Appetites: A Cookbook
by Anthony Bourdain
Welcome to our first cook book on Ground Control! One Of many, we hope…
I think it can be said that Anthony Bourdain is the punk rock chef. Sure, he’s on a major network and doesn’t exactly publish through an independent publisher, but then again neither did the Clash. It’s Bourdain’s outlook and approach to his craft that makes him punker than most. The man does love the Stooges, after all…
If you’re a fan of Bourdain’s and watch his many shows and their iterations, you know that he’s all about personality. He’s got a no bullshit approach to eating food, can be a stubborn purist, and still shows other cultures the respect they deserve. Not an imperialist or authoritarian by any stretch of the imagination, Bourdain is more interested in how others do things and what we can learn from them. He knows what he likes and he knows how he likes it, and really doesn’t care what you think.
Bourdain’s latest cook book Appetites (his first in 10 years) brings all the things that you love about Bourdain into one fantastic cookbook. I’m no chef but I learned a couple things over the years. What I love is the sheer scope of Appetites: it focuses on the basics as much as it does on the elaborate. Appetites is a little different from most cookbooks in that it sticks to what Bourdain knows instead of forcing an unnecessary course down your throat. Case in point, there is no dessert section in this book. Bourdain sticks to the cheeses for dessert. I can’t tell you how much I love this. Also, each section has some words of wisdom from Bourdain (with its fair share of “fucks”) as he teaches everything from the basics (like how to make a good scrambled egg), to the practical (sandwiches and burgers galore), to the old-fashioned (liver and onions!), to party essentials (deviled eggs!), to the elaborate (like roasted quail with polenta), to the focused (everything you need to know for a good Thanksgiving meal), to the unusual (wild boar sugo). Appetites is the perfect book for those squeamish to start cooking and seasoned veterans who want a challenge. Eat your way through this book.
That cover artwork by Ralph Steadman doesn’t hurt either. Now to find some rendered chicken fat…
