This book is a description of restaurant subculture. Bourdain describes the different stages of life as a chef, starting as a dishwasher and working his way up. It's packed with interesting characters and anecdotes, and things perhaps we'd rather not know about the restaurant business. Perhaps you've seen Bourdain on the travel channel. He's the dude that travels around and eats exotic food.
Advice and info from Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential:
standard mise-en-place -
- kosher or sea salt
- crushed black peppercorns (hand crushed, not ground in a blender)
- fresh bread crumbs
- chiffonade parsley
- blended oil in wine bottle with speed pourer
- extra virgin olive oil
- white wine
- brandy
- chervil tops in ice water for garnish
- chive sticks or chopped chives
- tomato concassée
- caramelized apple sections
- garlic confit
- chopped or slivered garlic
- chopped shallots
- softened butter
- favorite ladles, spoons, tongs, pans, pots
- all sauces, portioned fish, meat, menu items, specials and backups conveniently positioned for easy access
Bourdain’s kitchen recommended tools:
- a decent chef’s knife – no shit!!!!!!! – I’ve got a zwilling santoku – best knife I’ve ever used
- a flexible boning knife – don’t have one of these
- a paring knife – I use a serrated steak knife that costs about a dollar. I prefer it to the my $30 dollar zwilling paring knife
- an offset serrated knife that looks like a “z” – I’d like to try one of these some day
- plastic squeeze bottle – for decoration
- a metal ring, or section of PVC pipe - for mounting works of art
- pastry bag
- mandoline – they make cheap effective one’s in
- pots and pans – heavyweight – thick-bottomed sauté pans are necessary – in order to come across some discount ones, Bourdain’s advice is to wait for that new tapas place on the corner to go out of business, then make your move.
- a nonstick sauté pan – you need a nice thick nonstick sauté pan, not one with a thin veneer of material that peels off after a few weeks. When you buy nonstick, never wash it and don’t use metal in it
Bourdain’s essential ingredients:
- shallots
- butter
- roasted garlic – don’t put it through a press, try roasting it – “It gets mellow and sweeter if you roast it whole, still on the clove, to be squeezed out later when it’s soft and brown. Try a Caesar dressing, for instance with a mix of fresh, raw garlic for bite and roasted for background, and you’lol see what I mean.”
- Chiffonaded parsley
- stock – a backbone of good cooking “Make stock already! It’s easy! Just roast some bones, roast some vegetables, put them in a big pot with water and reduce and reduce and reduce. Make a few months’ worth, and when it’s reduced enough strain it and freeze it in small containers so you can pull it from the freezer as needed.
- demi-glace – To prepare: “take your already reduced meat stock, add some red wine, toss in some shallots and fresh thyme and a bay leaf and peppercorns and slowly, slowly simmer it and reduce it again until it coats a spoon. Strain. Freeze this stuff in an ice-cube tray, pop out a cub or two as needed and you are in business.”
- chervil, basil tops, chive sticks, mint tops, etc
