Marcus Samuelsson Books In Order

Publication Order of Cookbooks

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Marcus Samuelsson is an acclaimed Ethiopian American chef that made history as the youngest chef to receive a 3 star award from The New York Times. But the lofty heights of owning restaurants with revenues in the million is not something that came easy.

Samuelsson was born in a hut no bigger than two restaurant tables in rural Ethiopia. He survived a serious bout of TB that killed his mother only to soon after be separated from his father. Not long after the incident, Samuelsson and his sister moved to Sweden after being adopted by Lennart Samuelsson and Ann Marie, a Swedish couple.

They would then grow up in Gothenburg where Marcus spent a lot of time with Helga, his adoptive grandmother, where he developed a love for cooking. According to the author, they used to eat fish four or five times every week and he was often tasked with picking apples to make the jam they used on their morning bread.

There was always fish to smoke, herring to pickle or lingonberries to forage and the family was always indoors or outside cooking something. It is during this time that Samuelsson learned about the different flavors and ingredients that he could combine to make delicious food.

By the time Marcus Samuelsson was a teenager, he started getting jobs in restaurants even as he went to the Culinary Institute in his hometown. He would then take several apprenticeships at high end restaurants in Austria and Switzerland as well as working at Georges Blanc’s Michelin starred restaurants.
Marcus always worked in anything in hospitality or restaurants and this provided him with much needed experience from a very young age. He had arrived in the United States with just 300 dollars to his name and had made a huge risk moving from the familiar Sweden to the tough streets of New York.

But the diversity of food options in the city proved an inspiration as he loved the fact that he could walk down the street in Queens and find Greek food next to Thai food next to Indian food. In the Bronx the same thing was replicated as there were Nigerian food stores next to the very best Italian stores.
Samuelsson has said that it was all that diversity of American food that would be the inspiration for many of his very successful themed restaurants.

Marcus Samuelsson has come a long way from the time he used to crash at a friend’s apartment. It took only two months for his career to take an unexpected turn for the better.

The turning point was when the executive chef of Aquavit died and given his talent and experience working for some of the best restaurants in Europe he was promoted to executive chef.

It was at this position that he would receive a New York Times three star review. Winning that review was massive for his confidence and he began thinking that maybe he could run and own his own restaurant.

He was then making 75k a year as executive chef but continued to live frugally while saving money to start his own restaurant. He opened Red Rooster in 2010 and he has never looked back since opening several more restaurants across New York and several other states.

He is also the author of several memoirs and cookbooks including Yes, Chef the bestselling memoir.

“Yes, Chef” by Marcus Samuelsson chronicles the chef’s journey from when he began working with his grandmother Helga all the way to the cutthroat and demanding restaurants in France and Switzerland and his stints working on cruise ships.

It all comes together when he gets a job as executive chef at Aquavit when he earned the three star rating from the New York Times at the tender age of twenty four.

But his career of trying to find the best flavors is only beginning as in the following years he would be tasked with making White House state dinners, experience triumphs in reality TV shows, career crises and finally open Harlem’s Red Rooster that would be the flagship for his very successful chain of restaurants.

In “Red Rooster” the author made his dream of a multi racial and diverse restaurant come to fruition. It is a place where prime ministers and presidents dine alongside nurses, jazz musicians, bus drivers and aspiring artists. It is a place where someone like him who was born in a hut in Ethiopia and was raised in Sweden could feel like they belong.

With disarming intimacy and honesty, the author tells of his failures and recounts his emotional journey in human terms. It is a story of the passionate playful pursuit of flavors, unshakable determination and personal discovery.

“Our Harlem” is an exciting pilgrimage with Swedish, Ethiopian TV personality, restaurateur and chef Marcus Samuelsson.
The author takes his readers on a journey to get to understand the music, history, food and most importantly the people of the iconic neighborhood of Harlem that is the home of his first ever restaurant Red Rooster. In the work, several guests such as Kievin Young, Melba Wilson, Bevy Smith and Jelani Cobb come to Marcus and together they sip cocktails and cook.

Marcus is known for introducing new recipes but sometimes he does recipes he has done before. While working with Jenani Cobb the writer, he recreated the short ribs that he made at Red Rooster for the fundraiser for President Obama.

Working with Jessica Harris the food historian, Marcus explores the Southern and African roots of his ingredients. He made fried chicken with Harlem native Charles Gabriel and with Aurora Flores who was born and bred in the neighborhood we get to visit La Marquetta.

In the work, we learn about the diversity, history, the vibrant life and the institutions that underpin the neighborhood that is Harlem.

Marcus Samuelsson’s “The Soul of a New Cuisine” takes its readers back to Ethiopia to explore the diverse and rich cuisines and culture through stories and recipes.

The breadth of African experience from sunset off the Zanzibar coast, to French Baguettes in Senegal are captured in vivid detail by Gediyon Kifle, an award winning photographer. Samuelsson shares more than two hundred recipes that include traditional dishes and African inspired recipes from all across the continent.

There is everything from Moroccan Lemon-Olive chicken which has a familiar Mediterranean flavor and spicy stews such as the West African Barbequed Snapper. You can also savor the South African Apple Squash Fritters or the irresistible Coconut Chilli Sauce with Curried Trout.

Marcus includes his favorite dishes with blends that feature everything from ginger and sesame seeds to peppermint leaves and hot chilli peppers.