DIRT: Adventures In Lyon As A Chef In Training

'This well and vividly written paean to Lyonnais cuisine is insightful, incisive and informative. From the amazing creativity of Michel Richard to the strict discipline of the Institut Bocuse, from the brutal hierarchy of La Mère Brazier to the making of bread in Lyon and Savoy, Bill Buford weaves a tale as smooth as a pike quenelle and as rich as a Bresse chicken in cream sauce. Alternatively buoyant, humorous, and thoughtful, Dirt is a very enjoyable feast.' - Jacques Pépin. We chomp and romp our way through formidable French kitchens in a book about food, writing and obsessive people with a sense of adventure. The author of the beloved bestselling Heat, Bill Buford thinks that in order to learn the fundamentals of becoming a French chef, he should spend a little time working in a restaurant and then perhaps a few months in France. He persuades the revered French chef Michel Richard in Washington DC to take him on then moves to Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France, with his wife and three-year-old twin sons. He meets Bob, the proprietor of Lyon's best boulangerie, becomes his apprentice, and learns how to make bread. He cooks at the storied Michelin-starred La Mère Brazier and endures the endless hours as the weeks turn into months and a five-year digression from normal life. Buford becomes a man obsessed with proving himself on the line, convincing chefs to reveal their gastronomic secrets, needing to understand the mysteries of the city that has become his family's home, and even researching the origins of French cooking itself - which might be Italian! With his signature sense of humour, adventure and masterful ability to bring the world of the kitchen vividly to life. Deckle edged desirable 413pages.