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Devil in the kitchen [Paperback]

Marco Pierre White
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Book Description

22 Aug 2007

When Marco Pierre White's mother died when he was just six years old, it transformed his life. Soon, his father was urging him to earn his own keep and by sixteen he was working in his first restaurant. White went on to learn from some of the best chefs in the country, such as Albert Roux, Raymond Blanc and Pierre Koffmann. He survived the intense pressure of hundred-hour weeks in the heat of the kitchen, developed his own style, and then struck out on his own.

At Harveys in Wandsworth, which he opened in 1987, he developed a reputation as a stunning cook and a rock 'n' roll sex god of the kitchen. But he was also a man who might throw you out of his restaurant, and his temper was legendary, as younger chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal would find out when they worked for him. He eventually opened several more restaurants, won every honour going and then realised that it still wasn't enough. Here Marco takes the reader right into the heat of the kitchen with a sharp-edged wit and a sizzling pace that will fascinate anyone brave enough to open the pages of this book and enter his domain.


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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Orion (22 Aug 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0752881612
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752881614
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 26,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

This book should serve as a primer to young men on the make (GUARDIAN )

Book Description

The long-awaited autobiography of the archetypal kitchen bad boy - Marco Pierre White

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 49 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Have you heard the one about the pig's trotter? 27 Sep 2007
By David Jenkins VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
For some reason I ignored this book when it first came out in hardback. Not sure why. Perhaps Marco Pierre White was a name from the past and someone I knew very little about . . . except perhaps that he was rude, abusive and violent in the kitchen. How's that for prejudging someone?

Don't make my mistake, this book is not to be missed. From the time I opened it at the first page until I had finished I couldn't put it down. It is well written and a fascinating account of a chef's life, albeit a pretty unique chef.

Someone who has won three Michelin stars, and is the youngest chef at the age of thirty-three to have ever achieved it, has to be a very unique person. The first British Chef to win three Michelin stars.

The start of the book takes you back to when Marco was just six years old and facing up to life after his mother's death, growing up in the male dominated world of his father and two older brothers. It then moves quickly through his formative years in Leeds, not particularly happy years, where his greatest pleasure was been able to escape fishing.

The heart of the book is of course the time at Harveys which culminates in his winning his second Michelin star before moving to open Restaurant Marco Pierre White at the Hyde Park Hotel in Knightsbridge where he wins his third Michelin star.

There is a lot more to the book than I have described. Even if you are not into cooking it is a great insight into the professional kitchen with its stress and anguish. It might also help you to understand what makes the greatest living British chef tick. Remember when he started on the road to becoming a chef he was not passionate about cooking it was just a job . . . he grew to be passionate.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The original and best 14 Dec 2007
By sam155 TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Marco Pierre White put chefs on the map without meaning to. His reputation whilst at Harveys in the 80s filled many a column inch in the London and National Press and yet refrreshingly, he wasn't courting fame, he simply wanted to feed people the best food they could possibly imagine. Before reading this book I had heard of his fearsome reputation, his genius, and his regular appearances in gossip columns (again, not something he courts). When you understand from the early chapters of this book that this is the story of a boy who lost his mother at age six, then you begin to understand the man behind the myth. To say he was passionate and driven would be to understate the case dramatically. He was a loner, being motherless, and later, estranged from his father. Food was everything to the point where he barely had time to eat it any more, let alone sleep or have a life away from the kitchen. Its a gripping story with cameos from various famous faces and a fascinating historical snapshot of London in the Eighties. Its a story of how hard work maketh the man, a story sadly seen all too rarely amongst today's fame hungry consumerism.

Marco himself remains a likebale enigma. He has been rude, unpleasant, violent even, and has the decency to admit it and explain why without offering excuses for his past mistakes. He appears awkward with women, understandably so since he wasn't brought up around them, and spent his adolescence in front of a hot stove. He is almost pathologically sensitive and proclaims his affection for a friend in one chapter before stating in the next "we havemn't spoken since". This has happened to just about every mentor and friend he has comes across and perhaps reveals a fear of getting close to anyone in case they leave as his mother did.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Beware: Low Flying Cheese... 14 Jun 2008
By Sarah Durston TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In the introduction MPW is reminiscing about a cooking demonstration he was going to do to a group of wealthy women. He says; `These dishes had to be quite effortless and ones the ladies could easily cook at home, so this is what I decided to serve; grilled lobster with parsley and chervil and a béarnaise mousseline; turbot with citrus fruits, a little coriander and some fennel; then sea bass a la nicoise.' I'm guessing that this is unintentional humour?! Cook easily at home, you say?? Mind you, I have trouble with scrambled eggs, so perhaps I'm not the best judge!

This book is absolutely incredible and compulsive reading. MPW talks about; his early life and the loss of his mother; how he started as a chef; his determination and drive to get three Michelin stars; his battle to win a libel case against two American newspapers and, perhaps best of all, some examples of his amazing temper. I was almost spellbound as I read about the time he held the owner of a mink coat to ransom; what he did with Albert Roux and a pig's trotter; and what he got up to in his office at Harveys.

There are times when he does show us a slightly softer and more sensitive side and who could argue with his ethos that, `no man can choose what he is born into, but every man can choose to better himself.' This man really is an inspiration, but that said, whilst reading about him was great....I'd be a little reluctant to work for him!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Tortured Genius 17 Nov 2007
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
By the end of this book, Marco is neither a devil nor in the kitchen, but you do understand why he once was both. Undeniably a difficult character, the autobiography goes some way to explaining the drive and motivations behind the man and I did wonder if a couple of therapy sessions had added to some of the more reflective and self-analytical passages. On the other hand, selective amnesia is often also in evidence especially when concerning business or personal relationships, although he does resist having a malicious swipe at those involved, perhaps an acknowledgment of his part in the downfalls. There is no doubt he inspired and changed a generation of chefs and drove himself to the edge of physical and mental breakdown in trying to achieve a perfection that would bring some sense of inner satisfaction, but you are left in no doubt that the person he wanted to please most of all died when he was too young to impress her. The ghost of Marco's mother is a constant presence in his life, and as he recounts the ups and downs of his career you feel that inner peace is something that he's always struggled and is still struggling to find. As an autobiography, this is quite a revealing and straightforward book but also entertaining and especially evocative of Eighties London. Recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars READ IT TWICE
A COOKING LEGEND TELL IT HOW IT WAS FANTASTIC READING ABOUT THE LIFE OF A CHEF AND HOW IT CAN AFFECT YOU
Published 1 month ago by BIGYID
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story.
It makes you wonder what goes on in the rest of the kitchens around trot he world.
Published 1 month ago by P&P
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but ghost written
Definitely worth a read if you are interested in the behind the scenes action of working in a kitchen as a chef
Published 2 months ago by Leila Ferguson
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book
I gave this as a birthday present and it was very well received. I would recommend it to others too.
Published 4 months ago by Archer
5.0 out of 5 stars A pleasure to meet you sir!
I have been a fan of this great man for years and finally got to read his bio a few weeks ago and what a read it was! Read more
Published 7 months ago by beretta
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
A very intresting account of one of the worlds best chefs, a little hard to get into at the start in his early life but when he gets into the restraunt game its a fantastic read,... Read more
Published 22 months ago by BB
5.0 out of 5 stars BEST BOOK I READ!
If you admire the work that Marco Pierre White has achieved and the person he has become then you will love this book. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Review it
5.0 out of 5 stars An Englishman With An Italian Heart
Yes, he most certainly was a 'Devil in the Kitchen', but that description stops (or begins) at the kitchen door. I really enjoyed reading this book and read it every chance I had. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Nathalie
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Has A Bit Of Everything!!
I cannot fault this book in any way. I wouldn't say I was a big fan of Marco Pierre White before starting to read this book, but now feel that I know him personally! Read more
Published on 12 April 2011 by Essex Shopaholic
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Marco
Absolutly the best autobiography I have read, just could not put it down until it was finished
Published on 17 Jun 2010 by T. W. Frost
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