Dean Jeffrey Kropp grew up near Chicago in the 1970s, dreaming of playing baseball for the Chicago Cubs or White Sox. He started cooking professionally in 1976 and headed to culinary school. He later received pastry training at LeChateau Swiss Restaurant and Pastry Shop, which had just opened in Chicago. He ended up working in hotels and pastry shops in Memphis, Napa Valley, Montego Bay, and New York City. He began writing this book in 2018, which later took him to Cooking Olympics competitions in Stuttgart, Germany and Fort Lee, Virginia. Despite a few surgeries and medical issues, Kropp continued to write and test recipes for "The Cooking Olympics." Chef Dean even linked his recipes in the book to a QR code so the reader can scan the code and watch Chef Dean make each recipe that's in the book. Recipes such as: Boston Fish Chowder, Sarah Bernhardt Soup and Lobster Newberg to name a few.