Buford spends over a year in the Babbo kitchen, but after feeling the addictive buzz that comes along with the atmosphere of a fast-paced New York City restaurant, he decides to explore another part of Batali's history: Batali's pilgrimage to Italy.įollowing the educational trek Batali took before his restaurant success, Buford spends a good deal of time in the Italian countryside with a pasta-maker in Poretta and a Butcher in Panzano, ultimately learning more about himself than Batali. He retells the personal struggles he endured (spending two hours cubing carrots only for them to be thrown away because they were not identical), to his triumphs (manning the grill on a particularly crazy night and receiving praise instead of abuse from 'the kitchen screamer'). 'That's how it's done.'īuford splits Heat into two parts, his experience at Babbo and his time in Italy. Not by reading a book or watching a television programme or going to cooking school,' Batali told Buford before his cooking adventure began. Instead, Buford received an education every culinary student would salivate over. The idea was simple enough – try to understand the inner workings of Batali by experiencing the inner workings of his kitchen.

The experience sparked a personal journey for Buford, taking him from the kitchen of Babbo, Batali's New York Times rated three-star restaurant in the heart of Greenwich Village, New York City, to the Italian countryside, and back again all of which he recounts in his 2006 memoir/ biography/textbook hybrid, Heat. Heat by Bill Buford Jonathan Cape £17.99 Review by Kayleigh Donahueįive years ago, Bill Buford, former Fiction Editor of The New Yorker, set out to write a profile on Mario Batali, famous in the US as much for his restaurant empire and television shows as his eccentric personality.

Heat by bill buford