Cooking as Fast as I Can

April 20, 2015
In this witty and fast-paced memoir, Cora (Cat Cora’s Classics with a Twist), the first female Iron Chef, recounts a lifetime’s worth of difficulties and triumphs—an abusive Mississippi childhood, first loves, coming out, and attending the Culinary Institute of America. Cora has led an exceptional life, but it is her absorbing voice and eye for sensory detail and description that make this memoir succeed. On getting a second-degree burn: “I had a bucket of ice water on the floor beside me, and every five minutes or so I would unwrap my arm and plunge it into the bucket to draw the heat off the burn... Only after service was over and the kitchen was spotless did I take myself to the emergency room.” Thus she learns the extent of her dedication—enough to carry her all the way to becoming a celebrity chef; while on a book tour for her first cookbook, she is approached by a Food Network producer and asked if she’d like to be an Iron Chef. After she agrees, he tells , “Great. Your first battle is in two weeks.” Cora goes on to an astounding number of victories while outside of the kitchen, she juggles marriage with her wife, Jennifer, and their journey as the mothers of four boys. Whether cooking at the White House or getting a DUI, Cora spares no detail, no matter how unflattering, and she reveals herself as endearingly fallible and human.

May 15, 2015

Chef Cora, best known for her role on the Food Network's Iron Chef America, here recounts her childhood in Jackson, MS, her family's love of food, and its influence on her. But her youth was not without its difficulties. Sexual abuse by a family friend as well as struggles with her own sexuality left scars. After graduating from college, Cora was adrift, uncertain of what she wanted to do. When she decided she could parlay her love of food into a career, she enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America. Cora worked in a number of distinguished restaurants until she was asked to appear on a local television cooking show, which led to her discovery by the Food Network. But the long working hours and constant travel took a toll on her marriage, and Cora candidly describes her struggles, achieving a balance between descriptions of life in the kitchen and the difficulties of a female chef attempting to sustain a hectic career and family. VERDICT This is sure to please fans of chef memoirs such as Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood, Bones, and Butter. [See Prepub Alert, 3/30/15.]--Melissa Stoeger, Deerfield P.L., IL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2015
The first female Iron Chef, Cat Cora bears scars from more than knife mishaps and spattered hot fat. Adopted into a caring Mississippi family shortly after her birth, she endured repeated abuse from a male relative. Her parents, despite frequent financial straits, deeply believed in education and, with some encouragement from none other than Julia Child, supported her goal of enrolling at the Culinary Institute of America. Transcending some early frustrations, she graduated at the head of her class and went on to apprentice in two of France's most respected restaurants. Returning to America, Cora attracted the attention of other chefs and eventually became executive chef at a Bay Area venue. She had the good fortune to be telegenic just as the Food Network was getting started. Along the way, Cora had to come to terms with her sexuality, and she had several female partners before finding the love of her life, with whom she now raises children.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)