Swinburne wrote, "Glory to Man in the highest! for Man is the master of things." Ask us, and we'd say few men (or women) are born masters. Mastery takes a lot of hard work. Indeed, to become certified as a Master Chef, candidates must pass a grueling ten-day test in which the minutest aspects of performance are scrutinized. Among other requirements, a Master of Wine must complete a blind tasting of 38 wines, identifying the varietal composition, region of origin, vintage, and quality of each and every bottle. The tests are so tough that there are just 55 Master Chefs and 14 Masters of Wine in the entire United States. Our "Masters" will show you that dedication and talent count.

Brad Barnes graduated from the CIA on the Dean's List and has since worked as executive chef at the Brass Register in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the Black Bass Grille in Rye, New York. In 1992 he created a stir on the competition circuit when he earned a perfect score for his buffet work in that year's culinary Olympics, just one of the many medals he has won. Today, Barnes is executive chef at Sixty-Four Greenwich Avenue, a highly regarded contemporary American restaurant in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Gunther Heiland was born and raised in Austria, a land known the world over for its elegant tortes, rich schlag, and sophisticated cookies. He trained under Austria's rigorous culinary guild system but soon developed wanderlust and accepted pastry chef positions in Iran, Portugal, Germany, and, finally, the United States. Today, as owner of Desserts International in Exton, Pennsylvania, Heiland designs gorgeous European-style wedding cakes and supplies extravagant desserts to top restaurants and hotels up and down the East Coast. As if his title of Master Pastry Chef weren't impressive enough, Heiland is also in Chocolate Magazine's Hall of Fame, and earlier this year was named Chef Magazine's "Pastry Chef of the Year."

Edward G. Leonard has won so many medals on the culinary competition circuit that it would take a fork(lift) to move them. His journey from novice to master chef began at Eli Whitney Technical School. Later, he trained at the CIA, and did stints with Ceres Restaurants in Paris and TrustHouse Forte in London. Today, as president of Food 1st, a marketing, consulting, and culinary development company, Leonard plays a part in analyzing and shaping the direction of culinary arts in America.

Our Master of Wine, Sandy Block, is vice president of wine sales and marketing for Whitehall Co. Ltd. and The Branded-New England Company, Massachusetts-based importers/ distributors. But that's just the proverbial tip of the iceberg with regard to his wine-related activities. Block judges wine at tasting competitions, conducts wine education classes, writes in a variety of publications, and consults. His nose is so good that he has even testified in court as an expert witness on wine.

Today, young chefs emerge on the culinary landscape with meteoric speed, and all too often are anointed culinary geniuses before they have truly mastered the art. No such worries with this quartet. Each has done his homework and then some, completing the painstaking but oh-so-necessary work of learning a craft from the ground all the way up to the realm of true mastery. And they have the papers to prove it.