Danny Meyer’s Tabla, giving readers a look into the inner workings of a celebrated New York City restaurant. With the benefit of his age to give perspective to his experience, Dixon delivers a gripping day-to-day chronicle of his transformation from amateur to professional. From the daily tongue-lashings in class to learning the ropes—fast—at a top NYC kitchen, Beaten, Seared, and Sauced is a fascinating and intimate first-person view of one of America’s most famous culinary institutions and one of the world’s most coveted jobs. To read more about Jonathan Dixon or Beaten, Seared, and Sauced please visit Crown Publishing Group at www.crownpublishing.com.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 7

    For Jane and Peter Dixon

    And for Nelly Reifler

    The people and stories portrayed in this book are all true; however,
    the author has changed the names of a few of those people in an effort
    to minimize intrusions on their privacy.

    Copyright © 2011 by Jonathan Dixon

    All rights reserved.


    Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the
    Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
    www.crownpublishing.com
    www.clarksonpotter.com

    CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon


    is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data


    Dixon, Jonathan.
    Beaten, seared, and sauced / Jonathan Dixon. — 1st ed.
    p.  cm.
    1. Dixon, Jonathan.  2. Cooks—United States—Biography.
    3. Culinary Institute of America.  I. Title.
    TX649.D59 A3  2011
    641.5092—dc22     2010040145
    [B]

    ISBN 978-0-307-58903-3

    Printed in the United States of America

    Design by Stephanie Huntwork


    Jacket photographs © Jetta Productions; David Atkinson (chef);
    Rubberball/Mike Kemp (egg)

    1  3  5  7  9  10  8  6  4  2

    First Edition

    Dixo_9780307589033_3p_all_r3.indd 4 3/4/11 9:06 AM


    118 j o n at h a n d i x o n

    sauce going—vinegar, shallots, and wine reduced and then added to a


    measure of sauce espagnoles, seasoned, and finished with a good
    chunk of butter. Sean gathered up what we’d need for the spaetzle and
    when he’d gotten everything, I joined him.
    Coyac was at our side before we even started mixing. “You guys
    work like pigs,” he said. “Look at this,” he said as he gestured at our
    table. There was flour all over the place, green bean tips scattered
    across the table surface, piles of crumpled plastic that Joe had used for
    the pork, rogue pieces of shallot, and an empty container of wine vin-
    egar on my cutting board. “I don’t care if it’s all your mess”—he
    pointed to Sean—“or none of your mess, but you do not let your sta-
    tion get like this.” He looked at me. “What’s the matter with you? How
    can you work like this? Do you live like this at home?”
    He moved to Joe. “Why is this pork still out? Put it away. Put it
    away. Now! Come on, let’s go. Where’s the spaetzle batter? You haven’t
    done it yet? Oh, for God’s sake. For God’s sake. Come on! Why is that
    sauce at a boil? You know what ‘simmer’ means? What does it mean?
    Tell me.” I opened my mouth and then closed it. “Okay, we can look it
    up after you turn the heat down. What? Do you need an invitation?
    Turn it down! It’s probably burned already.” He walked away, then
    turned back. “Before you do one more thing, clean that table. Wash
    your cutting boards, wipe that table down. Change your bains-
    marie. There’s no way you’re going to be ready for service. I can’t
    believe this.”
    I felt a flush of heat in my face. All of us kept our heads down and
    did what we were told. Later, Sean and I stood over the spatezle
    batter.
    “It’s too thin,” I said. “I think we need to thicken it up.”
    “No, it’s too thick. I was about to thin it out.”
    Coyac yelled from behind us, “The spaetzle is fine!” Then he
    screamed. “Cook! Cook! Cook!” We did.
    Two tables over from us, Ox and a guy mysteriously named Twitch
    were teamed with Lombardi. Ox and Twitch were both nice guys but
    prone to making a lot of mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Since the first

    Dixo_9780307589033_3p_all_r3.indd 118 3/4/11 9:06 AM

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