Four Kitchens: My Life Behind the Burner in New York, Hanoi, Tel Aviv and Paris

Food writer and French Culinary Institute graduate travels the globe as an unpaid kitchen apprentice, demystifying everything from haute cuisine at Senderens in Paris to molecular gastronomy at Manhattan's wd-50. In this entertainingly snarky memoir, Shockey chronicles the diffident curiosity of a female chef determined to learn, laugh, and cook in a professional kitchen. "Cooking in restaurants," she writes, "will teach you speed, precision, discipline and hard work. It's like the army: It can be tough, but you come out stronger." Along the way, she eats dog meat in Vietnam, fixes gnocchi in Israel, and cleans crab under a black light in France. Her bosses include such celebrated chefs as Wylie Dufresne and Didier Corlou. But amid the cooking tips, gourmet foods, and exotic techniques, she is driven by a simple question: do diners prefer meals that soothe with flavor or those that surprise with technique? With an insider's perspective shaped by the differing levels of trust and responsibility she earns, Shockey makes a reliable guide, as she illuminates the human elements of friendship and fatigue within the underpaid, unglamorous, and repetitive reality that is restaurant kitchen work. (July)