The Devil in the Kitchen

An exhilarating memoir from the original “bad boy” of cooking and a thrilling look behind the doors of a 3-star kitchen.

Without question, the original rock-star chef is Marco Pierre White. Anyone with even a passing interest in the food world knows White is a legend. The first British chef (and the youngest chef anywhere) to win three Michelin stars-and also the only chef ever to give them all back-is a chain-smoking, pot-throwing culinary genius whose fierce devotion to food has been the only constant throughout a life of tabloid-ready turmoil.

In THE DEVIL IN THE KITCHEN, White tells the story behind his ascent from working-class roots to culinary greatness, leaving no dish unserved as he relays raucous and revealing tales featuring some of the biggest names in the food world and beyond, including Mario Batali, Gordon Ramsay, Albert Roux, Raymond Blanc, Michael Caine, Damien Hirst, and even Prince Charles.

With searing honesty and wicked humor, he gives us insight into how one becomes a great chef, what it’s like to run a 3-star kitchen, and why, sometimes, you really do need to throw a cheese plate at the wall.

Author Biography

Marco Pierre White was born in Leeds in 1961. After training in Britain’s finest kitchens, he opened Harveys, which earned three Michelin stars and was London’s most talked-about restaurant. He went on to build a gastronomic empire that included many of the most acclaimed restaurants in the U.K. He lives in West London with his wife, Mati, and their three children. He also has a daughter by his first wife.

As a gossip columnist in the late eighties, James Steen phoned Harveys to speak with Marco Pierre White. A maître d’ answered the phone and ranted on in a strong French accent about how White was “a monster, a crazy man, a lunatic to work for.” The “maître d’” in question was White. Steen, now a freelance journalist, lives a short stroll from what was once Harveys, with his wife, Louise, and three children, Charlie, Billy, and Daisy.