Appetites: A Cookbook

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There's no rhyme or reason to the recipes besides "here's stuff AB likes" (which I guess is part of the charm), and everything is either laughably basic (scrambled eggs! The only thing I'd do differently next time would be to add an extra package of ramen noodles--we would have liked more. He obviously has a huge amount of very unique experience and has put so much work into his talent and career.

According to the introduction to his eagerly-awaited new cookbook Appetites, he is also someone with a "psycho–Ina Garten–like need to feed the people around me," "obsessive-compulsive in my work habits and anally retentive in ways that you’d find ideal in a professional brunch cook, but probably disturbing in a husband or parent.Anthony Bourdain is many things: He’s the host of the wildly successful CNN show Parts Unknown; he’s a father; he’s the author of best-sellers like Kitchen Confidential; and way back when, he was just another restaurant chef trying to make it through a shift. I also think that the dry chorizo was too overpowering and next time I will use fresh chorizo which has a milder, less smoky flavor. Even my wife, who normally eschews recipes, found the cookbook very helpful in preparing for our first time hosting Thanksgiving. Underneath its carefully curated punk aesthetic and ripped-from-the-(now ex-)family recipes, "Appetites" is also unintentionally a meditation on life and how it should be lived.

His work has appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker, and he was a contributing authority for Food Arts magazine.The Pomodoro worked wonderfully with them but I did need to simmer for longer than the 20-25 mins to make it thick enough to coat the meatballs and not make the bread soggy in the heros. There isn't much in terms of photographing actual recipes, but it fits neatly into the visual aesthetic Bourdain promotes on his TV shows and is totally consistent with his brand. I love how Bourdain says to cook the mushrooms until they start "squeaking" when moved around the pan--and they really do! teaspoons of cayenne pepper in and it wasn't enough, but to each, his own when it comes to spicy taste. It's kind of a rock n'roll cookbook; not great for vegans and there's not a ton of quick prep stuff in here.

Once I had the chance to actually read through the recipes however and tried my hand at a couple I was hooked. Bourdain's biscuits have a slightly crunchier bottom, but are lighter and airier than the Cream Biscuits. The recipes themselves lean more practical than I expected - the kitchen experience is here as efficiency is the central component of each, as far as I can tell.

Every once in awhile, I'm reminded of an exhortation I found in Guy Peellaert's "Rock Dreams" that was quoted from Revelations: "Be hot or be cold, or else God will spit you from his mouth! Turning the pages at random, there's a two-page spread of a dog lunging for a piece of tossed meat (appetites, remember? Then, when it came time to cook, I was afraid of overcooking the chicken--you use a grill pan (in our case, a large skillet) on high heat and cook the boneless skinless thighs for a full 7 minutes per side before transferring to a hot oven for an additional 10 minutes.