Like me, Scott [Bryan] is conflicted on the issue of the French. We like to minimize their importance, make fun of their idiosyncrasies. “It’s a different system over there,” he said, talking about the work habits of the surrender-monkey. “You start young. For the first ten years of your career, you get your ass kicked. They work you like a dog. So, when you finally get to be a sous-chef, or a chef, your working life is pretty much over. You walk around and point.” Turning a last twist on his foie gras torpedo, he shrugged. “Socialism, man. It’s not good for cooks.”

But when he sees bad technique, technique that’s not French, it’s torture. As Scott well knows–and would be the first to admit–as soon as you pick up a chef’s knife and approach food, you’re already in debt to the French. Talking about one of the lowest points in his career, a kitchen in California, he described going home every night “ashamed, and a little bit angry,” because “the technique was bad… it wasn’t French!“
–Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential. This book comes with the Eve stamp of approval. You’ll have fun, fun, fun ’til her daddy takes the T-bone away.