Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly in The Roundtable

May 07, 2015 Christopher rated it really liked it

Shelves: 21st-century, non-fiction, audiobooks, memoir, american

I am a budding cook, and a pretty subpar one. But I have ambitions. I'm not interested in learning the basics; I'd much rather dive right into the dishes that require blowtorches and shit. That's why I'll never be a great cookerman. I'll have about five or six dishes that I can make that will wow people, but if someone puts five ingredients in front of me, I'll have no idea what combination makes a coherent meal. "Make a white sauce." "Er, what? Is that, like, mayonnaise?" "I need some acidity t I am a budding cook, and a pretty subpar one. But I have ambitions. I'm not interested in learning the basics; I'd much rather dive right into the dishes that require blowtorches and shit. That's why I'll never be a great cookerman. I'll have about five or six dishes that I can make that will wow people, but if someone puts five ingredients in front of me, I'll have no idea what combination makes a coherent meal. "Make a white sauce." "Er, what? Is that, like, mayonnaise?" "I need some acidity to tone down this sweetness." **Opens up D-cell battery and pours contents into mixing bowl.**

I want to be a rock star cheffyperson and there's no one who embodies that ideal more than Anthony Bourdain. Sort of. At least, that was my impression at first. He's somewhat of a contradiction. He glamorizes the lifestyle of the restaurant kitchen: the sweat, the blood, the drugs, the trysts in the dry goods room, and most importantly, the $@#%*%&@*@&$&$ing delicious food. But in the next breath, he makes the lifestyle seem like drudgery, the worst of all possible worlds. Megalomaniacal head chefs and managers, the long, grueling hours, the burns, blisters, and knife wounds.

Mostly what I learned is that being an above average cookerfoodmakerperson is dedication. You have to be in the kitchen all the time, you can't let a bloody thumb or sore feet keep you from honing your skills. You need to learn from people who are better than you. Put in your 10,000 hours and you might be able to make something that transcends Mom's pot roast. This is another reason I will never be a great cheffycookiedude.

Bourdain has some good tips for people like me, though, people who want to level their skills up just a little bit. He tells you what kind of knife you should get, what kind of pan is best, and other foodcheffycook things like that.

So if you want to learn about cheffycooks and how to be a good cheffycook, you should read Anthony Bourdain's Kitcheffy Cookydential: Adventures in the Cheffyfoodery Underbelly!!!! Yuuuummmmmmm!!! ...more

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May 01, 2019 Camelia Rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir-biography, audio, location-united-states, food-and-drink

I only learned about Anthony Bourdain after his death. In a story told by Jason Wang, the CEO of Xi'An Famous Food, AB and his TV crew No Reservation wandered into a food stall run by a Chinese immigrant inside a basement food court in Flushing, took a bite of the Northwestern Chinese style spicy lamb burger and loved it. The publicity helped to turn the single basement food stall into a successful New York City food chain. After Anthony Bourdain's death, Jason Wang donated an entire Friday's sa ...more

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Oct 24, 2018 Rachel rated it liked it

Shelves: autobiography, food-nutrition

Audio

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May 04, 2011 Sera rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, audio, library

This book was really fun to listen to on CD, especially since Bourdain was the narrator. Previously, my experience has been that author's who read their own work, do a horrible job, but not Bourdain. In fact, I couldn't picture anyone else reading this book.

The book has a little bit of everything - it's part memoir, cooking tips, insights into owning a restaurant, what to avoid eating at restaurants, and when and so on. Even though the book was a bit all over the place, I liked that approach, be ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Heather(Gibby) rated it it was ok

I have read a few chef memoirs, and this one paled in comparison. I really thought he was a crude person, and although he stated how much he loved food, that sentiment just did not come through in the book.

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