Introduction -- Ferran Adria/Horror in Gerona -- Jose Andres/All by myself -- Dan Barber/Meet David Bouley -- Mario Batali/The last straw -- Michelle Bernstein/Two great tastes that taste great together -- Heston Blumenthal/Lean times at the Fat Duck -- Daniel boulud/On the road again -- Anthony Bourdain/New Year's meltdown -- Jimmy Bradley/Ship of fools -- Scott Bryan/If you can't stand the heat -- David Burke/White lie -- Samuel Clark/A simple request -- Tom Colicchio/The traveling chef -- Scott Conant/This whole place is slithering -- Tamasin Day-Lewis/Euphoria -- Tom Douglas/Hope for snow -- Wylie Dufresne/Beastmaster -- Jonathan Eismann/The curious case of Tommy Flynn -- Claudia Fleming/The blob -- Gabrielle Hamilton/The blind line cook -- Fergus Henderson/Genus Loci -- Paul Kahan/(Not) ready for my close-up -- Hubert Keller/Just add water -- Giorgia Locatelli/An Italian in Paris -- Michael Lomonaco/A night at the opera -- Pino Luongo/A user's guide to opening a Hamptons restaurant -- Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger/Our big brake -- Sara Moulton/A chef in the family -- Tamara Murphy/For the birds -- Cindy Pawlcyn/Chef's table -- Neil Perry/Our first Friday -- Michael Richard/Alibi -- Eric Ripert/You really ought to thing about becoming a waiter -- Alain Sailhac/You're in the Army now -- Marcus Samuelsson/The big chill -- Bill Telepan/Neverland -- Laurent Tourondel/Friends and family -- Tom Valenti/The Trojan cookie -- Norman Van Aken/Skit happens -- Geoffrey Zakarian/Theh Michelin man -- Acknowledgments.

Forty of the world's greatest chefs relate outrageous true tales from their kitchens. From hiring a blind line cook to flooding the room with meringue to being terrorized by a French owl, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as entertaining as they are revealing. A reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren't always perfect.--From publisher description.