April 24, 2004, my 32nd Birthday Party at 177 Union St., Brooklyn, NY.
My love of food, up until I met Sarah, consisted of being exposed to various types of cuisine growing up and having a fairly adventurous palate. I didn’t know much about wine and I knew nothing about cheese. Sarah changed this from the first date.
Sarah can go to the store, buy ingredients and create a jaw dropping meal from scratch. I’m like most people - I read the recipe, make a list, go to the store, become panic stricken when the items in the store don’t match what’s in the recipe - and feel somewhat placated by the text or call to Sarah when she responds “yeah - you can use that.”
From our small efficiency kitchen in Inman Sq., we created feasts for ourselves and friends. We never needed a reason other than the adventure of creating something together, and sharing the joy of our creation.
Kitchen Confidential was published in 2000. Sarah and I had been together for about 2 years, and as my love for gastronomy increased, lucky for me, along comes this man who married cuisine, humor, drugs, music, and “rules” for the uninitiated plebeians to become chefs in their own homes and create food that transported you to the countryside, beaches and towns of France.
But France was just the beginning. He opened our eyes to the world and built his audience by sharing the cuisines of countless countries and cultures.
I love Bourdain. To me, he’s the quintessential American. His love of country is embedded in understanding where we come from, the cultures, the people, the food, the celebration. I also love Tony because he was the ultimate teacher. Had he not entered my life, it's possible Sarah would have cast me aside.
I made “Tripes Les Halles” for my birthday, back in 2004. The recipe comes from the Les Halles Cookbook, and is the first in the Blood & Guts section. It serves 12 people and among the many ingredients are: honeycomb tripe, feathered tripe, calf’s foot, pork belly, pig’s ears, Serranno ham, blood sausage, chorizo and pork fat. You had to go to Chinatown to get the tripe, and lucky for me, Staubitz on Court St., and Paisanos on Smith St., had all of the other ingredients I needed. From start to finish, the dish took 3 days to make. A few bold souls at the dinner party joined me in the meal: Sam Cox, John Hennegan and Sarah.
There’s still a piece of tripe stuck to the recipe page in the cookbook. Sarah knows not to remove it. To me, it’s like a pin you receive in Boy Scout’s for completing a task. Some of the pages have wine or grease splatter. Some recipes have multiple check marks, notating the number of times I’ve cooked the dish.
Bourdain and I have 2 things in common: we share the same opinion that fermented shark, the national dish of Iceland, is the most disgusting food we’ve ever tried. And for my last meal? Sushi from Jiro Ono, just like Tony.
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Anthony Bourdain
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I wrote this June 8, 2018…
April 24, 2004, my 32nd Birthday Party at 177 Union St., Brooklyn, NY.
My love of food, up until I met Sarah, consisted of being exposed to various types of cuisine growing up and having a fairly adventurous palate. I didn’t know much about wine and I knew nothing about cheese. Sarah changed this from the first date.
Sarah can go to the store, buy ingredients and create a jaw dropping meal from scratch. I’m like most people - I read the recipe, make a list, go to the store, become panic stricken when the items in the store don’t match what’s in the recipe - and feel somewhat placated by the text or call to Sarah when she responds “yeah - you can use that.”
From our small efficiency kitchen in Inman Sq., we created feasts for ourselves and friends. We never needed a reason other than the adventure of creating something together, and sharing the joy of our creation.
Kitchen Confidential was published in 2000. Sarah and I had been together for about 2 years, and as my love for gastronomy increased, lucky for me, along comes this man who married cuisine, humor, drugs, music, and “rules” for the uninitiated plebeians to become chefs in their own homes and create food that transported you to the countryside, beaches and towns of France.
But France was just the beginning. He opened our eyes to the world and built his audience by sharing the cuisines of countless countries and cultures.
I love Bourdain. To me, he’s the quintessential American. His love of country is embedded in understanding where we come from, the cultures, the people, the food, the celebration. I also love Tony because he was the ultimate teacher. Had he not entered my life, it's possible Sarah would have cast me aside.
I made “Tripes Les Halles” for my birthday, back in 2004. The recipe comes from the Les Halles Cookbook, and is the first in the Blood & Guts section. It serves 12 people and among the many ingredients are: honeycomb tripe, feathered tripe, calf’s foot, pork belly, pig’s ears, Serranno ham, blood sausage, chorizo and pork fat. You had to go to Chinatown to get the tripe, and lucky for me, Staubitz on Court St., and Paisanos on Smith St., had all of the other ingredients I needed. From start to finish, the dish took 3 days to make. A few bold souls at the dinner party joined me in the meal: Sam Cox, John Hennegan and Sarah.
There’s still a piece of tripe stuck to the recipe page in the cookbook. Sarah knows not to remove it. To me, it’s like a pin you receive in Boy Scout’s for completing a task. Some of the pages have wine or grease splatter. Some recipes have multiple check marks, notating the number of times I’ve cooked the dish.
Bourdain and I have 2 things in common: we share the same opinion that fermented shark, the national dish of Iceland, is the most disgusting food we’ve ever tried. And for my last meal? Sushi from Jiro Ono, just like Tony.