High Bonnet A Novel of Epicurean Adventures [Paperback]

The chef's towering white toque, the high bonnet, is the mark of achievement to which every young sauce-stirrer aspires. Idwal Jones's urbane novel follows the young provincial Jean as he attempts to master culinary art at the hands of Paris's most distinguished chefs. Jean will win his high bonnet and the royal bearing that accompanies it - but not until he's had many outrageous adventures, in the kitchen and out.

High Bonnetis a sly send-up of the seething politics, subtle artistry, and enslavement to the palate that constitute life behind the kitchen's swinging doors. First published in 1945 and out of print for more than four decades,High Bonnetwill delight readers of Anthony Bourdain's bestsellingKitchen Confidentialor of Ludwig Bemelmans'sHotel Splendide."Exciting and entertaining.... It titillates most if not all of our overworked senses."
-- M.F.K. FisherIdwal Joneswas named Cordon Bleu Chef of the Wine and Food Society of Los Angeles. He was the author of the novelsThe Vineyard, Whistler's Van, andChina Boy and Other Tales. He died in 1964.

Ruth Reichl, editor of the Modern Library Food series, is the author of the bestsellingTender at the Boneand the forthcomingComfort Me with Apples. Formerly the food critic ofThe New York Times, she is now editor-in-chief ofGourmetmagazine.I

It Was the Medlars

The vender was again passing Xavier's café on the Toulon wharf with a basket of medlars on his head, a tuneful cry in his throat. The season being advanced, the fruit was dark-gold, pulpy, deliciously overripe.

"On this voyage to Genoa, Jean-Marie," the master of the Piccolo was saying, as he filled my glass, "you will be first officer. Bene?"

It was high rank for a youth just turned eighteen. The master was a Sicilian, gravely kind, with the petrel's luck in a hurricane, and he had taught me to navigatlC.