The One Meal Anthony Bourdain Really Didn't Care For

Anthony Bourdain was universally beloved for his no-BS approach to food. The chef, who tragically passed away in 2018, still holds an important place in the heart of anyone who loves food. And his opinions continue to be highly respected. Bourdain never had qualms about speaking out against food trends that he hated (we're looking at you, pumpkin spice everything) or meals he disliked. But there is one type of food that we're surprised he didn't enjoy: dessert. 

In his 2016 cookbook, "Appetites," Bourdain and his co-author, Laurie Woolever dedicated a single page to the dessert chapter. The one recipe included was a suggestion for a cheese course. It's precisely this kind of humorous, unserious take on cooking that made Bourdain so popular.

The celebrity chef and TV host publicly stated that he didn't like dessert on several occasions. "If I had to lose one course for the rest of my life it would be dessert," he once admitted (via Publishers Weekly). Because of these feelings, Bourdain thought that people shouldn't trust him when it came to this type of food. His logic seems flawless. If he didn't enjoy eating dessert, he probably didn't enjoy making it too much either. Still, fans are always thirsty to know Bourdain's opinions, despite him admitting that he didn't know how to bake and was not particularly good at making pastries.

Although Bourdain didn't love dessert, and even claimed that he wouldn't miss it if he could never have it again, he didn't completely hate it either — it's not like it's Icelandic fermented shark (a meal he never wanted to have again). The chef had a soft spot for a particular dessert: creme caramel. Apparently, his mother used to make this caramel custard covered in a light layer of caramel sauce when he was a child. It makes sense, then, that the French treat would give him Proustian flashbacks to happy moments of his formative years.

Bourdain didn't always forego writing sweet recipes in his books. In the 2004 "Les Halles Cookbooks," he provided instructions for classic French brasserie dishes. This, of course, included desserts like an indulgent chocolate mousse. The dish is fairly simple, requiring a mix of melted chocolate, Grand Marnier liquor, egg yolks, and butter, with egg whites and whipped cream folded into the mix. This cookbook was written four years after "Kitchen Confidential" propelled Bourdain to widespread fame, so maybe the chef felt compelled to follow rules more than he would in 2016. He may not have loved having to write about dessert, but we're sure happy we have at least some Bourdain recipes for our favorite meal.