Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking

The target audience for this book is the dedicated home cook, or "foodie." The introduction, and the comments interspersed, which aim to simplify and demystify professional cuisine, are worth the price of the book: you can get recipes anywhere, but they don't come with the benefit of Anthony Bourdain's years of training and exploration (which wasn't a walk in the park; read _Kitchen Confidential_ if you're curious about the underside). His passion makes the prose explode off the page. I actually read most of the Introduction out loud to my wife once, as I was finding it just too delicious not to share the humor and deep insight. I also had to give my first copy to my daughter (who, as a sous-chef at an Atlanta restaurant, is not in the target audience), but she can't get enough of "Uncle Tony"'s writing, either. The recipes spell out not only ingredients, but what tools are needed. Where else can you be instructed to make cotes du boeuf wearing "novelty apron or vintage Ted Nugent T-shirt," and to serve it with "an outrageously expensive Burgundy in cheap glasses to show [the guests] who's their Daddy"? All of the funky, sometimes ribald humor (you no like cusswords, you no buy da book, OK, paisan'?) serves to brand certain points into your brain (on using fresh herbs for poulet roti: "keep that dried trash away from my bird"). The emphasis on prep and mise en place, as applied to the home kitchen, will do most cooks a world of good. He makes it clear that by thinking through what you need and what you're going to do ahead of time, and then organizing everything, you reduce mistakes, speed up the process, let go of a ton of stress, and make better food. Resistance is futile. You _will_ go buy a bunch of little stainless pinch bowls for chopped this and minced that. You _will_ sort out what you're doing ahead of time. You will _not_ put dried herbs in a roast chicken or burn the garlic. You _will_ burst out laughing while cooking, before the wine is even open, because you remembered some relevant point from this book. Perhaps you'll also recognize and incorporate some classic techniques into the making of other dishes, if you hadn't already. If you are not already a professional chef and this book doesn't improve your cooking, send me your copy and I'll videotape myself eating it with nothing but some _gros sel_ and maybe a little horseradish. There are lovely sauce and dressing recipes in their own section, and therein I encountered my only problem with the book. I'm not sure it's possible to get an aioli to emulsify with only one egg yolk to a cup of oil, for example; I'm going to have to try that one again. The nice, simple vinaigrette didn't emulsify either, but they're both delicious. If Anthony Bourdain didn't exist, someone would have to invent him.

You can't go wrong. As someone who impulsively purchases cookbook after cookbook only to make one or two recipes in them, the entertaining and casually pedantic tone to Bourdain's book makes it a worthwhile read even if you don't ultimately make anything. That, however, would be a mistake. I've made the French Onion soup (to die for), the Mushroom soup, Poulet Basquaise and Iles Flotantes in the short time I've had the book. These recipes were surprisingly easy and delicious. I'm a bit confused and amused by some who claim to be die-hard Bourdain fans and then are surprised when he drops the f-bomb in the cookbook. Tony is Tony and that's what makes him so likeable in my opinion. But if you have a problem with the occasional swear and tough-talking language, then you're probably better off eschewing this book, but then, you probably know that already. I also purchased Thomas Keller's Bouchon cookbook and I note the differences in their approaches. Tony, being a bit of the food and restaurant historian, observes that everyone can make this Bistro food because it's casual and nonfussy by nature and because the home French cook who executes these recipes is not interested in being a fastidious culinary genious (a la Keller), but rather in easily feeding his or her family. In other words, you can have minimal skills and slop these recipes together successfully. On the other hand, Keller claims that for the same recipes it's all about technique. Keller advocates, for instance, putting ice in a stock part way through to further "clarify" it, or using cheesecloth to separate the meat from the vegetables to again further clarify the sauce in the beef bourginon. Tony would joke that unless your dinner guest is Thomas Keller he or she would not know the difference between a clarified or impure sauce for boeuf bourginon so why bother? But more seriously, I can't help but think that, as much as Tony adores Keller, he would say that Keller misses the point because this type of fussiness is not what Bistro food is all about.

I read B. Marold's amazing review below and immediately bought the book, it must be said. Tony Bourdain's brilliant cookbook is brief history and bootcamp styled self-help. He truly helped me shine with my new in-laws with his book and wile away the hours in-flight. Went to Ireland to honeymoon with my in-laws on their dairy farm, an American gourmand alien to rural life. Ultimately brought this book with me to give to my Irish sister-in-law who's a fantastic cook. This book has both metric and English/American measurements and temperatures, which is a great help to all cooks stateside and abroad. Read the first chapter and fell in love with Tony Bourdain all over again, after avidly watching his "A Cook's Tour" series on FoodTV. It makes sense: the best chefs come from the poorest regions of the world. Why? They have to improvise with the 'scraps' made available to them and make the undesirable most delicious. That explains why some of my best dishes were made with paltry remains in the pantry days from payday or years away from real income. I offered to make my in-laws dinner one night with a recipe from the cookbook. Something basic and not frightfully exotic was the consensus. My intended feast: chicken basquaise. Feeding a family of five hungry adults in Ireland (or anywhere in the EU) is darned expensive. Lucked out at the local supermarket when eight pieces of chicken (thighs with bone and skin) were on sale, as all other options broke my budget. My wonderful, saintly mother-in-law regards cooking as drudgery and the kitchen reflects this sentiment. I regard cooking as essential therapy, All-Clad as instruments of mental health. I was shocked we spent over $100 on two measly bags of food for the meal. For the considerable expense of groceries and the toll my outsized ego would take, I prayed the meal would be successful. In the kitchen making the meal, I operated in less than ideal circumstances with limited overhead light (oh!), scant pots and pans (no!), and makeshift utensils (ugh!) on an electric stove (egads!). Kept glancing at Tony Bourdains really simple recipe, insisting it must be harder than it is. It wasn't. When the meal was done, we all sat around the large table and served them. I nearly cried to see everyone in my new family of simple eaters devour first plates and second helpings. We left the table stuffed and blissfully happy, repeating with newfound eloquence: chicken basquaise, ooh la la. If this American can impress pastoral people of Ireland with simple tastes and big appetites with one of Tony Bourdain's sophisticated recipes, then I absolutley assure you similar success with anyone. His explanations are sensible and inspire imagination. Following his logic and any of his recipes instills confidence.

Culinary bad boy Tony Bourdain and his Les Halles owner chefs have written a very, very good cookbook. If you have an ounce of interest in reading good cookbooks, stop reading this and go to the top of the page and order yourself a copy. If you are still here, I will tell you that this is an excellent cookbook: 1. Tony Bourdain is a very good writer. That means reading this book is very entertaining and worth the price even if you make none of the recipes. There are hundreds of good cookbooks, but Bourdain joins the very select rank, along with Alton Brown and Wayne Harley Brachman of culinary writers who can have you laughing out loud. It also means that he knows how to put things so you understand them and remember them. 2. The book is all about demystifying classic Bistro cooking and in convincing you that with the right attitude and the right directions, you can do as well or better than any newbie professional cook entering Tony's kitchen to work for the first time. Bourdain lays out the reality of this cuisine in a way I have never seen before. If you ever had any reservations about whether you wanted to cook or had the aptitude to cook, this is the book for you. 3. The book presents excellent directions for doing most of the basic preparations for bistro dishes, with special emphasis on preparing stocks. I even think Tony sells himself short when he says that if a chef used his directions at one of Thomas Keller's restaurants, he would be fired on the spot. I personally find Bourdain's stockmaking recipes as good or better than any I have seen short of the CIA textbook. All the right steps are there and all the right culinary reasons for doing them are there. 4. The book explains some kitchen techniques and ways of thinking that I have simply never seen anywhere else explained so well. Recipes for dishes such as bouillabaisse and cassoulet which in most other books seem to be daunting projects are broken down into realistic steps which make them entirely manageable. This is the only place I have seen the very logical distinction between `deep prep' and `prep'. Deep prep is the type of work Beetle Bailey does when he is on KP duty. It is distinctly unskilled labor. Prep work requires culinary training and involves making stocks, glazes, compotes, and the like, and work that requires trained knife skills. 5. The book gives us excellent recipes for all and only classic bistro cooking with wonderfully informative comments and instructions. (I am especially grateful that Bourdain gives both English and Metric measurements for all ingredients. The French, after all, cook entirely in metric.) There is no filler here. There are no recipes which would be more at home in a book by Mario Batali or Ming Tsai. It also means that if you have two or three good French books on `cuisine bourgeois', you will probably already have recipes for many of the dishes presented in this book. But, this book is so entertaining and the recipes are so well writte

This is easily one of the greatest food books I've ever purchased. It is as much a guide to bistro cooking as it is a collection of recipes from the restaurant. Bourdin's wry writing style comes through quickly and often. He gleefully pokes fun of dumb American palettes and those that would think the most expensive steak (tenderloin) is the best because it can be cut with a fork. The recipes are as good as they get and he never suggests taking short cuts. Those that properly make stock and demi glaze from the recipes at the beginning will do well later when the steak au poivre recipe calls for it. A valuable reference hysterically written that should find a happy home in your collection along with the Balthazar cookbook.