Paperback. English. Bloomsbury. 2001. In fair/good condition.
It helps that the author looks like a cross between Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe and that the publshers have had the good sense to put his picture on the cover. And even if they hadn't, this book would still be a riveting read, though it should certainly carry a health warning. The story is basically the kitchen crew seen from the wrong side of the pass-through - as libidinous, foul-mouthed, coked-up, liquor-crazed a bunch of knife-spinning weirdos as you'll find anywhere on skid row. Bourdain sure writes as if they have balls instead of brains. And what he writes - after two successful novels, he's earned his literary spurs - is a testosterone storm in a veal-bone stock-pot loosely disguised as autobiography. Even the garnishing is sexy. By this you can assume that Bourdain's manual-cum-confessional is not for the dainty. And that, as executive chef of New York's Brasserie Les Halles, he knows what he's talking about. On the other hand, there'll probably never be a better book written about the restaurant business - passionate, turbulent, sometimes wildly funny. It's lyrical at times: hard to beat his seminal experience with a freshly-dredged oyster delivered to his schoolboy fist on a family trip to Brittany. Instructive, too. You'll learn how to line-cook, plate-up, drizzle with truffle-oil and mount with butter. You'll also learn how not to get shafted by crooked suppliers, how to whip-crack the spinach-pickers before they run off with the fillet mignon. In a nut-shell, how to ball-break the no-name no-fixed-abode pirate-crew who fly the skull-and-crossbones in the sweaty depths of a professional kitchen. And yes, he does have a wife, the elusive Nancy - the only character (names changed to protect the guilty) about whom the author is discreet. Oh yes, nearly forgot - always inspect the lavvies before you eat, and never, but never, order the moules marinieres on a Monday. Review by ELISABETH LUARD Editor's note: Elisabeth Luard is the author of many cookery books, her most recent being Sunshine and Saffron published by Bantam. (Kirkus UK)
