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Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
Bill Buford Manufacturer: Knopf ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1400041201 Release Date: 2006-05-30 |
Amazon.com
Bill Buford's funny and engaging book Heat offers readers a rare glimpse behind the scenes in Mario Batali's kitchen. Who better to review the book for Amazon.com, than Anthony Bourdain, the man who first introduced readers to the wide array of lusty and colorful characters in the restaurant business? We asked Anthony Bourdain to read Heat and give us his take. We loved it. So did he. Check out his review below. --Daphne Durham
Anthony Bourdain is host of the Discovery Channel's No Reservations, executive chef at Les Halles in Manhattan, and author of the bestselling and groundbreaking Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook, A Cook's Tour, Bone in the Throat, and many others. His latest book, The Nasty Bits will be released on May 16, 2006.
Secondly, the book is a long overdue portrait of the real Mario Batali and of the real Marco Pierre White--two complicated and brilliant chefs whose coverage in the press--while appropriately fawning--has never described them in their fully debauched, delightful glory. Buford has--for the first time--managed to explain White's peculiar--almost freakish brilliance--while humanizing a man known for terrorizing cooks, customers (and Batali). As for Mario--he is finally revealed for the Falstaffian, larger than life, mercurial, frighteningly intelligent chef/enterpreneur he really is. No small accomplishment. Other cooks, chefs, butchers, artisans and restaurant lifers are described with similar insight.
Thirdly, Heat reveals a dead-on understanding--rare among non-chef writers--of the pleasures of "making" food; the real human cost, the real requirements and the real adrenelin-rush-inducing pleasures of cranking out hundreds of high quality meals. One is left with a truly unique appreciation of not only what is truly good about food--but as importantly, who cooks--and why. I can't think of another book which takes such an unsparing, uncompromising and ultimately thrilling look at the quest for culinary excellence. Heat brims with fascinating observations on cooking, incredible characters, useful discourse and argument-ending arcania. I read my copy and immediately started reading it again. It's going right in between Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London and Zola's The Belly of Paris on my bookshelf. --Anthony Bourdain
Book Description
Bill Buford—author of the highly acclaimed best-selling Among the Thugs—had long thought of himself as a reasonably comfortable cook when in 2002 he finally decided to answer a question that had nagged him every time he prepared a meal: What kind of cook could he be if he worked in a professional kitchen? When the opportunity arose to train in the kitchen of Mario Batali’s three-star New York restaurant, Babbo, Buford grabbed it. Heat is the chronicle—sharp, funny, wonderfully exuberant—of his time spent as Batali’s “slave” and of his far-flung apprenticeships with culinary masters in Italy.
In a fast-paced, candid narrative, Buford describes the frenetic experience of working in Babbo’s kitchen: the trials and errors (and more errors), humiliations and hopes, disappointments and triumphs as he worked his way up the ladder from slave to cook. He talks about his relationships with his kitchen colleagues and with the larger-than-life, hard-living Batali, whose story he learns as their friendship grows through (and sometimes despite) kitchen encounters and after-work all-nighters.
Buford takes us to the restaurant in a remote Appennine village where Batali first apprenticed in Italy and where Buford learns the intricacies of handmade pasta . . . the hill town in Chianti where he is tutored in the art of butchery by Italy’s most famous butcher, a man who insists that his meat is an expression of the Italian soul . . . to London, where he is instructed in the preparation of game by Marco Pierre White, one of England’s most celebrated (or perhaps notorious) chefs. And throughout, we follow the thread of Buford’s fascinating reflections on food as a bearer of culture, on the history and development of a few special dishes (Is the shape of tortellini really based on a woman’s navel? And just what is a short rib?), and on the what and why of the foods we eat today.
Heat is a marvelous hybrid: a richly evocative memoir of Buford’s kitchen adventure, the story of Batali’s amazing rise to culinary (and extra-culinary) fame, a dazzling behind-the-scenes look at the workings of a famous restaurant, and an illuminating exploration of why food matters.
It is a book to delight in—and to savor.
Customer Reviews:
Fun, fun fun in the bowels of the kitchen.......2007-10-12
A humorous read that made me hungry!.......2007-10-07
Interesting but not what I thought it was going to be.......2007-09-19
I think I made the pages soggy..........2007-09-17
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......2007-09-11
Amazon.com
Over time, twin enterprises Cook's Illustrated magazine and America's Test Kitchen have published many books dedicated to providing exhaustively tested recipes--"best" versions of traditional dishes plus definitive takes on kitchen equipment and ingredients. Some series readers have complained of endlessly recycled or rejiggered recipes; others take each book at face value, finding the formulas and cooking insights good and helpful. America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which calls itself a cookbook, cooking school, and kitchen reference in one, offers over 1,200 approachable recipes for a very wide range of dishes--from "weekday" fare like Creamy Rice Casserole, Cheesy Nachos with Spicy Beef, and Skillet Lasagna, to dressier recipes, including Pan-Seared Lamb Chops with Red Wine Rosemary Sauce, Roasted Trout Stuffed with Bacon and Spinach, and Chocolate Marshmallow Mousse. There are "specialty" chapters devoted to sandwiches, drinks, and slow cooker and pressure cooker dishes; a grilling section is a tutorial in itself.Unorthodox, "better-way" approaches abound. For example, a fried chicken formula instructs the cook to wet the bird's dry coating slightly before it's applied for an extra-crunchy crust. Predictably, side bars feature equipment and ingredient evaluations, on bottled salsa, for example; "good food/bad food" photographs show readers what to aim for when producing fare like holiday cookies; and there are tips, charts, and "Cooking 101" sidebars galore. Step-by-step photos offer more direction still.
Though the majority of recipes are sound and yield tempting results, readers poring through the book will note gaffes and curiosities. The recipe for poached eggs, for example, offers the option of extra cooking for "firm yolks" (hard-boiled poached eggs, anyone?) and hamburgers receive an indentation before cooking to avoid "puffy" domed burgers, a novel problem that could, in any case, be solved by proper shaping. The addition of sugar to some savory dishes--for example, a pan sauce for steak--is misguided. Readers should also know that the book, which comes in loose-leaf form, requires some assembly, and that the pages themselves are quite thin, making them vulnerable to spills and tearing in daily kitchen use.
These things said, the book delivers solid, family-friendly dishes with enough fully orchestrated "how- to" to make even novice cooks feel secure when tackling the basics or more ambitious fare.
What's New in the Revised Editon?
First out in 2005, America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook was praised for its recipe ease, inclusiveness, and wealth of helpful information, but was also criticized for its physical production. A loose-leaf book with its pages included separately, readers found it inconvenient to assemble and its paper impractically thin. The revised edition is printed on heavier stock, and arrives with its pages already on its rings (there are two more now, for sturdiness) with only chapter dividers to insert, a simple task.
In addition, new inside front and back covers provide information on emergency substitutions, roasting guidelines, equivalent measures, and more--and a "Light Recipes" chapter has been included. Without defining precisely what "light" means--fewer fats and carbs, or a combo?--the section offers attractive all-course recipes, such as turkey chili, veggie burgers, meat and cheese lasagna, and chocolate bundt cake. Some readers will welcome the "slimming" of familiar dishes while others will find some of the manipulations--using cornstarch to thicken the sauce in fettuccine alfredo or ricotta to add body to a reduced-fat pesto, for example--unappealing. The book, however, remains a valuable kitchen tool--and one with greater convenience and durability than before. --Arthur Boehm
Exclusive Recipe Excerpts from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (Revised Edition)
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Light Chicken Parmesan |
Classic Apple Pie |
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Cook's Illustrated |
The Best 30-Minute Recipe |
Book Description
Repackaged to be easier to use and expanded to include a whole new chapter of healthy, light recipes, this revised edition of one of last fall's bestselling cookbooks remains the one and only basic cookbook you will ever need. Beautiful step-by-step photos illuminate every conceivable technique from chopping shallots and skinning salmon to cutting up a chicken and tying a roast. In fact, just about anything you want to do in the kitchen is explained in these pages in America's most popular test kitchen's approachable, no-nonsense voice.These recipes will keep you busy (and your friends and family happy) for years to come, since we've included hundreds of easy weeknight dishes (like Skillet Lasagna and One-Pot Chicken and Rice), company-worthy dinners (like Beef Burgundy, Roast Leg of Lamb, and Fresh Fruit Trifle), equipment ratings, shoppings tips, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Best Basic Cookbook.......2007-10-11
Family Cookbook, America's Test Kitchen.......2007-09-27
Test Kitchen Cookbook.......2007-09-26
The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.......2007-09-15
The First Word on Cooking.......2007-09-14
Amazon.com
Long before scientists in Scotland cloned Dolly the sheep, Todd Wilbur was hard at work replicating recipes from some of America's favorite restaurant chains. Armed with Ziploc bags for transporting leftovers and plenty of questions for his servers, Wilbur has combined the skills of a private eye and a research scientist to devise the tasty clones included in Top Secret Restaurant Recipes. Wilbur honed his technique on convenience food, creating exact duplicates of everything from a Big Mac to a Twinkie; in this book, however, he sets his sights on slightly more sophisticated fare. Within these pages you'll find sure-fire recipes for such chain favorites as Hard Rock Cafe's Famous Baby Rock Watermelon Ribs, Cheese Blintzes from the International House of Pancakes, and The Olive Garden's Hot Artichoke-Spinach Dip. Denny's, Shoney's, The Cheesecake Factory, and Pizza Hut are just a few of the many chain restaurants from which popular menu items have been "cloned." So the next time you have a hankering for Tony Roma's World Famous Ribs or a slice of Red Robin's Mountain High Mud Pie, don't bother to go out--instead, eat in with Top Secret Restaurant Recipes.Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Recipes Especially the Cheesecake Factory Jambalya.......2007-10-09
Good recipes.......2007-07-26
Top Secret Restaurant Recipes.......2007-03-10
Top Secret Restaurant Recipes.......2007-01-15
Bon Appetite right at your own table!.......2006-07-31
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Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)
Anthony Bourdain Manufacturer: Harper Perennial ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0060899220 Release Date: 2007-01-09 |
Amazon.com
Most diners believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential, that elegant three-star concoction is the collaborative effort of a team of "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths," in all likelihood pierced or tattooed and incapable of uttering a sentence without an expletive or a foreign phrase. Such is the muscular view of the culinary trenches from one who's been groveling in them, with obvious sadomasochistic pleasure, for more than 20 years. CIA-trained Bourdain, currently the executive chef of the celebrated Les Halles, wrote two culinary mysteries before his first (and infamous) New Yorker essay launched this frank confessional about the lusty and larcenous real lives of cooks and restaurateurs. He is obscenely eloquent, unapologetically opinionated, and a damn fine storyteller--a Jack Kerouac of the kitchen. Those without the stomach for this kind of joyride should note his opening caveat: "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection.... But I'm simply not going to deceive anybody about the life as I've seen it." --Sumi HahnBook Description
A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine—now with all-new, never-before-published material
Customer Reviews:
Not for the Easily Offended.......2007-10-16
sex and drugs in the kitchen.......2007-10-06
FUNNY.......2007-10-02
Did I Need to Know?.......2007-10-01
Kitchen Confidential audio book.......2007-09-27
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Concrete Countertops: Design, Form, and Finishes for the New Kitchen and Bath
Fu-Tung Cheng , and Eric Olsen Manufacturer: Taunton ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 1561584843 Release Date: 2002-04-15 |
Customer Reviews:
Concrete Countertops.......2007-05-28
GOOD STARTING PLACE FOR A BEGINNER.......2007-04-05
Great intro to concrete design.......2007-02-13
Concrete countertop book.......2007-01-04
Informative but not comprehensive.......2006-07-30
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Happy in the Kitchen: The Craft of Cooking, the Art of Eating
Michel Richard Manufacturer: Artisan ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1579652999 |
Amazon.com
"In cooking as in love, you have to try new things to keep it interesting." So says chef Michel Richard in his cookbook Happy in the Kitchen, a collection of 150-plus recipes that more than make his point. Whether reinventing traditional recipes, often whimsically, as he does with dishes like Tomato Tartare, Cuttlefish Schnitzel, and Turkey "Steak" au Poivre, or presenting otherwise novel treats like Tuna Medallions with Passion Fruit Salsa; Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Honeydew Melon; and Lamb-Loin with Basil Crust and Fennel, Richard delights readers with creativity that can thrill. Vegetable dishes, including his spuds-for-rice Potato Risotto and Lo-Carb Carbonara, in which sliced onions sub for pasta, are particularly ingenious. Equally novel--and tempting--are sweets like Upside-Down Chocolate Orange Sponge Cake, Lemon-Lime Madeleine Muffins, and Raspberry Meringues with Raspberry Tuiles.To pull off his particular sleight-of-hand, Richard has devised novel techniques--like using plastic film to shape and poach food, and gelatin to bind fatlessly--that all cooks should know about. Whether readers will tackle the often-exacting recipes will depend on their willingness to engage in kitchen workouts that also regularly require special equipment like a Japanese mandoline and electric meat slicer. Though there are a number of simpler, homier recipes like Tomato Soup with Fresh Mozzarella and Thyme-Glazed Baby Back Ribs--and the formulas themselves couldn't be more lucid--this handsome book will probably be best appreciated as an artful record of a great and wonderfully playful cooking intelligence. Replete with stunning photos, used generously to illustrate techniques, it's hard to imagine any serious cook who wouldn't want to join Richard, dig in, and learn. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
It's the passionate professional chef with a compulsion to explore whom we should thank for those extraordinary techniques and ideas that continually find their way into the home kitchen. Whether it's poaching in plastic or using vegetable waters instead of fat to enrich flavor, or new tricks with the inexpensive Japanese mandoline, professionals expand our horizons. And among his colleagues, Michel Richard is the chef's chef, the one others look to for inspiration. "Why didn't I think of that?" asks Thomas Keller, in his foreword to Happy in the Kitchen, about Richard's innovative technique. Michel Richard leads the way and always has—at his L.A. restaurants, Citrus and Citronelle, and now in Washington, D.C., at Michel Richard Citronelle and his newly opened Central. He never ceases to explore and his food never fails to satisfy.Customer Reviews:
michele richard.......2007-08-12
A little disappointed........2007-08-07
Happy to have this book in my kitchen.......2007-07-11
My 1 star rating is misleading.......2007-07-03
the title does not lie.......2007-05-13
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Garde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen
The Culinary Institute of America Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0471468495 |
Amazon.com
Garde manger refers to the restaurant kitchen area where cold dishes, including soups, salads, sandwiches, sauces, cheeses, sausages, and pâtés, as well as hors d'oeuvres and the condiments used to garnish them, are prepared. The book Garde Manger is a teaching text for food professionals, updated from a 1973 edition by a team of chefs from the Culinary Institute of America. Home cooks, as well as students and professional cooks, will enjoy the chapters on preparing dressings, cold soups, salads, and sandwiches in this clearly, concisely written book, which is illustrated with hundreds of color photos. More serious home cooks will also appreciate the chapters that delve into making sausages, smoked foods, terrines, and other charcuterie. Here you'll learn to prepare and smoke old-fashioned, lusty French Garlic Sausage or a Pheasant Galantine enriched with pork fat and Madeira.Intermediate cooks comfortable with terms such as chiffonade (leafy vegetables cut into very thin strips) will appreciate composed salads like simple Italian Shaved Fennel with Parmesan and heat-spiked Buffalo Chicken Salad, in addition to such soups as Cold Carrot Bisque sparked with ginger, tangy orange juice, and yogurt.
Noncooks interested in food will find Garde Manger fascinating too. How better to appreciate the Roasted Vegetable Terrine, layered with eggplant, squash, mushrooms, and goat cheese and served at your favorite restaurant, than by understanding how it is made? Home cooks who entertain will appreciate Garde Manger's recipes, as they produce quarts of sauce, gallons of soup, and canapés by the dozen. For the rest, when you can't modify the recipe, there is always the freezer. --Dana Jacobi
Book Description
With nearly 500 inspiring recipes, Garde Manger is the most comprehensive reference book available on the subject. Bringing the kitchen-tested wisdom of The Culinary Institute of America's chefs and teachers to the reader, the comprehensive book covers a range of topics, from salads and sandwiches to hors d'oeuvres and appetizers--all the hot and cold food preparation knowledge the skilled garde manger needs. All-new photographs by award-winning photographer Ben Fink show finished dishes and important techniques to help the reader visualize key concepts, from curing salmon and bacon to making and decanting flavored oils.Customer Reviews:
Great Book!!!.......2007-10-08
The hows and whys on soups, salad and sandwiches.......2007-09-03
Excellent base book.......2007-01-18
Had to Have It.......2007-01-09
Garde Manger.......2007-01-06
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Paula Deen's Kitchen Classics: The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook and The Lady & Sons, Too!
Paula Deen Manufacturer: Random House ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1400064554 Release Date: 2005-10-11 |
Book Description
As owner and proprietor of The Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, Paula Deen is one of the South’s most celebrated chefs. Now two of her cherished culinary classics–The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook and The Lady & Sons, Too!–have been combined into one delicious volume, available in hardcover for the first time.Customer Reviews:
Southern delights.......2007-09-20
My wife loves it........2007-09-14
Just wonderful with a stick of butter!.......2007-07-05
Paula is so entertaining...........2007-05-14
Great Book.......2007-05-13
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EatingWell Serves Two: 150 Healthy in a Hurry Suppers
Jim Romanoff , and The Test Kitchen of EatingWell Magazine Manufacturer: Countryman ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0881507237 |
Book Description
A fusion of simplicity, healthy ingredients and just-right quantities, these delicious, exciting new recipes are designed for today's growing world of empty-nesters, couples without children and smaller households.Customer Reviews:
Delicious, easy, healthy.......2007-09-26
Versatile and delicious as well as healthy and quick.......2007-08-04
this is a fabulous cookbook!.......2007-07-23
best cookbook ever for healthy living.......2007-06-27
Current Favorite Cookbook!!.......2007-06-26
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Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen
Alton Brown Manufacturer: Stewart, Tabori and Chang ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1584792965 |
Amazon.com
"I think cooking is a lot of fun and I hate to see people not having fun doing it just because they don't have the right tools--which is not to say they need the prettiest, best, most expensive tools. They just need the tools that are right for them." Such is the organizing principle of Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen by the selfsame Alton Brown, star of Food Network's Good Eats as well as award-winning author of I'm Just Here for the Food. It's an interesting, effective principle. It comes from a guy who serves pie with a four-dollar mortar trowel he picked up at the hardware store.Brown's opening challenge is a 60-day, four phase process of ridding your kitchen of all things unused and insignificant--easy on the surface, but tough in the doing. That leaves room for essential gear. And to help make those choices, Brown looks at pots and pans, sharp things (not just knives, but graters, mandolins, and cheese slicers, too), small things with plugs (as in small appliances--from food processors to coffee makers to deep fat fryers), kitchen tools unplugged (those items that fill drawers), storage and containment, and safety and sanitation.
If this were just an encyclopedia, what an unwholesome bore it would be. But Brown turns this relevant information into a romp. He's talking about the tools he uses, after all, and has no fear of naming likes and dislikes--based on his own experience. He also includes unending side chatter about cutting corners, saving money, and actually putting good tools to work. You'll find recipes throughout, and techniques, too. Like, how to bake a chicken in a flower pot. If you wonder why you would even want to attempt it in the first place, Brown clues you in. Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen is about as guilt free as pleasure will ever get. --Schuyler Ingle
Book Description
Dedicated viewers of Alton Brown's acclaimed Food Network show Good Eats know of his penchant for using unusual equipment. He has smoked a salmon in a cardboard box, roasted prime rib in a flowerpot, and used a C-clamp as a nutcracker.Brown isn't interested in novelty, he's just devoted to using the best-and simplest-tool for the job. Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen offers honest, practical advice on what's needed and what isn't, what works and what doesn't. His advice: You only need three knives, but they are a lifetime investment. And don't bother with that famous countertop grill-it doesn't get hot enough to properly sear.
In his signature science-guy style, Brown begins with advice on kitchen layout and organization, then gets to the lowdown on these cooking elements: Big Things with Plugs; Pots and Pans; Sharp Things; The Tool Box; Small Things with Plugs; Storage and Containment; and Safety and Sanitation. Along the way he delves deep into kitchen science and appliance history and legend. Included are 25 brand-new recipes that employ featured gear.
Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen is essential for all of his fans-and anyone who wants a good guide to great kitchen gear.
Customer Reviews:
ALTON BROWN...GREAT AS USUAL.......2007-10-13
Yuppie opinions on kitchen gear found at the mall store.......2007-05-16
Everything I Wanted.......2007-01-23
Alton Brown's Gear Book.......2007-01-18
Shogun Of The Kitchen, Thy Name Is Alton Brown!.......2007-01-17
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