I love this book. If I could get my wife to read it, she would have lasted 10 pages. If you don't love to cook, love to experiment in the kitchen or love to eat at and critque fine restaurants, you might not understand this book. I finished this book wishing I could trade places with Buford. If you're a guy who would rather go to Lowe's instead of a kitchen supply store, this is probably not for you.

I've been a fairly faithful watcher of Top Chef, and a recent one of other restaurant/food based reality tv shows. I wondered if the kitchens were really as sexist as they were made out to be. I wondered how it was so "easy" to get meals brought out in 20 - 30 minutes. Those questions and more get answered. For example, I decided to make braised short ribs based on a Top Chef recipe and one of them ended up looking all weird and alien-like. I wasn't sure why it happened since the others were fine. This book explains it.

Bill Buford relays his misadventures with humor, very often at his own expense. I haven't read any of his other works so I'm not sure if it's his style of writing or if was lucky to be aware of how he looked as an enthusiastic cook with little knowledge to the professional kitchen staff. Some of his curiosities was not of much interest to me (like when the egg made it into the pasta) but others are well worth the reading (like when he takes a pig home to butcher it).

Very good biography! One has to be interested in cooking and food. AT parts more detail than I want to know, but the book is fascinating, educational and humourous. Highly recomend it.

Anyone who has ever worked at a continental-style restaurant should read this book.

I picked up "Heat" in the interests of reliving my experiences in two continental restaurants, run by two totally different-in-temperament chefs, one Austrian, one Swiss. Neither one embodies quite the insanity exhibited by Mario Batali, the owner/operator of Babbo in New York City,and known via TV as The Iron Chef. I must confess I have never watched The Iron Chef, although I have heard of him; but most of what goes on here does not impact him in that show.

Mr Buford, who seems to have had an open-ended commitment with his real job at the New York Times, decides upon interviewing and further visiting with Mario Batali, that he would like to apprentice to him, to learn the art of Italian cooking. Mr Buford knows just enough about cooking to get into trouble, and it doesn't take long for him to do so when he arrives at Babbo to begin his apprenticeship. I found myself nodding my head at the things that happened to him; I recognized all the personalities in the restaurant, all the petty jealousies, all the various traumas that go on in a busy, popular restaurant on a weekend night. Mr Buford's traverse through the stages of hierarchy was entertaining to say the least. Some things that went on there made me cringe; I'm pretty sure some of the things Mr Buford reported have never occurred at the restaurants I worked at, but it's possible; I was never on the line, but my chefs were nowhere near Mario Batali in style or performance either. (And I mean that in a good way; the man is clearly nuts.)

My favourite part of the book, however, was when Mr Buford, in the interests of furthering his education as a butcher, went to Italy to study under Dario Cecchini in Tuscany (further indication that Mr Buford has ample funds stored up to entertain these conceits about becoming a chef, as it seems apparent that he wasn't earning anything in Italy either). His style of writing made the little hill town where he was very vivid in my mind; the personalities he encountered were highly likable; and overall I wanted to pack up and go over there for a protracted visit myself. It didn't make me any more enamoured of pigs or their products (I only had to find out what pancetta was to know I didn't need it in my diet), but I was greatly entertained by his excursion over there and, having long wanted to visit Tuscany, it just makes me want to go there even more.

Mr Buford is a thorough examiner of his environment, and I felt like I knew everyone he worked with afterwards. The joy of food, the joy of the preparation of food (or not), is clear throughout the book, and while I found hilarity within it, I also found great insight in the entire restaurant experience, from cooking to management. I'm not sure I could work with Mr Batali, but I have a greater insight into the world of food preparation for the public, on all levels. A very entertaining book. I felt like I had a pretty good education in the topic at the end of it.

In reading through the 1 star reviews, I'm awfully confused. There's not much "foul" language, particularly if you contrast it with Bourdain's books. I'm 7/8 of the way through and can't think of anything other than a very few sprinkled f-bombs at all. For the folks who complain about the lack of an in-depth look at French food and life in France - well, its title is pretty much the major clue - pasta and Tuscany don't scream French cuisine. I'm constantly amazed at people's ability to complain. That said, I enjoyed it but it's not a great book. It offers one person's experiences in a celebrity driven kitchen (I've never watched Mario Batali on TV and I am less likely to now) and in some other settings. I never caught his passion for cooking - it seemed more like an adventure so he would have something to write about than an adventure of his life.

This is a very fun book. It is especially fun for those of us who have worked in restaurants. The literary images of poor Mr. Buford being thrown to the fire--quite literally--is a delightful ride. It is a foodie's paradise and a self-deprecating memoir of the author's offbeat culinary education (at a somewhat mature age).

Bill Buford writes a highly entertaining book. Heat is good for 3 reasons.

One, Bill is humble. It's very easy to forget that the author was an editor for the New Yorker. It's also very easy to forget how successful/famous Mario Batali and his restaurants are; which is for whom and where Bill worked. These facts seem to disappear because the author is so humble. This makes him appear more human and allows the reader to connect with him more easily.

Two, he's extremely self-deprecating. After working at Babbo for a few months he described his role as the, "kitchen bitch, cleaning the kitchen's bitch." Little quotes like this speed the book along.

Three, he's passionate. Bill Buford loves food. He loves learning about it, preparing it and most of all the timeless tradition of eating it. Whenever he's describing something food related his excitement begins to permeate through his writing.

Together these points make Heat a very entertaining book that is difficult to put down.

A note to all the foodies - you may be disappointed by this book. This book is more about the journey than it is about the food.

The book is boring, and what is worst, the author is always making racist comments. Very disappointing.Don't bother reading this book.

Loved this book. Loved the intensity of Mr. Buford's experience and his writing. I feel like I learned a little of what he set out to know and it has changed the way I work in my own home kitchen. I love this book.

The success of the Food Network has shown the affinity Americans have for cooking. It might be more that Americans like to watch others cook, since eating out has never been so popular as it is now. Buford apprentices himself to Mario Batali and an Italian butcher to see whether he can make it in a kitchen.

The most rewarding part of the book was the description of the chefs. We see the naked egos, the infighting, and the jockeying for position. Most of the chefs here have very artistic temparaments, most of all Batali. He has an ego the size of the Empire State Building and the business and skill to back it up. Reading of Buford's toil in the kitchen gives the reader a bit of voyeuristic pleasure. His mishaps and struggles show that an average man cannot cut it in a professional kitchen. Slowly, however, Buford gets better and becomes a contributor. The mark of a good book is when the reader can identify with the author. I was cheering when Buford finally learned how to properly work at the meat station, or when he found that he had become good at chopping vegetables.

Later in the book, Buford goes to Italy to work under a master butcher. This part of the narrative was not infused with the same manic energy as the New York portion. It dragged for me. I also became tired of the constant forays into culinary history and theory.

All in all, this was an interesting read. I would recommend it to cooking enthusiasts and Mario Batali fans.

One of the most important and wonderful books of the year that will leave the taste buds salivating for more. Buford is an amazing author who conjures up the life of the kitchen and makes the reader angry at those who abuse him and joyous over the meals being described. This is both a history of Pasta and a biography of Mario Batali and the story of how to be a chef, and an odyssey all in one. It begins when the author decides to work as a `slave' or intern in the kitchen of one of New York's most famous restaurants under the guise of Mario of the Food Networks `Molto Mario'. He begins cutting up carrots and eventually moves up to grilling and making pasta. He tells the reader all along about what he is learning and one is immediately wanting to run to store to try for himself. The techniques described and the recipes and secrets make any amateur chef want to try, and many of them will work wonders.

Eventually Buford moves up and goes off to Italy to try to learn for himself the way of making Pasta from the Italians and he will eventually end up as an assistant to a butcher. This is such an amazing book that it is hard to put down and is a true inspiration to be a chef or a cook at home.

Seth J. Frantzman

This book is boring. I suspect that most of the people who loved it were reading their first "inside" look at restaurant kitchens, either that or liked the Mario Batale stuff. But the book just drags and the author injects no life at all into 80% of the narrative. Go read Bourdain's first book instead (and then drop all things Bourdain, also).

Much has already been written about how delightful this book is -- the author has a great sense of humor, a keen eye for observation, and his travels and adventures make for great reading.

But boy -- I had no idea Batali was such a nut and free spirit! Playing Hendrix on his guitar in a small village in Italy, drinking and carousing copiously wherever he wound up, Batali lived, learned, experienced and conquered.

Immensely satisfying and entertaining, whether you like to make food or simply consume it, this book of travels and adventures in and around kitchens from New York to London to Italy and back will leave you smiling, shaking your head -- and somewhat hungry.

Whoa. Too much information! But what fascinating information. From here on I will always feel a bit guilty about using a colander to drain pasta. And a bit skeptical about a meal prepared in a busy restaurant: head for the exits, find somewhere less crowded, if you are at all worried about how exactly that meal got onto your plate or what might have happened to it en route. I started to feel the symptoms of salmonella about a quarter of the way into the book.

Although the book is about cooking, this is not chick-lit (not by any stretch of the imagination). It is very much more a travelogue through Italy and through the reality-show world of New York eateries. The sub-title is a pretty concise precis of the book. The narrative has a few more bad words in it than are really needed to carry the story along but I suppose that is to portray the mercurial temperament that derives from working with finely-honed knives and scalding pans in close quarters at 130 degrees.

This is a read that is easy to take in short chunks or in longer stretches. It is interesting throughout. You probably won't develop too much empathy for the major characters since they are essentially real-life caricatures of themselves, and scarily I believe that these are probably close to true to life. One supposes that the only thing standing in the way of a major defamation case is that apparently Mario Batali has a self-image that the Five Boroughs can barely contain. The author himself is a journalist who pitched the writing business to follow his dream of working with one of the industry's great chefs. But in truth he does not have the aptitude and is (at least at first) only kept on because he is somewhat a friend of said famous chef and because he works for free. Aside from not really having the feel for cooking that some people just have in them, this hobby is hazardous to Buford's health: he is one of those people who should not be allowed to handle any sharp objects, which of course are inherent to cooking. However, he balances this deficiency with an apparent immunity to pain. So when you get that rare-looking chop next time, make sure it is actually the chop that is doing the bleeding. If not, there may be a somewhat uncoordinated prep-chef in training.

This review might make it sounds like I didn't like the book. On the contrary, I did. It was hard to let it go. But you need to be prepared for the idea that, despite a common love for the delectables of northern Italy, it is definitely not in the same genre as Under the Tuscan Sun.

After spending some time working in a commercial kitchen, I could appreciate the struggles suffered by Mr. Buford during his months of work under the famous Mario Battali and his exceptional cadre of executive chefs. Readers will feel the heat of the time served by Mr. Buford at the grilling station as well as the painful monotony of all the necessary kitchen prep work that a commercial restuarant entails. An excellent read and recommeneded to any cook, waiter, or restauranteur.

I've never written an Amazon review before, but am compelled to laud Bill Buford's Heat. The reason I'm even online is that I'm about 90% done with this incredibly entertaining and useful book on cooking, and want more of Bill Buford in the kitchen. Alas, this one appears to be it for now, but I'm hopeful that Heat's success will prompt him to write another book as good as Heat soon.

Want to learn how a kitchen really runs? About certain cooking techniques in detail? About the history of many Italian dishes? How to be a better home chef? Get Heat and read it now.

The characters were one dimensional and uninteresting. If you want to hear or read a great book about French food, and Paris, with loads of information about a highly talented cook please try MY LIFE IN FRANCE
By Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. It's a five star book!

This book should come with three warnings.

Warning 1: Will make you hungry.

Warning 2: Will make you want to cook everything written in the book and practice Knife skills (dangerous).

Warning 3: Will make you want to go to Italy for lunch....and dinner.

A great read. I gained a tremendous knowledge about Italian food, the restaurant industry, and Mario Batali (I like him even more now!) in a humurous and enjoyable way.

I really loved this book. Being a learning, aspring cook (notice- not chef), I was facinated by Bill's account of the Mario Batali's life and Bill's own journey to becoming a great Italian cook.
I am a fan of Bill's book, among the thugs. He has a way of immursing himself in the necessary life to be able to report on it.
I think I have eaten at 5 Italian restaurants since beginning this book, and I can't wait to go to more. Also asked for a pasta maker for Xmas. Very informative, funny, and inspiring.

Well written, hilarious, full of color, taste and flavor from New York kitchen, Tuscan butcher shop or pasta restaurant.

The book has three themes (interwoven throughout the book). Mario's kitchen, training in Italy, and a look into the history/evolution of cooking.

When in Mario's kitchen, it's an entertaining read (Even if Mario B isn't a person I'd ever want to hang out with).

The training in Italy is generally disappointing with very slow meandaring sections.

Finally, the trips through history will only appeal to a VERY serious foodie.

I was, perhaps mistakenly, looking for a fun read and never even chuckled. There must have been better stories to relate than what he's produced.

It's been a while since I've read a book like this - funny, thoughtful, eventful, truthful, all good things. The narration is easy to follow - REALLY intelligent - no surprise there since the author used to write for THE NEW YORKER.
I highly recommend this!!

Bill Buford has written a masterpiece description of two very different environments of food. The first is modern high-end American restaurant food (Babbo) and the second is Italian craft food.

His comparison of the approaches in both environments is focused on the showing the differences between the two environment, particularly in the context of approach and engagement of the senses.

Oh, and this book will make you laugh out loud every couple of pages. My wife started giving me that look after the 3rd outburst in just a few minutes.

If you want to understand the difference between food the art and food the business, this is a great book to illuminate the differences. And you will think twice about specials, ordering at closing time, and where cook sweat really goes:).

First of all, let me just say, I loved it. Reading this book is an absolute pleasure. It carries the right amount of sarcasm and humor, and Buford's mannerism in the book is hilarious. I first heard about it from a friend who thought the book was probably exaggerations of real events. However, after reading it, I can tell you from experience, that the events sound pretty accurate. I've worked in restuarants in Manhattan and needless to say, NYC kitchens very demanding, quite small and cramped, and the chefs are eccentric and peculiar; some would even say, chefs are manic, because you never know what you're going to get. I recommend the book highly to anyone who appreciates food or enjoy witty sarcasm.

I read Bourdain's book and loved it. I also liked this one. Raw, honest talk from someone who has been there.
The autobiography part was fascinating (can such characters really populate elite restaurants!?) and the lowdown on furiously making food night after night was priceless. The last section was too blah blah about Mario Batali, although the scenes of Italy were intriguing. A must read for real food lovers.

Who wouldn't want to go on Buford's journey? He's a great tour guide on his gasto-tour of the kitchens of the Mario Batali and Pierre Marco White. He shows that kitchens can be places that are filled with potential dangers and loads of passion. It took me awhile to get through this book, in part because I kept getting hungry and had to go make something to eat! I'm ready to go clamp the pasta machine to the counter and whip up some fresh pasta.

It's a pretty dense book to get through, and the author wanders away from the main story often. Most of the time, it's to an interesting place, but sometimes, it's just a tangent. But aside from a few of those as a distraction, I thought this was a great book.

I got this book because my husband heard an interview on the radio and thought I would like it since I love to cook. It was interesting but spent too much time, for me, on the politics of working in a restaurant kitchen and not enough on the workings of food in a restaurant. I bored with the personalities and gave up trying to figure out who was who.

This guy, Bill Buford, is pretty amazing. Despite the danger of slicing off his hands entirely (an accident that he somehow manages to repeat) under various huge, sharp, professional knives, he insisted going (back again and again) to Italy to learn about things so obscure even professional chefs wouldn't have much idea about.
If you're looking for a book about Batali, this isn't the most comprehensive one, but it's scathingly honest and if you really live and breathe food, you'll gain a whole lot more than goss about the inner workings of Batali's businesses. It gets a bit soppy at times - a bit too "Tuscany is beautiful, and Provence is the ultimate foodie heaven", but only fleetingly, and all can be forgiven once you read about the author's hilarious effort to cook a whole pig...

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to work in a professional kitchen... this is the book makes you feel like you are there. Ver interesting and delightful to read. Very different than any other book I've read.

The chapters on Mario Batali and the dynamics of his kitchen were really interesting and engaging. I was intrigud by the sections on Marco Pierre White as I had just read Gordon Ramsey's autobiography in which his tempestuous relationship with White plays a significant role. The rest of Buford's book is just too tediously, self-indulgently written to the point where it killed my interest in the underlying subjects of pasta making and butchery (I ended up skimming page after page as I just couldn't take it). It reminded me of a computer spitting forth every bit of information in its memory regardless of relevance or interest. Just too many tedious, boorish details.

I'll offer right up front that Bill Buford offers in this book what I have been missing from Anthony Bourdain's books--both offer a wonderful no-holds-barred approach to the restaurant culture and the madness that lies behind the swinging kitchen door as well as a sheer love for food, but while Bourdain has much more of the insider appeal and the edge of experience from which to tell his tales, Buford is, hands-down, a durn better writer. This book is an intense view of the world of Italian food. It is researched and experienced. Buford made a reputation with Among the Thugs of going deep into his subject matter, culminating (in Thugs) in being beaten by cops as though he were one (after he had worked hard to be one of them). Rather than take a removed, journalistic perspective, researching from afar, Buford dives right in and learns everything from the inside.

In this book, Buford comes under the wing of rockstar-chef Mario Batali, and though he may fancy himself a foodie who could have become a renowned chef himself had he put in the time, the work of the kitchen turns out to be a whole different world. From almost day one, Buford learns that there is a proper way to dice carrots (which he didn't do), uncovering the first of many lessons I would learn through this book that would let me realize that I, too, am but an amateur in the world of cooking. Buford learns that one of the first secrets to being an ace chef is being able to cook the same dish the same way each and every time, so that those who come in and enjoy it one night can come in on any other night and still have the dish that they loved so well.

From there, the lessons don't get any easier. Moving up from prep to line cook creates its own hazards (literally), but within it all Buford maintains his cool (in his own way) and becomes a student of food. This eventually leads him to take some trips to Italy, where he tries his hand as an apprentice to making pasta and, ultimately, as a butcher. The book leaflet is a little misleading here, for Buford learns more about the proper way to butcher a pig carcass rather than slaughter the pig itself--this is where Buford divides from Bourdain, who wanted to be involved in the actual killing of a pig in his quest to become closer to the food he loves so much.

It's hard not to make corellations between Bill Buford and Anthony Bourdain, maybe because both have such a deep respect for food and the craft of making it. Bourdain, of course, speaks from the inside, and that might be his ultimate downfall. His TV appearances are golden, but when translated to the page, books like Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour have the essence of foodiness that I like, but the pages eventually get rather unreadable. Buford has a very engaging style and is good at developing moments of humor and manicness and pure horror, and the gruff relationships between the cooks seem to go right up the same alley as Buford's previous work with English soccer hooligans. His research into cooking history (for example, when egg was first used in making Italian pasta) is wonderful, though I wasn't so intrigued in his chapters that delved into the histories of some of his colleagues, including Batali. In the later chapters, Buford's writing became almost a little too thick, like (excuse, please) munching constantly on duck in a thick, rich sauce, but then getting a little overwhelmed and wanting a bit more of a respite before being bombarded with another round of deep, deep flavor.

In all, this book becomes the story of a foodie's journey into discovering the essence of being a chef and even attaining that, in a way. Though I was a little let down by the ending that suggested a sequel in the guise of conveying a deeper sense of yearning in Buford's curiosity about food, the narrative is quite secure throughout.

The ultimate foodie book will be written by someone with the passion and experience of Bourdain, but with the skills and desire for further knowledge of Buford. Right now, this would seem to be the best case scenario we can find, but I hold out hope that there might be another out there who can mix absolutely everything together.

Just finish HEAT and have to say, for me it really surpassed other books that look into chefs and kitchens. Here you have a story that mixes restaurant personalities, typical kitchen antics and profanity and a welcomed introduction to what makes chefs and restaurants so special - their desire and lust to understand and master the preparation and presentation of their meals.

My wife and I had the opportunity to dine in a family-owned restaurant in Italy several years ago and the book reminded me of the amazing evening we had thanks to the chef, his father (the owner and master of ceremony of the evening, behind his bread table) and the other guests.

This is the first time I've read a book in this genre, and I found this book to be interesting, exciting, informative and really enjoyable. I'm not a professional cook, nor do I aspire to be one, but I was still able to appreciate the insights the author brought to us. As a matter of fact, the author's enthusiasm rubbed off on me, and I've began to explore italian cooking (through restaurants and cookbooks) and feel that I've acquired a better appreciation of the food. I've read some of the negative comments others wrote about the book and cannot understand why someone would be "pissed off" over this book. It's a book that I would recommend.

I will never think of the back of the kitchen the way same again. I found it interesting how people can tell what animals are fed by differentiating the flavors in the meat(raw)and/or the texture of the protien fibers on the tongue. I feel the need to go to italy, make my own pasta and braise short ribs. Bill followed his passion and his curiosity and wrote a book to share with us. I highly recommend !

The author (a middle-aged former editor, and amateur cook/foodie), on a lark, solicits Mario Batali to let him work at his NYC restaurant, Babbo ... and from there, he goes on a pilgrimage to Italy, retracing some of the steps that Mario himself followed early on in his career. Throughout the book, the author gives the reader peeks into Babbo's kitchen, peeks into the lives and personalities of the kitchen staff, and also an account of his adventure in Italy ... all while intermittantly pontificating about food history, and culinary philosophy.

I enjoyed the book, and if life permitted, I'd probably be sorely tempted to undertake a similar adventure.

My only real nit was that the author meanders at times. He recurring prolonged sidesteps into the lives of the kitchen staff were a bit too many, and too long, for my preference ... it detracted at times from the focus/interest of the book. The author could have focused more closely on the cooking experience (both at home, at babbo, and abroad), and the book would have been tighter, and more interesting, for it. For instance - he described buying a whole pig upon his return, and spent more time discussing getting it to his apartment then he did on the butchering of it, and the various dishes he subsequently prepared. What could have been an entire chapter (or several) to cap his return from Italy was covered a bit too briefly.

Buford's no Ruhlman, or Bordain, but he's a decent writer, and his heart's in the right place. He'll get better. As of this writing, I haven't decided yet whether or not I'm going to grab his followup book, documenting his trip to Spain.

I liked this book, but did not love it. I don't feel like faulting Mr Buford for my not loving the book. I like his prose, and he is certainly to be commended for the ordeals he had to go through to dive into the professional cooking world.

What I did not particularly care for was, I guess, Mr Batali. I am sure he is brilliant (I even own one of his cookbooks, which I like a lot, "Molto Italiano") and "larger than life", but he also comes out of this book as a truly obnoxious character (and yes, there are brilliant characters out there that are not obnoxious). Being Italian, I understand food as one of the great pleasures of life, and something which should be shared and enjoyed with others. What I got from this book, is that for Mr Batali food is above all a way to show off. A weapon, and not a gift. From this perspective, Mr Buford seems to share Italians' love for cooking much more than Mr Batali does, but maybe the two are just different characters.

Another reason why I did not *love* this book is that there are too many pages devoted to kitchens in trendy US restaurants rather than to food. But this was to be expected, given the backcover book description, and so I don't feel cheated in any way.

I am Italian, I do love food and cooking, but I am not well read in the sort of literature this book belongs to. However, I found that a much better book on the Italian love affair with food is William Black's "Al dente". I think Black really understood us. I am not so sure Batali did, or maybe he did but just didn't share our ways...

I LIKED THE BOOK AS IS SHOWED THE INSIDE WORKING OF A GREAT KITCHEN WITH THE MASTER CHEF MARIO AS THE LEAD. I LIKED THE BACK STORY OF THE WRITER'S TIME WITH MARIO AND ESPECIALLY HOW MARIO CAME TO LOVE ITALIAN COOKING AND DESPISE ALL THINGS FRENCH!

In ejoyed this book considerably. Other than having read the famous Anthony Bourdain book, I am neither significantly familiar with the emerging genre nor a "foodie." But I found this book captivating on several levels.

As it's subtitle suggetst, the book divides itself into several somewhat-discrete, somewhat-overlapping themes: (1) Big NYC kitchen dynamics and hazing; (2) Inside look at two cooking luminaries (Mario Batali and Marco Pierre White) recently made quite famous in the explosion of interest in the subject caused by, among other things, the food network; and (3) The author's Hunter Thompson style continental culinary exploration. I would say I liked these three components, from most to least, roughly in that order.

I read mostly fiction, and so I guess am naturally attracted to books about places and things I would not otherwise have occasion to know about. I guess that's why I enjoy the kitche-slave, inner-NYC-restaurant workings the best. Little details, like the disfuctional angst that accompanies an impending New York Times review, or passages about space-shopping for a new restaurant venture, captured my interest most. With respect to the Batali and White stuff, I was mildly interested, but while I recognize that these individuals are incredibly gifted at what they do, I don't find them important enough in the greater scheme of things to hang in there through 100 pages about their excessive idosycracies. I enjoyed author's butchering apprenticeship least, and his choice -- a butcher -- was puzzling (although probably his only real choice). The ephinany his apprenticeship provokes, however, in the book's final few chapters -- both about what makes great food and how we humans deal with change -- was fresh, insightful, and extraordinarily well presented.

One minor annoyance was that the chronological details of Buford's journey are quite jumbled and confusing in the book. It's hard to tell exactly when he's doing certain things in relation to others, or to understand the chronology of his kitchen development and promotion. I don't know if this is a criticism of the editor or whether this was intentional, so that Buford could be a bit misleading about the extent to which he truly was having the NYC kitchen experience.

One thing I noticed about this book that was also true of the author's other book, Among The Thugs: He seems to be incredibly forgiving, or maybe empathetic, with respect to situations and characters that do not deserve to be forgiven or empathized with. Much in the way he almost seems to excuse or try to explain the violence of the soccer "lads" in Among The Thugs, he is overly apologetic and kind to the disfunctionality of the kitchen in which he worked and slow to simply ackowledge that Batali and the Tuscan butcher are often just unmitigated and upleasant jerks.

Anyway, a fun read. Enjoy.

I just loved reading this book, from the moment I cracked the cover. It is SUCH a great book, on so many levels. While I am quite a finicky eater and have never tried many of the cuts of meat described here, I was still absolutely fascinated. The author's conclusion is particularly moving. HIGHLY recommended!

i just really loved this book. i had dreams i was making pasta when i was rading this book, i was so engrossed in the topic. plus, mario batali got another fan through this book.

great stuff!

This is a great book to read if you have ever inspired to become a chef or to open a restaurant. The author gives you an insider's look at life in the kitchen, in the process volunteering some great recipes and the history behind some of the common dishes we eat. Do you know when and why, for example, egg was added to pasta to bind it with flour? What is polenta and how is it made?

The story is of the author, an inexperienced cook, volunteering to work for Mario Batali (Food Network) at the restaurant Babbo as an intern, transforming himself in the process into a knowledgeable cook. Not an easy feat to achieve for a man who thought cooking was for `fags'.
This is really a memoir of the author's time at Babbo, where he referred to himself as `Kitchen Slave'. He also relates his journey to Tuscany, Italy, to learn the art of Pasta and to Panzano, Italy, to apprentice himself to the famous butcher in Italy, Dario Cecchini.

This is a hilarious book! By the end of it you will end up appreciating the art of cooking and the pleasures of making food. You might also end up signing up for a cooking class.

However, I did find some weaknesses in the book. The story tends to jump from one place to the next, making the story a little bit confusing to follow. The story does lose steam in some areas.

Word of caution: the book does contain filthy language. Some readers might get offended.

With that said, if you love to cook this book is for you. You might end up devouring this book instead of eating the dish in front of you!

Bill Buford decided in his early forties to ditch his job as a successful New Yorker editor to enter the world of food. What started with a simple assignment to write a magazine story on Mario Batali, the reknowned Food Network chef, ended up taking him to Italy and becoming a cook. "Heat" details this journey, including the back stories of numerous chefs and foodies with whom Buford ending up working, such as Batali.

The book is entertaining for the most part; hearing about the difficulties of being a line cook in a three-star New York restaurant is certainly interesting. Buford started at the bottom by prepping, including spending hours dicing carrots only to have them thrown out because they were done incorrectly. The book certainly conveys the message that great food requires precision and working in these kinds of restaurants is brutal. Of course, we've seen this same idea before in numerous other "insider" books.

What sets "Heat" slightly apart is the path that Buford takes. When he first starts cooking, he's the "kitchen b*tch" in Batali's Babbo Italian restaurant, and you really don't think he'll make it for more than a few months. However, he becomes enthralled with food, in particular homemade authentic Italian food. He becomes convinced that he has to follow Batali's lead and spend time as an intern in Italy, first learning pasta and then working for a famous Tuscan butcher.

Buford meets some interesting characters along the way and tells some fun stories. However, I could never shake the feeling that Buford was just playing a role. Indeed, he tries to downplay the fact that he entered this world as a writer - we don't get the full explanation of why he started in Batali's kitchen (i.e., to write a story) until page 141. In addition, he's supposed to be an underling in Batali's kitchen, yet several times he's invited to meals with Batali and treated as something different than the lowest ranking cook in the kitchen. Perhaps this complaint is quibbling, but it broke the tone for me enough to dock the book a star. Foodies of all sorts will probably enjoy reading this book and may even learn a few things, but I still found it strangely unsatisfying.