In this in-depth, behind-the-scenes tell-all about the lives of women chefs, journalist Charlotte Druckman walks the reader into the world behind the hot line.
By Marissa Sertich
Thank you Charlotte Druckman – As a chef, I’ve been waiting for this story. With its powerfully pink cover and interview-driven narrative, Skirt Steak: Women Chefs On Standing the Heat and Staying in the Kitchen, is full of voices I’ve been longing to hear. It is an in-depth, behind-the-scenes tell-all about women chefs’ lives behind the line. 
Frequently a male-driven brigade system, the interviews with over 70 women chefs highlight stories of women beating the odds, working hard, and standing out. The stories are familiar to any female who has worked in a professional kitchen – the rough and gruff banter that makes a kitchen feel like home, the asshole line-cook who takes the sex jokes too far, and working so hard to stand out – not as woman chef – but as a chef. With no qualifier.
When I first ordered the book I was skeptical of this Druckman character– I am generally suspicious of people who make their careers talking about food, but who have never worked in the industry. Being in a kitchen is like being a member to a very exclusive club – not a particularly refined one, but it is selective nonetheless. No matter how witty Jeffrey Steingarten’s food banter may be, he will always be an “other,” a secondary source, and good for a laugh – but despite his knowledge of food, he will never understand the soul of a restaurant. Charlotte Druckman is different.
She allows the professionals speak and uses her eloquent, spunky voice to guide their stories and give the reader a beautiful depictive of how it feels, smells and tastes to be woman in the kitchen. She journeys from opinion to opinion, experience to experience, from savory to pastry and back again. I recommend Skirt Steak to both men and women – it is a story for anyone in love with the food industry – grease stains, burns and all.
Buy the book HERE.
