I just finished reading a book called Heat by Bill Buford. I first heard about it when Buford was a guest on Idiot's Delight. In fact, I've gotten a bunch of cool stuff from listening to that show - more on that another time. And as I've started eating less...uh...junk lately and cooking for myself more, I thought I'd check the book out.




The book tells of the author's time working in Mario Batali's restaurant as well as his other research & travels around the world about cooking & restaurants - particularly Italian cooking. If you go into this book naive about what happens in the kitchens of restaurants (not the most sanitary places in the world) then you may not want to read the book.

The book made me think about what we eat. At the very end, Buford gives a paragraph or two about vegetarianism and eating meat and he seems to kind of shrug the subject off, but for anyone who gives it thought, it's an interesting read in that regard as well. It also provided me with a lot of thought about how to cook...and it just confirmed what I already know...I don't know jack squat.

I've worked in a restaurant kitchen before - by no means 3 star, big city establishments - and in those places the cooking was pretty straight forward, but in the trendy places, the ones that come up with "original" dishes, they use everything...including the kitchen sink...in their food. I really have no desire to spend hundreds of dollars on that kind of food. Look man, if I really want to eat quail anus...well...I'd never want to eat quail anus...that's kind of the point. And in a Batali restaurant it wouldn't say "quail anus" so why take the chance.

It's kinda like Crunchy Frog.

Anyway, read the book, but don't go to the restaurant.