32 Yolks: From My Mother's Table to Working the Line

This food memoir stands on its own apart from the crowd. The level of personal depth and emotional revelation is just on its own sphere. From the opening chapter we learn of 11-year-old Eric's devastation at his father's death, and how food became a comfort and a substitute for love, both from his mother and from other sources.

This memoir is in turns inspiring, heartwarming, and heartbreaking. A lot of Eric's history as a young boy is painful to read, and there are raw moments of real pain, suffering, lashing out at his relatives, and a troubled childhood. Through it all, food and the preparation of it became his salvation. As he grew older, it became a haven and refuge, so it was no big surprise that he entered what we call high show more school wanting to become a chef.

He takes us through these formative years and later his training in culinary school, to finally his tough first jobs in fast-paced and high-pressured positions in famous 3-star restaurant kitchens, where young apprentices continue to be physically and emotionally bullied as a rite of passage through their on-the-job training to work as a chef. In memoir after memoir, chefs recount the description of working in these kitchens, with their 12-hour shifts, backbreaking monotonous jobs, oven-hot settings, and pure abuse by their higher-ups, and here, Ripert, like other chefs, seems to love the job, though it seems to nearly break the spirit and will of everyone who tries it. It's torturous, hot, and sends blood pressure through the roof, but there appears to be no job quite like it if you love food and cooking, and no other place a chef would ever want to be. It's the crucible that creates the chef.

Thank you to the authors and publisher for a review copy.

This is a fascinating coming-of-age story told by someone who loves to cook show less

I love that the first chapter of this memoir is titled, in part, “First, Dessert,” and it’s apt -- a sweet chapter where 11-year-old Ripert is befriended by a professional chef who welcomes him into the restaurant kitchen. The chef is reputed to be a lunatic, which he is not; but other people important to Ripert are (including an abusive stepfather and a later chef-mentor). So after having enjoyed the chapter of literary dessert, Ripert circles back to recount the less-enjoyable vegetable (so to speak) phases he endured on his way toward dessert.

The writing is incredibly visual, always looking through Ripert’s perspective, which is pleasant though with hints of anger. It reminded me a bit of Gabrielle Hamilton’s Blood Bones show more and Butter (which I loved) in terms of a utopic family falling apart and a lost child persevering toward creativity and a home in the kitchen.

I have three quibbles. First is that Ripert devotes so many words (in a short book) to complaining (which is what it felt like, vs. something more powerful and effective) about the abuses by renown chef Joel Robuchon. Second, he shows us the operations of restaurant kitchens but doesn’t show much about cooking -- for example, he repeats and repeats that it takes years (not weeks, which I might understand) to master making a sauce but never explores why. And third, he seems to cut the memoir short and set up a part two by ending this book just as he departs his native France to work in New York City, where he’ll open the fabulous Le Bernardin and become a media personality.

I enjoyed reading 32 Yolks but think Ripert wrote it too early -- his life needed more composting and his career more substance.

(Review based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.) show less

this was named one of the best books of the year by NPR and i understand why!! i enjoyed this book so much!! i knew nothing about Eric Ripert before reading this and i really liked getting to know him throughout the book. his early childhood was very sad, divorced parents, family, boarding school horrors, abuse, loss - i wanted to punch his stepdad in the face so hard. this book was wonderful and listening to the audiobook was the best especially hearing all the french words pronounced correctly and with an accent. his whole life was just fascinating to learn about, from early childhood watching his mother and grandmother cook, to his time in the military, and then culinary school. i feel like i learned a lot about what it's like in show more kitchens of restaurants. what a journey!!! this memoir was captivating, heartfelt and even majestic. you can tell Eric Ripert is a humble, kind and sweet man from reading this book show less

This is another non-fiction book. The author tells the story of him growing up in France and eventually Andorra. Early in life, Eric developed a passion for good food and fine restaurants. An only child of wealthy parents, he was often treated to fine dining either at home or in public. His parents would often seek out Michelin star restaurants to try, and Eric knew that one day, he wanted to be a chef.



Eric's parents divorced when he was 6, and his mother married an often cruel man who had little patience for him. At 11, Eric's biological father died of a heart attack. At 16, Eric enrolled in culinary school to further his passion for cooking and also to escape his step-father. From then on, his life seemed to move at a fast pace toward show more an inevitable end. He worked hard, and soon found a job at a Michelin star restaurant in Paris. The head chefs were cruel and unforgiving, but Eric states that this made him nothing but better. He put up with the abuse knowing that what he was learning was bigger than the cruelty he endured.



When Eric was in his 20's he was given an opportunity to move to America. Today, he owns his own 3 star Michelin restaurant in New York City. ( Le Bernardin) He never returned to Androrra or to France to work, making America his home.



This was a pretty good book. It was an easy read, and I found it well written. (The author does admit to having quite a bit of help with the writing - his co-writer mostly listened to him tell stories while he worked at the Le Bernardin). It covers his childhood and mostly his time as an apprentice chef in Paris. I was disappointed that it didn't cover him getting where he is today in his restaurant. The book drops off after he goes to America, and says nothing more about his rise to his own personal fame. I found this a pity.



The other thing I am struggling with is that this book takes place than half the time in Andorra. Granted - Andorra is a very small country of less than 50,000 people, so not a lot is being written about the area. But I was hoping for more since Good Reads listed this as a book from there. I am going to keep in on my list for now as the Andorra choice, BUT I may continue my search to see if I can find one that takes place more in the country itself.



As for the book - I say take a look. It will make you hungry and want to seek out top notch restaurants to taste what he describes. show less

I am fascinated with the current obsession with celebrity chefs that has become so commonplace in American cultural life. For that reason, from-time-to-time I read the memoirs and biographies of celebrity chefs, in hope that I can find out if they really are different from the normal everyday cook. Eric Ripert uses a ghostwriter to help him tell his story and I like it that he is honest enough to do this. This memoir, is clearly meant to be the first installment about Ripert's life as it ends in 1989 when Ripert has decided to take a job working at a restaurant in New York City. This book is the story of his early life and his years of training under exacting Michelin Star chefs. People who like to read about the food service industry show more or celebrity memoirs and biographies will find this book of interest. Those who are seeking gossip and insider knowledge about the current world of haute cuisine will not find it here.

I listened to the recorded version of this book while driving in my car, and the narrator, not Ripert, did a fine job. If you like listening to biographies and memoirs I would recommend this recorded version. show less

This book by Eric Ripert is about a journey through food, specifically in France and Andorra, and growing up to develop your own style in your chosen domain.

Eric’s heart and fiery spirit come through the pages as you get to know his story personally, from 32 yolks to make a hollandaise to leaving for America. A joy to read and a lot to learn for anyone even a little bit interested in food and the inner workings of top-tier Parisian restaurants. Each ingredient is sacred and should be treated as such.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been to Le Bernardin and tasted the jewels from Eric Ripert’s kitchen. Worth a visit if you haven’t been to celebrate you finishing this book. (He has cookbooks out if going to that restaurant seems show more out of the question.) show less

I enjoyed this memoir from Eric Ripert, which covers his boyhood in southern France and Andorra, his culinary education, and his early years as a professional chef in Paris.

Much of the first half of the book details an unhappy childhood, due in large part to his parents' divorce and his abusive stepfather Hugo. That story is sad and troubling, and I applaud Ripert's honesty in telling it.

But perhaps it's no surprise that it's when he writes about food that his book comes alive for me. And I don't mean his professional training and early career, which he details at some length. I mean food itself -- his obvious love affair with it and the way it surrounded him at every turn growing up. Food was celebrated in his family and was part of show more his culture as a boy. He writes with obvious pleasure and emotion about his grandmothers' kitchens and his father's garden, family meals and picnics, dining in fine restaurants, eating chocolate mousse while watching his childhood mentor Chef Jacques cook, his first bites of caviar (with a soup spoon!), shopping in local produce markets and learning how to pick the freshest ingredients, and so on. I can almost feel him smiling as he writes these passages. There are lots of wonderful and funny anecdotes, including some embarrassing ones. To his credit, Ripert clearly doesn't mind us laughing both with him and at him.

The prose doesn't always flow smoothly and there is some repetition in the stories about Hugo and of Ripert's professional misadventures in the kitchen (some of those passages can feel a bit tedious). And there are some curious omissions (he barely mentions the half-sister he grew up with) and teases that are never followed up on.

The book ends abruptly with Ripert leaving for Washington, D.C., at age 24. Is a sequel in the works? It's an odd and jarring end to an otherwise warm and engaging book.

(Thanks to Random House for an advance copy via a giveaway. Receiving a free copy did not affect the content of my review.) show less