Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook [Hardcover]

A celebrity with a high-profile position as executive chef at New York bistro Les Halles, and bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour, Bourdain doesn't intend to break new ground. The dishes do exactly as the subtitle notes and include such solid classic fare as Onion Soup Les Halles, Steak au Poivre, Boeuf Bourguignon, Coq au Vin and Chocolate Mousse. Nearly all recipes are within reach of competent home cooks, and those that are more complicated or time-consuming—Bouillabaisse, Cassoulet and Roulade of Wild Pheasant—are thoroughly spelled out to calm most jitters. Foie gras, duck fat and dark veal stock are frequent components, but a list of suppliers makes just about every ingredient available. Even though many of the dishes can be found in other cookbooks, what sets this one apart is Bourdain's signature wise-ass attitude that pervades nearly every recipe, explanatory note and chapter introduction. Profanity adds frequent color. If Aunt Doris would blanche at pearl onions being called "little fuckers," a cook who prefers boneless meat in Daube Provençal a "poor deluded bastard," or a person nervous about making these recipes a "dipshit," this book is not for her. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

'In a style partaking of Hunter S. Thompson, Iggy Pop and a little Jonathan Swift, Bourdain gleefully rips through the scenery to reveal private backstage horrors the guy is hysterical.' New York Times Book Review 'Bawdy, bolshie, and bursting with energy, celebrity chef Bourdain throws open the doors of every kitchen he's ever worked in to leave the reader peering nervously in through clouds of steam' Daily Mail 'How very different from our own dear Delia.' Mail on Sunday 'Voracious, visceral, obsessed and orally fixated, Bourdain writes like a sardonic, articulate demon. He talks like a blend of Scorsese and Tarantino and dishes the dirt on the restaurant trade with scurrilous flair' Big Issue --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Les Halles is the kind of place where people dress down, talk loudly, drink maybe a little too much and enjoy time with friends. That's the front of house. In the kitchen, one suspects executive chef Anthony Bourdain is doing the same as he serves up some of the best French brasserie food in New York. Veal short ribs, steaks, mussels in wine: it's hearty, delicious food.

Bourdain writes as though he's in the kitchen with the reader. His signature wit and charm show in every instruction. Along with over 100 recipes, he provides strategies for getting a meal on the table with a flourish, yet without a huge fuss. The beautiful cover is designed for kitchen use--aesthetic yet practical.

Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential spent 14 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The Food Network's TV series based on Bourdain's A Cook's Tour has made him famous worldwide.