Blood, Bones & Butter

The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef

By: Gabrielle Hamilton

Narrated by: Gabrielle Hamilton

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller.

A New York Times Notable Book.

Named one of the best books of the year by The Miami Herald, Newsday, The Huffington Post, Financial Times, GQ, Slate, Men’s Journal, Washington Examiner, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, National Post, The Toronto Star, BookPage, and Bookreporter.

"I wanted the lettuce and eggs at room temperature...the butter-and-sugar sandwiches we ate after school for snack...the marrow bones my mother made us eat as kids that I grew to crave as an adult...There would be no "conceptual" or "intellectual" food, just the salty, sweet, starchy, brothy, crispy things that one craves when one is actually hungry. In ecstatic farewell to my years of corporate catering, we would never serve anything but a martini in a martini glass. Preferably gin".

Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent 20 fierce, hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Above all she sought family, particularly the thrill and the magnificence of the one from her childhood that, in her adult years, eluded her. Hamilton’s ease and comfort in a kitchen were instilled in her at an early age when her parents hosted grand parties, often for more than 100 friends and neighbors. The smells of spit-roasted lamb, apple wood smoke, and rosemary garlic marinade became as necessary to her as her own skin.

Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the years: The rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; the soulless catering factories that helped pay the rent; Hamilton’s own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family - the result of a difficult and prickly marriage that nonetheless yields rich and lasting dividends.

Blood, Bones & Butter is an unflinching and lyrical work. Gabrielle Hamilton’s story is told with uncommon honesty, grit, humor, and passion. By turns epic and intimate, it marks the debut of a tremendous literary talent.

©2011 Gabrielle Hamilton (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Magnificent. Simply the best memoir by a chef ever. Ever. Gabrielle Hamilton packs more heart, soul, and pure power into one beautifully crafted page than I’ve accomplished in my entire writing career. Blood, Bones & Butter is the work of an uncompromising chef and a prodigiously talented writer. I am choked with envy.” (Anthony Bourdain)

“Gabrielle Hamilton has changed the potential and raised the bar for all books about eating and cooking. Her nearly rabid love for all real food experience and her completely vulnerable, unprotected yet pure point of view unveils itself in both truth and inspiration. I will read this book to my children and then burn all the books I have written for pretending to be anything even close to this. After that I will apply for the dishwasher job at Prune to learn from my new queen.” (Mario Batali)

“I have long considered Gabrielle Hamilton a writer in cook’s clothing, and this deliciously complex and intriguing memoir proves the point. Her candor, courage, and craft make for a wonderful read but, even more, for an appreciation of her talent and dedication, which have resulted from her often trying but inspiring experiences. Her writing is every bit as delectable and satisfying as her food.” (Mimi Sheraton, food critic and author of The German Cookbook and Eating My Words)

Yummy!

Gabrielle Hamilton's love of food is evident in her story. Her descriptions of cooking and of food in general were my favorite parts of the book. It made me want to go to Italy and cook eggplant in an Itallian villa by the sea...Her prose is descriptive and imaginative. I enjoyed the fact that she is the narrator. I recommend this book to other 'foodies'.

Way too egocentric for my taste

Is there anything you would change about this book?

If you love good writing, you will love this memoir. Hamilton can make a sentence sound as good as the meals she prepares. You will also love this book if you can bear her sense of self-righteousness about how food is prepared, about how people should behave at a farmer’s market, and if you think it is okay to hate another person because of the way they choose their coffee (double espresso, half decaf latte). I came to abhor her self-centeredness, especially at the very end when she holds her family hostage while she has a blood sugar attack but refuses to eat at an ordinary restaurant. Really? A chef who can’t remember to bring a little food with her when travelling with 2 toddlers to avoid a circumstance just like this?

In the first half of the book, Hamilton is generous with her stories and her love of what is important to her; enough to make me want to try some foods I wouldn’t normally consider or adventures that are far riskier than I am used to. I admired the way she envisioned her restaurant and made it happen. (Of course, calling herself a “reluctant” chef feels like a marketing ploy as she seems anything but.) However, once she is married, she can’t seem to get enough of putting down her husband and even having the poor grace to complain about a month in Italy every year. Maybe it’s because I listened to the audio book - which she narrates herself - that I come away with a sense of her total self-absorption disguised as wanting to feed her guests and love her children. I finished this book only so that I could close this chapter of my reading life.

I live this woman and her story

I was sad when the book ended. That's my benchmark of a great book. And her voice reading it just added to the wonderfulness of it all. Im nearly speechless.

Not one of my favorites.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Some parts of the book were slow and a bit tedious, but others were entertaining. The story was not compelling to me.

Would you be willing to try another book from Gabrielle Hamilton? Why or why not?

Probably not.

Have you listened to any of Gabrielle Hamilton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Never listened to one before.

Could you see Blood, Bones & Butter being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I wouldn't be interested in the movie.

Excellent Perspective from a top female Chef

Regardless of what Gabrielle Hamilton thinks about distinguishing female chefs from male chefs, it is such a pleasure to hear, specifically, the voice of a women who has become influential and powerful in a male dominated field describe her personal life and her career path.

She tells her story so beautifully and in such a contemporary way, with so many of the important details so honestly portrayed, that it is a huge contribution she is offering and I felt so happy that I chose to over-ride my vegetarian sensibilities to listen to her story. Because while she does talk a lot about meat, her personal tale is so interesting and so well-told that it made it worth covering my ears, so to speak, during the meatier parts.

Well worth a listen. Her speaking voice is a bit flat, but the prose is gorgeous enough to make up for it and it is so nice to be read to by the author that I didn't find it too diminishing to the tale. A must for anyone involved in the food industry, and most especially for students or the newbies. Lovely.

Should have been written later in life

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would have waited at least ten years, probably more, before writing this book. You have a much different perspective and understanding later in life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Blood, Bones & Butter?

Getting Prune ready to open.

What three words best describe Gabrielle Hamilton’s performance?

Monotone, unexciting, bland

Do you think Blood, Bones & Butter needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Maybe with a different, perhaps an aged point of view. Narrated by someone else.

Any additional comments?

Be prepared for explicit language. She also seems to go with no end about some of the stories which was unnecessary.

love at the first cut

fabulous biography from an interesting, talented woman whom I will forever admire. read it now

excellent

Having been in the culinary / hospitality industry for over 35 years I can relate understand and appreciate this excellent story and real truth of Chef Gabrielle Hamilton's life. truly appreciate what she's gone through and achieved in her lifetime.

Tell me no!

The sign of a great book is being sad that it’s ended.
Gabrielle is an interesting writer and her story kept me not only in the moment but also made me want to be there with her.

Relatable

As a restaurateur I found a lot of the experiences in the book similar to my own. Much better read than I was expecting.