Book Review of Kitchen Confidential

Anthony Bourdain's Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Sep 13, 2009

The bad boy of the restaurant business' memoir is a modern classic - equally famous for insider's tips on what not to order as for servings of Bourdain's black humour.

Why write a book review of Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential almost a decade after it was first published? Simple. It is still ranked as the number one best-selling book in Amazon.com's Cooking, Food & Wine section, and, of course, it's a rock-and-roll good read.

It was this very memoir that first made the author, chef and tv star famous. Kitchen Confidential is Bourdain's testosterone laden account of what he's seen and experienced, as he unwittingly exposes the naked 'culinary underbelly' of New York's kitchens, during what he terms 'twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine'. In this book, Bourdain tells of his rise from dishwasher to executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York, detailing his adventures along the way with unflinching frankness.

Chef Anthony Bourdain Cuts Through Restaurant Myths

Cutting through the many myths surrounding the restaurant business with the force of a meat cleaver, Bourdain slices open a mad, sad and slightly ugly world, as this excerpt from the book illustrates: "I'm not even going to talk about blood. Let's just say we cut ourselves a lot in the kitchen and leave it at that.' Food writer A.A. Gill perhaps said it best when he described the book as 'Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino'.

Bourdain has subsequently stated that he has no interest in changing the restaurant business, claiming that he likes it 'just as it is'. He also doesn't spare himself. Far from washing his hands of sin, he details every scar, burn and callous (both literally and figuratively) during his descent into drug addiction and debauchery, emerging with the ugly kitchen-scarred hands (and perhaps, soul) he's always wanted. The book might have become a bit too unpalatable if it weren't for Bourdain's excellent black humour, his boyish sense of adventure and his unrelenting love for the best ingredients and the finest food. Bourdain loves to proclaim himself an asshole, but he does so with such self-deprecating wit that you can't help liking him.

While some of his none too delicate descriptions and lewd language might just put you off your food, the book is perhaps most loved for its excellent tips, such as why not to order fish on a Monday, why one should be wary of restaurant brunches and what you're really getting when you order your steak 'well done'. He also offers tips on how to cook like a chef, which knives to buy, and what kitchen equipment you really need (and where to buy them on the cheap).

Kitchen Confidential is a Chef's Memoir

The book is divided into sections called Appetizer, First Course, Second Course, Third Course, Dessert and Coffee and a Cigarette, with chapters such as 'How to Cook Like the Pros', 'Owner's Syndrome and Other Medical Anomalies', 'What I Know About Meat' and 'A Day in the Life'.

This chef's memoir should be required reading for any aspiring chef, everyone dreaming of that cliched 'second career' as a restaurateur and even the most accidental of diners. So, if you're late to the party and you haven't read this one yet, don't wait any longer.

Kitchen confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly is published by Harper Perennial; Updated edition (January 9, 2007)

The copyright of the article Book Review of Kitchen Confidential in Food Trends is owned by Karin Engelbrecht. Permission to republish Book Review of Kitchen Confidential in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.