FINE COOKIN



I just finished Jacques Pépin's The Apprentice, a charming autobiography about his charmed life as a French and then American chef. It, and he, couldn't be more different than Anthony Bourdain and his brilliant Kitchen Confidential. Pépin did all the right apprenticeships, cooked for De Gaulle, knew all the right foodies and chefs (Craig Claiborne, Barbara Kafka, James Beard), and became famous before writing his book. Bourdain went where the money was, shot heroin, hit bottom, and clawed his way back into being top chef at his own restaurant. One is "Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly" as he puts it; the other one is more "My charmed life in front of the professional stove."

They're both worth reading!