Doing without Delia
Tales of Triumph and Disaster in a French Kitchen
An amateur English cook moves to Paris and enrols at France's - and the world's - most famous cookery school - with hilarious consequences.
'The next Bill Bryson.’ New York Times
'The next Bill Bryson.’ New York Times
Michael Booth has had his fill of celebrity chefs and their 'on the table in five minutes' recipes. He wants to learn how to cook properly, so he burns his cookery books and, together with his young family, heads for a new life in Paris - reasoning that, if anyone can be trusted to make food complicated, it's the French.
Embarking on the ultimate foodie's fantasy, he enrols at the world's most famous cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu, where wise and battle-scarred French chefs commence their transformation of him into a professional cook.
Along the way Booth shares the insider tips and secret techniques of classical cuisine. His odyssey takes him from trauma to triumph, ending in the white-hot heat of the Michelin-starred kitchen of the greatest chef in France.
- Published: 9 June 2016
- ISBN: 9781446485668
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
About the author
The most enjoyable book about food I've read since Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential
Mail on Sunday
An entertaining romp through Parisian kitchen life
Daily Telegraph
Fast-paced, laugh-a-page...[with] more tips than a library of Gordon Ramsay books
Metro
Booth's prose is as easily digestible as you hope his food is: he's as sharp as a Michelin chef's collection of knives ... A flavoursome offering
Time Out
Gloriously funny...engaging, insightful, informative and even touching... style that's irresistible
Independent on Sunday
He's funny and perceptive, but best of all, Booth writes like a dream
Lucy Knox, Tribune
A light read, this is an entertaining soufflé of a book, perfect holiday fodder for Francophile foodies
Bookgeeks.co.uk
Humorously chronicled...If you're a gourmand you'll love this book. Packed full of instructions on how to re-create French cuisine at home, it makes for brilliant reading and even better kitchen results. It's the perfect fix to the slap-it-all-in-the-pan-and-lick-your-fingers Nigella style of cooking
France Magazine
Well written, entertaining and funny
Paul Oâ??Doherty, Irish Times
The writing is lively
John Dugdale, Guardian
