Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef

Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef, warns the cover of avant-garde chef Massimo Bottura’s new cookbook. Bottura has been making cameos all over the country lately during his six-city book tour, including a whimsical appearance Tuesday on Jimmy Kimmel Live. But you may be wondering: Who is this guy, anyways?

Bottura is the head chef of Osteria Francescana, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant serving Italian-inflected modernist cuisine in Modena, Italy. He’s studied under some of the best in the business, including Alain Ducasse and Ferran Adrià. And, as his book title suggests, the guy genuinely enjoys noshing on the dishes he creates.

Never Trust a Skinny Chef is on sale now for $59.95. All photos credit: Stefano Graziani and Carlo Benvenuto/Phaidon

Among those dishes are a few fantastically named (and rather difficult to execute) numbers, including “Beautiful, Psychedelic Spin-Painted Veal, Not Flame Grilled,” “Five Ages of Parmigiano-Reggiano,” and “Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart.”

If esoteric ingredients such as “mugwort leaves” and “frog bones” aren’t quite your speed, this book is still worth a read: It also includes short essays about the inspiration that led to each creation.

Plus the photography is simply jaw-dropping:

Beautiful, Psychedelic Spin-Painted Veal, Not Flame Grilled

Five Ages of Parmigiano-Reggiano

Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart

And if you happen to be in New York City, you can sample Bottura’s cooking at the Madison Square Park location of the Shake Shack. The chef is the mastermind of a new burger called “The Emilia,” which is a beef patty ground with Parmigiano-Reggiano and topped with cotechino sausage, salsa verde, and balsamic mayonnaise. It’ll be available for a limited time starting October 13.

Gotta love a chef who can appreciate both modernist cuisine and a good burger.