A chef with a rock-star attitude
By Stephanie Snipes
CNN
(CNN) -- Anthony Bourdain never intended to become a cook. In fact, he considered the possibility ridiculous.
The Culinary Institute of America-trained chef got his start in the restaurant business as a dishwasher, a job he says he loved. It was during that time Bourdain said he gained a certain amount of self-respect, and met a crew of talented cooks whose respect he wanted. From there a career was born.
Bourdain has gone on to become executive chef at Les Halles brasserie in New York City, best-selling author of "Kitchen Confidential" and host of the Food Network show "A Cook's Tour."
With his newest book, "Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook," and a new cooking show for the Travel Channel in the works, Bourdain is still keeping the fire burning -- at a reasonable temperature, of course.
"Les Halles" teaches home cooks the ins and outs of good cooking with a hard-core, almost rude, attitude. His recipes include boorish quips like, "If you think you want it medium well or well, you don't deserve to eat this dish. See you at Sizzler." And humorous anecdotes like, "You can make aioli the old-school way by using a mortar and pestle and a lot of patience, like my Tante Jeanne. She didn't have a Cuisinart ... but then she didn't have an indoor toilet either. I suggest you use your food processor."
Bourdain sat down with CNN to discuss his career.
CNN: What is it about a chef's life that intrigues you?
ANTHONY BOURDAIN: The lifestyle ... the camaraderie, the sort of continuity. The sense that you are part of a subculture or tribe that goes back hundreds of years and spans the globe. That's what attracted me in the first place. It's what's kept me fascinated and it's something that's still a surprise.
CNN: How did you get started in the business?
BOURDAIN: Food had always been pretty important in my family so I was exposed to a lot of good food and a lot of good cooking. I never for a second thought that I'd want to be a chef until I started washing dishes and I saw how the cooks lived. And you know the expression "I found a home in the army?" I found a home in restaurant business.
CNN: You have a very distinct writing style.
BOURDAIN: I write like I talk. I think with a cookbook, as long as I could make it sound like I'm standing next to you in the kitchen maybe it would be useful and different. I was thinking a lot about the types of cookbooks I didn't want to be or didn't want to do. ... Then I thought I would just talk to the readers the same way I talk to my cooks. And that fits very well into the way I've been writing for a while. I benefit from low expectations, I think.
CNN: Do you have any tips for home cooks?
BOURDAIN: The difference between cooking at home and cooking in restaurants is often how professionals approach their area and manage their time and space. Maybe that's the biggest difference in fact. ... Half way through the cooking process (home cooks) realize, "Oh gee, where did I put that, whatever it is, it's in here somewhere," by which point you've messed up, or you lose focus and you begin to get frustrated, and all is lost. Food senses fear and misbehaves.
CNN: How did you develop the recipes for this book?
BOURDAIN: There's not an original recipe in this book. They're all 20, 30, 50, 100-year-old classic, classic bistro brasserie dishes. The difference is that they are the Les Halles recipes which are authentic, particularly old school, and more rustic that a lot of the food porn versions. They are deliberately geared toward more fun to eat rather than more elegant to eat. So really, what I had to do was scale them down and make them work for a home cook.
CNN: Why this book now?
BOURDAIN: Sense of homesickness, perhaps. I'd been away from the restaurant for awhile. Maybe a reaction to the mini wavelet of Francophobia that swept through the country. I mean, I've been enjoying making fun of the French for so many years, it really irritates me that that's no fun any more. I tend to fly the tricolors when challenged: "I'll make fun of the French, thank you very much."
CNN: What keeps you going?
BOURDAIN: In the amazing movie that my life has become I want to keep the movie going. I like what I'm seeing, I like where I'm going. ... I've had plenty of reasons to feel ashamed and hate myself in the past, and done a lot of things I've been ashamed of. It's all about waking up in the morning and looking at yourself in the mirror. It's important for my continued health and existence to be happy.
