Can you cook
with a pen? Chef and author Gabrielle
Hamilton has done just that. Originally
known for her ability to fill a small laidback downtown restaurant with 30
guests, plus a line down the street of patrons at the ready to sweep in and
take the next available nicked table.
Hamilton has topped her culinary greatness off, crafting a memoir just
as reminiscent, zesty and artisanal as her food.
She can cook and
write with the cleverness to capture all her experiences; the taste and sound
of her childhood, her hunger and her accomplishments. Telling the story of how she became the Chef
that she is, Blood Bones and Butter: the
Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef takes you from Hamilton’s
Hippie-ish 1970’s Pennsylvania childhood to her backpacking misadventures
through Brussels and Burma, then to a dusty, greatly graphitied corner of the
East Village and finally to an Italian family, who much like herself, allowed
their lives to evolved around food.
Hamilton shares the
fond memories she has of the annual 200 guest meal her family would host for
friends near and far at their home in Pennsylvania. This legendary party, a spring lamb roast,
would bring her mother’s ballet dancer friends, her father’s artist friends,
locals, neighbors and some from as far as New York City. This party hosted so many friends they had to
assemble in the meadow behind the family’s house. Those who attended ate a feast of lamb and
asparagus vinaigrette and shortcakes.
Hamilton and her siblings spent the day preparing for the festivities by
filling paper bags with sand and candles to line and light the paths, making
sure that each and every guest were led to where the food would be.
After the
separation of her parents Hamilton’s childhood was shattered. The long lost memories of the lavish lamb
roasts and family dinners would forever shape her life. Her father’s dreamy career, as a set
designer, would feed her imagination.
Through his worlds of make believe and her mother’s elegant but sustainable
character, Hamilton effortlessly captures the foundation of her culinary life. One summer after her mother leaves
Pennsylvania, Hamilton shares one of her earliest culinary, experiences. Foraging through her mother’s pantry – which
her father, like a grieving widower, could not bring himself to empty – she learned
to invent meals from canned sardines and tinned asparagus. To further emphasize the change in her
family’s dynamic Hamilton describes her rebellious delinquency through her misadventures;
breaking into neighboring homes, stealing items to be pawned in town,
shoplifting and doing coke at the age of 13.
She antagonistically tells of the sudden flip-flopped family life she
has. The wake of her parents splitting
up filled her with displacement and dysfunction, which lead her – at 17 – and
her brother to fend for themselves for an entire summer.
Leaving New York
behind to follow her sister’s lead, Hamilton lands via Peter Pan bus at
Hampshire College in Massachusetts. From
here she takes menial jobs as a bottom feeder in various food related environments. She begins her life of redemption and soon
after finds herself back amongst the hustle and bustle of New York City. Amidst the coarse and greasy backdrop of New
York, Hamilton continues her inadvertent culinary adventure gaining kitchen
experience in a restaurant called “Mother’s.”
She works her way from a scullery dishwasher to prepping salads and
eventually gaining enough clout to join the ranks of aspiring chefs and work on
the “hot line.”
Achieving what
so many chefs wish they could Hamilton opened Prune, a wholesome, rustic
restaurant featuring hearty, comfort food.
She prepares her food thoughtfully and serves it in a manner so relaxed,
that usually the utensils are mismatched. Prune beckons its diners to cozy up in this
cramped, irresistible space, scuffed floors and all, and enjoy whatever her lifelong
experiences has to offer their taste buds.
Hamilton’s driving impulse behind Prune is her determination to harness
the innumerable pivotal experiences she’s had with food. From hunger and worrying to her experiences
with hospitality in other countries to the unforgiving and unexpected
acceptance of big-city restaurants, Hamilton strives to give her diners the
sort of original food experience that occurs in small towns round the world.
From a childhood
of lamb roasts to the humbling egg-on-a-roll sandwich to more decadent entrées
of “fried zucchini agrodolce with fresh mint and hot chili flakes,” Hamilton
shares her “code red” hunger complete with her own passionately zealous take on
food. Hamilton can write. She earned a M.F.A. in fiction writing from
the University of Michigan. She has been
featured in prominent publications, authoring inspiring and energetic hints
into the heart, mind and exhausting life of a chef. Brilliantly written and not just written for
the entertainment of foodies, Blood,
Bones and Butter highlights Hamilton’s culinary evolution through the humblest
of junctures to a substantial New York reputation. Blood,
Bones and Butter parallels Hamilton’s
culinary life and career. Taking us from
her idyllic young child through to her apprenticeship as a cook to a bustling,
successful New York City restaurant; this memoir captures the need for a sense
of place and peace and readers will feast not only on her descriptions of food
and meals, but also Hamilton’s evocative writing about the people she has met
and the places she has been.
