The Chefs' Knowledge

The Modern Culinary Repertoire

By: Chandos Elletson

Narrated by: Arden School of Theatre, Rachel Austin

In a first for the chefs' profession The Chefs’ Knowledge has gone audio. We broke new ground with our first-ever book for junior chefs, and now we’ve gone one step further by releasing a new audio version that takes the project in a completely new direction.

The Chefs’ Knowledge contains interviews, advice, and expert knowledge, as well as working professional recipes for the 100 dishes every chef should know. The new audio version is a collection of 100 scenes that brings the book to life, all acted out by third-year students from the Arden School of Theatre at UCEN Manchester.

Catherine Farinha, publisher of The Chefs’ Knowledge explained: “We wanted to do an audio version of The Chefs’ Knowledge for a number of reasons. Chiefly because dyslexia is widespread in kitchens and a lot of chefs, especially juniors, can be at a real disadvantage because of it. However, we didn’t want to just record recipes being read out. So, we came up with something new. Our editor, Chandos Elletson, used to work in Film and Television and he wrote a few test scenes that made the recipes into little dramas. We got these acted out by real actors and they came alive. And that became the format for the new audio version.”

Elletson told The Chefs’ Forum: “What we’ve done is very unusual. We took the 100 Dishes that Every Chef Should Know idea and turned it on its head. What you have in the audio version are 100 imaginary scenes where junior chefs learn about dishes on the menu of a fictitious hotel. One of the examples I wrote was a scene where two honeymooners wanted to know the recipe for the granola they enjoyed at breakfast. So the head chef goes to their table and explains it. It brings the recipe alive in a way that is relatable and that’s the secret of what we’ve done. We’re hoping this really resonates with listeners who can learn by enjoying some dramatic scenes rather than listening to dry recipes.”

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