Chef Artie Cuisine's Jailhouse Cookbook: A Prisoner's Recipe Bible, is a deliciously entertaining, biographical jailhouse cooking saga, a vivid portrayal of an incarcerated NYC chef's culinary life. Rudely eloquent and irreverent it's a quirky journey of physical and emotional survival. Chef Artie paid his debt to society cooking all the way! A 268 page no-holds-barred tell-all about a stubborn, plucky, resolute chef's passion to cook and eat well while serving time. This lighthearted insight into New York prison life is part story, manual, food survival handbook, humor and inspiration.
110 hard-to-believe-can-be-cooked-in-prison gourmet recipes with detailed instructions, developed for a demanding inmate clientele of high flying embezzlers, drug czars, extortionists "etc." Cook these recipes at home, in school dorms, RVs, on camping trips, and IN JAIL, any place without a proper kitchen.
Devising banquets in prison dorms was his recreation, his currency, his safety net, and his challenge. Artie's survival mantra "No oven? No stove? No problem!" strengthened his resolve to eat well in prison - even in the 'Box'. Cooking was a daily dare. Self preservation = gang protection in exchange for dinner on the table.
Years in the trenches of NY's finest restaurant kitchens prepared him for this. He proudly followed the Marine credo: 'Improvise, Adapt, Overcome'. "Sure in winter you can put sodas out on the window sill, but baking 3-layer cakes and fresh pizzas in an oven-less prison dorm Passing Artie's dorm astounded inmates saw fresh pasta hanging to dry, a white sheet thrown over a locker as a dining table, a centerpiece of cell-made garlic breadsticks, and bowls of mouthwatering food.
Inmates wanting to pick up kitchen skills and eat well pitched in with food or labor. This is 'Cooking 101'. Mastering Artie's techniques could set you on a career path for an outside job in a restaurant kitchen. Recession proof skills to have - Everybody Eats!
Find recipes for foods you crave in: Breakfast Items; Soups & Entrees; Taste of Spain; Asian Corner; Little Italy; Some Sauces & A Few Extras; Desserts & Sweet Things; and an unexpected Holiday Menu chapter with sumptuous dishes for a prison Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas: Pineapple-Glazed Baked Ham; BBQ Fried Chicken; Roast Garlic Whipped Potatoes; Candied Yams; Caramelized Onion & Corn Stuffing; Apple Orange Cranberry Sauce; Cookie Crusted Pumpkin Pie; and more.
Chef Artie reveals how to navigate the prison system with: Equipment to Make Your Cooking Life Easier; Food Items Sold at My Commissary; Food and Utensils My Facilities Allowed Sent in From Outside; and Typical Foods I Requested From Home. There's a Glossary, and Weights and Measures tips - a 16 oz bean can speaks for itself!
So hold onto your toque, grab your apron, and take a wild ride with Chef Artie as he weaves his magic in Jailhouse Cookbook: The Prisoner's Recipe Bible.
Chef Artie lives in Europe, cooking, eating, writing and jogging on the beach with his dog. He is a restaurateur, TV chef and consultant. He is also author of A 19 YEAR RUN: NYC Skateboard Kid to Party Animal - Hotshot Chef - Elite Drug Dealer, and "Guest of The State!"