Four Kitchens
My life behind the burner in New York, Hanoi, Tel Aviv, and Paris
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
At the French Culinary Institute, Lauren Shockey learned to slice and dice, cook fearlessly over high heat and knock back beers like a pro. But she also discovered that her real education wouldn’t begin until she actually worked in a restaurant.
After a disappointing apprenticeship in the French provinces, Lauren hatched a plan for her dream year: to apprentice in four high-end restaurants around the world. From the ribald humour of the kitchen and run-ins with the fiery workers to tasks ranging from the mundane (mincing cases of shallots) to the extraordinary (injecting bizarre ingredients to transform mayonnaise into a fried food), FOUR KITCHENS shows us what really happens behind the scenes in haute cuisine, and includes original recipes integrating the techniques and flavors Lauren learned along the way. Starting in her hometown of New York City, she travels to Vietnam, Israel, and back to France, where each new kitchen presents its own set of challenges, from language barriers to stronger-than-usual resistance to a woman in a professional kitchen.
The adventures of this restless young woman, set against the background drama of hyper-masculine restaurant life, is a captivating story for food lovers everywhere.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Food writer and French Culinary Institute graduate travels the globe as an unpaid kitchen apprentice, demystifying everything from haute cuisine at Senderens in Paris to molecular gastronomy at Manhattan's wd-50. In this entertainingly snarky memoir, Shockey chronicles the diffident curiosity of a female chef determined to learn, laugh, and cook in a professional kitchen. "Cooking in restaurants," she writes, "will teach you speed, precision, discipline and hard work. It's like the army: It can be tough, but you come out stronger." Along the way, she eats dog meat in Vietnam, fixes gnocchi in Israel, and cleans crab under a black light in France. Her bosses include such celebrated chefs as Wylie Dufresne and Didier Corlou. But amid the cooking tips, gourmet foods, and exotic techniques, she is driven by a simple question: do diners prefer meals that soothe with flavor or those that surprise with technique? With an insider's perspective shaped by the differing levels of trust and responsibility she earns, Shockey makes a reliable guide, as she illuminates the human elements of friendship and fatigue within the underpaid, unglamorous, and repetitive reality that is restaurant kitchen work.
