Book Talk

Well, what does the feeder write about when he really doesn’t have anything to write about in particular?  Well, just kind of banal stuff, like some books I have recently read related to food and cooking (go figure). 

One was “Sous Chef – 24 Hours on the Line” by Michael Gibney. It is another in the “Kitchen Confidential” genre, that is, it takes you through 24 hours in the life of a Sous Chef in a “modern American” restaurant in Manhattan.  It is written in the second person which kind of brings you into the experience.  “you check the walk-in to make sure the deliveries….”;  or “you hear chef call out the ticket, and you respond “yes, Chef” as do all the line cooks”. It takes you through the morning checking duties, through lunch service and then dinner service and the pressures to get the food out.  A pretty thorough accounting of how things go from ticket to the pass for serving.  I thought it started kind of slow but you get sucked in.  It has pretty graphic language and a host of terms related to kitchen equipment, tools, processes, etc. Most of them are not explained in the text (do you know what the “piano” is?).  Fortunately there is a pretty exhaustive glossary included in the back.  I of course have never worked or observed such a situation, but I suspect it is fairly accurate, it sort of mirrors Gabby Hamilton’s “Blood, Bones, and Butter”.  Both are pretty good reads.

I just finished “The Life of the Restaurateur”, by Nicholas Lander. 

Nicholas is a Brit, and is the food writer/reviewer for the Financial Times.  While the two books above (along with Anthony’s “Confidential”) are pretty much the back of the house stuff, Nicholas moves us to the front.  He was the owner of the highly successful L’Escargot in Soho during the ‘80’s.  His book is basically a series of stories distilled from interviews with other restaurateurs from all over the world.  Most of the names I was unfamiliar with, but some not.  You may have heard of Hazel Allen of Ballymaloe, Ireland, or perhaps Joe Bastianich of Babbo in New York, but how about Juli Soler of elBulli in Spain or Marie-Pierre Troisgros from Maison Troisgros in France.  Most of the restaurants are Michelin starred and enjoy national recognition.  Each profile goes into how the particular individual came to opening or renovating a restaurant, whether through the kitchen or a love of food and people.  It is fairly illuminating, and made me aware of things that go into making a restaurant successful over a long period of time.

You don’t just hire a big name chef plunk down a bunch of tables and stand back and wait for the cash to roll in. I thought this was an interesting quote: “Neither Drew Nieporent (Nobu, New York) or Alan Yau (wagamama, London) could have been more specific: the success of their diverse restaurants over the past twenty five years has rested firmly on the intense management of their internal space, and this element has become almost the most fascinating part of their plans for any proposed new site. The issue is that those whose space has not been correctly planned, discussed, and then laid out will always be less profitable than they should have been.”  He goes on to talk about “dead space” (non revenue producing) like reception, walk ways to lavatories, storage facilities, manager’s office, etc..   Those thing have to be carefully thought of and put into the plan.  It’s a fascinating book, has lovely illustrations, of the restaurateur

And their restaurants

A food book with kind of a different slant… 

In that book there was a reference to: “The Great Chefs of France”, published over thirty years ago that for the very first time documented the professional lives and achievements of the all the three-Michelin-starred chefs of France (at that time).  The magic of credit cards and Amazon had it in my hands three days later.

Besides the bios of the chefs, there are wonderful black and white photos by Anthony Blake

It also has a nice history of the evolution of French Cuisine, from Escoffier forward.  Another good read.

What all of these books do for me is further convince me that I never want to own a restaurant, or cook in one.  Long hours, tortuous conditions, often difficult personalities, and usually not very much money.  In the beginning of “Great Chefs” the author goes through an almost hour by hour day in the life of the chefs beginning with entries like:

6am:  Francois Bise is already in his kitchen making croissants for breakfast for his overnight guests

…….

11:45am Raymond Thuilier is tasting sauces, while his patissier’s handiwork is being arranged for the dessert Trolley

 .......

And so on, up until

12:00(Midnight): Roger Verge and Louis Outhier may still be offering hospitality as if they had all the time in the world.

He concludes by saying: “The chefs who live through such a day as this are not slaves, nor are they driven by financial greed.  They are artists dedicated to the pursuit of excellence.  They could come from only one country – France”  While the latter part of that thirty year old statement might not be quite true today, the sentiment is.  Thank goodness there are those that dedicate their lives to putting wonderful food on my plate.  It’s a tough life.. Thank you.  and one of the reasons why I

DFD