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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
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NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Miami Herald " Newsday " The Huffington Post " Financial Times " GQ " Slate " Mens Journal " Washington Examiner " Publishers Weekly " Kirkus Reviews " National Post " The Toronto Star " BookPage " Bookreporter

Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune she spent twenty hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Blood Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France Greece and Turkey where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; Hamiltons own kitchen at Prune with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law?? who serves as the link between Hamilton??s idyllic past and her own future family?the result of a prickly marriage that nonetheless yields last"" dividends. By turns epic and intimate?? Gabrielle Hamilton??s story is told with uncommon honesty?? grit?? humor?? and passion.

Features a new essay by Gabrielle Hamilton at the back of the book

Look for special features inside.?Join the Circle for author chats and more.

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month?? March 2011: Gabrielle Hamilton's memoir?? Blood?? Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef?? is just what a chef's story should be--delectable?? dripping with flavor?? tinged with adrenaline and years of too-little sleep. What sets Hamilton apart?? though?? is her ability to write with as much grace as vitriol?? a distinct tenderness marbling her meaty story. Hamilton spent her idyllic childhood on a wild farm in rural Pennsylvania with an exhilarant father--an artist and set builder--and French mother?? both ""ial and outrageously handsome."" As she entered her teens?? however?? her family unexpectedly dissolved. She moved to New York City at 16?? living off loose change and eating ketchup packets from McDonald??s; worked 20-hour days at a soulless catering company; traveled?? often half-starved?? through Europe; and cooked for allergy-riddled children at a summer camp. The constant thread running through this patchwork tale?? which culminates with the opening of her New York City restaurant?? Prune?? is Hamilton's slow simmering passion for cooking and the comfort it can bring. ""ked up and fed?? often by strangers?? when you are in that state of fear and hunger?? became the single most important food experience I came back to over and over??""ilton writes?? and it's this poignant understanding of the link between food and kindness that makes Blood?? Bones & Butter so satisfying to read. --Lynette Mong

Guest Reviewer: Anthony Bourdain on Blood?? Bones?? and Butter

Anthony Bourdain is the author of the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo?? in addition to the bestseller Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour. His work has appeared in the New York Times and The New Yorker?? and he is a contributing authority for Food Arts magazine. He is also the host of the Emmy Award-winning television show No Reservations.

Very quickly after meeting Gabrielle Hamilton?? I understood why she was a terrific and much-admired chef. I knew that her restaurant?? Prune?? was ground-breaking?? that she seemed to have come out of nowhere?? instead of being a product of the "" (she'd emerged from the invisible subculture of catering) to open one of the most quirky totally uncompromising and quickly-embraced restaurants in New York City. Her purportedly (but not really) Franco-phobic menus were intensely notoriously personal her early embrace of the nose-to-tail attitude was way way ahead the times and chefs--all chefs--seemed to like and respect her. Almost as quickly it became apparent that this chef could write.

Short pieces appeared here and there over the years and they were sharp funny incisive unsparing of both author and subjects--straight to the point and pretense-free like Hamilton herself. She could write really well. And she had from all accounts a story to tell. So when it was announced that Blood Bones and Butter was in the works I was very excited.

It was a long wait.

Five years later I finally got my hands on an advance copy and eagerly devoured it. It was of course brilliant. I expected it to be. But I wasn't prepared for exactly how goddamn brilliant the thing was or how enchanted?? difficult?? strange?? rich?? inspiring and just plain hard her life and career--her long road to Prune--had been. I was unp""ed for page after page of such sharp?? carefully-crafted?? ballistically-precise sentences. I was?? frankly?? devastated. I put this amazing memoir down and wanted to crawl under the bed?? retroactively withdraw every book?? every page I'd ever written. And burn them.

Blood?? Bones?? and Butter is?? quite s"