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Doing without Delia: Tales of Triumph and Disaster in a French Kitchen [Paperback]

Michael Booth
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Book Description

2 April 2009

Michael Booth has had his fill of celebrity chefs and their 'on the table in five minutes' recipes. He wants to learn how to cook properly, so he burns his cookery books and, together with his young family, heads for a new life in Paris - reasoning that, if anyone can be trusted to make food complicated, it's the French.

Embarking on the ultimate foodie's fantasy, he enrols at the world's most famous cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu, where wise and battle-scarred French chefs commence their transformation of him into a professional cook.

Along the way Booth shares the insider tips and secret techniques of classical cuisine. His odyssey takes him from trauma to triumph, ending in the white-hot heat of the Michelin-starred kitchen of the greatest chef in France.


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Doing without Delia: Tales of Triumph and Disaster in a French Kitchen + Sushi and Beyond: What the Japanese Know About Cooking + Eat Pray Eat
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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (2 April 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 009949423X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099494232
  • Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 2.1 x 19.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 41,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

Mail on Sunday `...the most enjoyable book about food I've read since Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential'

The Daily Telegraph `Michael Booth's entertaining romp through Parisian kitchen life'

Time Out '...as sharp as a Michelin chef's collection of knives... A flavoursome offering.'

Bookseller `hysterically funny account of an English cook's experiences at the Cordon Bleu in Paris...Bill Bryson for gastronerds...I loved it'

Metro `fast-paced, laugh-a-page...[with] more tips than a library of Gordon Ramsay books'

The London Paper 'Hilarious account of a Brit chef's time at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.'

The Good Book Guide 'Mouth-watering and hilarious'

Book Description

An amateur English cook moves to Paris and enrols at France's - and the world's - most famous cookery school - with hilarious consequences.

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Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Most amusing 20 May 2009
Format:Paperback
I loved the book - it really made me laugh and the author's enjoyment and fulfilment in doing the course shone through. It's also a book that I've re-read in parts quite frequently for sheer enjoyment, and the author comes across not only as the ideal dinner party cook but also as guest. That said, the recipes were a bit unnecessary, and the book would have benefited from providing more of a critique of the school and its approach to cooking. The "manifesto" at the end could also have been expanded, although that might have sat rather uneasily with the light-hearted nature of the rest of the book.

Anyone tempted to follow in the author's footsteps should realise that taking the same courses would incur tuition fees of over 22000! That's on top of living costs, and at the end of it you are qualified to work in a kitchen on the minimum wage!
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Let's all go to Culinary School and write a book 17 Jun 2008
Format:Paperback
It's not a bad read and he sums up his feeling about cooking in a professional kitchen very well, but I don't need a lesson in stock-making or the Maillard reaction from someone at a cookery school. The recipes are pretty useless. but that's not the reason to buy this book.

The one reason you would not buy this book is that it has to be the most shoddily put together publication I have ever read. Doesn't anyone proof-read the book before it goes to press. There were times when I literally had to decipher what had been written. I'm sure that this isn't Michael Booth's fault, but someone at Jonathan Cape needs to learn their job.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Make sure your lobster doesn't escape! 21 Mar 2008
By Damaskcat HALL OF FAME TOP 50 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
From the first page of this book I was hooked. Imagine giving up everything including your cookery book collection and taking your family to live in France whilst you learn to cook at the best cookery school in the world - Le Cordon Bleu. Michael Booth spoke very little French when he moved to Paris but he wanted to learn to cook from the best in the world. Read about his fellow students from all over the world, the eccentric chefs and the escaping lobsters. The sentence that sticks in my mind is a description of a lobster wriggling like 'a knight with ants in his armour'. If you're even vaguely interested in cooking or Paris - read this book. There are some recipes as well, but it's the tips you pick up which are useful - for example always let meat rest for half as long as you've cooked it for. If you love chocolate you'll drool over the short course he did in chocolate making. Brilliant
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable but...
An enjoyable read for anyone that loves beautiful food and is not knowledgeable about classical French cooking. Read more
Published on 30 July 2010 by J.G. Tarr
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book but now I own it twice !!
This is a great read, indeed in the vein of Bill Bryson's travelbooks. However, Amazon should mention that this is just a retitled version of "What the french know about cooking"... Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2009 by Wim Goelen
4.0 out of 5 stars French holiday from a cooks viewpoint
Worthwhile read. Not too intense as some of this genre can be. Interesting and provocative. Told me things I had not known in a pleasent
way.
Published on 3 Jan 2009 by ingram
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best culinary books around
For anybody that is interested in becoming a chef this is a must read. In the same vain as any of Anthony Bourdain's non-fiction books Sacre Cordon Bleu gives the reader a first... Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2008 by J. Mcpartlin
4.0 out of 5 stars A very real experience at Le Cordon Bleu
Many reviewers already pointed out that this book is hugely entertaining and the writing about cooking and food can be torturing - unless one has already booked the next great... Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2008 by Cooking student
5.0 out of 5 stars almost as good as eating
what a lovely book, I enjoyed it from the first page to the last. Michael booth is obviously very pasionate about food and he makes you want to leave everything and go to France to... Read more
Published on 13 May 2008 by Cervantes
4.0 out of 5 stars 'Ratatouille' revisited
Thoroughly enjoyable book that makes you immediately want to move to Paris. I don't know if burning your cook book collection is warranted, but Michael Booth certainly makes the... Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2008 by hypercat
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on food in years - highly recommendable!
This is such a refreshing new take on the whole food genre, and the best book on food I've read since "Kitchen Confidential" - and far more entertaining at that. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2008 by Corto
5.0 out of 5 stars A seriously well written and very, very funny book full of great...
I completely recognise the authors desire to go beyond recipe-cooking, and I find the whole journey of insight into real cooking very inspiring and educating. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2008 by Stephan Sander
5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute must read!
I loved this book, it's refreshing, hugely entertaining and you get some really good advice too!!
Published on 26 Feb 2008 by J. M. Wilkins
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