Food Lit Pick: "Knives at Dawn" by Andrew Friedman

Best Books of the Month: December: Just when you thought you've read enough culinary memoirs and single-subject studies on every esoteric food topic imaginable comes Knives at Dawn, Andrew Friedman's sharp, insider account of America's quest to win the Bocuse d'Or--the epicurean equivalent of the World Cup, held biannually in Lyon, France. For over two decades, international teams have entered the arena, cooking for five-and-a-half hours from a glass-walled pod in full view of the intimidating judges and howling spectators (who add to the frenzy with chants and clanging cowbells). In 2009, Paul Bocuse himself enlisted legendary chefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller (well-known for his obsession with perfection) to field the U.S. team. French Laundry chef Timothy Hollingsworth and his commis, Adina Guest, continued to work their grueling day jobs over three-and-a-half months of intense training, and set the bar for future U.S. brigades. Hollingsworth loves cookbooks and it was fun to see my favorite husband-and-wife food writing team, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, name-checked as Hollingsworth first immersed himself in their kitchen classic, Culinary Artistry, when he first started at TFL, and later turned to The Flavor Bible for inspiration during training. As a prolific cookbook co-author (The Red Cat Cookbook, Welcome to My Kitchen, and Alfred Portale's 12 Seasons Cookbook, to name a few) and contributing editor at Tennis magazine, Friedman is the perfect writer to deliver the behind-the-line coverage of this intense culinary competition. If you don't already know the outcome, restrain yourself from Googling the results, and let Friedman sweep you up with his culinary page-turner.

Recommended for fans of The Fourth Star and The Soul of a Chef.

--BTP