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If I were allowed to read only one cookbook (that's read, not necessarily make the recipes) this one would be it. Bourdain has that rare ability to condescend to you and motivate you to try something new at the same time. It's a mix found in the finest drill instructors, high school math teachers, and apparently, celebrity chefs. As a side note, I went to Les Halles in NYC in June of this year, and my meal SUCKED! My steak was tough, the fries, about which he rhapsodizes for page after page in t...
"If you're afraid of a little grease on your chin or of eating with your hands, are squeemish about bones, fish heads, and guts, are ambivalent about garlic, are too precious with your food, then put this book down now (you probably didn't get any food on it yet) and return it."Bourdain has a lively and casual writing style that is a pleasure to read. I enjoyed the text even though I don't much care for French bistro cuisine.
I’m ready to make a bloody steak, sit outside of the now defunct Les Halles, and sob into some steak frites.
Recipes are picky preparations but absolutely worth it. This is the book and the chef that brought me my dearest friends and kicked off our first cookbook club gathering. Here's what I've tasted and the cookbook club cooks who made them:Me - boeuf bourguingon: not your corn starch thickened momma's beef stew. Use a good wine and you won't regret it. Gretchen - moules a la grecque: Nothing could sway my love of mussels. The Fennel bulb was a delightful twistMolly - petatou: Olives are annoying to...
Look...I love Anthony. I've watched every episode of Cook's Tour, No Reservations and the Layover three or four times each. I've read almost all of his books. I used to eat at Les Halles back when he actually worked there. Big fan. All that being said...this cookbook just isn't very good. If you follow the recipes to the letter, what you wind up with is adequate meals that approximately appear & taste as they should on a most baseline level. Nothing more. And certainly nothing special. I've eate...
It's well written, but a lousy cookbook. Does that make sense? It does to me. And I've TRIED to make his food. Pelé help me: I've tried. But some of them are just fricking impossible. Take rillettes. Wonderful food. Absolutely delicious. His recipe makes them sound as good as they are. I double dog dare anyone who has no previous experience with charcuterie to figure out what the H he is actually talking about. His steps are so vague as to be almost useless. My wife's gramma used to give barely
I love the blunt , honest style this cookbook is written in.
As a huge cookbook reader and a Bourdain fan, this one rates top shelf placement in my collection. From the perspective of a plain old, ordinary cookbook, it's great: bright, sexy photographs, clearly printed recipes, nicely organized into sensible (not kitchy) sections. Everything I look for.The recipes are presented in an unusual fashion. They begin with the standard ingredient list, but the step by step instructions read like prose: he's teaching you how to create the dish the way your mom or...
I fell in love with this book the moment I opened it up to some random spot in the middle and the first sentence I read included the word "fuck." Nothing like one of the naughtier of the four letter words in a cook book. I heart Anthony Bourdain.
This cookbook has served me very well over the few years I've owned it. Love Bourdain's style, and his recipes are unbeatable. I originally bought this book on the strength of its mushroom soup recipe- simple, tasty, versatile, but the page with all the greasy stains on it which gets pulled out all the time is the Poulet Roti-- the best roast chicken recipe I've ever seen. Even with all its use, I only recently went back and read the lengthier written portions. He is a truly engaging writer and
probably the funniest cookbook you'll ever read. i may not boil pounds and pounds of bones down over two days in an economy-size cooker that i don't own to make my own demi-glace, but it's not like mssr. bourdain is really standing behind me with a meat cleaver for not doing so.some recipes are totally approachable and do-able, some require more of you and maybe more than you're able to handle.one of the more enduring passages has to do with the subject of cooking lobsters, and the probable sque...
Lots of swearing at Americans for how we choose our cuts of beef, overcook green beans, etc. All of which I agree with because I am in love with Anthony Bourdain.My only criticism of this book is that there are not enough pictures of Anthony Bourdain in it.
If you take nothing else from this book, follow these 3 rules:1. make your own stock, making your own demi glace from the stock, you'll understand once you've done it why this is essential.2. only eat mussels at home.3. a well-prepared meal inspires not only confidence, it can be a great way to get back at someone and show them up.Sometimes the instructions are too skeletal for my liking--I find myself panicky and sniveling about unexpected events I encounter between steps. If you want culinary
this book is what it says it is, it's Tony Bourdain's recipes from Les Halles along with his style of commentary. I like the recipes, if only for the same reasons I like the recipes in the French Laundry Cookbook - I probably won't make most of them, but they're something to aspire to, or adapt to my own abilities (for instance, i'm NOT going to make veal stock any year soon... it's just over the top when you're normally cooking for 2. Demi-glace from D'artagnon however? that I will buy). I've b...
I love Anthony Bourdain, but I don't think I will cook anything from this collection. These recipes remind me (once again) why I do not love French cooking. Too much meat, too much meat fat, not enough fresh flavor. Most of the recipes call for homemade stock (veal, chicken, beef, duck, lamb, fish) and a bit of demi-glace. Bourdain devotes several pages to stocks and demi, without mentioning anything of a roasted vegetable stock, which I make and am fond of. I make other stocks, too, mostly not
how do you review a cookbook? this is the most non-traditional, unforgiving, scathing cookbook you can find. He's got insane recipes but just biting commentary, I actually found myself reading it almost as a book. If you're into food, I'd definitely recommend owning a copy.
When I have a serious piece of meat or an ingredient I want to show off and still manage to cook it so I can eat dinner, I reach for Les Halles cookbook by none other than Anthony Bourdain. I don't eat meat too often, I know he does and writes about it a lot, but when I do I like to treat it with respect and use it to its full potential, when I finally do indulge in it, I can think of a few other French cookbooks that I have but this one has spunk, and is so gosh darn entertaining too. It has kn...
Why not five stars? Because I can never get enough of Bourdain's commentary. It's a rare cookbook that can make me laugh, after all! Solid, approachable recipes for someone who wants to up their cooking game.
bitch!!!! i'm not trying to be a chef in my own home!!!!!!!!!! just kidding i love u these are some dope recipes im still gonna buy store bought stocks though mwah on a more serious note, this is the closest thing i'll ever get to trying ur cooking soi will do my best
Yes. I'm a vegetarian and I'm giving Bourdain a 5-star rating. It's an oddly entertaining cookbook. You can actually read it cover to cover and enjoy just that experience, but I'd highly recommend trying your hand at any of the recipes. My copy is now well worn and covered with various food stains. A true sign of a well-loved cookbook.The recipes are exceptionally easy to follow. I love Julia Child as much as the next girl, but sometimes her instructions are lacking in clarity. I find Bourdain t...