I haven’t posted much lately because I spent the last week in Dallas, Texas at the National Federation of the Blind’s convention. I won’t go into details here, but you can read about my misadventures, new blindness technology, and other issues raised at convention over at Ever More Hideous.
As far as food goes, I’ve been reading Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook, which is as entertaining as it is informative. Bourdain delivers sound cooking adviicce that the home cook can use as a bedrock for their burgeoning love of food and cooking. Bourdain uses the same scathing wit that he employs in Kitchen Confidential, his account of his checkered career in food.
In Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain details his blundering mishaps and cocaine fueled stints in the trenches of a variety of doomed kitchens before finally settled at Les Halles, proving that whether his direction is up or down, his pace is always meteoric. His Les Halles cookbook feels like the work of a man who has finally realized his age, and now that he’s found his home at Les Halles, he no longer seems driven to leave destruction in his wake. His cookbook does more good than harm, outfitting the novice home adventurer not just with a variety of French recipes it would behoove any serious foodie to have passing familiarity with, but with advice on everything from how to organize one’s cooking space to how to choose the proper knife for the job.
Frankly, though, even if the book were complete rubbish I would feel indebted to Bourdain for providing a list of companies in the back of the book that offer hard to get food items. Having recently secured an apartment with an honest to god pantry, I look forward to stocking it through the twin marvels of Bourdain’s food knowledge and the immense power of the internet.
Here’s what I’m browsing right now: Dean Deluca
Happy buying!
