Thoroughly enjoyed this book. ( )

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. ( )

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. ( )

Interesting book about author's experience learning to cook with Mario Batali and with connectins to Mario in Italy. Liekd the Italy stuff really old school techniques. ( )

This is the book that Julie & Julie should have been. It begins as a journey to learn about Mario Balati, becomes a journey to learn about "real" Italian food, and ultimately transforms into a journey where the author learns about himself. Throughout the trip the audience learns, loves, and most of all, laughs with the author as he experiences the trials and tribulations of learning to handle himself in a professional kitchen.

Buford tells a tale that the any foodie who has ever wondered if he had the chops - pun fully intended - to make it in a restaurant can relate to. This was a delightful journey and I loved the glimpse into a world I've only seen from the front of the house. ( )

The subtitle of this book tells it all: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany. Bill Buford quit his job as a writer/editor for The New Yorker to learn to be a chef in the small kitchen of Mario Batali's restaurant Babbo.

In the fascinating story of how Buford goes from a carrot-chopping prep cook to a reliable line cook, we learn the inner workings of a restaurant and the tale of how Mario became . . . well, Mario. And we follow Buford to Italy, where he becomes a pasta intern and then a student of a famous butcher.

Although Babbo, Mario, and the internal politics of restaurant life are woven throughout the narrative, Buford is really writing about the difference between being a good home cook and being a chef. One of the primary goals of a restaurant chef is to cook a limited range of dishes that are exactly the same every single time they are served. A home cook has the freedom to serve whatever he or she wants, and guests do not expect any one dish to be prepared and presented with precise consistency. Restaurant eaters have different expectations.

Chefs listen, smell, and touch food to determine doneness and the state of a dish. They rely less on sight and taste than does the home cook. Buford learned to develop what is called "kitchen awareness"--an almost instinctive sense of what needs to be done, based on just a particular sound coming from the pan, for example.

Buford also examines ingredients, among them wine, flour, eggs, and meat. The conclusion, especially for animal products, is that "the breeding, not the breed" is key. In other words, store-bought eggs do not behave the same as farm-fresh eggs, and feed-lot beef does not have the same properties as grass-fed beef.

This is wonderfully written with laugh-out-loud moments while Buford relates his failures and triumphs as a cook and introduces us to the eccentric group of people who become his mentors. I recommend this book to anyone interested in food, Mario, Italian cooking, or restaurants. Don't miss out on Buford's story. ( )

Great fun ( )

This is a fine book to read for anyone with a passion for cooking, especially Italian food and includes lots of useful information. ( )

This was kinda fun to read because he talks about his experience working in the kitchen. There were a few parts that I was like "Woah that is SO true!". I didn't love it, but it was good and I'd recommend it to anyone who has worked in a kitchen. ( )

Forget about the friendly Mario Batali seen on television with his orange Crocs. Buford's description of trying out his culinary hand in Batali's kitchen is hilarious and terrifying. ( )

Bill Buford became fascinated by Mario Batalli and talked him into letting Buford work in his restaurant kitchen as an unpaid intern. Along the way we get insights into how a restaurant kitchen works, although those have been given in greater detail and with greater flair in such books as Kitchen Confidential and The Soul of a Chef. For me the fascinating part of this book came when Buford became hooked on food from his own point of view, doing endless research into when Italian cooks first began adding an egg to pasta dough and going to Italy to learn from a butcher who follows the old ways. In some areas he winds up surpassing Batalli's own knowledge of Italian cuisine. Along the way we see Batalli's career from owning a restaurant to becoming a celebrity chef. ( )

Buford is a journalist (including 16 years as an editor for Granta, and a stint as the fiction editor for The New Yorker). After inviting Mario Batali to a dinner party, he decides to write a profile on Batali and his restaurant, Babbo, and embarks on a lengthy research-based journey as a slave in the Babbo kitchen -- chopping, carrying, picking, grating, braising, and boiling his way up to a spot in the kitchen during dinner service. Then after a brief period back at his desk job, Buford quits everything and goes back to Babbo.

This section of the book is an equal mix of profiles of the eccentric members of the kitchen staff, revelations of "shocking" kitchen secrets (Mario thinks the pasta dough is kneaded for 45 minutes, but they really only knead it for 10 minutes if he isn't around!), a history of Batali's education as a chef, and detailed descriptions of the work of a professional kitchen. It's this last part that was most interesting to me, and Buford's status as an outsider on the inside makes him a perfect guide. Since I don't have cable and have never seen "Molto Mario" or any of Batali's other shows, the biographical profile of him as a chef and the "behind the scenes" look at his personality was a little less interesting to me (although he is a pretty engaging character, so I got on board with him pretty quickly).

In the second half of the book, Buford follows the steps of the pre-Babbo Batali and goes to Italy to learn how to make pasta and later, to apprentice himself to a volatile and impulsive Tuscan butcher.

If you have an interest in Italian cooking, the New York restaurant scene, or the life of a professional chef, then you won't go wrong reading this book. At the end Buford hints at a future book exploring French cooking in the same way, and I would love to read it.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2008/08...] ( )

Amateur cooks under the delusion that they would like to be a chef in a professional kitchen will benefit from reading this excellent, fast-paced, story of time spent working in the kitchen of Mario Batali’s NYC restaurant, Babbo. Written by a former staff writer for the New Yorker, Bill Buford, HEAT also takes the reader to a family-run restaurant in the Italian Apennines and to a traditional butcher shop in Chianti

in the vein of Kitchen Confidential, etc. Good but not great. The best part is Mario Batali from the Food Network. The man is clearly crazy. I'd love to meet him.
http://archthinking.blogspot.com/2008... ( )

I loved this book. In addition to giving the reader a "fly on the wall" glimpse of life behind the swinging doors into a restaurant kitchen, the chapters on Buford's training in Italy is worth the price of the book. ( )

The author takes us along as he leaves his job to learn the ways of the professional cook in New York restaurant. It's an fascinating visit into a world that I sure don't want to work in. He also spends time in Italy learning to be a Tuscan butcher. Beware -- the one thing that really stuck with me was why not to order pasta at the end of the evening ... ( )

In Heat, Bill Buford, a writer for The New Yorker, leaves his job to become a cook at Babbo, a top Italian restaurant in Manhanttan. Buford has written a clear and interesting account of his struggles to learn his way in a fast-paced and demanding kitchen as a professional cook, and really brings to life the environment and the personalities of the people that he works with. Eventually, as he becomes more confident in his abilities and his passion for cooking grows, he is drawn to Italy by the desire to learn authentic Italian cooking techniques, including the butchering of meat. As he studies under some of Italy’s masters, we are also treated to a sentimental overview of the history and traditions of Italian cuisine. Bill Buford’s memoir is a well-written, fascinating book and I really enjoyed it. ( )

Too long on personalities and history. Good discussion of food, though. ( )

Bill Buford was the founding editor of my favourite literary magazine Granta. He moved to New York where he worked for the New Yorker magazine. This book is his account of learning and cooking for Mario Batali in his restaurant, Babbo and travelling to Italy to learn the secrets of pasta. He also became proficient in the art of butchering meat. Buford approaches the skills of cooking as an art form, It is very amusing to read of his adventures and interesting to see how he researched the history of various dishes. I must admit that after reading his descriptions of the kitchen at Babbo, I know now-never order pasta late in the evening ( )

Interesting Read about an amatuer cook who works in a professiona kitchen. Makes Mario look bad - and not in a good way.

Buford decides to go through the training required to become a professional chef. He uses Mario Batali's training as a template. Like Batali, he lands a job with an Italian restaurant in a small Italian village. Part of the book reads as if it were originally intended to be a biography of Batali. The other part is Buford's own journey. This is an excellent book that works on many different levels from biographical to food to Italian culture. ( )

An fascinating and entertaining account about the author's mid-life journey behind the scenes of the restaurant world at New York's Babbo and his learning the old ways of Tuscan pasta-making and butchering in Italy.

As an amateur foodie, I found this book both informative and inspiring. I enjoyed learning more about what life is like in a professional kitchen -- the role of the prep cooks, the line cooks, and the "executive" chefs. I feel a little more informed when I go to restaurants about what's happening behind the scenes. This book also reinforces that this isn't a career I want -- lousy hours, low pay, and at the beck and call of demanding / capricious customers and bosses.

Ah, but the passion behind food! That's one of the inspiring parts of the book. Buford is an excellent writer and captures how exciting food can be, and how tied food is to culture. If you don't understand what gets your foodie friends so worked up, this book might help explain it.

The second inspiring part of the book? Buford shows how much you can accomplish with intelligence and dedication. He was a fiction editor, for Christ's sake, and in about a year and a half of obsession he becomes a master Italian cook. It gives me hope that, even as I get older, I'll be able to learn new areas. ( )