Review: Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I really enjoyed this autobiography of a chef and restraunteur Gabrielle Hamilton. It combines the best of [b:Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly|33313|Kitchen Confidential Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly|Anthony Bourdain|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348988611s/33313.jpg|4219] (the unblinking look into the commerical kitchen, this time from the eyes of young waitress and later chef) and [b:The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen|343684|The Apprentice My Life in the Kitchen|Jacques Pépin|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348112815s/343684.jpg|526117] (the search for authenticity and reclaimed childhood in honest and rich food). No surprise, [a:Jacques Pépin|311750|Jacques Pépin|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1251736188p2/311750.jpg] makes a cameo for once-removed idol worship, and name-dropping covers [a:Anthony Bourdain|1124|Anthony Bourdain|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1274724018p2/1124.jpg]. In that name-dropping I hear the story of the bartender hiding his own register, also from Bourdain. Did Bourdain gets this unbelievable tale from Hamilton?

Chiefly, Hamilton succeeds with me because she is witty and eloquent and an impressive way that I wish I could imitate. Also, she narrates her own work excellently.

Still, while I would love to read more from her - and ending with talk of divorce suggests there is another chapter ahead. There is something now obvious to me about the title - the lesbian hipster woman in charge marries a self-centered Italian overachiever and in his mother and his families bucolic, culinary-rich life in the peninsula's boot heel she finds an inadvertent education on food and life.

But, what is reluctant about this chef? From her creative mother's side in the kitchen to diving into chef-hood to taking charge of her mother-in-law's kitchen, what is reluctant about this chef?



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