"Les Halles Cookbook" by Anthony Bourdain

[Timh]

You can't buy this kind of publicity, the banning issue. Makes everyone ,a fan or not ,run out to buy or at least read it,

[foodie52]

Since when have cookbooks become macho? Whose is bigger? Personally, I'm more into color illustrations than size. Too much testosterone.

Martha? Martha? Where are you? You two just wait. When she comes out, her cookbook/memoirs is gonna put y'alls to shame. Have you two ever been in prison?

Huh?

[jhlurie]

I'm starting to beleive this is a grand conspiracy by Ruhlman, Bourdain and his co-author to make bookoo bucks by having a "banned" book. 'Fess up Chanko!

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Wait a second Jason. Isn't this the SAME cookbook which comes in what's practically a plain brown wrapper? This is NOT a coincidence!

[Daddy-A]

you see, now--this thread, this thread right here is exactly why i recently acquired the lovely "society donor" designation next to my avatar*.  there isn't any place else i know to get this kinda entertainment. (at least, no place i can be, and help the kids with homework at the same time!)

AMEN! It was in fact this literary joust between Bourdain & Ruhlman that hooked me on this place.

Thank you both!

A.

[Michael Ruhlman]

No kidding..

Ruhlman's language is as unspeakably foul as his behavior is beastly.

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They're right. I owe mr bourdain a public apology. As I have stated before, I admire the guy (when he's sober), and he really can write circles around most food writers. I was having a rather volatile day yesterday, a rarity in here in ye olde suburbia. I beg his pardon.

Edited October 14, 2004 by Michael Ruhlman (log)

[Foodie_Penguin]

Fan-freeking-tastic!! A COOKBOOK being banned! This is like Ozzy and Judas Priest in the ‘80’s!

… just think of it … legions of kids will want this book because THEY CAN’T HAVE IT!!

Kudos. Whether you wanted to publish food-porn, you just did!

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What? Ozzy and Judas Priest published cookbooks in the 80s?

I'm just trying to picture the contents of such books....

Foodie Penguin

[Busboy]

What? Ozzy and Judas Priest published cookbooks in the 80s? 

I'm just trying to picture the contents of such books....

Foodie Penguin

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Oh, c'mon -- this is too easy.

Bat Bourguignon, Buffalo bat wings, Bat au Vin....

[eunny jang]

Oh, c'mon -- this is too easy.

Bat Bourguignon, Buffalo bat wings, Bat au Vin....

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Little tiny tetes de bat, like tete de veau, only delicate and infinitely more difficult to make.

[hannnah]

Shouldn't it be Bat Tartare?

[srhcb]

Tony smokes LARKS?!

He used to be one of my heros.

[Louisa Chu]

Thanks Michael - I guess that's all the public wants now - something for Tony to sign - other than just cleavage. I'm just imagining a collaboration amongst Tony, Michael, and Ferran - an enormous $300 banned bestseller - with a very special DVD.

[Rebel Rose]

They're right.  I owe mr bourdain a public apology.  As I have stated before, I admire the guy (when he's sober), and he really can write circles around most food writers. I was having a rather volatile day yesterday, a rarity in here in ye olde suburbia. I beg his pardon.

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Oh, don't give up so easily! I haven't had a good guffaw like this in a long time. You guys are hilarious. And on top of that, I think you're the only one who took Jason's comment seriously, which makes it even funnier, I'm afraid. That was a great article, by the way.

[Bux]

Jason,

Why would I would I go out of my way to shill for Bourdain when I am soon to be promoting a book I wrote, albeit in a ghostly way with Thomas Keller, all about, devoted to, Bistro cooking, exactly like Bourdains book.  Bouchon comes out in November. I have a personal stake in this book.  It's an absolute monster cookbook. Bend your knees and keep your back straight when you lift it.  Bigger by half than the FLC.  An amazing book as far as I'm concerned, and one I care deeply about. I have stated here that I like and admire Bourdain's book.  It is one of a kind.  But Bouchon and Les Halles books are competitors.

His sales are irrelevant to me except insofar as they might detract from Bouchon's.  So why would I do it?  Bourdain's people called me.  They were blunt.  They named a figure.  It was right.  What can I say?  I'm just some guy in Cleveland tryin' to make a living.

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Straight cash deal huh? Damn, I had it all figured out as a conspiracy to build some interest in "French" food by getting Tony's book banned and then slipping in your Bouchon that's going to stick out of the shelves and poke eyes so they won't remember it's not the hot one. Hell most Americans don't even know what a bouchon is, not that it's not a great metphor for those who do know.

"French" still has the potential for cachet. I was reminded of that looking at some "French" postcards at a stall on the quai de Montebello. These were the real thing, sepia tone and all that, not pretty pictures of Paris, (neither the city or Hilton) but even though they were at best, lukewarm next to old issue of Playboy on on the same stand, they were "French." Actually it was all insipid compared to what the two kids were doing on the banks of the Seine below which understandably was far more fascinating to the Japanese tourists than the pretty pictures for sale. Of course, I was interested in watching the Japanese tourists. I digress but that's your fault for playing the "French" card anyway.

So it was just a quick cash all American deal? No conspiracy? I've got to stop spending time in Europe, it's affecting my thinking.

[arielle]

Quoting Hest88 (from that other thread Daddy-A was so good as to link):

"Ah, I love Ruhlman---almost as much as I love our mild-mannered, self-effacing, quietly stammering Bourdain."

See, now that's what I love most about these guys, their shyness, tendency to blend in and hold their tongues.....you know, the old "If you don't have something nice to say......"

Nonetheless, I know a few people who wouldn't mind having their cleavage autographed.......

[Rebel Rose]

I think Ruhlman and Bourdain should do a regular television evening food critique. We could tie them to their stools, and they'd have the little clip-on mikes. If we took away pens, pencils and clipboards, then they could only sling words. We'd probably have difficulty signing guests, but wouldn't it be fun to find one they both dislike?

[arielle]

I think Ruhlman and Bourdain should do a regular <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=television&v=56">television</a> evening <a href="http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=food&v=56">food</a> critique.  We could tie them to their stools, and they'd have the little clip-on mikes.  If we took away pens, pencils and clipboards, then they could only sling words.  We'd probably have difficulty signing guests, but wouldn't it be fun to find one they both dislike?

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I don't know what Mr. Ruhlman's opinion of Emeril Lagasse is, but I will *never, ever* laugh as hard as I did reading Monsieur Bourdain's comments about him in Kitchen Confidential! Just about fell off my chair.

Does the man think his show is a modern-day Batman?

BAM! POW! - It's okay Robin, I'll get us out of here with my Bat spice/seasoning. That oughtta kick it up a notch! ZAP! You're going to do *hard* time, Mr Chickenleg!

[TrishCT]

I caught my 16 year old daughter in her bedroom the other night with the guiltiest look on her face. "What have you got under the covers?" I asked, it being clear from her sudden arm movement that she was hiding something.

Well, you know how a part of you wants to know the answer, but the other part is afraid to know... With a deep blush, she hesitantly lifted out the taboo contraband. Gah! My little girl was secretly reading "Kitchen Confidential!"

"Where did you get that?" I asked, a tad nervously. She told me it was in plain view in the living room bookcase scrunched between Julia Child's bio and Jacques Pepin's memoirs. Drat! My indiscretion was exposed.

"You know mom," she said in a know-it-all, turn-the-table-on-your-parents way mastered by teens, "I might have expected something like this from daddy, after all, he's a... well you know what he is... But you? My own mother? You read books like this....?

Pause. "Yes, I do..." I admitted, for I knew that I'd been caught. Pause. "So," I said, "What do you think of it?" "I like it so far, but I'm only about halfway through," she smiled.

I bought four copies of Mr. AB's new cookbook, and hid them away in my attic.... but I know one young lady who is going to be pleased as punch to see a copy just for her under the Christmas tree.

[Dr. Funk]

I love his books, read the preview of the cookbook, made the Boeuf Bourgignon (which my wife says is the best she's ever tasted), but this cements it - I'm buying this cookbook for myself and my step-daughters. I'd buy it for my grand-daughters, but they're a little young.

Edited October 15, 2004 by Dr. Funk (log)

[mrsadm]

If Tony won't fight for our Constitutional right to say "fuck" gratuitously and capriciously, who will?

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Howard Stern?

[arielle]

Howard Stern?

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[phlox]

God those two are funny...if our dear Mr. Bourdain weren't so happily attached, I'd think about switching teams.

[phlox]

As everyone has already said, vintage Bourdain - just got my copy today. Hats off to the man who saved me from the evil clutches of vegetarianism!

[boulak]

I've got a copy of the thing and much as I hate to say it, it's a great book and would be a steal at double the price.  Who else can make you feel abused and proud at the same time?  I can't cook from recipes so I can't vouch for those, though they look excellent.  The book itself though, the whole monster, well....  Don't get me wrong.  Bourdain is still a raving lunatic.  Absolutely.  A menace to society?  Let's just say I'm appealing to the governor of ohio to send the national guard to cleveland during bourdains book flogging tour.  He's truly a twisted motherfucker.  ... But no one can take this away from him--the guy can write like a bandit.  And this ... it cuts me at the core to say it ... this is a really fine book.

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Yeah, he writes like a bandit because he is one. He stole Hunter S. Thompsons's persona.

[Suzanne F]

Yeah, he writes like a bandit because he is one.  He stole Hunter S. Thompsons's persona.

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Sorry, gotta disagree with you on that. I recently worked on a book of HST's "essays" (actually his sports pieces from ESPN), and comparing the two, HST can't write his way out of the brown paper bag the bottle came in. I mean, when HST writes about a wild turkey that got fried on his property, he means it got electrocuted, for gosh sakes, not taken from raw to edible.

[boulak]

Maybe Hunter is a bit fried himself now, but his persona (and his writing) though a bit dated, were at one time quite relevant. Hunter's "essays" may have become pointless ramblings, but isn't that what the 60's were about? If AB did all the drugs he claims to have done, how could he possibly have such vivid recollections? Seems like a fantasy (or hallucination) to me. I would say though, that he can cook like a bandit. BTW, I like your writing, Suzanne.

Edited October 17, 2004 by boulak (log)