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32 YOLKS

Eric Ripert

From My Mother's Table to Working the Line

Hailed by Anthony Bourdain as “heartbreaking, horrifying, poignant, and inspiring,” 32 Yolks is the brave and affecting coming-of-age story about the making of a French chef, from the culinary icon behind the renowned New York City restaurant Le Bernardin.
In an industry where celebrity chefs are known as much for their salty talk and quick tempers as their food, Eric Ripert stands out. The winner of four James Beard Awards, co-owner and chef of a world-renowned restaurant, and recipient of countless Michelin stars, Ripert embodies elegance and culinary perfection. But before the accolades, before he even knew how to make a proper hollandaise sauce, Eric Ripert was a lonely young boy in the south of France whose life was falling apart. Ripert’s parents divorced when he was six, separating him from the father he idolized and replacing him with a cold, bullying stepfather who insisted that Ripert be sent away to boarding school. A few years later, Ripert’s father died on a hiking trip. Through these tough times, the one thing that gave Ripert comfort was food. Told that boys had no place in the kitchen, Ripert would instead watch from the doorway as his mother rolled couscous by hand or his grandmother pressed out the buttery dough for the treat he loved above all others, tarte aux pommes. When an eccentric local chef took him under his wing, an eleven-year-old Ripert realized that food was more than just an escape: It was his calling. That passion would carry him through the drudgery of culinary school and into the high-pressure world of Paris’s most elite restaurants, where Ripert discovered that learning to cook was the easy part—surviving the line was the battle. Taking us from Eric Ripert’s childhood in the south of France and the mountains of Andorra into the demanding kitchens of such legendary Parisian chefs as Joël Robuchon and Dominique Bouchet, until, at the age of twenty-four, Ripert made his way to the United States, 32 Yolks is the tender and richly told story of how one of our greatest living chefs found himself—and his home—in the kitchen. Eric Ripert is the chef and co-owner of the New York restaurant Le Bernardin, which holds three stars from the Michelin Guide and has maintained a four-star rating from The New York Times for more than two decades. He is vice chairman of the board of City Harvest, a New York-based food rescue organization, as well as a recipient of the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest honor. He serves as a regular guest judge on Bravo’s Top Chef and is the host of his own TV series, Avec Eric, which has won Emmy and James Beard awards. Ripert is the author of five cookbooks: Avec Eric, On the Line, A Return to Cooking, Le Bernardin: Four Star Simplicity, and My Best: Eric Ripert.
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Published 2016-05-17 by Random House

Comments

Food enthusiasts who have seen the finesse of Ripert’s delicate plates on television shows and have attempted recipes from Le Bernardin Cookbook will be delighted to meet the man behind the recipes... With his exacting prose and eye for detail, Ripert has created a wonderful memoir about his early days as a chef.

Passionate, poetical… [W]hat makes "32 Yolks" compelling is the honesty and laudable humility Ripert brings to the telling… "I had spent the better part of three years challenged by Robuchon's requests," Ripert writes. "But because of him, I was headed to America, a place I had dreamed of living since I was a boy. I knew then that he had seen something in me — not just a lack of skill, because the skills would could come — but in all of my blankness, an endless span of possibility." Let's hope Ripert sees the possibilities of a sequel to this fine memoir and produces a second volume. I'd enjoy learning of the lessons learned from the people and the kitchens he encountered in the United States. Read more...

“I’ve known Eric for years, and I had no idea that this was how it all started. If you want to get a clear picture of where one gets the drive and dedication to be a truly great chef, there is no better or more harrowing an account.

This book demonstrates just how amazing Eric’s life has been both inside and outside of the kitchen. It makes total sense now to see him become one of the greatest chefs in the world today. This is a portrait of a chef as a young man. It’s endlessly entertaining and teaches young cooks how it used to be.

The acclaimed French chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin delivers a breezy account of his life in France and Andorra before he moved to the United States in his early 20s. Ripert... makes it clear that food was always the warm center of his life, and his descriptions of the meals he prepared or devoured will make even the most ascetic reader hungry.

Eric Ripert’s 32 Yolks is as almost as irresistible as his cooking—a suspenseful, scary, and deeply moving memoir. Even with the knowledge of his eventual triumph as one of the world’s greatest chefs, you can’t help wondering as you turn the pages whether he will manage to survive his childhood or his grueling apprenticeship in two of France’s top kitchens. But ultimately his deep, visceral appreciation of food and the joy of cooking make this a lyrical and inspiring story.

Eric Ripert makes magic with 32 Yolks!

Eric Ripert Looks Back on a Youth Both Tender and Tough. Read more...

Eric Ripert is known around the world for his talent and passion for food. I have been friends with him for half his life, but his memoir let me discover more about his past. His journey from Andorra to Manhattan is full of adventure, hard work, and ambition, and it is an inspiration to us all.