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Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME
Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs
A hilarious and heartening collection of kitchen disasters.
In this raucous new collection, over forty of the world's greatest chefs relate outrageous true tales from their kitchens. From hiring a blind line cook to flooding the room with meringue to being terrorized by a French owl, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. A delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren't always perfect, Don't Try This at Home is a must-have for anyone who loves food or is fascinated by those who masterfully prepare it.
Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs
A hilarious and heartening collection of kitchen disasters.
In this raucous new collection, over forty of the world's greatest chefs relate outrageous true tales from their kitchens. From hiring a blind line cook to flooding the room with meringue to being terrorized by a French owl, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. A delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren't always perfect, Don't Try This at Home is a must-have for anyone who loves food or is fascinated by those who masterfully prepare it.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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1308 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
March 12, 2019
"The lobsters are off!"
. . . is not something you want to hear when you are catering a dinner for thirty-two hundred people.
And this is only one dilemma faced by chefs and would-be-chefs in this book of collected tales detailing all that can, AND WILL go wrong in the culinary world.
Here is every disaster imaginable, from an overly sensitive sprinkler system to a kitchen floor squirming with escaped eels.
Mario Batali exacts a "salty" revenge before walking out on a nightmare boss.
Anthony Bourdain spins a wild story (does he tell ANY other kind?) of a kitchen drinking game that gets out of hand, and a New Year's Eve dinner gone horribly wrong.
And remember, if all else fails, try blaming it on the dog.
Some of the stories are funnier and more memorable than others, but there are plenty of chuckles to be had.
. . . is not something you want to hear when you are catering a dinner for thirty-two hundred people.
And this is only one dilemma faced by chefs and would-be-chefs in this book of collected tales detailing all that can, AND WILL go wrong in the culinary world.
Here is every disaster imaginable, from an overly sensitive sprinkler system to a kitchen floor squirming with escaped eels.
Mario Batali exacts a "salty" revenge before walking out on a nightmare boss.
Anthony Bourdain spins a wild story (does he tell ANY other kind?) of a kitchen drinking game that gets out of hand, and a New Year's Eve dinner gone horribly wrong.
And remember, if all else fails, try blaming it on the dog.
Some of the stories are funnier and more memorable than others, but there are plenty of chuckles to be had.
May 6, 2015
Don't try *what* at home? Acting like a pompous chef who knows it all and wants to tell you that you certainly don't? Reminds me of Chopped on the Food Network where some chefs get all snotty because they went to culinary school and other chefs, sorry 'cooks', didn't. There is only one true way of judging food - did you enjoy it or not? Who cares who prepared it or what training they had? If the food is awful then the fact it was prepared by a graduate of the Culinary Arts Institute isn't going to make up for it at all. Perhaps that's why so many of us go to restaurants and patisseries that state 'home-cooked', they've probably got a clientele because of their good cooking although, if someone else is paying, I'm very willing to go to a Michelin 3-star restaurant (no one so far has been willing).
The book is a series of anecdotes where the chefs do a lot of bragging. There was one story where the chef sets fire to the entree and brilliantly converts into a dish he gets praised for. That was about the best the book had to offer as the other anecdotes are tedious.
I only finished the book, months after starting it, because I was in a long bank queue and I'd read all the mortgage-loan-credit card literature and it was all I had. Yep, that boring.
The book is a series of anecdotes where the chefs do a lot of bragging. There was one story where the chef sets fire to the entree and brilliantly converts into a dish he gets praised for. That was about the best the book had to offer as the other anecdotes are tedious.
I only finished the book, months after starting it, because I was in a long bank queue and I'd read all the mortgage-loan-credit card literature and it was all I had. Yep, that boring.
October 26, 2014
If I learned two things from this book it is these:
1. English chefs have oddball senses of humour.
2. American chefs take themselves too seriously.
1. English chefs have oddball senses of humour.
2. American chefs take themselves too seriously.
June 30, 2019
An impossibly opulent wedding, with a $30,000 cake included and everything planned down to the last detail, comes up against an unexpected snag. A very creative chef thinks up a grand menu for New Year’s Eve at his restaurant. An apprentice teenager navigating a tiny restaurant with a huge tray refuses help. A culinary student sets out to impress a professor and his wife with nothing less than pheasant…
Not all of the very personal confessions and reminiscences of the many chefs whose essays comprise Don’t Try This at Home are truly ‘culinary catastrophes’. Michael Lomonaco’s A Night at the Opera, for instance, is only about a disappointment that might have been, and Geoffrey Zakarian’s The Michelin Man is about eating at Michelin restaurants, not cooking at them. Jamie Oliver’s essay, The End of Innocence, is almost exclusively about pranks.
Still, the bulk of these stories are about the completely crazy things that can happen in professional kitchens. The unexpected crisis, the result of someone’s ego or foolishness or lack of preparedness or simple lack of experience. Some stories—like Anthony Bourdain’s New Year’s Meltdown—are hair-raisingly bizarre and traumatic, while others—like David Burke’s White Lie—are a good example of really quick (and creative) thinking.
Whatever they may be, the essays are all very readable. Some are by chefs who are not just chefs but also well-loved and popular food writers, and it shows in their writing. Others are by chefs who may not be literary figures, but who have such fascinating stories to tell, that it doesn’t really matter. Some are slightly meandering reminiscences which aim to convey a message (accept your mistake, think creatively, be willing to accept help, and so on). Some are to the point, delightful and even self-deprecating anecdotes.
It may be that because I’ve studied hotel management and worked, even if only briefly, in restaurant kitchens, I liked this book so much. But I think anyone who’s fond of cooking and is interested in what goes on behind the scenes, would enjoy this one. What I would have liked, though, is a less Europe-and-US centric book: you can’t call this collection one from the ‘world’s greatest chefs’ if almost every chef in the list is either American or European.
Not all of the very personal confessions and reminiscences of the many chefs whose essays comprise Don’t Try This at Home are truly ‘culinary catastrophes’. Michael Lomonaco’s A Night at the Opera, for instance, is only about a disappointment that might have been, and Geoffrey Zakarian’s The Michelin Man is about eating at Michelin restaurants, not cooking at them. Jamie Oliver’s essay, The End of Innocence, is almost exclusively about pranks.
Still, the bulk of these stories are about the completely crazy things that can happen in professional kitchens. The unexpected crisis, the result of someone’s ego or foolishness or lack of preparedness or simple lack of experience. Some stories—like Anthony Bourdain’s New Year’s Meltdown—are hair-raisingly bizarre and traumatic, while others—like David Burke’s White Lie—are a good example of really quick (and creative) thinking.
Whatever they may be, the essays are all very readable. Some are by chefs who are not just chefs but also well-loved and popular food writers, and it shows in their writing. Others are by chefs who may not be literary figures, but who have such fascinating stories to tell, that it doesn’t really matter. Some are slightly meandering reminiscences which aim to convey a message (accept your mistake, think creatively, be willing to accept help, and so on). Some are to the point, delightful and even self-deprecating anecdotes.
It may be that because I’ve studied hotel management and worked, even if only briefly, in restaurant kitchens, I liked this book so much. But I think anyone who’s fond of cooking and is interested in what goes on behind the scenes, would enjoy this one. What I would have liked, though, is a less Europe-and-US centric book: you can’t call this collection one from the ‘world’s greatest chefs’ if almost every chef in the list is either American or European.
July 10, 2012
Cast in its most positive light, with the exception of language that is, in my opinion, inappropriate to the situation or the reading audience, this collection of chefs' "outrageous true tales" depicts the restaurant industry as the "downstairs" of the Public Television series Upstairs Downstairs.
What societal pressures created these often mean spirited chefs and cooks who cannot ask for help, identify that they even need help, or acknowledge (at the time, to the customer) the food "catastrophe" and how they created it by their own driving, planning, timing, preparation, inflated ego, lack of knowledge, etc. and how they plan to make it right? When did honesty become the last policy? One chef goes so far as cast blame on "the dogs": Michel Richard's Alibi.
With these glimpses of what goes on behind the scenes, can I comfortably eat out again?????
Page 194
But we had big problems finding support in the kitchen or the dining room. It quickly became apparent to me that no matter how many ads we ran in the paper, and no matter how many phone calls I made, we were going to have trouble filling all the positions. As for the few employees that we did manage to find -- locals who had worked in diners and greasy-spoon joints -- they could barely handle the pressure. Most of them stopped showing up for work after a few day, never to be heard from again.
I hope that the chef of preceding paragraph, Pino Luongo, learned to do market research before buying and developing subsequent properties. He kept "shooting the messengers" (the work force available to him in the remote area where HE CHOSE to locate). As for the pressure he mentions, it was his creation. What could he do to reduce the pressure on new employees so they wanted to return to work?
What societal pressures created these often mean spirited chefs and cooks who cannot ask for help, identify that they even need help, or acknowledge (at the time, to the customer) the food "catastrophe" and how they created it by their own driving, planning, timing, preparation, inflated ego, lack of knowledge, etc. and how they plan to make it right? When did honesty become the last policy? One chef goes so far as cast blame on "the dogs": Michel Richard's Alibi.
With these glimpses of what goes on behind the scenes, can I comfortably eat out again?????
Page 194
But we had big problems finding support in the kitchen or the dining room. It quickly became apparent to me that no matter how many ads we ran in the paper, and no matter how many phone calls I made, we were going to have trouble filling all the positions. As for the few employees that we did manage to find -- locals who had worked in diners and greasy-spoon joints -- they could barely handle the pressure. Most of them stopped showing up for work after a few day, never to be heard from again.
I hope that the chef of preceding paragraph, Pino Luongo, learned to do market research before buying and developing subsequent properties. He kept "shooting the messengers" (the work force available to him in the remote area where HE CHOSE to locate). As for the pressure he mentions, it was his creation. What could he do to reduce the pressure on new employees so they wanted to return to work?
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January 28, 2021I had fun reading this during 2020, I just wanted to also leave a note that there's some surprise ablism in one of the stories. I'll link this other site's rebuttal.
http://waftb.net/node/329
Other than that, I was entertained! (I can't remember if I had any other, less drastic objections. It was 2020 and who can brain lol.)
http://waftb.net/node/329
Other than that, I was entertained! (I can't remember if I had any other, less drastic objections. It was 2020 and who can brain lol.)
July 22, 2018
These essays were quick fun reads that got a bit repetitive if I read too many in a row. I enjoyed learning that cooking experts could make mistakes as easily as amateur cooks and I thought that some of the fixes they came up with were interesting.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes food and knows something about cooking.
One quick question: why did they use “don’t try this at home” for the title? There has to be a catchier phrase that would have better defined the book. No one in their right mind would have even attempted most of this cooking in their own house.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes food and knows something about cooking.
One quick question: why did they use “don’t try this at home” for the title? There has to be a catchier phrase that would have better defined the book. No one in their right mind would have even attempted most of this cooking in their own house.
July 29, 2016
I love to read Anthony Bourdain! He is brilliant Honest and sarcastic. He is more than willing to be self-deprecating and call others on their BS. So when I saw a book featuring short tales from various famous and infamous [Mario Batali] chefs I grabbed it.
Unfortunately most chefs aren't Anthony Bourdain; most are apparently pompous little snots. Too often their culinary catastrophes occurred when they were very young, were blamed upon another or were just so boring you couldn't care.
When reading any of Mr. Bourdain's books I will find myself laughing so hard I am crying. There were few stories in this book that even made me smile.
I would be hard pressed to pick out the worst but one that is close is the story by Tamasin Day-Lewis. Her story is about a cooking disaster when she was a student at Cambridge involving hanging a bunch of grouse. I cannot begin to fathom what tiny percentage of readers would consider this an engaging anecdote.
And as a home cook I wanted disasters not oh the chef was mean or they didn't like me because I am an American. Or I should have never agreed to cater / cook outside the kitchen.
There are a few stories of brilliant saves; my favorite the massive meringue that was really a trash bag stuffed with chef's whites and the lamb that set off the sprinkler system and the young chef-to-be who toured France with a good suit and dined alone and later learned that he was being mistaken for a Michelin reviewer.
Bourdain's contribution is hilarious
Unfortunately most chefs aren't Anthony Bourdain; most are apparently pompous little snots. Too often their culinary catastrophes occurred when they were very young, were blamed upon another or were just so boring you couldn't care.
When reading any of Mr. Bourdain's books I will find myself laughing so hard I am crying. There were few stories in this book that even made me smile.
I would be hard pressed to pick out the worst but one that is close is the story by Tamasin Day-Lewis. Her story is about a cooking disaster when she was a student at Cambridge involving hanging a bunch of grouse. I cannot begin to fathom what tiny percentage of readers would consider this an engaging anecdote.
And as a home cook I wanted disasters not oh the chef was mean or they didn't like me because I am an American. Or I should have never agreed to cater / cook outside the kitchen.
There are a few stories of brilliant saves; my favorite the massive meringue that was really a trash bag stuffed with chef's whites and the lamb that set off the sprinkler system and the young chef-to-be who toured France with a good suit and dined alone and later learned that he was being mistaken for a Michelin reviewer.
Bourdain's contribution is hilarious
August 12, 2010
A very funny, over the top collection of stories from famous chefs, both television or not. This one looks at those days when things go very very very wrong, and a chef finds themselves in the middle of chaos. Considering that many in that chaos are angry, have short tempers and are usually handling sharp knives, heavy items or scalding water, it can get real ugly, real fast. A terrific read for any foodie and cautionary tales for those who are considering a career as a professional chef. Recommended.
For the complete review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Dont_T...
For the complete review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/review/Dont_T...
February 5, 2017
Funny stories about life behind the swinging kitchen doors. The writing isn't exactly stunning (there's a reason these people are chefs and not storytellers), but it made for good quick reading just before bed.
September 5, 2011
Anyone who has ever worked in the restaurant business could tell a story about it..one that could either make you laugh or cry. I have just re-read this book for the 4th time and it still brings tears to my eyes; it's that funny.
This is the most entertainment a person could get from some the the worlds greatest chefs. The mix between personality and REAL situations they find themselves in. Im just really glad these chefs shared their stories and someone put into a book.
This is the most entertainment a person could get from some the the worlds greatest chefs. The mix between personality and REAL situations they find themselves in. Im just really glad these chefs shared their stories and someone put into a book.
August 12, 2013
A collection of short essays written by chefs about some of the worst mistakes they've made during their careers. Funny, but a bit repetitive as many of them have made similar mistakes.
October 27, 2023
Since this is a collection of essays, it's hard to discuss the entire thing. Broadly, I found it to be at times transphobic, at times bordering xenophobic towards immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries, at times ableist, at times seemingly missing the point of the book, and featuring an essay from the disgrace(d)(ful) Mario Batali before the accusations of sexual assault came to light. Something for everyone??
Anthony Bourdain and Marcus Samuelsson's essays really saved this collection for me. Samuelsson's perspective as the only Black man in a kitchen that was already known for being a nightmare environment is really valuable, and I wish there'd been more contributions like that. Yes, I get it, the French hate American chefs, blah blah, but white American chefs can leave France and come back to America without having to worry about encountering racism here. I'm glad that he chose to share his experience.
Otherwise, my main takeaways were: historically the only food Americans have truly valued comes from predominantly-white countries, don't trust the cake at a large events, your hollandaise sauce might have been on the floors of an ancient car, and (as anyone who has ever worked in a kitchen can probably confirm for you) substance abuse is rife in the culinary world.
Anthony Bourdain and Marcus Samuelsson's essays really saved this collection for me. Samuelsson's perspective as the only Black man in a kitchen that was already known for being a nightmare environment is really valuable, and I wish there'd been more contributions like that. Yes, I get it, the French hate American chefs, blah blah, but white American chefs can leave France and come back to America without having to worry about encountering racism here. I'm glad that he chose to share his experience.
Otherwise, my main takeaways were: historically the only food Americans have truly valued comes from predominantly-white countries, don't trust the cake at a large events, your hollandaise sauce might have been on the floors of an ancient car, and (as anyone who has ever worked in a kitchen can probably confirm for you) substance abuse is rife in the culinary world.
March 25, 2021
Kitchen nightmares, blunders and fuck ups, who doesn't had any!? In Dont try this at home we get Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs, and reading this has been a absolute blast. We get stories from greats like Anthony Bordain, Jamie Oliver, Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Raymond Blanc and Michel Roux, you might not know all of them but these are some of the best chefs in the world, and reading them fuck up, and i mean fuck up so badly is fun to read. All these are short stories and end with a couple recuring questions. Highly recomended for foodies and all kind of kitchen people. Some catastrophes i had in my 18 years of being a cook include working with idiots, a totally prepared buffet for 300+ people which we prepared a day early and had to chuck nearly everything away, cutting myself so badly i had to go to the hospital (on my first day off a new job) and fall flat on my ass with 30 couverts (portions) of prepared fish, because a colleague of mine already decided to clean the floor.. This is a relatable read and again a must for people who worked in the kitchen or are food minded.
July 2, 2017
This was an interesting collection of essays from celebrity chefs all over the United States. I only knew a handful of their names: Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, Eric Ripert, Michel Richard, and Marcus Samuels. The rest of the bunch, I had no idea who they were. The short biographies before each essay were nice but not really that helpful. I think a picture of each celebrity chef would have really enhanced the book.
Of the essays, the writing was really mixed. Some I enjoyed more than others. Some talked about their own flaws in the kitchen but others talked about the mistakes others made. Some were humble but there were some that were quite boastful and also some that made me question ever eating out again.
My favorite story from this collection of essays was on Eric Ripert's adventures in being a waiter. I had read the story before in his autobiography but I always enjoyed it. It was well written and it was humbling that a great chef might not be so great as a waiter.
Of the essays, the writing was really mixed. Some I enjoyed more than others. Some talked about their own flaws in the kitchen but others talked about the mistakes others made. Some were humble but there were some that were quite boastful and also some that made me question ever eating out again.
My favorite story from this collection of essays was on Eric Ripert's adventures in being a waiter. I had read the story before in his autobiography but I always enjoyed it. It was well written and it was humbling that a great chef might not be so great as a waiter.
May 16, 2024
An interesting book with a very clickbait-y title. I would say that less than 1/4 of the incidents related in the book could truly be called culinary catastrophes. The stories are interesting, but I think that in an effort to include certain well known chefs, they accepted stories from them that didn't truly fit the title. (That or they just wanted an extra dramatic title to draw readers in.) The stories range from actual catastrophes to bad chef behavior and even things that had no bearing on the kitchen whatsoever (an owl under the bed, being given too much money from the bank while on vacation?). While I did enjoy reading the anecdotes, I'm still very annoyed at the misnaming of the book.
August 28, 2019
Before your favorite chef was your favorite, you know that they all had to come from somewhere. This book is a collection of humble beginnings, failures and fiascoes that all built up the greatest culinary minds of the generation.
Reading this book was a good reminder that everything great comes from a mess of failures, and that a stroke of creativity at the right time can make all the difference. It was also nice to read something from the late Anthony Bourdain, whose legacy still lives on in his tales of a miscreant past. Truly a book for dreamers, and for those who need reminding that the road to success is supposed to be full of fuckups!
Reading this book was a good reminder that everything great comes from a mess of failures, and that a stroke of creativity at the right time can make all the difference. It was also nice to read something from the late Anthony Bourdain, whose legacy still lives on in his tales of a miscreant past. Truly a book for dreamers, and for those who need reminding that the road to success is supposed to be full of fuckups!
February 12, 2018
This was a really entertaining collection of short stories from professional chefs about their kitchen disasters. Some have lessons to learn, others are like watching a car crash in slow motion. A few of them felt less like a disaster and more like a dumb mistake (oh, waaaah you drank shots all night during service and it was the worst night ever - that's not a kitchen disaster, but a really dumb decision), but for the most part I enjoyed it.
September 21, 2019
I've had this on my Kindle forever and finally got around to finishing it on a recent cross-country flight. It's the kind of book you can start, stop, and pick back up again months later because each chapter is its own unique story. I found many of the chefs' stories hilarious. I'm pretty sure other people on the flight wondered why I was laughing so much. If you love food and dining out, this is a quick and fun read.
December 31, 2021
Most of the stories in this book were either hilarious or embarrassing, which makes me applaud the chefs that wrote them for sharing such moments! I won't say all the stories really grab the reader but they are all intimate stories of working in kitchens all over the world. They give a true day in the life of a chef, and I feel that anyone who wants to be a chef should read this book before diving into that world.
February 23, 2017
This book was...fine. But I am not sure many of the vignettes really count as catastrophes. In most of them, the plot line is "something happened to my ingredients and I had to think quick! Which I did." Which is not really gripping reading. One? One was an actual disaster. (It involved black pepper hollandaise sauce.)
Overall the book was pleasant enough.
Overall the book was pleasant enough.
August 9, 2022
This is probably a 4 for cooks/chefs and a 3 for civilians. Fun to hear horror stories from some of the greats, since the image we usually have of them is of mastery and composure. A lot of the stories are either near-misses (as opposed to the catastrophes advertised) or just funny anecdotes. The book is front-loaded with the best, but there are gems peppered throughout. A quick, fun read.
September 3, 2018
Forty chefs have each written a chapter in this book, accounts of something that went wrong in the kitchen. I found it best to read just a few chapters at a time, because there was enough similarity to the stories that it seemed monotonous to read more at one sitting.
July 28, 2021
Coleção de relatos desastrosos de grandes chefes de cozinha. É uma leitura super leve e agradável, dá pra dar umas boas risadas e deixar na vontade de comer em restaurante chique.
O relato do Jamie Oliver é horrível, desconsiderem.
O relato do Jamie Oliver é horrível, desconsiderem.
November 8, 2021
Chefs give us the lowdown on some of their biggest mishaps in the kitchen. Quick read and fun most of the time. The writing fluctuates between great to poor. Still, the book is a good reminder that even the very best of people (chefs in this case) can make mistakes.
December 22, 2017
5 stars. i recommend it to people who love culinary and pastries
June 12, 2018
A very fun and hilarious read. It's a great pick me up when you feel embarrassed about a minor incident you've recently experienced.
July 12, 2020
2020 challenge category: book about food
July 27, 2020
This book makes me concerned for the sanity of all chefs.
I didn’t gain anything from it but it was very entertaining (though some stories were just frustrating or sad)
I didn’t gain anything from it but it was very entertaining (though some stories were just frustrating or sad)
April 22, 2022
Some of the stories were quite enjoyable, but others were just so-so.
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