9 Absolute Best Cooking Lessons We Learned From Anthony Bourdain - Tasting Table

"Anthony Bourdain is known for many things: world traveler, TV presenter, best-selling author, conversationalist, cultural commentator, adventurer - the list is endless. His presence is difficult to quantify; however, above all, Bourdain was a chef (or, as he often referred to himself, a cook). Bourdain believed that cooking is a skill, something you learn, practice, and develop. It's about diligence and attitude. He resisted grandiose culinary notions and took pride in the steely resilience often associated with working in restaurant kitchens."

"Bourdain started his career washing dishes, and after finding kinship with the other kitchen "degenerates" (as he often lovingly called them), he developed aspirations of becoming a cook. From dishwasher, he was promoted to line cook, starting his formal training at the Culinary Institute of America shortly thereafter. Bourdain went on to work at restaurants like The Supper Club and Rainbow Room, and at the height of his cooking career, he worked at Brasserie Les Halles in New York City as the executive chef."

"He worked in restaurants for 20 years before writing the now-infamous New Yorker essay that skyrocketed him to fame. Meaning, his cooking credentials are solid and his opinions on cooking are as unfiltered and decisive as everything else we've come to love about him. While Bourdain's legacy is vast, remembered dearly for using food and travel as a vehicle for cultural understanding, we've gone back to where it all began."

Anthony Bourdain believed cooking is a skill learned, practiced, and developed through diligence and the right attitude. He rejected grandiose culinary notions and valued the steely resilience of restaurant kitchens. He began as a dishwasher, progressed to line cook, and trained at the Culinary Institute of America before serving as executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in New York City. He worked in restaurants for two decades before gaining widespread fame, and his cooking credentials supported his unfiltered opinions. He used food and travel to foster cultural understanding while emphasizing simplicity in technique, such as insisting on fresh eggs and minimalism for perfect scrambled eggs.

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