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Kitchen Confidential
 
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Kitchen Confidential (Hardcover)

by Anthony Bourdain (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (21 Aug 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747550727
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747550723
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 436,374 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Kitchen Confidential is for diners who believe that their sublime sliver of seared foie gras, topped with an ethereal buckwheat blini and a drizzle of piquant huckleberry sauce, was created by a culinary artist of the highest order, a sensitive, highly refined executive chef. The truth is more brutal. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain, that elegant three-star concoction is the collaborative effort of a team of "wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts and psychopaths," in all likelihood pierced or tattooed and incapable of uttering a sentence without an expletive or a foreign phrase. Such is the muscular view of the culinary trenches from one who's been groveling in them, with obvious sadomasochistic pleasure, for more than 20 years.

Bourdain, currently the executive chef of the celebrated Les Halles, wrote two culinary mysteries before his first (and infamous) New Yorker essay launched this frank confessional about the lusty and larcenous real lives of cooks and restaurateurs. He is obscenely eloquent, unapologetically opinionated, and a damn fine storyteller--a Jack Kerouac of the kitchen. Those without the stomach for this kind of joyride should note his opening caveat: "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favour well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection.... But I'm simply not going to deceive anybody about the life as I've seen it." --Sumi Hahn



Sunday Times

'More gripping than a Stephen King novel.'
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Customer Reviews

49 Reviews
5 star:
 (32)
4 star:
 (10)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (49 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Confessions From A Dark Kitchen, 21 Nov 2000
By A Customer
Anthony Bourdain, Executive Chef at Les Halles, New York, has written far more than yet another memoir. Within these pages you will find humour, tragedy, pathos, engaging wit and attention gripping story telling ability. Oh yes, and horror! Never before has the lid been fully lifted from the bubbling cauldron of a professional kitchen to reveal to a hitherto unsuspecting public the full contents therein. Drugs, sex, rock'n'roll and much worse in the sort of excesses which put Fellini and Ken Russell to shame! Gasp at the incredulous characters who appear, sometimes occasionally, in Mr Bourdain's kitchens. Be afraid - be very afraid - as Mr Bourdain tells us all those little tricks of the trade which go on behind closed - or swinging - doors. Having attended catering college and started a career as Sous Chef many years ago I admit that some of these tricks are fairly common knowledge. But there are still tales here which grabbed my attention and made me vow never to go near certain restaurants again! Being based in America gives this book a certain distance - the sort of 'it couldn't happen over here' attitude which predated the arrival of McDonalds - and eccentricity which may deter many from buying it. Their loss. They will be missing out on one of this year's surprise successes, one of the most entertaining food books on the market and the sort of brutal reality that seems to have been lost in this country. Quite possibly, though, it is not lost but just hidden under a glutinous sauce of celebrity chef and Deliaism!
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well-written, hilarious, surprisingly interesting., 12 Aug 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Kitchen Confidential (Paperback)
This man can't just cook, he can write. That was my first surprise. The second surprise was realizing how interesting the world of cooking and behind-swinging-doors kitchen life seemed to me after reading this book. He makes what would seem, to me anyway, a mundane and even boring sub-world come very much alive for the reader. Mr. Bourdain obviously loves what he does, and he communicates that love with great joy and, quite often, with the bawdy relish of a teenager telling a dirty joke to his friends.

I couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud. I learned a ton of new information about food, cooking, and the restaurant business. I recommended it to a friend and he loved it. It made me want to meet the author and hang out in his kitchen. What more can you ask for from a book about being a chef?

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Rock'n'Roll Cook's Tale, 15 Oct 2003
By Andrew Kerr "Alabony" (Dunfermline, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Kitchen Confidential (Paperback)
Anthony Bourdain is a very good writer. His style is that easy flow that seems like he's just talking to you - and it suits this book perfectly.

From his drug-hazed beginnings in chefdom to his (later) lucid appreciation of all things culinary, you do get a real sense of the chaos and artistry that takes place in most kitchens.

He changes tack about 3/4 of the way through and goes from being a hard-nosed old-hander, telling you like it is, to a more self-effacing well-rounded chef, explaining that his way is not always the best way.

It's a culinary roller-coaster ride, full of sharp little stories, and handy advice for people eating out in restaurants (what to avoid, specifically!) - as well as an open and honest assessment of his own career.

An easy read - quite rewarding, not particularly gripping, but worthwhile all the same.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
This was one of the best books about the culinary arts I have ever read. It's very engaging and really holds your attention. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Jessica Goodall

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm hungry
Kitchen confidential is a very well written book, Anthony starts with his firt contact with the cusine in France, from there moving to several restaurants and life experiences... Read more
Published 24 days ago by C. Lopez Ferreira

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
A great book, recommended to me by friends and they were right! It is part autobiography and part ideas on cooking. It inspired me to but the cookbook which is also excellent
Published 1 month ago by M. Godden

5.0 out of 5 stars Kitchen Confidential
I first read Kitchen Confidential years ago when it was newly published, and I never forgot some its more succinct and informative chapters, notably Bordain's hair-raising advice... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Saramis

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll Never Eat Out Again!
This is an excellent book detailing the author's experiences in the kitchens of the US in the 1970/80s. Read more
Published 4 months ago by A Music Lover

2.0 out of 5 stars ANTHONY BOURDAIN Kitchen Confidential
Perhaps the first celebrated 'real-life' chef memoir and certainly one that makes the man who just julienned your carrots sound like Sgt. Elias in 'Platoon'. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Blue Yates

5.0 out of 5 stars Mouthwatering - good enough to eat
This a feast for the mind.

Before muppets like Ramsey and his ilk lumbered onto our screens Bourdain wrote this work of genius. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Richard Vasquez

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic story of life in professional kitchens.
Like so many people working in kitchens Bourdain came to it as a last resort, down and out. Through luck, coupled with occasional ambition and judgement he found a crazy world... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Jernau Gurgeh

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
This book/Anthony is hilarious! i'm really enjoy reading his books, especially this 'kitchen confidential', the food business around him as well as the you-know-what dark side, a... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ip W. C. Maggie

5.0 out of 5 stars Captures the real passion needed to be a chef
This is one of my favourite books. It captures a passion for food that most of us will never have, an appreciation of ingredients and technique and a compulsive attention to... Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2007 by Caterkiller

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