White Heat 25 Hardcover – Illustrated, April 7, 2015

Photographs are beautiful and I enjoyed reading about MPW's lore.

This book is dated, sure. It is, after all, older than I am. But as Marco himself says in the first few pages, one does not purchase a book like this merely to learn how to cook. The Miss-en-Place for most of these recipes is simply ungodly for most plebeian home cooks. The skills required here, the understanding of Classic French technique. If you don’t have it and don’t want it, then this book is simply not going to be worth your time. And if you do want it? Well, this is an important cookbook to be sure, and is certainly worthy of your time and effort. But maybe not yet. Better to start with something a little more Bourdain. Or Pepín. Or Julia Child. And I’m not speaking down to potential seekers. Until you’ve had a raving mad chef tell you to “burn your g-d d-mned fingers. That’s why He gave them to you!” Until you’ve barked “Yes, Chef!” and burnt your fingers without shedding a tear or slowing down at all, this book will not give you a damn thing.Frankly, this book is rather like an immolation. And if you don’t get it, you don’t want it. Trust me.

They could have cut the book in half by leaving out the chef porn section and fawning reviews. But there reviews did help me understand the awe that he's held in.The recipes helped me understand how much more there is to Marco than what you see in his Knorr YouTubes or Gordon Ramsey's recipes (Ramsey was his protege).These recipes are art. They are eye opening. Other than his basic instructions for sauces just sourcing the ingredients for dinner of these would be a real challenge. Got woodcock? Got woodcock with the head and beak still attached so you can serve woodcock brains!?I may not ever attempt anything besides the basics or his simplest recipes in this book but I certainly have a better understanding of what separates a cook from a chef!

A very good read. I highly recommend this book.

I loved everything about it.

Book arrived but there's a few pieces torn on the cover page due to the bad packaging with just one sheet of paper, luckily the inside pages are safe from the damage. To avoid this, I have to wrap my books with plastic covers even though it doesn't look visually stunning.Also discovered this is slightly cheaper and this is being sold with two versions because it is not really a hardcover FYI.Besides this, I'm loving what this book offers and I'm only in a few pages yet it's been a brilliant read so far.

MPW is amazing. A true master. Recipes are fairly complex but manageable. Doing the simple things well makes the harder things simpler. Love the pictures and stories as well. A must have for any cook/chef that has any level of passion for food.

It's just a very beautiful book, complete with great photographs. Although the recipes are Michelin-level, this book delivers in inspiration with an uncompromisingly-talented Chef.I found it very inspiring, and it makes a great coffee table book.