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Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
by Bill Buford

Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany Cover

Powells.com Staff Pick

Much like Anthony Bourdain's sensational account of the culinary trenches of Amercian restaurant kitchens, Bill Buford's Heat gives readers an authentic look at his tenure as "kitchen slave" to celebrity chef Mario Batali. Including chapters on Batali's progress to becoming a chef and star; Buford's developing skills as an untrained amateur within the kitchen at Batali's restaurant, Babbo; and interesting musings on polenta, pasta, and the butcher's trade, Buford's delightfully descriptive adventure left me craving a big meal and a wicked night in a restaurant kitchen corner.
Recommended by Michal, Powells.com

Review-a-Day   (What is Review-a-Day?)

"[D]elightful....Heat lets readers share Buford's adoration for Italian food; one of the book's highlights is a show-stopping, hilariously insecure riff on the country's culinary neuroses....Buford was clearly already a rather impressive cook before he came to Babbo, but he becomes — after stints in Porretta to learn how to make real Italian pasta and Panzano to learn how to become a real Tuscan butcher — a truly exceptional one." Warren Bass, The Washington Post Book World (read the entire Washington Post Book World review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From one of our most interesting literary figures — 16 years as editor of Granta, 8 years as fiction editor at The New Yorker, author of Among the Thugs, the best-selling expose of the world of English soccer hooligans — a sharp, funny, exuberant, close-up book about his headlong plunge into the life of a professional cook-in-training.

Expanding on his August 2002 New Yorker article, Bill Buford now gives us a richly evocative chronicle of his experience as "slave" to Mario Batali in the small, chaotic, highest-standards kitchen of Batali's three-star New York restaurant, Babbo, and of his apprenticeships with Batali's former teachers. In a fast-paced, candid narrative, Buford describes three frenetic years in the kitchen: trials and errors, disappointments and triumphs, as he worked his way up the Babbo ladder to a line cook... his relationship with the larger-than-life Batali, whose story he learns as their friendship grows through (and sometimes despite) kitchen encounters and after-work all-nighters... and his immersion in the art of butchery in Northern Italy, of preparing game in London, and of handmade pasta at an Italian hillside trattoria.

Heat is a marvelous hybrid: a memoir of Buford's kitchen adventure, the story of Batali's amazing rise to culinary (and extra-culinary) fame, a dazzling behind-the-scenes look at a famous restaurant, and an illuminating exploration of why food matters. It is a book to delight in, and to savor.

Review:

"An all-too-rare description of the real business of cooking, its characters and its subculture. I lingered over every sentence like a heavily truffled risotto." Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential

Review:

"I have never read a funnier or more authentic account of the making of a serious cook. Give Mr. Buford three stars." Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence

Review:

"Through [Buford's] eyes, we see what 'heat' truly is and why so many cooks have a penchant for Dante: cooking is hell. The pacing is quick, and the writing often mirrors the intensity of the kitchen....A well-seasoned cast of characters rounds out this culinary odyssey." Library Journal

Review:

"The book is part memoir, part biography and part tutorial, and its deftly intertwining narratives include everything from high-end restaurant gossip and kitchen secrets to a passionate homage to the rapidly declining traditions of handmade food." New York Times

Review:

"Exuberant, hilarious, glorying in its rich and arcane subject matter." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"A tour de force piece of immersion reportage." Chicago Sun-Times

Review:

"Buford breezes along with charmingly chaotic anecdotes of his travels and cooking....[W]hen Molto Mario swaggers onto the page, Heat rocks." Houston Chronicle

Review:

"Bill Buford learns that Italians take their cuisine very seriously....Heat is more than just a tasty treat; it's a memorable meal made with passion and served with brio." Boston Globe

Review:

"Its meaty morsels will leave most readers pining for a second helping." Christian Science Monitor

Review:

"However uncertain he is of his culinary skills, Buford needn't worry about his exceptional gift of writing words to esteem and savor." Seattle Times

Synopsis:

From Bill Buford, one of our most interesting literary figures--eight years as fiction editor at "The New Yorker"--comes a sharp, funny, exuberant, close-up account of his headlong plunge into the life of a professional cook. A marvelous hybrid, "Heat" offers a memoir of Buford's kitchen adventure as well as an illuminating exploration of why food matters.From Bill Buford, one of our most interesting literary figures--eight years as fiction editor at "The New Yorker"--comes a sharp, funny, exuberant, close-up account of his headlong plunge into the life of a professional cook. A marvelous hybrid, "Heat" offers a memoir of Buford's kitchen adventure as well as an illuminating exploration of why food matters.

Synopsis:

Bill Buford—author of the highly acclaimed best-selling Among the Thugs—had long thought of himself as a reasonably comfortable cook when in 2002 he finally decided to answer a question that had nagged him every time he prepared a meal: What kind of cook could he be if he worked in a professional kitchen? When the opportunity arose to train in the kitchen of Mario Batali’s three-star New York restaurant, Babbo, Buford grabbed it. Heat is the chronicle—sharp, funny, wonderfully exuberant—of his time spent as Batali’s “slave” and of his far-flung apprenticeships with culinary masters in Italy.

In a fast-paced, candid narrative, Buford describes the frenetic experience of working in Babbo’s kitchen: the trials and errors (and more errors), humiliations and hopes, disappointments and triumphs as he worked his way up the ladder from slave to cook. He talks about his relationships with his kitchen colleagues and with the larger-than-life, hard-living Batali, whose story he learns as their friendship grows through (and sometimes despite) kitchen encounters and after-work all-nighters.

Buford takes us to the restaurant in a remote Appennine village where Batali first apprenticed in Italy and where Buford learns the intricacies of handmade pasta . . . the hill town in Chianti where he is tutored in the art of butchery by Italy’s most famous butcher, a man who insists that his meat is an expression of the Italian soul . . . to London, where he is instructed in the preparation of game by Marco Pierre White, one of England’s most celebrated (or perhaps notorious) chefs. And throughout, we follow the thread of Buford’s fascinating reflections on food as a bearer of culture, on the history and development of a few special dishes (Is the shape of tortellini really based on a woman’s navel? And just what is a short rib?), and on the what and why of the foods we eat today.

Heat is a marvelous hybrid: a richly evocative memoir of Buford’s kitchen adventure, the story of Batali’s amazing rise to culinary (and extra-culinary) fame, a dazzling behind-the-scenes look at the workings of a famous restaurant, and an illuminating exploration of why food matters.

It is a book to delight in—and to savor.

Synopsis:

From Bill Buford, one of our most interesting literary figures--eight years as fiction editor at "The New Yorker"--comes a sharp, funny, exuberant, close-up account of his headlong plunge into the life of a professional cook. A marvelous hybrid, "Heat" offers a memoir of Buford's kitchen adventure as well as an illuminating exploration of why food matters.
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About the Author

Bill Buford is a staff writer for the New Yorker, where he was the fiction editor for eight years. He was the founding editor of Granta magazine and was also the publisher of Granta Books. His previous book, Among the Thugs, is a nonfiction account of crowd violence and British soccer hooliganism. He lives in New York City with his wife, Jessica Green, and their two sons.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
worldtravel04, June 27, 2007 (view all comments by worldtravel04)
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in Babbo, ?Molto? Mario Batali?s three star restaurant? Buford enters the frantic, crude, macho world of a NY chef as Batali?s non-paid kitchen slave?learning first hand how large the gulf between an enthusiastic amateur and professional is. Part-culinary history, part-behind-the-scenes look at Mario?s Babbo, part-travelogue and entirely entertaining.
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Ben Pearlman, November 28, 2006 (view all comments by Ben Pearlman)
Reading Heat is an experience of experiencing what a Chef really is. These men, and women, live a life unlike any other. They actually "slave" to become proficient at their trade, or should we say Art.

You and I might eat at various restaurants without ever giving a thought to the people preparing our food. Watching the Food Network is not learning anything about the true torture, humiliations or joys that a kitchen person must endure to become the leader of an establishment that feeds the masses.

I doubt that there are more than a few of the restaurant customers who would consider, for even a moment, undergoing all that these folks must go thru to succeed.

Bill Buford has painted a vibrant, disturbing, celebratory portrait, of dedication, to which these culinary artisans have devoted themselves.

Hats off to Buford and the people in toques.
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Mick, November 28, 2006 (view all comments by Mick)
This book made me want to cook and eat and learn about food, and cook some more and eat some more, and on and on and on. Great fun.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781400041206
Subtitle:
An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
Author:
Buford, Bill
Author:
Buford, Bill
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Cookery, italian
Subject:
Food
Subject:
Cooking
Subject:
Personal Memoirs
Subject:
Entertainment & Performing Arts - General
Copyright:
2004
Publication Date:
May 30, 2006
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
318
Dimensions:
9.61x6.60x1.27 in. 1.51 lbs.
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