Bourdain
may be my favorite food personality in the English speaking world. For the
French world it would be Maité and Tim Mältzer in the German one.
I loved
Kitchen Confidential and all his TV shows. When I had a layover in Singapore,
his The Layover episode there was the blueprint for my stay. However, I was a
little bit skeptical about a cookbook, the guy has not been cooking for a
living for a long time. However after reading some interviews he did to promote
it in which he describes it as “the recipes that I cook for my family” I was
intrigued and when my wife asked me for a Christmas gift suggestion…so I ended
up with it.
First, even
if you do not cook a recipe from it, the writing is very entertaining. You hear
Bourdain talking to you, do not worry, you get clear instructions and
ingredient list, but the introduction to each recipe is in the typical ironic
deadpan Bourdain delivery.
I decided
to try the most American of all his recipes: Mac and Cheese.
First impression
is that it is very cheesy: 500 g of cheese for 500 g of pasta. It is not a bad
thing, however since the dominant cheese is parmesan, the end result is very
salty, too salty for my taste. Now I hear Bourdain answering this by saying “That
is the point your moron! Mac and cheese should be salty.” but it was too much
for me. My wife found that there was a slight bitterness present that was not
pleasant. She also told me that although it was good you did not feel all the
work that was behind the dish (Bourdain : “You European elitist!”)To be fair,
we and our son ate the whole thing. However, if I would redo it, I would cut
the amount of Parmesan in the mixture by at least a third and replace it by
another less salty cheese.
On a final
note, I must say that following Bourdain’s instructions I managed to make the silkiest,
smoothest and most clump free béchamel of my life (and I cooked quite a few).
All in all
a decent recipe, but it would need some work to cook it to my family’s taste.
