Friedman Andrew - Dont try this at home : culinary catastrophes from the worlds greatest chefs

"Take a handful of culinary masters, toss in stories of utter humiliation or heartache, and you wind up with a spicy little essay collection... Lots of fun for foodies both ardent and casual."

Kirkus Reviews

"A reminder thatin real life as in the kitchenguts are as important as genius."

People ****

"A dishy collection of stories... lively additions to the KitchenConfidential genre."

Julie Powell, Food & Wine

"Surely, you think, real chefs aren't bedeviled by these problems. Think again. You can't even imagine the hidden kitchen terrors recounted by professionals in Don't Try This At Home"

Washington Post Book World

"Happily reminds us that even big shots have off days."

Publishers Weekly

"A sometimes comical and always unique glimpse behind the scenes of restaurant kitchens [and] a fantastic collection of personal stories that depict these great chefs as real people."

Library Journal

"As in every other profession, chefs love their war stories. Finally someone had the good sense to collect some of the best."

Los Angeles Times

"Witherspoon and Friedman have gathered memorable stories from some of the best chefs in the world, and it's just plain satisfying to read about their flubs."

New York Sun

"You'll love Don't Try This at Home... It's proof that celeb chefs climb into their checked trousers one leg at a time just like the rest of us."

Oregonian

"For those considering a life in the kitchen, these are cautionary tales, since they suggest that a career in a place replete with sharp tools, open flames and stressed-out lunatics may be fraught with peril. But for true foodies, these comic tales are a delight."

Winston Salem-Journal

"An inspiration for anyone who has been discouraged or shy to return to the kitchen after burning a soup or adding sugar instead of salt to a recipe."

San Antonio Express-News

"What a wonderful idea for a bedside table book... these comic tales are a delight."

Virginian-Pilot

"There's often humor in disaster, especially at the hands and in the kitchens of some of the world's top chefs... You'll smile and remember your own kitchen disasters."

Kansas City Star

A NOTE ON THE EDITORS

Kimberly Witherspoon is a founding partner of Inkwell Management, a literary agency based in Manhattan. She is also the coeditor of the collection How I Learned to Cook and is very proud to represent seven of the chefs in this anthology: Anthony Bourdain, Tamasin Day-Lewis, Gabrielle Hamilton, Fergus Henderson, Pino Luongo, Marcus Samuelsson, and Norman Van Aken. She and her family live in North Salem, New York.

Andrew Friedman has coauthored more than fifteen cookbooks with some of the most successful chefs in the country, including Pino Luongo, Alfred Portale, Jimmy Bradley, and former White House chef Walter Scheib. He is also the coauthor of Breaking Back, the autobiography of American tennis star James Blake. He lives in New York City with his family.

DON'T TRY

THIS AT HOME

Culinary Catastrophes from

the World's Greatest Chefs

Edited by Kimberly Witherspoon

and Andrew Friedman

BLOOMSBURY

To Summer and Paul

K.W.

As always, to Caitlin, and for the first time,

to Declan and Taylor, two great kids

A.F.

Copyright 2005 by Inkwell Management

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York

Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers

All papers used by Bloomsbury USA are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in well-managed forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:

Don't try this at home : culinary catastrophes from the world's greatest chefs / edited by Kimberly Witherspoon and Andrew Friedman.

p. cm.

eISBN: 978-1-59691-940-2

1. CooksAnecdotes. 2. CookeryAnecdotes. I. Witherspoon, Kimberly. II. Friedman, Andrew, 1967

TX649.A1D66 2005

641.5dc22

2005017992

Excerpt from "Brick House": Words and music by Lionel Richie, Ronald LaPread, Walter Orange, Milan Williams, Thomas McClary, and William King. 1977 Jobete Music Co., Inc., Libren Music, Cambrae Music, Walter Orange Music, Old Fashion Publishing, Macawrite Music, and Hanna Music. All rights controlled and administered by EMI April Music Inc. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

First published in the United States by Bloomsbury in 2005

This paperback edition published in 2007

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Typeset by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh

Printed in the United States of America by Quebecor World Fairfield

CONTENTS

N EARLY TWO HUNDRED years ago, the legendary French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin observed that "the truly dedicated chef or the true lover of food is a person who has learned to go beyond mere catastrophe and to salvage at least one golden moment from every meal."

In these pages, a selection of the world's finest chefs share, in refreshingly frank detail, the stories of their biggest mishaps, missteps, misfortunes, and misadventures. To our delight, much of what they salvage goes beyond the strictly culinary.

For their honesty, we thank the chefs themselves, who may surprise you as they discuss moments they'd rather forget, bringing their stories to life with revelations of humility, self-doubt, and even shame. Disasters, especially those involving food, are funny to look back on, but can be ego-deflating when they occurit's a credit to these chefs that they are able to be simultaneously profound and laugh-provoking.

As we consider the stories, a number of themes emerge: The fish-out-of-water syndrome that greets young cooks working and traveling abroad proves itself a fertile breeding ground for near-farcical scenarios. The constant struggle to find and keep good employees is another popular motif, leading to tales of everything from a blind line cook to a culinary faith healing. Restaurants make for strange bedfellows, a truth examined in these pages via the tension between cooks and chefs and chefs and owners. Finally, the chaos that ensues when a chef leaves his or her kitchen and takes the show on the road can lead to countless unforeseen catastrophes.

For all of us, both cooks and noncooks, this book offers its own form of hopeevidence that even those who are the very best in their chosen field, famous for exhibiting perfection on a nightly basis, can make a mistake, maybe even a disastrous one, and then laugh at it, and at themselves.

Even more reassuring is how often, and how well, these storytellers improvise a way out, finding inspiration when they need it most, and emerging victorious, even if it means sometimes telling a white lie.

"In my business, failure is not an option," writes one chef in his story. It's one thing to say that and quite another to live it. These professionals live it on a daily basis, and we're grateful that they took time out to rummage through their memories and pick out the worstby which we mean the "best"ones to share.

KIMBERLY WITHERSPOON

ANDREW FRIEDMAN

FERRN ADRI

Ferrdn Adri began his famed culinary career washing dishes at