Friday, November 10, 2017

The Devil in the Kitchen

The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef by Marco Pierre White  244 pp.

I never heard of Marco Pierre White until I got this book for a couple bucks on sale at Audible. It turns out that White was both the youngest and the first British chef to earn three Michelin stars for his work in various restaurants in England. He is also a television personality in Great Britain having been on the British version of "Hell's Kitchen" and other food related shows including ones in the U.S. Born to an English father, also a chef, and an Italian mother, White grew up in Leeds, West Yorkshire. After leaving school before graduating and leaving home because he didn't want to deal with a new stepmother, White began working in restaurant kitchens, working his way up to high end establishments through hutzpah, talent, and sheer hard work to some of the best restaurants in England. Along the way he earned his Michelin stars, worked with chefs like Mario Batali and Gordon Ramsey, and opened his own restaurants, one in partnership with actor Michael Caine. The books ends at his retirement from being a working chef in 1999. White is a self-proclaimed workaholic who decided it was time to actually spend some time with his family. He is brutally honest in this book about his fits of temper, wild life which did not include the drug use of many other celebrity chefs, and obsession with creating perfect meals.

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