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Outstanding on audio.
Over the last couple of years, I have been reading my way through some of the more well-known "cooking" books, which tend to be more memoir than actual cooking: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Yes, Chef and Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef come to mind. Much of the writing is about the lives of these chefs and how they started cooking. Then it follows their restaurant careers and the success that they have t ...more
Over the last couple of years, I have been reading my way through some of the more well-known "cooking" books, which tend to be more memoir than actual cooking: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Yes, Chef and Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef come to mind. Much of the writing is about the lives of these chefs and how they started cooking. Then it follows their restaurant careers and the success that they have t ...more
This book gives a fun peak inside the world of a 3-star New York kitchen. Buford is at his best when describing the Babbo kitchen where he initially starts his education. His travels to Italy give you a sense of the eccentric characters that eventually teach him to make pasta and carve meat. However, his almost irrelevant search for the exact moment an egg was introduced to the recipe for pasta becomes long-winded. He delves into the history of Italian recipes but his references sometimes seem l
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Bill Buford loves to cook. He has a crazy idea: Why not offer to work for free in a restaurant kitchen and learn how professionals cook. Buford puts his plan into action and before he knows it, he is working in the kitchen of one of New York's best restaurants. Okay, he's chopping carrots, but he's surrounded by magnificent cooks, and, gradually, he moves up in the kitchen hierarchy. Buford is a wonderful writer and the kitchens where he works provides zany characters and situations that make fo
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Utterly delightful -- Buford has a great sense of humor, writes incredibly well, and had a million adventures during the time he spent interning for Mario Batale and studying the butcher's trade in Italy. Often has a similar mood to Kitchen Confidential, only with less profanity and simmering rage.
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This one just never really "took off" for me, perhaps because I am just not that interested in reading about chefs and the way restaurants function. Struck me as a bit like, "I know what I'll do... put myself through this really grueling experience and turn it into a book!"
Too much of that going around, if you ask me. ...more
Too much of that going around, if you ask me. ...more
Currently reading, it is awesome. With my husband a chef, having worked in the industry as well....it is great to see the craziness that goes into becoming one of the most well known chefs in the country.
May 04, 2010
Jamie
marked it as need-to-get
Jan 07, 2011
Megan
marked it as to-read
Jan 14, 2013
Terri
marked it as own
Mar 26, 2014
Terri FL
marked it as to-read
Oct 19, 2014
grace
marked it as to-read
Jun 29, 2017
Jen
marked it as to-read
May 31, 2019
Anika
marked it as to-read
Aug 04, 2019
Deborah
marked it as to-read
Oct 05, 2023
Viviana Martinez
marked it as to-read
