Book: The Absolute Temperature of a Genius Chef, Michelin Chef, Novice to Master Advanced Strategies

Hello, the book that I read for you today is a biography of a three-star Michelin chef called "The Absolute Temperature of a Genius Chef". The book is mainly about a mathematical genius named Yoneda Who opened a French restaurant and won a three-star Michelin in just over a year.

Michelin-starred restaurants are the glory that almost all restaurants want. A Michelin star means that it is particularly excellent in the same genre of cuisine, a two star means that even if there is some trouble, it is worth finding a special trip to eat, while a Michelin three star means that for this meal, it is worth crossing the ocean and visiting the country and the city. All the Three Michelin stars in the world add up to only about 100, which shows that Michelin has a mysterious and strict set of criteria.

The protagonist of this book, Yoneda Zhao, is not like many legendary French food masters, from one star, to two stars, to three stars a little progress, but in the opening of a year and five months, directly picked three stars. You should know that in the beginning, Yoneda was not from a family of chefs, did not cook on weekdays, and did not go to France. By the time he decided to study French food, the 25-year-old had already missed the best age to enter the industry. As a result, no one was optimistic about his decision to turn to chef.

Picking a star Michelin is such a difficult thing, how did Yoneda Zhao do it? The answer is, think mathematically.

Many people have mathematical thinking, but few are like the protagonist of this book, Yoneda Zhao, who uses mathematical analysis to the extreme, which opens up the gap, making him a master of French cuisine and winning three Michelin stars. To what extent is he extreme? When Yoneda cooks, it will be accurate to the cooking time of that second, the temperature of 00:1 degree, which is the "absolute temperature" mentioned in the title.

Yoneda demonstrated a set of action strategies that are very instructive for us. With this action strategy, you can also become a well-known master in the industry and succeed in your field. However, after Yoneda received three stars, he found that his previous action strategy had failed. Mathematical talent sends him to the position of master, but can mathematical thinking become a master? No. Therefore, this book not only gives the action strategy from novice to master, but also gives the breakthrough method from master to master. The two phases face very different problems and completely different strategies for action.

This is the second valuable point of this book: how to become a master in a field?

In this issue of audio, we mainly focus on the three major problems encountered by Yoneda:

The first problem appeared in the initial stage of Yoneda. How does Yoneda's mathematical thinking help him think and learn?

The second problem occurs when Yoneda grows into a master. How did Yoneda use mathematical thinking to dissect Michelin's mysterious standards, make the ultimate French meal, and finally get a three-star Michelin?

The third question came after Yoneda received three Michelin stars. Mathematical thinking helps Yoneda become a master and get three Michelin stars, but it can't help him become a master. Masters are reformers and innovators who need to ask entirely new questions and even redefine the industry. By examining his dreams, how did Yoneda accomplish his breakthrough and grow into a true master?

Next, I will interpret the book for you from these key questions. To ensure that my interpretation was accurate, I interviewed two chefs who were working at Michelin-starred restaurants in France: Deng Jia and Yan Taiyu. Celebrity chefs give you directions to help you better understand French cuisine and Michelin secrets.

Part I

Let's first talk about it, Yoneda Zhao, a Japanese, why did he aspire to cook a meal?

Born in 1972, in the 1980s, Japan transformed from an agrarian country to an industrial country, Japan's agricultural imports increased sixfold, agricultural productivity declined, and Japanese people's concern about eating rose sharply, at the peak of eagerness to learn and imitate European and American lifestyles. Most of the cooking programs broadcast on television are unfamiliar Western food documentaries, and as a child, Yoneda lamented the capable posture of the white-clad French chef and the beauty of the finished French food in the documentary. For Yoneda, the foreign moon seems to be a little rounder. In this way, elementary school student Yoneda wrote in his essay: My dream is to become a first-class French chef in the future. Although the dream was established, it was only a dream that existed in the childhood composition, and Yoneda Did not work hard for it as a teenager, but went around in a big circle and was immersed in things that had nothing to do with cooking. But even if he took a long detour and came to see it later, it became the only way for him to become a chef.

Yoneda loved mathematics and once wanted to become a mathematician. It sounds like the difference between mathematics and cooking is 108,000 miles, but it is not. The genius of Yoneda lies in the fact that he applies mathematical thinking and mathematician qualities to the field of cooking, which is also the meaning of "genius" in the title of the book, "The Absolute Temperature of a Genius Chef". In other words, Yoneda considers himself not a culinary genius, but a mathematical genius. He considers his culinary talent to be his ability to use mathematical thinking to think across borders.

In addition to his excellent mathematical achievements, the beauty of his mathematical thinking across borders is also reflected in the fact that he is a karate master.

How does mathematics help karate? Yoneda believes that karate is all about using the body to quickly solve mathematical problems: from the way to use muscles to the way to maintain balance, everything is strictly calculated, and he will put the two human bodies in the XYZ axis to think. For example, because the human knee joint can only bend to this angle, then when the opponent kicks and attacks, I can only dodge like this, at this time do a fake action, pull the opponent's attention down, and then immediately come back to kick back, is the victory. While the other students were reciting the memory routine together, Yoneda was pondering these things alone. He believes that all problems are mathematical problems and can be solved with summative formulas.

So, is Yoneda's idea correct? What is his karate level? Put it this way, Yoneda has a disciple named Nakazo Takashi, who says that he often practices with Yoneda, but he has never won against Yoneda. It is not so much that Yoneda is his predecessor as it is a master. Who is Takashi Nakazo? He is the World Fighting Champion in Japan.

It can be seen that Yoneda's method was appropriate, but he later gave up karate. Why? Because Yoneda was dissatisfied with the rules of the game, could not poke eyes and bite with teeth, and could not attack important parts of men, he believed that there could be no such rules in real combat, which was unnecessary restraint. So he refused to take the exam and ended up being just a blue ribbon.

Yoneda's karate learning and research methods have given him a taste of sweetness in the process of learning to cook.

By the time Yoneda had finally saved enough money and resigned to study French food, he was 25 years old. Unlike most apprentices who started as teenagers, there was not much time left for Yoneda. Fortunately, the school system of french meals is only one year. Every night, he would spend an hour or two on the computer rearranging what he had learned that day and drawing a schematic diagram, a precious note that was 15 centimeters thick and different from the textbook, all of which were Yoneda's own inductions and experiences.

This makes people wonder, what is a better way to learn?

From the unique theory of Yoneda's karate to making his own French food notes, we will find that for Yoneda, learning has a different definition. The learning mode we are familiar with is often busy memorizing and understanding information and knowledge, and Yoneda is hesitant to deduce itself, groping forward, rather than accepting it all, although this is very time-consuming, very clumsy, but more profoundly understood, in actual operation, it can be done quickly and well, but it has become the fastest path to growth. Compared with ordinary people, Yoneda has optimized the learning process: he spends more time in the early stages of learning, which is the so-called sharpening knife without cutting wood.

This reminds me of when I was in school, the best math students in the class, even if they learned a formula, would try to deduce it again, rather than rote memorization like me, so that when solving the problem, they were often able to see the most critical problems as quickly as possible, and flexibly use the formula to solve the answer.

Whether it is solving mathematical problems or karate, it is Yoneda who constantly puts his mathematical thinking into practice in different fields, which is the unity of the road. Later, it was not Yoneda's misfortune, but the experience and blessing that allowed him to grow.

Part II

This habitual summary of the mode of thinking, over time, the advantages become more and more obvious. Most importantly, Yoneda relied on this mode of thinking to accurately understand Michelin's mysterious standards.

After several internships in Japan, Yoneda decided to go to France for further study, he wanted to see what the real French food is all about, what is the Michelin restaurant, after many tastings of Michelin restaurants, he came to a conclusion: Michelin's star rating criteria are objective multi-dimensional, one-star, two-star, three-star restaurants, there is a clear boundary. In other words, the Michelin restaurant rating system, which confuses insiders and laymen, has been summed up by him. Knowing this law is the first step in picking up the stars.

So, what are the real standards of Michelin? Michelin chef Yan Taiyu told me that the most important thing in the Michelin star evaluation standard is to look at the quality of the dishes, which will inevitably bring about the exquisite raw materials, the exploration of new technologies, the proficiency in old technologies, the harshness of sanitary conditions and the emphasis on the service of fresh food.

Diners always take good or bad as a restaurant's evaluation index, but in fact, whether it is delicious or not, like it or not, this is a different thing from person to person, it is emotional, so it cannot and will not be used as a Michelin star rating standard. This is something that many diners cannot understand, and it is also a huge gap between Michelin star rating standards and popular preferences. Locals' favorite restaurants are often not on the Michelin list, and three Michelin stars are also disappointed by diners.

However, Yoneda, who has mathematical thinking, can understand Michelin's rules.

How did Yoneda discover this criterion? He adopted the mathematical way of thinking about sets. In fact, it is very simple, put aside personal preferences, visit the four three-star restaurants, find out all of their common characteristics, in the chart of the collection, is the overlapping part of each set, the overlapping part is the necessary condition of the three-star restaurant, and the non-overlapping part is the personality of each restaurant.

Mr. Yoneda visited a three-star restaurant in Paris called L'Astrance several times, and each time he could clearly feel the subtle difference between three and two stars. Isn't this restaurant delicious? The answer may be disappointing. Yoneda said that in fact, he did not like the restaurant's seasoning at all. To put it bluntly, Yoneda felt that it was not delicious, and so did many customers' evaluations of Las Towns. Since deliciousness cannot be judged, what can be judged?

He believes that the real secret of this three-star restaurant is that it is very refined.

What does it mean to be washed? It's clean, simple, and accurate to the extreme. In Las Towns, both the delicate granularity of the sauce and the sensation of melting in the mouth are just right, and the moment it is put in the mouth, it disappears. The heat of the meat and fish is also perfect. You can feel the chef's care and the precision of every aspect of cooking a dish. Insiders like Yoneda Zhao, when they look at it and taste it, they know that the chef has not made a single mistake or taken a superfluous action when cooking.

Therefore, Yoneda said confidently, "If you can make a dish like Las Towns, I believe you will definitely get three stars." ”

Later, Yoneda returned to Japan and took out a loan to open a French restaurant in Osaka. He wants to create the ultimate amazing dining experience for diners, taking the "entrance to the melt" item, in our view, the entrance is actually a metaphor, describing the softness of the taste. But Yoneda believes that this can be done, the so-called entrance is melting, which means that we think that something with hardness disappears in the mouth in an instant. How can this be done? First, Yoneda measured the temperature of his mouth at 36.4 degrees Celsius. Take the grilled mackerel, the skin of the fish is crispy, then the fish meat will inevitably have some firewood. If the fish is soft, the skin will lose its crispy texture. Subsequently, he constantly looked for the right heating method and heating temperature, so that the skin of the mackerel was crisp, the meat was fully cooked but still soft and juicy, and the fat between the skin and flesh melted and soaked the fish. How do you handle the fish, how do you heat the fish to this extent?

Michelin Chef Deng Jia told me that in terms of cooking techniques, the principles of French cuisine are simple and precise. If you want to pursue the entrance, there is a more popular and simpler practice called sous vide, which means vacuum in French. The fresh fish is vacuumed, heated at a constant low temperature, and there is no high temperature to destroy the internal fiber tissue, and the fish meat is brightly colored, tender and juicy, and the shape will not change. For example, if you want to make a piece of foie gras that "melts in the mouth", then the foie gras must be inserted into the thermometer to enter the oven, the temperature of the oven is set to 85 degrees, and the internal temperature of the foie gras reaches 58 degrees.

Yoneda's heart is not just about technical operations. There is also service, and he will also use his mathematical thinking to serve customers and build a precise empathy. He would even notice the gender of the customer in the back kitchen, as well as his dominant hand, to predict the posture and angle at which the customer would cut the fish and meat, and carefully lower a grain of salt with tweezers in his predicted position. However, even this grain of salt was a quarter the size of an ordinary grain of salt that he had carefully cut. Yoneda uses an astonishing sense of precision to simulate and predict the movements of customers when they eat, thus giving countless guests the feeling of "too delicious, but they have no idea how he does it". He still predicted the other party's next move like a karate, only this time not to bring down the other party, but to move the other party.

He will do his best for every sensible element of the customer's movements. In order to reduce the variables and keep reality as synchronized as possible with his predictions, Yoneda personally polishes each customer's dinner knife to the perfect sharpness every day. Because if the blade is blunt, then the fleshy structure will be crushed, and the delicious lamb that takes three hours of careful roasting is destroyed by sealing it in the cells.

All of the above requirements of Yoneda Zhao's persistence are actually the requirements of the Michelin three-star restaurant he summed up, and his requirements for himself are more stringent than those of three stars. So in Yoneda's restaurant, on the table, the sharpened kitchen knife is combined with a fork and a spoon, and placed on the table at perfect equal spacing. In order to make the distance between the tableware less than one millimeter, Yoneda zhao specially customized a measuring scale, and the wine glasses on the table are arranged towards the guests according to the side engraved with the logo at the bottom. Walking into his restaurant, he will feel a pleasant tension in the air, and unconsciously begin to look forward to the meal.

Sure enough, from the service, to the tableware and dishes are applied to the standards summarized by Yoneda, only one year and five months after opening the store, the restaurant has won three Michelin stars.

What Yoneda can do, can we do? What if we don't have his mathematical talent?

In fact, mathematical thinking is not only able to solve mathematical problems, but also a posture of doubting progress, in their own continuous progress and attempts, in the massive sample of failure, active thinking, reasoning, summary, to learn and master the rules of doing things. Of course, Yoneda was never a skeptic, but he believed that the best teacher would always be himself. Many times of practice and thinking, he also formed a microscopic touch, which formed a qualitative change in the level of operation. Moreover, in practice, Yoneda wants to give customers a perfect dining experience, which is the need of Yoneda's empathy, and mathematical thinking can perfectly solve this need, helping him to use the fastest time to win three Michelin stars.

Part III

After winning three Michelin stars, the editor-in-chief of the Michelin Guide had high hopes for Yoneda, believing that Yoneda, who had received a three-star at such a young age, would become the future Paul Bocus or Joel Lubson, that is, the gods of the French food world. It is not that the Michelin Samsung proves how outstanding Yoneda is, but that in the future, Yoneda will redefine the standard of the Michelin Samsung.

Yoneda, who got a three-star rating and got such a high evaluation, realized his dream, is he happy?

Not only was he unhappy, but he almost wanted to give up his French meal.

What's going on here? Before Yoneda opened the restaurant, he worked in the restaurant of French master Michel Blas. After winning three stars, his brother Alex looked at Yoneda's work and accused Yoneda to his face, "Your cuisine is a replica of Mitchell's teacher." The Japanese can't make real French food at all. ”

Even though Yoneda is already a three-star chef with Michelin, he is still touched by the pain point. Yoneda thought, yes, I really don't have a root. The core of the master Michel, which he inherited from his mother, is the customs and customs of France and the four times, which belong to him as a source of inspiration, not mine. No matter how good I am at summarizing, I can't create new dishes, I can't create them freely. In the past, the problem was just whether it was delicious or not, but now it is necessary to create new dishes, in case the guests don't like it, they don't like it, so how will Yoneda Zhao deal with his dreams?

Yoneda's career of exhausting everything he had and struggling with was questioned in this way. When he took a hard look at his achievements in getting Samsung, he felt like he just wanted to prove to others that he had succeeded. But I feel like I'm lying, and I always have the feeling of trying to do someone else's thing.

Years of study have made French food the identity of Yoneda Zhao, but no matter how hard he tries, Yoneda Zhao cannot turn his motherland into France. "Yes, as a Japanese, why should I cook a meal?" Yoneda began to pay tuition for the dreams of a young child who dreamed of looking like a handsome chef on TV.

The answer is simple, empty yourself and start over. Samsung turned out not to be the end, but the beginning. The point is not on what was done in the past, but on what to do now.

Yoneda deleted the name of his shop from the French food label, leaving only "HAJIME", which is his own name "Zhao". Yoneda said, "It turns out that sooner or later I have to say goodbye to the French meal." "Constantly pursuing, constantly abandoning, and now, to give up the dream of the most valued "French meal" itself.

The delicacy of the French cuisine also made Yoneda confused and guilty. When the earthquake in Japan struck in 2011, he saw the tragic situation in the disaster area and looked at the extremely delicate dishes on hand, and he became more suspicious of his work. He decided to volunteer and go to the disaster area to cook for the victims. Some of the victims ate the food he had cooked and said to him, "It's good to be alive to be able to eat such delicious food!" This sentence shook Yoneda greatly. If eating gives people so much energy, he decided to continue to eat, but something had to change. This change is the transformation of Yoneda from a master to a master.

True masters are people who can innovate and reform the industry. The mathematical thinking mentioned above made him grow into a master in the world, but he could not become a master. From master to master, the two stages face very different problems and completely different action strategies. To be a master, to innovate, to ask key questions, even a "soul torture," and answer them sincerely.

In the face of the people in the disaster area, Yoneda asked himself this question: "If I want to leave this world and choose the last meal of my life, what would I want to eat?" His answer was, "I still want to eat my own meal." I want to make a dish that I want to make as the Last Supper. This is also the new target of Yoneta. His goal is no longer a Three-Michelin-starred dish, nor is it the so-called top French meal, but the "Last Supper". Yoneda Is a goal-oriented person, and the goal is Yoneda's life-saving straw. Michelle once said to him, "There is no perfection in this world, only the gesture of always striving for perfection." Therefore, for Yoneda At this time, the best goal is this goal that can never be pursued.

He drastically revised the menu, the three stars were downgraded to two stars, the guests were lost, and the restaurant ran a deficit. But he was very calm, as if it were expected. He said, "When I was a child, I piled up small mountain bags, and when I piled them to a certain height, I piled them again, and the sand would only fall down, and the mountains would not get higher." Only by leveling the top of the mountain and making the foot of the mountain bigger can we pile up a higher mountain. "In order to grow more, you have to shovel the top of the mountain.

Sure enough, he did. A year later, Yoneda's shop returned to Samsung. This time, the Japanese media regarded him as The Greatest Chef in Japan after the "Sushi God". In 2018, Yoneda was ranked first in Asia by the "World's Best Chefs" award.

Yoneda's experience tells us that to become a master, we need to have excellent learning and induction skills. To become a master, you need to understand yourself, look back on your childhood, re-examine your relationship with the world, be able to ask important questions, and look directly at your fears. Just like Yoneda Zhao will be ashamed of making exquisite dishes for himself, and because he understands, food can make people feel the beauty of life. Finally, between the world and cuisine, he found his place and found a new goal. The difference between a master and a master is not that the master realizes himself, and the master pursues the ultimate in the industry. On the contrary, it is the master who pursues the ultimate, and the master realizes himself.

summary

Well, at this point, the book "The Absolute Temperature of a Genius Chef" is finished for you. Let's review.

In Yoneda's tortuous journey to the stars, we learned a set of advanced strategies from novice to master to master.

Just like mathematical thinking is to Yoneda, we can actively perceive our own behavioral habits and ways of thinking, consciously optimize them, and repeatedly experiment to form our own behavioral strategies. In this way, once you have the opportunity to engage in the career of your dreams, you can also get started quickly and become a master. This completed the first step in Yoneda's chef career, earning three Michelin stars. The second step is to go from a master to a master, and at this stage, the focus is on innovation and change. The ability to innovate comes from the proficiency of becoming a master before, and the energy of change comes from your personal pain points. I believe that this book will be enlightening for your career growth and planning.

Friends who like food can also read this book "The Absolute Temperature of the Genius Chef", the cooking process of Yoneda Zhao, which can be called a feast of words.