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Cooking Dirty: A Story Of Life, Sex, Love And Death In The Kitchen (2009)

by Jason Sheehan(Favorite Author)

3.4 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0374289212 (ISBN13: 9780374289218)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

review 1: If Anthony Bourdain had a literary son it would be Sheehan. Sheehan does admit he owes a debt to Bourdain. The both have a swashbuckling chef mentality. They stomp into the kitchen, they don't always place nice, but they get the job done. They are pirates cutting a swath through the kitchen, working then drinking, and doing any available drugs.(If you need drugs just ask someone who works in the kitchen of a restaurant. Chances are they will know what and where and who has the best deals.) Once you become part of the line it is is like being part of a special club. When Sheehan leaves a job and is jobless he feels more than just the usual loss. He is out of the kitchen and its unique culture. Kitchen help are some unique individuals. They can be rude, crude, hungover, sto... morened, and general messes, but they take pride in their work. Sheehan got his start working scraping pans in a pizzeria when he was 15 and it started him working in kitchens for many years to come. He never worked in a fancy five star restaurant, but in the kitchens of dives,diners, a seafood place in Florida, which wins for worst workplace- 140 degree kitchen in Florida and cooking seafood. Intertwined with his restaurant work is his tempestous relationship with his girlfriend Sam(who unsurprisngly becomes his ex), Sheehan's quitting of drugs, and a health crisis that takes him out of the kitchen, but makes him a food writer. Just a great read- entertaining, and smart. Those looking for recipes and a culinary memoir where food saved someone- look else where. Those who want a rollicking portrait of what goes on behind the kitchen door- get reading!
review 2: I like a dose of Tony Bourdain and this came up as a recommendation. It's a similar story, all the behind the scenes antics, the drug habit potentially beaten, the growing up and sort of settling down. I started skimming about two thirds of the way through, not because I'd lost interest in the story (in that case I'd have stopped reading) but because the book is about a third too long. The story advances, but it also stays the same. So I just skimmed ahead so I knew where the story of the book ends. less

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