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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
- Narrated by: Bill Buford
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Categories: Home & Garden, Food & Wine
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Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Biography of the Year, 2007.
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Anthony Bourdain, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Eric Ripert are all well established, accomplished chefs; they share their early cooking experiences, what influenced their cooking styles, and what made them want to be chefs forever. Bourdain is the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, the author of the best-selling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and the host of the popular Food Network series, A Cook's Tour.
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A visionary new master class in cooking that distills decades of professional experience into just four simple elements, from the woman declared "America's next great cooking teacher" by Alice Waters.
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Good book
- By Eric on 2021-01-07
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Garlic and Sapphires
- The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
- Written by: Ruth Reichl
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Garlic and Sapphires is Ruth Reichl's riotous account of the many disguises she employs to dine anonymously. There is her stint as Molly Hollis, a frumpy blond with manicured nails and an off-beige Armani suit that Ruth takes on when reviewing Le Cirque. The result: her famous double review of the restaurant: first she ate there as Molly; and then as she was coddled and pampered on her visit there as Ruth, New York Times food critic.
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The narrator makes the most annoying kids voices
- By Emma Rae on 2018-09-13
Publisher's Summary
From one of our most interesting literary figures - former editor of Granta, former fiction editor at The New Yorker, acclaimed author of Among the Thugs - a sharp, funny, exuberant, close-up account of his headlong plunge into the life of a professional cook.
Expanding on his James Beard Award-winning New Yorker article, Bill Buford gives us a richly evocative chronicle of his experience as "slave" to Mario Batali in the kitchen of Batali's three-star New York restaurant, Babbo.
In a fast-paced, candid narrative, Buford describes three frenetic years of trials and errors, disappointments and triumphs, as he worked his way up the Babbo ladder from "kitchen bitch" to line cook...his relationship with the larger-than-life Batali, whose story he learns as their friendship grows through (and sometimes despite) kitchen encounters and after-work all-nighters...and his immersion in the arts of butchery in Northern Italy, of preparing game in London, and making handmade pasta at an Italian hillside trattoria.
Heat is a marvelous hybrid: a 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 a famous restaurant, and an illuminating exploration of why food matters. It is a book to delight in, and to savor.
Please note: This is the abridged edition. An unabridged version is also available.
What the critics say
"Terrific culinary writing....A wonderfully detailed and highly amusing book." (Publishers Weekly)
"Buford's mastery of the stove is exceeded only by his deft handling of English prose." (Booklist)
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What listeners say about Heat
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Overall
- John
- 2006-06-26
Poor reader
I was looking forward to this listen as have enjoyed similar books (making of a chef and bourdan's books) but immediately had difficulty understanding the author. He really should have had someone else read the story. His voice is very clipped and I am sure I missed quite a lot. I am going to buy the hard copy because I did like the subject. So my rating is because of the reader, not the book itself.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Irenehope
- 2006-07-09
Pale Imitation
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I've read many books @ cooking, becoming a chef and the life that comes with that choice.
The experiences he goes through just don't have the vividness we're used to in Tony Bourdain's or Ruth Reichle's books. This one is left open-ended for the next installment, but I won't be reading it.
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Overall
- Hope This Helps
- 2006-06-30
Great story and listen!
I highly recommend seeing the Bill Buford interview about the book on "Charlie Rose".
Mr. Buford is a very interesting and engaging personality. I had no prior interest in cooking or chefs but after that interview, I had download this book to learn about his adventure in becoming a chef. It is fascinating and I think he does a very nice job in reading his book. About half way through the book, I just had to go out and have a gourmet Italian dinner!