Anthony Bourdain - Medium Raw

Served half-cooked like a soft boiled egg

Bourdain dishes out a follow-up to his best-selling Kitchen Confidential.  As the title suggests, it is half-cooked and I cant really tell the intent of the book because each chapter seems quite unrelated to the next.  In more than one chapter, he rants against the people and corporations he dislikes and if it was anyone else, i would have tuned out quite quickly.  However, since it is Bourdain, it comes across as quite entertaining to learn what is on his mind, and he also does not draw the line at putting his own self down.

What does come across, is his love for food and the industry.  When he attacks his enemies, it is because they go against his vision of what the industry and "good" food should be like, and in one chapter where he describes his favourite foods from across the globe, my stomach ended up growling. 

One section i particularly enjoyed was when he opined that basic culinary skills should be taught in schools.  I totally agree and wish there had been such a curriculum in my school!  Here are some of the essential skills that were listed out and I shall be attempting to pick up these skills in time to come:

• Knife skills
• Cooking an egg
• Roast chicken
• Cooking vegetables
• Making a vinaigrette
• Cleaning and filleting a fish
• Buying fresh produce
• Steaming a lobster/crab
• Roast/potatoes
• Cooking rice (easy enough!)
• Braising
• Using bones for stock

Another interesting point was that Singapore was singled out for special mention, with our food courts/hawker centres shown as an example where inexpensive, delicious food of wide variety could be bought and consumed in clean and comfortable surroundings.

Overall, it is quite an entertaining read.  Aside from the rants, Bourdain serves up interesting insights into the food industry (people who buy alcohol cross-subsidize those who do not) and also gives advice to aspiring chefs (dont do it, esp if you are old and fat).  He also highlights special persons within the industry, such as David Chang (founder of Momofuku) and Justo Thomas (fish butcher who cleans and fillets 700 pounds of fish in 5 hours).  If you are a Bourdain fan and grew up watching No Reservations as I did, this book will have you hooked.  I myself devoured it within 2 days during my reservist.

Medium Rare is available on Amazon and your nearest book store (which has probably just closed down for good).  Better yet, if you are a penny-pincher like me, get it from your closest National Library Branch!