“I honestly didn’t know who all was going to be interviewed for the book – I feel even more humbled and touched to be amongst the restaurant giants,” local cooking instructor and cookbook author Naam Pruitt told us.

She was discussing Rick Smilow and Anne E. McBride’s Culinary Careers, which Clarkson Potter is releasing today. That 360-page trade paperback features 89 two- to four-page profiles of a vast array of food-industry pros, including Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Rick Bayless, David Chang – and Pruitt herself.

The book bears the subtitle How to Get Your Dream Job in Food With Advice From Top Culinary Professionals. Chapters in its main, career-path section focus on topics ranging from pastry and baking to wine and beverages to media, marketing and public relations.

The profile of Pruitt – who previously published Lemongrass & Limes, a lovely 126-page hardcover devoted to Thai cuisine – appears in a chapter covering education. In it, she details the typical day of a cooking instructor, her responsibilities in that position, her creative process, her vocational likes and dislikes, and other subjects.

“Naturally, I felt extremely honored to be asked for my opinion and outlook on what I do,” she said. “I always feel privileged to be able to share my love of food with the world. Whether we are chefs, restaurateurs, cookbook authors or cooking-class teachers, I believe we all want the same thing: to provide the highest quality and the best service and to cultivate inspiration while making a difference to our customers.”

Chef Chris Desens acknowledges that the celebrity chefs of the Food Network have brought a new generation of young, would-be food artistes to the restaurant industry. “But the caution I would say is, that’s the TV world,” he said. “The real world requires something different.”

That something is kitchen fundamentals, and that’s what will be taught at the brand-new Culinary Institute of St. Louis at Hickey College.

Desens, the program director for the cooking school, will supervise operations at the 28,000-square-foot academy currently being built on Lindbergh Boulevard just north of Dorsett Road. The first class is scheduled for July, and after 20 months, graduates will earn an associate’s degree in culinary arts.

“We’re really going to stress fundamentals,” said Desens, formerly the executive chef at Racquet Club Ladue and Cardwell’s in Clayton. “We’re not going to have a baking and pastry program or a restaurant on the premises, but the industry folks should be excited about bringing a higher quality of applicant their way.”

The industry folks should also know that Desens is actively looking for Culinary Institute instructors.

– Byron Kerman

We’ve seen a lot of interesting cooking techniques, but nothing quite like Rick Milton’s unconventional use of an espresso machine steamer to cook eggs. Crack a couple of eggs into a stainless-steel steam pitcher, blast ’em with steam, and about 25 seconds later you’ve got light, fluffy barista eggs. No oil, no butter, just the pure goodness of fresh free-range eggs from Dry Dock Farm.

Milton launched his barista eggs menu today at his Northwest Coffee Roasting Co. location in Clayton. The lineup ranges from basic eggs – served plain or topped with cheese – to dishes like the Northwestern, Southwestern and Mediterranean, all of which include steamed veggies. There are also breakfast burrito and sandwich options. We’re keen on the sandwich that features eggs and cheddar on a lightly salted Companion bakery pretzel bun.

Worried that the froth in your grande cappuccino has got scrambled egg bits in it? Don’t be. Milton added an espresso machine just for creating the steamy fare. And if all goes as planned, you’ll soon see barista eggs on the menu at the Central West End location.

– Ligaya Figueras

Photo courtesy of Rick Milton

What heartier and healthier way to give winter a hopeful heave-ho than by enjoying a vegan chili and dessert contest this Sunday, March 7?

The contest will start at 4:30 p.m. at the Seventh-day Adventist Church Fellowship Hall in Chesterfield. Admission will cost $6 at the door. Preregistered contestants with crock pots of vegan chili will vie for three prizes, as will contestants with vegan cakes.

Beforehand, Brett Luster, author of Drugs and Football, will give a talk on The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II, a widely praised 2004 book on nutrition and health. Luster’s talk and a Q&A will run from 3 p.m. to the start of the contest.

For details, call Joe Stephen at 314.616.7375.

Saucy congrats to Washington University student sous chefs Joanna Wang and Julia Wong, as well as chef Gary Suarez and manager Cathy Causey, who won last night’s first North vs. South Champion Chef Competition there. The hour-long event focused on preparing dishes using tempeh and occurred in Danforth University Center’s Tisch Commons. The competition honored a two-day visit to the campus by acclaimed vegan soul-food chef and writer Bryant Terry (whose latest book, Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy and Creative African-American Cuisine, just appeared). The winning team plated Roasted Onion-Glazed Tempeh and Braised Tempeh Ragout & Soy Roulade. Judges for the competition included Terry himself and Sauce publisher Allyson Mace.

Left to right: Cathy Causey, Julia Wong, Joanna Wang and Gary Suarez

Photo courtesy of Washington University

A Saucy shoutout to the St. Louis Herb Society!

Its Herbal Cookery: From the Kitchens and Gardens of the St. Louis Herb Society just placed second nationally in the Tabasco Community Cookbook Awards sponsored by McIlhenny Co.

“We were notified a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve been flying high since then,” said Stephanie Prade, who co-chairs the society’s cookbook committee with Patricia Holt. “The Tabasco award is really the premiere nonprofit cookbook award presenter in the United States – there’s pretty much the Tabasco award and everything else. And we are so honored to be recognized.”

Published in 2009, Herbal Cookery contains 175 pages, 218 recipes, gardening hints, herbal lore and full-color photos taken by Holt in the herb garden at Missouri Botanical Garden.

“All of our members – and we have over 60 members – contributed to this cookbook,” Prade noted. “An herb or herbs are central to every recipe. I really think we stand out because … our book is so beautiful.”

You’ve volunteered to bring dessert to a dinner party. You want to knock ’em dead with an old-fashioned chocolate cake. You own 200 cookbooks, and clearly, some of them contain recipes for chocolate cake. But which ones? How do the recipes compare? And what about that one woman, Bridget – isn’t she a vegan? And a pagan? And doesn’t she have one of those open marriages? My gawd, what’s that like?

But you digress.

The point is, owning shelf upon shelf of cookbooks is an embarrassment of riches, but the books aren’t cross-referenced. Wouldn’t it make life easier if they were?

Enter Eat Your Books, a new online service that offers a master index for your whole (or nearly your whole) library of cookbooks.

The benefits are worth noting here – you can enter one or more ingredients that you have on hand and locate recipes that feature them, in cookbooks you already own. You can locate that great recipe for balsamic-glazed asparagus that you misplaced years ago. You can search for recipes by ethnicity or special diet, or create new categories, menus and lists. You can find out if a favorite cook has a recipe for a favorite dish (how does Paula Deen make her cheese grits?). And as noted above, you can compare similar recipes across a number of cookbooks and decide which works best for you.

Eat Your Books’ database contains 16,000 cookbooks and counting. The site, which does require payment, also provides a communal place for cooks and cookbook fetishists to share ideas.

– Byron Kerman

Starting tomorrow, the folks at The Wine & Cheese Place will launch a major offensive in the war against vegetarianism. More specifically, they’ll announce the first artisan bacon to be featured in what they deem “the year of the BACON at TWCP.”

But this is just the beginning: TWCP has huge plans, as you may have gathered from the quote. Monthly (or more frequently, depending on demand – c’mon, biweekly!), the stores will feature a new and different artisan bacon in what’s basically a bacon-of-the-month club … except you don’t have to sign up for anything, do any research or pay shipping costs. All you have to do is arrive in time to buy some before it sells out.

According to TWCP, the fastest and surest way to get details is through its blog or Facebook page. As for the bacon to be announced Wednesday? It sounds like a very worthy debut; this will be its initial offering in St. Louis, and it’s gotten rave reviews elsewhere. Otherwise, I’m not telling – because I want to be first in line.

– Dennis Lowery

Just in time for the arctic assault, Thurman Grill & Provisions is hosting the second Shaw Chili Challenge this Saturday, Dec. 12. A trio of judges will select winners in three categories: best meat chili, best veggie chili and best overall chili. The contest has already closed to entrants – but not to eaters. The grill (which lies just a few blocks north of Tower Grove Park) will supply cups, spoons, Cheddar cheese, chopped onions and various hot sauces. The public can start enjoying entrants’ efforts at 7 p.m., and a sample of all of the chilis will cost just $5, with proceeds benefiting The Salvation Army. So if you’ve already had a bellyful of cold, prepare to fill your belly with a bit of pleasing heat.

For many people, Hanukkah means a menorah, candles, songs and children opening gifts with a terrific ripping and squealing for eight nights in a row. But please – don’t forget the latkes!

Latkes – Jewish fried potato pancakes – are a heavenly Hanukkah indulgence, and surprisingly, learning a kitchen trick or two takes them from merely sinful to, well, miraculous.

This Thursday, Dec. 10, just such tricks will be taught at Chabad of Chesterfield on Clarkson Road. At 6:15 that evening, a Latke Frying Happy Hour there will feature a demonstration, samples of many different varieties of the pancake at a latke bar and a fry-off that enables guest cooks to take home crispy, golden-brown latkes for their families and friends.

All ingredients are provided, and admission costs just eight symbolic bucks. Interested parties should RSVP at chanalar@gmail.com or 636.778.4000.

– Byron Kerman