New York Times bestselling author Michael Ruhlman deconstructs the "essential knowledge all cooks and food people need" ( The New York Times Book Review ) to reveal what professional chefs know only after years of training and experience. With alphabetically ordered entries and eight beautifully written essays, Ruhlman outlines what it takes to cook well: understanding heat, using the right tools, cooking with eggs, making stock, making sauce, salting food, what a cook should read, and exploring the most important skill to have in the kitchen, finesse. The Elements of Cooking gives everyone the tools they need to go from being a good cook to a great one. "A useful, well-thought-out, clear, and precise collection of cooking terms, "The Elements of Cooking" is essential for cook apprentices and necessary and enjoyable for seasoned chefs." -- Jacques Pepin, author of "Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook" The combination of content and size makes "The Elements of Cooking" simply the best reference book and educational tool available for anyone interested in the basics of the culinary arts." -- Eric Ripert, chef, Le Bernardin, and coauthor of "A Return to Cooking" Michael Ruhlman is the author of award-winning cookbooks and nonfiction narratives. He is the author of chef Thomas Keller’s seminal The French Laundry Cookbook as well as the highly successful series about the training of chefs: The Making of a Chef , The Soul of a Chef , and The Reach of a Chef . He is also the author of The Elements of Cooking and Ratio . Ruhlman has worked at The New York Times and as a food columnist for the Los Angeles Times . He has attended the Culinary Institute of America and is the author of eighteen books—about food and cooking, and also such wide ranging subjects as a pediatric heart surgeon and building wooden boats. Michael lives with his wife in New York City and Providence, Rhode Island.