"Knives at Dawn brings you into a world of intensity that few will ever have a chance to experience first-hand."

Every two years, 24 teams of chefs travel from across the world to Lyon, France, for the culinary competition of their lives. No, this isn't an epic Iron Chef battle—it's the Bocuse D'Or, the largest culinary exposition of its kind in the world. Each pair consists of one head chef and one commis assistant, and they come to represent their country and fight for the greatest culinary title. Thousands of fans look on and cheer deafeningly as the chefs compete in an enormous stadium, in small enclosed kitchens. They are expected to present more than their best food, more than their country's best food—theirs must be the best food in the world.

It is this sense of expectation, pressure, and intensity that Andrew Friedman sets out to capture in Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Glory at the Legendary Bocuse D'Or Competition. His tale follows the 2009 competition team, Chef Timothy Hollingsworth and commis Adina Guest from Thomas Keller's landmark restaurant The French Laundry. Together, these two were expected to transform the competition reputation of the United States.

The Bocuse D'Or USA qualifier. [Photographs: Bocuse D'Or USA]

The U.S. has never been particularly competitive in the international culinary scene. Although many American chefs and restaurants are now on par with their European counterparts, they tend not to prove successful in a competition setting. In the Bocuse D'Or especially, American teams fare very poorly. And then Gavin Kaysen came along.

Young and full of ambition, Kaysen had always been intrigued by the Bocuse D'Or during his years of culinary education. As executive chef at Daniel Boulud's Cafe Boulud, he was already a well-respected chef when he qualified to represent the U.S. in the 2007 Bocuse D'Or. However, a series of missteps led to a fourteenth place finish. Simply unwilling to settle, Kaysen set out to find a way to get the U.S. on the most important culinary podium.

Recruiting support from Boulud and Keller, Kaysen set the wheels turning and eventually gathered a powerhouse support team for the U.S. Bocuse D'Or effort. Also on board were renowned chef Roland Henin, and staff from Boulud and Keller's restaurants. A qualifying competition, the Bocuse D'Or USA, brought in eight chefs from across the country to vie for the chance to represent the US in Lyon. Some chefs had competition experience; most did not.

The USA cheering squad at the Bocuse D'Or in Lyon.

After explaining this history, Friedman shifts the narrative off of Kaysen's efforts and onto Hollingsworth's competition preparations. He goes into lengthy detail about each and every stage of menu development. There are pages and pages dedicated to exacting description of all sorts of successful (and less successful) dishes that the French Laundry duo attempted for their competition platters. While the food imagery is at times tantalizing and mouth-watering, the unending description becomes a bit laborious as the weeks of preparation wear on.

The US team was at a severe, though self-inflicted, disadvantage when they arrived in Lyon. Most countries practiced their competition platters start to finish dozens of times; the US had done only a few run-throughs. And the US team had only trained for three months, whereas their international counterparts had often spent upwards of a year focusing on the Bocuse D'Or. Hollingsworth's commitment to his day job at the French Laundry prohibited so much time spent on the competition; while he still believes this was the right decision, there is no doubt the lack of preparation affected the team's final effort.

Friedman captures well the spirit of game day, the actual Bocuse D'Or competition. Tensions were high among members of the team, and Friedman's sense of foreshadowing draws the reader along for the roller coaster ride that was this final performance. The US ultimately did not meet their goal of finishing among the top 3 pairs in the world; they made a 6th place finish. Roland Henin, who had been consistently disappointed in the team's lack of practice commitment from the start, said that the team had performed excellently—but had placed no higher than they deserved.

Hollingsworth and Guest's fish platter.

One part of this narrative that I found lacking was Friedman's portrayal of his own involvement in the goings-on of Bocuse preparation. It is clear from his dish descriptions and understanding of the relationships among the chefs that Friedman is experienced in observing the restaurant world. But not once do we hear his voice, even in situations where it would be seemingly odd for him to be sitting down with the rest of the team—with Daniel Boulud's parents at their house in the countryside of France, for example. I found myself wishing his narrative sounded more like Michael Ruhlman's account of kitchen life: less devoutly fly-on-the-wall, and more emotionally insightful and involved.

Overall, the book is a fun read. It is fascinating to see the level of detail required in this kind of competition, which ,while renowned internationally, is so foreign to us in the U.S. And Hollingsworth is an intriguing character, somewhat removed from the sense of ceremonial importance held by chefs Henin and Kaysen, but still pushing himself to his physical and emotional capacity. Educational and unique among food histories, Knives at Dawn brings you into a world of intensity and a quest for perfection that few will ever have a chance to experience first-hand.