09/14/2015
Rossi began her rebellion as a teenager when her mother bought a microwave. Rossi insisted on baking homemade pizza bagels in a real oven and, soon after, disappeared in “a cloud of Marlboro Lights, marijuana, cheap wine, and chocolate.” At 16, tired of the sexist double standards of her Orthodox Jewish parents, she conspired to get kicked out of the house and lived at the Jersey Shore for a summer. Her parents then shipped her to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to live with a rabbi. Rossi wasn’t inspired to find God; she found herself. This witty and candid memoir documents the author’s process of defining her art, sexuality, and palate. It explores the kitchens and experiences that cemented the young chef’s creative and egalitarian approach: a celebrity-filled East Village hot spot, a high-volume supper club, and improvised grills at ground zero just after 9/11. With an insightful and irreverent voice, Rossi’s debut is well suited for foodies, feminists, and creative revolutionaries. (Nov.)
The Raging Skillet: The True Life Story of Chef Rossi
The Raging Skillet: The True Life Story of Chef Rossi
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Overview
An outsider within her Jersey Shore family, Chef Rossi finds a home for her punk sensibilities inside the kitchen.
When their high-school-age, punk, runaway daughter is found hosting a Jersey Shore hotel party, Rossi's parents feel they have no other choice: they ship her off to live with a Hasidic rabbi in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Within the confines of this restrictive culture, Rossi's big-city dreams take root. Once she makes her way to Manhattan, Rossi's passion for cooking, which first began as a revolt against the microwave, becomes her life mission.
The Raging Skillet is one woman's story of cooking her way through some of the most unlikely kitchens in New York City-at a “beach” in Tribeca, an East Village supper club, and a makeshift grill at Ground Zero in the days immediately following 9/11. Forever writing her own rules, Rossi ends up becoming the owner of one of the most sought-after catering companies in the city. This heartfelt, gritty, and hilarious memoir shows us how the creativity of the kitchen allows us to give a nod to where we come from, while simultaneously expressing everything that we are.
Includes unpretentious recipes for real people everywhere.
Editorial Reviews
“Well-rounded, redolent of salty sweat, sweet love, and the joy of food… A humorous and witty chronicle of a woman’s pulling-herself-up-by-her-bootstraps rise through the culinary ranks.” —Kirkus
“A moving, witty memoir.” —Nigella Lawson, author of How to Eat
"I laughed out loud reading The Raging Skillet. An awesome, thoughtful book full of characters I feel like I've always known." —Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming
"No chef memoir has ever made me both laugh and cry, but this one did. I fell in love with Chef Rossi, her Orthodox Jewish Jersey family, and her unpretentious, creative way with food. Badass, heartfelt, hilarious." —Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner award-winning novelist and author of Blue Plate Special
"A fun ride through the wild life of Chef Rossi. Her memoir is sweet, salty, and, ultimately, delicious." —Debbie Stoller, editor in chief of Bust
"Rossi's the kind of woman whose heart, humor, and badassery make me a little weak in the knees, and that's before we get to her soulful, unpretentious, joyful take on food. If Janis Joplin and Julia Child had had a baby who got raised by Orthodox Jews, that baby might have turned out a little like Rossi." —Hanne Blank, author of Big Big Love
2015-07-25
How one woman learned to cook and made a name for herself in the catering industry. Growing up as an overweight Orthodox Jew, Rossi's first introduction to cooking came about as a means to survive after her mother started microwaving all of the family food instead of creating goulashes and stews that simmered on the stove all day. "Suddenly," she writes, "that elusive sensation of being the only one who could provide what everyone wanted was in my grasp, wedged between the kitchen mitts and the platter of cheese ravioli." From the pizza bagels that launched her career in the kitchen, Rossi wends her way through the ups and downs and side streets of her rise to cooking fame. With a good shot of humor, a splash of self-deprecation, and a smidgen or two of sadness and regret, she chronicles her introductions to bartending and cooking, her coming out as a lesbian and non-Orthodox Jew to her family, and her rocky relationship with her mother, who, like many good Jewish mothers, used guilt as her favorite spice. Rossi intertwines character descriptions of the chefs, cooks, and waiters she's worked with and for over the years as she moves through the decades and the numerous positions she held before she launched her own catering service. There's Big S, who was "stirring tomato sauce, wearing nothing but a black lace bra, matching panties, and an apron," and the French chef who abhorred having women in the kitchen, let alone a gay Jewish woman. Each of the author's stories is well-rounded, redolent of salty sweat, sweet love, and the joy of food. The inclusion of numerous recipes related to each narrative is an added garnish to an already satisfying meal. A humorous and witty chronicle of a woman's pulling-herself-up-by-her-bootstraps rise through the culinary ranks.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169866254 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 11/10/2015 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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