Monday 26 March 2012

Read in 2012 - 5: Teufelsköche

In German, when you want to say someone (or yourself) has gotten themselves into deep trouble, you can use the expression that they have "come into the devil's kitchen", Teufels Küche.
The book I finished reading last night is entitled "Teufelsköche", which obviously plays with that expression, but literally means the devil's cooks, or devilish cooks.
Don't worry, it has nothing to do with black magic or poisonous brews; instead, it is a collection of 16 stories about cooks from all over the world (strictly speaking, that is not true - Asia and Australia are missing); cooks who have something special in either their own biography, or about the place they work at, mostly a combination of both.
Juan Moreno is a journalist and Mirco Taliercio a photographer. The two of them have worked together often on articles, and their cooperation on this book makes it really what it is: a delightful, interesting, sometimes very serious read, ranging from funny and humorous bits to stuff that is hard to swallow.
Not all of the cooks portrayed are famous. Some you will have never heard of, such as  Faith Muthoni, the woman who has a tiny, ramshackle restaurant in the middle of Nairobi's biggest dump site, cooking there for those fortunate few of the many, many people working on that site who are able to afford a meal. Or take Brian Price, who for many years worked (as an inmate) in a Texas prison and prepared the last meal for about 200 men condemned to death. That chapter made me think long and hard, and it connects with what Frances Garrood often writes about on her blog. For one of the 16 cooks, cooking has meant the difference between life and death; two of them have maintained their distance to the most pressing political matters in their respective countries, in spite of having worked for their heads of state, and one of them is willing to risk his life in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a cook at - McDonald's, of all places.

Some others are well known; there is Vincent Klink, who is quite the household name in Germany (at least here in the South, where he is from), Nurse Tifa (do not google her when anyone under 18 is near you), Frank Pellegrino, at whose New York restaurant people are willing to pay 40.000 US-$ for a table, and Juan Amador, whose name has become a label for a chain of tapas bars, restaurants and products.
But I am quite sure that, even in those chapters, the reader will find find something they didn't know yet.

For the most part, the book is well done. There are several typesetting errors, though; not as many as to bring the whole book down, but too many to make it a really good piece of craftsmanship. In the chapter about Vincent Klink, the author has attempted to repeat Mr. Klink's Swabian dialect in direct speech - unsuccessfully so, and in my opinion, if one is not entirely sure about the correct terms and spelling of local dialect, they should not use it, but instead write in normal German. In the chapter about the cook who dreams of working at McDonald's, the hamburgers are described as tasting "as if they had been formed in the armpits of the employee of the month", and the buns "like joint sealer".

Of course, I should mention that each chapter is accompanied by a recipe for a dish most typical for the cook who is portrayed in the chapter. There are dishes such as FuFu (maniok flour, salt, pepper and water), but also a most elaborate composition of Granny Smith apples, goose liver, goat cheese and apple seed oil, the preparation of which resembles more an experiment set up in a chemical lab than anything I would attempt to make in my own kitchen.

It is an unusual book; neither a cook book in the strict sense, nor a biography, but a combination of both. Today, I am taking it back to my Mum, whom I borrowed it from.

14 comments:

  1. Hello Meike:
    Surely it will come as no surprise to you to learn that we do not collect or read cookbooks, but this sounds to be altogether different. We are sure that there would be much of interest here for us since the personalities of these people are what captivate us most.

    As always, you manage to delight us with something intriguing and completely different for our bookshelves!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Jane and Lance,
      I do neither collect nor (usually) read cookbooks, either, with the exception of cake and cookie recipes on the odd chance that I want to bake; for most of what I normally make, I do not need a recipe (or there doesn't exist one until I write it down and post it on here).

      That book is truly interesting, because none of the people portrayed are alike, and yet they all have in common that they are cooks.

      Delete
  2. Dear Meike,
    This is very much the kind of book that I would like. Years ago, I read something which reminds me of this book that you have reviewed...it is a book by Pat Conroy and is simply called "The Pat Conroy Cookbook". He has written many novels and is a very good writer. Have you ever read anything by him? Of course, I like non-fiction the best and he also wrote a book called "My Reading Life" which I quite enjoyed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Kay, I think you'd enjoy this one, if it was available in English (I don't think it is). No, I'm afraid I have never heard of Pat Conroy, but "My Reading Life" sounds intriguing by the title alone!

      Delete
  3. "Come into the devil's kitchen". I love learning little phrases in other languages. Interestingly the most common translation in English would be a crude (four letter word) one. It took me a moment to come up with the more acceptable 'Be in dire straits; have your back to the wall; or open a can of worms'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To be in dire straits is, I think, the equivalent that fits best. But every now and then, circumstances really seem to be calling for a four letter word, and I am no stranger to those.

      Delete
  4. In 'Teufel's Kueche' koennte man auch als 'to be in deep trouble' uebersetzen. und uebrigens, es heisst 'condemned to death', nicht convicted t.d..

    The book sounds really interesting. I find most chefs quite boring. They are all so full of themselves and the telly cooks are usually quite ridiculous. The ones in the UK anyway.

    I just read your last post about your elegant party. Belated Congratulations and many Happy Returns. I love such parties and I'm glad you had a really good time. You have very kind parents, by the way. If you have any drinks left, I'm sure they'll come in handy. Prost!

    Ich lese gerade deinen letzten Kommentar ueber diesem: Ich kenne ueberhaupt keine deutschen 4-letter-words. Gibt es aehnliche wie die englischen?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, vielen Dank Friko, ich werde das gleich ändern.
      Kochsendungen schau ich mir nie an, es kommt überhaupt wenig im Fernsehen, was mich dazu bringt, mich davor zu setzen und zu gucken, deswegen waren für mich eigentlich alle in dem Buch vorgestellten Köche weitgehend unbekannt.
      Danke für die Glückwünsche - auch ein paar Tage später sind die noch sehr willkommen :-)
      Die meisten Deutschen benutzen die englischen 4-letter-words, wenn sie eins brauchen... ein Deutsches kenne ich ehrlich gesagt auch nicht.

      Delete
  5. This is a great posting I have read. I like your article.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No you haven't read it, and you don't like my article. You have left exactly the same post on someone else's blog, with no reference whatsoever to the contents of each article, and that is spam, nothing else.

      Delete
  6. Hello Mieke

    This is a fascinating book and one I would like to add to my library. Not so much for the recipes but for the human interest. How does one cook for many when one lives in the middle of a dump or slum. Some cooks create miracles. Many years ago on a visit to Thailand a sumptuous feast was prepared for up to 30 people by a woman who was using little more than a couple of woks and a single gas burner for the cooking part.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, Christine, I only just found your comment - for some reason, blogger had sorted it as "spam", which it clearly isn't.
      Yes, you are right about some cooks truly working miracles!!

      Delete
  7. A fascinating (and educational) post and I could use the same word for the book although, if I'm honest, not so fascinating as to entice me into putting it on my reading list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It certainly is not what I would classify as a "Must Read", but it makes a good read when one happens to come across it, and a good present for someone who enjoys cooking - or eating out (most people do, don't they?).

      Delete