'Heat' by Bill Buford

Heat, Bill Buford (3.5)

I read this book years ago and remembered it fondly. Rereading it now had some major pluses and minuses. The book follows the journalist, Mr. Buford, along 3 major cooking adventures: working in the kitchen of a Mario Batalli restaurant, traveling to Tuscany to learn how to make homemade pasta, and returning to Tuscany to apprentice with a butcher. Given our recent interest in cooking – particular all things Italian – I loved the kitchen and pasta sections. Given my pescatarian/vegetarian predilections (I was a carnivore during the first reading), I found the butcher section almost unreadable. Mr. Buford has a somewhat annoying habit of bending towards the superlative (i.e. everything is the best, most wonderful, only possible….you get the drift) that gets a bit tiresome. That being said, the characters he meets along his journey come alive in his writing and are extremely likable and interesting. I will add that many of his passages made me worry about Mr. Batalli’s health (can anyone eat and drink that much and stay out till 4am???). If you like meat, cooking and Italy – this is probably a 4.0 book. It’s also worth reading if you are just interested in a behind the scenes look at a famous restaurant in New York City.