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Loading... The Saucier's Apprentice: One Long Strange Trip through the Great Cooking Schools of Europeby Bob Spitz
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) euroclewis | Jun 8, 2016 |   ) mikerr | Apr 22, 2010 | Bob Spitz' memoir of touring France and Italy to learn how to cook just doesn't hold up. It's not just the whiny, pretentious writing style, although that doesn't make the going any easier. I'll even forgive the never-ending self-analysis and introspection - after all, the guy is going through a divorce. I don't know, however, how he managed to wangle positions in so many great kitchens (was it his reputation as a writer of a famous Beatles biography?). I don't know why, even after he admitted he was no great cook, he expected to get to do more than prep vegetables in the corner - although apparently several great chefs took pity on him and gave him some private cooking lessons. But despite it all, nothing satisfied him, and he bounced around from place to place, giving the reader a quick glimpse of cooking schools and great kitchens before he packed his bags and moved on. In the end, I realized I didn't like the book because I didn't like the author very much. Apparently, by his own admission, not very many other people he met liked him either, yet he always seem mystified at his reception. I couldn't help thinking, as I closed the cover, that he might have done better to spend his trip money on a good therapist. (  ) OliviainNJ | Aug 30, 2009 | ) ellabellie | Jan 11, 2009 |  ) ntgntg | Oct 15, 2008 | no reviews | add a review
In the blink of an eye, Bob Spitz turned fifty, finished an eight-year book project and a fourteen-year marriage that left him nearly destitute, had his heart stolen and broken on the rebound, and sought salvation the only way he knew how. He fled to Europe, where he hopscotched among the finest cooking schools in pursuit of his dream. The urge to cook like a virtuoso, to unravel the mysteries of the process, had become an obsession.Spitz hit the fabled cooking-school circuit in a series of idyllic European villages, and The Saucier's Apprentice is a chronicle of his exploits. Combining an outrageous travelogue with gastronomic lore, hands-on cooking instruction, hot-tempered chefs, local personalities, and a batch of memorable recipes, Spitz's odyssey recounts the transformation of a professional writer--and lifelong kitchen amateur--into a world-class cook. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)641.013Technology Home and family management Food And Drink Gastronomy, Epicurism Eating PhilosophyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (2.79)
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