The Raging Skillet: The True Life Story of Chef Rossi; A Memoir with Recipes

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.)