Tony in The Kitchen Bourdain

 

TONY in The KITCHEN

ANTHONY BOURDAIN on "BRUNCH"

He HATED IT !!!

“I do not have a particularly prestigious or notable career. And for much of the time as a chef, I was unemployable by respectable businesses. And the only people who would hire me would hire me for brunch shifts because most cooks hated doing brunch for very good reasons.

I was good at it, but it was the only work I could get. And I came to hate the - you know, when you’re cooking 300 omelets a day and, you know, scraping waffles out of the waffle iron and making French toast and pancakes and . . . cooking hundreds of pounds of home fries, those smells, those associations, those were very painful times - addiction, post-addiction. I was a desperate man, often working under a pseudonym when I was cooking brunch. So I really hated it, and I also hated the whole concept of brunch.

And later as a chef, I hated it because it was a huge profit center that caused problems for me as an employer because all my cooks hated to do it. But it was such a moneymaker because people are so foolishly happy to pay $22 for the same two eggs and bacon . . . that they have during the week for $7 or even - or $3. Give them a free mimosa and a little strawberry fan and suddenly they’re happy to - I just had utter contempt for the entire enterprise.”

–Anthony Bourdain

Tony in Porto Portugal

 

TONY in PORTO

PORTUGAL

ANTHONY BOURDAIN

TONY in PORTO

PORTUGAL

Wisdom to Cooks Tony Bourdain

 

"TONY in The KITCHEN"

LES HALLES

ANTHONY BOURDAIN

“I always lead from the front. Cooks always like to see their chef come in before them, leave after them, and always work at least as hard, or better yet, harder than them. And they want their chef to be capable of doing anything they’re able to do. Because you’re going through what they’re going through, there’s camaraderie.

It’s important that the crew knows that I care about them and will take care of them. I take pleasure in personal details. I take pleasure in their lives. And I protect them. If someone from another department—a waiter, a maître d’, an owner—has anything to say about anyone in my kitchen, they’re not allowed to communicate that directly.

In my kitchen, no one will have two bosses. All orders will come from me. If something bad is coming down the pike, it will hit me first, and I will disseminate that information. I will fight fiercely to make sure that criticisms of my crew, from the floor staff or elsewhere, come through me. And if something goes wrong, whether I’m in the kitchen or not, I will never, ever blame anyone else. I delegated a job to them. If they’ve screwed up, it’s my fault. I return loyalty with absolute loyalty.”

—Bourdain

TONY WOULD HAVE LOVED THIS

SINATRA SAUCE

aka The SINATRA COOKBOOK

COOK & EAT LIKE FRANK

His FAVORITE ITALIAN RECIPES

AMAZON.com