

|
Loading... Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker,… (2006)by Bill Buford
Unabridged audio. DH and I listened to this in the car and at one point were laughing so hard we had to pull over. Nicely done memoir about Buford's stint working at Babbo in New York and how his life changes and he becomes obsessed with food and cooking- so much so that he goes to Italy to learn from the masters- interwoven with a biography of Mario Batali, famous New York chef. Profane and hilarious. The author, a New Yorker writer and amateur cook, strikes up a friendship with Mario Batali of the restaurant Babbo and the TV show Molto Mario. He persuades Mario to let him work in Babbo's kitchen, and later ends up spending time in Italy, first learning to make pasta, and then to apprentice to a Tuscan butcher. The number of cuts and burns he suffers is quite startling! The book was a bit too long. I did persevere to the end, partly because of amusing tales such as the author's experiences in getting a 275-lb. pig carcass into his New York apartment (first he and his wife had to load it onto the motorscooter -- and that's only the beginning!) I learned that I don't want to work in a restaurant kitchen, and that I am not quite sure I ever want to eat in a restaurant again (after reading about the prevailing attitude on coming to work ill -- "just do it" -- you may not either), and that is really what books like this do for me. I don't have to do all those things, I can just read about them. Bill Buford writes a mean book about the circle of Hell that is a kitchen restaurant. Very good, sometimes lyrical and in parts, very funny. Part travel memoir, part cookbook, part behind the scenes at restaurant, part Mario Batali biography, all wonderful. I ripped through this book and enjoyed every moment of it. Backstage at Mario's restaurant learning how to be a line cook, to Italy to learn to make pasta, to Italy to learn to butcher meat...just fantastic. A foodie's wet dream. Good food takes time, but reading this book won't. no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
|
Google Books — Loading...
Popular coversRatingAverage: (3.81)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For the rest of the review, visit my book blog at: http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.com/56529.html (