I often want out of there, it's just too darn hot. I like a small kitchen.'Yes, exactly, as I frequently feel that way in my very own, quiet, little kitchen. It's more intimate, more private than that. I didn't understand this until I worked in our restaurant, but for me, cooking is not a performance. I don't know if it's a matter of genes or temperament or both, but when faced with a dozen orders, I do not get an adrenaline rush. They may swear and sweat, but they like the challenge, the intensity, the urgency. 'But a restaurant kitchen operates at a speed and on a scale that few home kitchens will ever know.Great restaurant cooks thrive under pressure. Didn't Dante write about hell?Īll of which brought to mind a recent article in Bon Appetit, written by Molly Wizenberg, of the popular blog Orangette, entitled, ' If you can't stand the heat.' It was penned shortly after she had worked four months as a cook at Delanceys, Seattle, the restaurant Wizenberg and her husband had just opened. Too much gory detail, but hey, at least he got to hear Dante quoted in between times. An outstanding read, which I truly enjoyed, perhaps excepting only the last section of the book, where for further hands on experience, he apprentices with a butcher in Tuscany. Though, I'm glad he did, so we could read about it. His book could have alternatively been titled, Life on the Line. To go through learning all the steps, from hours, months of mundane prep work, to apprenticing at the stations for pasta, grill work and plating, not to mention, of course, enduring the intense heat (physically and emotionally) back there in the kitchen, including real abuse from some of the chefs. I truly admire Buford's incredible verisimilitude in reporting. Heat incorporates all that and much more, with frequently humorous reflections on food, cultural influences and history. This book is his account of the experience, which brought him to not only hook up with Batali, but to work for him, learning the food business firsthand, which he continued to do, even after his profile, The Secret of Excess, was completed.

Buford, a reporter and editor at the New Yorker, took on the commission of a profile on Mario Batali, larger than life, restaurant owner, Chef, TV personality, and author, with an extreme dedication.

Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta Maker and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany, by Bill Buford, our current Cook the Books Club selection, was a fascinating glimpse into life behind the scenes, at the three-star New York restaurant, Babbo.

Heat bill buford review