---
product_id: 1867882
title: "Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany"
price: "A$46"
currency: AUD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/1867882-heat-an-amateurs-adventures-as-kitchen-slave-line-cook-pasta
store_origin: AU
region: Australia
---

# Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany

**Price:** A$46
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
- **How much does it cost?** A$46 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.au](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/1867882-heat-an-amateurs-adventures-as-kitchen-slave-line-cook-pasta)

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## Why This Product

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## Description

Review: BLOOD. GOSSIP. PAIN. HUMILIATION. ADVENTURE. GLUTTONY. BACHANALIA. - This is one of the most entertaining books I have ever read. The fact that it is about kitchens and food and chefs, etc. hardly matters: it is, first and last, a swashbuckling adventure in which our hero, the author, driven by curiosity and some unreasonable lust for kitchen skills, faces the heat in the kitchens of a couple of the most outsized, megalomaniacal chefs in the world and in a butcher shop in Italy. There is gossip of rare incision, gory details that beggar fiction, scenarios beyond the imagination of theater, all falling over each other pell-mell because Bill Buford's lust for skills and experience is like a locomotive and his writing is brilliant. His humility is the subject, really. It makes the story possible, makes the humor irresistable, puts him in situations that most of us are too proud to ever experience, and gives his prose the most winning lightness and warmth. By the end of the book, which I lamented like I was losing a pal, it became clear that Buford is a sort of modern-day Don Quixote, venturing forth into the unkown driven by a vague but powerful sense of childlike curiosity... actually, maybe he is the Elephant Child, repeatedly spanked by the grownups for his "Satiable Curtiosity"... or maybe he's a new breed of Late-Empire reporter, dutifully recording the vicissitudes of our wealth-enabled excesses from the foxholes of gluttony. Fact remains that he has shown us something keenly observed, something that is right under our noses but almost invisible, and he has done it so well because he is so omnivorous in his hunger for experience and so teachable. Here's another stab at describing Mr. Buford: he is the anti-Bond, in no way jaded, un-blinkered by savoir-faire, open to the world, and fantastically observant as a result. This is great reportage, great story-telling, great humor... I strongly recommend it, especially if you loved Kitchen Confidential and The Reach of a Chef. Outstanding.
Review: Every foodie's dream... and nightmare - The book is Buford's memoir of what started out as his attempt to learn what it was like to work in and run a restaurant and to become a better cook. In the end, it turned into an obsession to truly understand Italian cooking and to gain the kind of insight into food and its preparation that was handed down for millenia by people who lived close to the land and to the source of their food. Many people will pick up the book because of its association with Mario Batali, the famed Italian chef of the "Food Network," and while he plays a prominent role, it is not a book about him. Batali is one of a handful of figures--all larger than life--who lead Buford on his journey of discovery. Here's a warning for you: If you want to keep alive the myth of the jovial but tame TV chef, don't pick up this book because in it Batali is revealed as a slightly manic, foul-mouthed Puckish Dionysius, who swears with gusto, cracks sex jokes, and has a youthful history full of immoral pursuits. In other words, not unlike many of the food service professionals I worked with in the years I worked in restaurant kitchens. For another thing, if you think you might want to become a chef because it sounds romantic, definitely read this book and become disabused of the notion quickly. It's tough and demanding work that takes a toll, especially at the higher levels of prestige and service, but which can be very rewarding too. While profiling Batali's rise to stardom, Buford recounts his experiences starting out as an unpaid kitchen worker at Batali's famed New York restaurant, Babbo, where he works his way up the chain from prep worker to pasta maker to line cook. But his journey doesn't stop there. Buford is constantly traveling to Italy: to learn pasta-making from Batali's teacher in Emilia-Romagna; to learn about meat from the world's most famous butcher in Tuscany; and more. At its heart this is a book about food from a fan's perspective and Buford is the right guide. In the beginning, he's a barely competent cook, more enthusiastic than capable and we can picture ourselves in his shoes, moving from serving a marginal meal to friends into one of New York's most famous kitchens. Soon enough he's butchering a pig in his own apartment and smuggling secret ingredients unavailable in the US in his suitcase from Italy and taking Italian lessons at a scula in the Village and finally, at the end, being given the opportunity to do what every foodie dilettante dreams of and refusing it. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and read it over three days. It's not a small book and not simple either, but it went quickly because of the quality of the prose. Every time I picked up the book I got a craving, sometimes pasta, sometimes a nice steak, always wine. In fact, I've had a nice glass of red with me almost the entire time reading the book. I am curious how the people that Buford profiles feel about how they were portrayed in the book. Many of them come across as petty and arrogant, albeit passionate about what they do. The reality is that there few perfect saints or perfect rogues, and that we all fall somewhere in between on a continuum between the two extremes. What comes through is that this passion which strays into arrogance is what separates the amateur from the artist and is often a hallmark of experts in any number of subjects, from sculpture to music to food.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #82,515 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #55 in Culinary Biographies & Memoirs #80 in Gastronomy Essays (Books) #1,504 in Memoirs (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,458 Reviews |

## Images

![Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61PF7ei-zjL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ BLOOD. GOSSIP. PAIN. HUMILIATION. ADVENTURE. GLUTTONY. BACHANALIA.
*by J***S on June 20, 2006*

This is one of the most entertaining books I have ever read. The fact that it is about kitchens and food and chefs, etc. hardly matters: it is, first and last, a swashbuckling adventure in which our hero, the author, driven by curiosity and some unreasonable lust for kitchen skills, faces the heat in the kitchens of a couple of the most outsized, megalomaniacal chefs in the world and in a butcher shop in Italy. There is gossip of rare incision, gory details that beggar fiction, scenarios beyond the imagination of theater, all falling over each other pell-mell because Bill Buford's lust for skills and experience is like a locomotive and his writing is brilliant. His humility is the subject, really. It makes the story possible, makes the humor irresistable, puts him in situations that most of us are too proud to ever experience, and gives his prose the most winning lightness and warmth. By the end of the book, which I lamented like I was losing a pal, it became clear that Buford is a sort of modern-day Don Quixote, venturing forth into the unkown driven by a vague but powerful sense of childlike curiosity... actually, maybe he is the Elephant Child, repeatedly spanked by the grownups for his "Satiable Curtiosity"... or maybe he's a new breed of Late-Empire reporter, dutifully recording the vicissitudes of our wealth-enabled excesses from the foxholes of gluttony. Fact remains that he has shown us something keenly observed, something that is right under our noses but almost invisible, and he has done it so well because he is so omnivorous in his hunger for experience and so teachable. Here's another stab at describing Mr. Buford: he is the anti-Bond, in no way jaded, un-blinkered by savoir-faire, open to the world, and fantastically observant as a result. This is great reportage, great story-telling, great humor... I strongly recommend it, especially if you loved Kitchen Confidential and The Reach of a Chef. Outstanding.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Every foodie's dream... and nightmare
*by D***I on January 4, 2007*

The book is Buford's memoir of what started out as his attempt to learn what it was like to work in and run a restaurant and to become a better cook. In the end, it turned into an obsession to truly understand Italian cooking and to gain the kind of insight into food and its preparation that was handed down for millenia by people who lived close to the land and to the source of their food. Many people will pick up the book because of its association with Mario Batali, the famed Italian chef of the "Food Network," and while he plays a prominent role, it is not a book about him. Batali is one of a handful of figures--all larger than life--who lead Buford on his journey of discovery. Here's a warning for you: If you want to keep alive the myth of the jovial but tame TV chef, don't pick up this book because in it Batali is revealed as a slightly manic, foul-mouthed Puckish Dionysius, who swears with gusto, cracks sex jokes, and has a youthful history full of immoral pursuits. In other words, not unlike many of the food service professionals I worked with in the years I worked in restaurant kitchens. For another thing, if you think you might want to become a chef because it sounds romantic, definitely read this book and become disabused of the notion quickly. It's tough and demanding work that takes a toll, especially at the higher levels of prestige and service, but which can be very rewarding too. While profiling Batali's rise to stardom, Buford recounts his experiences starting out as an unpaid kitchen worker at Batali's famed New York restaurant, Babbo, where he works his way up the chain from prep worker to pasta maker to line cook. But his journey doesn't stop there. Buford is constantly traveling to Italy: to learn pasta-making from Batali's teacher in Emilia-Romagna; to learn about meat from the world's most famous butcher in Tuscany; and more. At its heart this is a book about food from a fan's perspective and Buford is the right guide. In the beginning, he's a barely competent cook, more enthusiastic than capable and we can picture ourselves in his shoes, moving from serving a marginal meal to friends into one of New York's most famous kitchens. Soon enough he's butchering a pig in his own apartment and smuggling secret ingredients unavailable in the US in his suitcase from Italy and taking Italian lessons at a scula in the Village and finally, at the end, being given the opportunity to do what every foodie dilettante dreams of and refusing it. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and read it over three days. It's not a small book and not simple either, but it went quickly because of the quality of the prose. Every time I picked up the book I got a craving, sometimes pasta, sometimes a nice steak, always wine. In fact, I've had a nice glass of red with me almost the entire time reading the book. I am curious how the people that Buford profiles feel about how they were portrayed in the book. Many of them come across as petty and arrogant, albeit passionate about what they do. The reality is that there few perfect saints or perfect rogues, and that we all fall somewhere in between on a continuum between the two extremes. What comes through is that this passion which strays into arrogance is what separates the amateur from the artist and is often a hallmark of experts in any number of subjects, from sculpture to music to food.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Behind closed doors - what really goes on in the commercial kitchen
*by D***N on February 14, 2008*

Whoa. Too much information! But what fascinating information. From here on I will always feel a bit guilty about using a colander to drain pasta. And a bit skeptical about a meal prepared in a busy restaurant: head for the exits, find somewhere less crowded, if you are at all worried about how exactly that meal got onto your plate or what might have happened to it en route. I started to feel the symptoms of salmonella about a quarter of the way into the book. Although the book is about cooking, this is not chick-lit (not by any stretch of the imagination). It is very much more a travelogue through Italy and through the reality-show world of New York eateries. The sub-title is a pretty concise precis of the book. The narrative has a few more bad words in it than are really needed to carry the story along but I suppose that is to portray the mercurial temperament that derives from working with finely-honed knives and scalding pans in close quarters at 130 degrees. This is a read that is easy to take in short chunks or in longer stretches. It is interesting throughout. You probably won't develop too much empathy for the major characters since they are essentially real-life caricatures of themselves, and scarily I believe that these are probably close to true to life. One supposes that the only thing standing in the way of a major defamation case is that apparently Mario Batali has a self-image that the Five Boroughs can barely contain. The author himself is a journalist who pitched the writing business to follow his dream of working with one of the industry's great chefs. But in truth he does not have the aptitude and is (at least at first) only kept on because he is somewhat a friend of said famous chef and because he works for free. Aside from not really having the feel for cooking that some people just have in them, this hobby is hazardous to Buford's health: he is one of those people who should not be allowed to handle any sharp objects, which of course are inherent to cooking. However, he balances this deficiency with an apparent immunity to pain. So when you get that rare-looking chop next time, make sure it is actually the chop that is doing the bleeding. If not, there may be a somewhat uncoordinated prep-chef in training. This review might make it sounds like I didn't like the book. On the contrary, I did. It was hard to let it go. But you need to be prepared for the idea that, despite a common love for the delectables of northern Italy, it is definitely not in the same genre as Under the Tuscan Sun.

## Frequently Bought Together

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*Product available on Desertcart Australia*
*Store origin: AU*
*Last updated: 2026-02-27*