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To have a child is to give fate a hostage.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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Portugal was the beginning, where I began to notice the things that were missing from the average American dining experience. The large groups of people who ate together. The family element. The seemingly casual cruelty that comes with living close to your food. The fierce resistance to change - if change comes at the expense of traditionally valued dishes. I'd see this again and again, in other countries far from Portugal.
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Anthony Bourdain |
cc8aaef
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Look at your waiter's face. He knows. It's another reason to be polite to your waiter: he could save your life with a raised eyebrow or a sigh.
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food-service
waiter
food-writing
restaurant
food
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Anthony Bourdain |
eeabe24
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You might get the impression from the specifics of my less than stellar career that all line cooks are wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts and psychopaths. You wouldn't be too far off base.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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Skills can be taught. Character you either have or don't have. Bigfoot understood that there are two types of people in the world: those who do what they say they're going to do -- and everyone else.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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I'll be right here. Until they drag me off the line. I'm not going anywhere. I hope. It's been an adventure. We took some casualties over the years. Things got broken. Things got lost. But I wouldn't miss it for the world.
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food-writing
restaurant
cooking
chef
kitchen
food
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Anthony Bourdain |
a88c5ef
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I learned to recognize failure.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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This, I knew, was the magic I had until now been only dimly and spitefully aware of.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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Lying in bed and smoking my sixth or seventh cigarette of the morning, I'm wondering what the hell I'm going to do today. Oh yeah, I gotta write this thing. But that's not work, really, is it? It feels somehow shifty and . . . dishonest, making a buck writing.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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Line cooks are the heroes.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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I frequently look back at my life, searching for that fork in the road, trying to figure out where, exactly, I went bad and became a thrill-seeking, pleasure-hungry sensualist, always looking to shock, amuse, terrify and manipulate, seeking to fill that empty spot in my soul with something new.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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He could tell when the bullying, the relentless sarcasm, the constant, all-encompassing vigilance had become too exhausting. When one of his people was fed up with staying awake at night anticipating his likes and dislikes, was sick of charting his mood swings, was tired of feeling demeaned and beaten down after being asked, for instance, to clean out the grease trap, was ready to burst into tears and quit, then suddenly Bigfoot would appea..
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Anthony Bourdain |
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A proper saute pan, for instance, should cause serious head injury if brought down hard against someone's skull. If you have any doubts about which will dent -- the victim's head or your pan -- then throw that pan right in the trash.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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One in eight Cambodians - as many as 2 million people - were killed during the Khmer Rouge's campaign to eradicate their country's history. One out of every 250 Cambodians is missing a limb, crippled by one of the thousands and thousands of land mines still waiting to be stepped on in the country's roads, fields, forests, and irrigation ditches. Destabilized, bombed, invaded, forced into slave labor, murdered by the thousands, the Cambodian..
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Anthony Bourdain |
8c8157c
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Practicing your craft in expert fashion is noble, honorable, and satisfying. And I'll generally take a stand-up mercenary who takes pride in his professionalism over an artist any day.
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craftsmanship
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Anthony Bourdain |
ddd1f19
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Too lazy to peel fresh? You don't deserve to eat garlic.
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fresh
garlic
food-writing
eating
kitchen
food
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Anthony Bourdain |
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Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance, as they say in the army - and I always, always want to be ready. Just like Bigfoot.
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ready
food-writing
preparation
cooking
food
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Anthony Bourdain |
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Skills can be taught. Character you either have or don't have.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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I have since found that almost everybody in the meat business is funny --just as almost everyone in the fish business is not.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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Demi-glace. There are a lot of ways to make demi-glace, but I recommend you simply 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 cube or two as needed, and you are in business -- you can rule the world. And remember, when making a sa..
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Anthony Bourdain |
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Cooking is a craft, I like to think, and a good cook is a craftsman -- not an artist.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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back-scratching of liquor licenses, the netherworld of trash removal, linen, grease disposal. And with every dime you've got tied up in your new place, suddenly the drains in your prep kitchen are backing up with raw sewage, pushing hundreds of gallons of impacted crap into your dining room; your coke-addled chef just called that Asian waitress who's working her way through law school a chink, which ensures your presence in court for the ne..
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Anthony Bourdain |
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My last semester at Vassar, I'd taken to wearing nunchakus in a strap-on holster and carrying around a samurai sword -- that should tell you all you need to know.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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There's that old joke, I've referred to it before, where the guy at the bar asks the girl if she'd fuck him for a million dollars--and she thinks about it and finally replies, "Well, I guess for a million dollars, yeah..." At which point he quickly offers her a dollar for the same service. "Fuck you!" she says, declining angrily. "You think I'd fuck you for a dollar? What do you think I am?" To which the guy says, "Well ... we've already es..
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Anthony Bourdain |
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I can't imagine a better example of Things To Be Wary Of in the food department than bargain sushi.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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And I had my first oyster. Now, this was a truly significant event. I remember it like I remember losing my virginity -- and in many ways, more fondly. August
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Anthony Bourdain |
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No one understands and appreciates the American Dream of hard work leading to material rewards better than a non-American. The Ecuadorian, Mexican, Dominican and Salvadorian cooks I've worked with over the years make most CIA-educated white boys look like clumsy, sniveling little punks.
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Anthony Bourdain |
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There was another inspiring moment: a rough, choppy, moonlit night on the water, and the Dreadnaught's manager looked out the window suddenly to spy thousands of tiny baitfish breaking the surface, rushing frantically toward shore. He knew what that meant, as did everyone else in town with a boat, a gaff and a loaf of Wonder bread to use as bait: the stripers were running! Thousands of the highly prized, relatively expensive striped bass we..
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Anthony Bourdain |
10cf959
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The bartender is Irish. Jumped a student visa about ten years ago but nothing for him to worry about. The cook, though, is Mexican. Some poor bastard at ten dollars an hour--and probably has to wash the dishes, too. La Migra take notice of his immigration status--they catch sight of his bowl cut on the way home to Queens and he'll have a problem. He looks different than the Irish and the Canadians--and he's got Lou Dobbs calling specificall..
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Anthony Bourdain |
23d8df0
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Garlic is divine. Few food items can taste so many distinct ways, handled correctly. Misuse of garlic is a crime. Old garlic, burnt garlic, garlic cut too long ago, garlic that has been tragically smashed through one of those abominations, the garlic press, are all disgusting. Please, treat your garlic with respect.
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delicious
garlic
food-writing
kitchen
crime
food
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Anthony Bourdain |
1f3178a
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For their own good, vegetarians should never be allowed near fine beers and ales. It will only make them loud and belligerent, and they lack the physical strength and aggressive nature to back up any drunken assertions.
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Anthony Bourdain |
3fe0da0
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I believe I should be able to treat my hamburger like food, not like infectious fucking medical waste.
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Anthony Bourdain |
8f557f5
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Let me stress that again: heavyweight. A thin-bottomed saucepan is useless for anything. I don't care if it's bonded with copper, hand-rubbed by virgins, or fashioned from the same material they built the stealth bomber out of. If you like scorched sauces, carbonized chicken, pasta that sticks to the bottom of the pot, burnt breadcrumbs, then be my guest. A proper saute pan, for instance, should cause serious head injury if brought down har..
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Anthony Bourdain |
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As well, there's the age-old syndrome common to fans of musicians with passionate and discerning cult followings. When the objects of adulation are crass enough to become popular, they quickly become a case of "used to be good." --
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Anthony Bourdain |
9e9ef2e
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A loud, egotistical, one-note asshole who's been cruising on the reputation of one obnoxious, over-testosteroned book for way too long and who should just shut the fuck up.
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Anthony Bourdain |
4cf56fd
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The life of the cook was a life of adventure, looting, pillaging and rock-and-rolling through life with a carefree disregard for all conventional morality. It looked pretty damn good to me on the other side of the line.
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cook-s-life
food-writing
cooking
kitchen
food
cook
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Anthony Bourdain |
8801725
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The Ecuadorian, Mexican, Dominican and Salvadorian cooks I've worked with over the years make most CIA-educated white boys look like clumsy, sniveling little punks. In
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Anthony Bourdain |
6445660
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Spend any time in the real Italy, however, and you quickly realize that Italians don't really pick grapes much anymore, and they certainly don't stomp them either. They don't pick tomatoes--or olives--and they don't shear their sheep. Their tomatoes and olives are picked largely by underpaid Africans and Eastern Europeans, seasonal hires, brought in for that purpose--who are then demonized and complained about for the rest of the year. (Exc..
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Anthony Bourdain |
572e8c1
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Just because someone you work with is a miserable, treacherous, self-serving, capricious and corrupt asshole shouldn't prevent you from enjoying their company, working with them or finding them entertaining. This business
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Anthony Bourdain |
55d8747
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I know how old most seafood is on Monday -- about four to five days old!
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Anthony Bourdain |
79a2b77
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Practicing your craft in expert fashion is noble, honorable and satisfying. And I'll generally take a standup mercenary who takes pride in his professionalism over an artist any day.
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Anthony Bourdain |
235424a
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advertising 'Discount Sushi'. I can't imagine a better example of Things To Be Wary Of in the food department than bargain sushi. Yet the place had customers. I wonder, had the sign said 'Cheap Sushi' or 'Old Sushi', if they'd still have eaten there.
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Anthony Bourdain |
e817c9e
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Looking at these photographs, I know that I will never understand the world I live in or fully know the places I've been. I've learned for sure only what I don't know - and how much I have to learn.
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Anthony Bourdain |
636d984
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Portugal was the beginning, where I began to notice the things that were missing from the average American dining experience. The large groups of people who ate together. The family element. The seemingly casual cruelty that comes with living close to your food. The fierce resistance to change - if change comes at the expense of traditionally valued dishes. I'd see this again and again, in other countries far from Portugal.
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Anthony Bourdain |