Made in America: our best chefs reinvent comfort food

320 Pages·2011·4.21 MB·English

by  Lucy Lean

Best Che s
OUf 1 V 1 1
Introduction by Joseph Bastianich

• •
a e l n m e r l c a
Our Best Chefs Reinvent Com.fort Food
Lucy Lean
Introduction by Joseph Bastianich
welcome
BOOKS
NEW YORK
To Didier, Minty and Remy
and the
Plucky Housewives of2011,
Who Master Their Work Instead of Allowing it to Master Them,
This Book is Dedicated
Published in 2011 by Welcome Books®
An imprint of Welcome Enterprises, Inc.
6 West 18th Street, New York, NY, 10011
[phone]; fax [phone]
www.welcomebooks.com
Publisher: Lena Tabori
President: H. Clark Wakabayashi
Editor: Katrina Fried
Designer: Gregory Wakabayashi
Editorial Assistant: Emily Green
Design copyright © 2011 Welcome Enterprises, Inc.
Text and photographs copyright © 2011 Lucy Lean LLC
Introduction copyright © 2011 Joseph Bastianich
For additional photography and recipe permissions, please see page 320.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-59962-101-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PRINTED IN CHINA
For further information about this book please visit online:
www.madeinamericacookbook.com
Contents
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6 · Preface by Lucy Lean
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8 ·· Introduction by Joseph Bastianich
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·· Breakfast & Brunch
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· Sandwiches
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· Soups & Stews
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· Salads & Sides
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· Small Plates & Snacks
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· Pasta, Pizza & Grains
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· Seafood
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·· Poultry & Meat
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· Desserts
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314 · Index
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320 ·· Acknowledgments
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"CAN YOU COOK?" HE ASKED.
"N but I know you can," I replied.
0,
These were the first words my father-in-law, Jean
Jacques Rachou, and I ever exchanged when we met in
Cannes, France, back in the summer of 1996. I had met
his son, Didier, two nights earlier in a nightclub of all
Preface
places, and he invited me to dine with his father. Want
ing to do a little background check about this famous
Lucy Lean
chef, I called our family friend Annabel, who lives in
New York City, to ask about Rachou's restaurant, La
Cote Basque. "I don't have anything fancy enough to
wear to dine there," she said, in that self deprecating
way English people living in America never lose.
Three months later I packed up my life in London
and moved to America and so began my love affair not
only with my husband but also with the kitchen.
There's nothing quite like the excitement of res
taurant kitchens: so much activity, so many people fo
cused on their piece of a well-oiled machine, so many
delicious smells from steaming pots on stoves. The at
mosphere is hot and highly charged; working the line
is not for the faint-hearted. At the center of it all is
"Chef'-checking plates, tasting sauces, giving orders,
and running the show.
I am lucky enough to call a lot of the top chefs
in America my friends. They welcome me into their
restaurants and when I'm really lucky I'm invited
back to the kitchen. Many times I've eaten an exquisite
restaurant dish and then tried to recreate it at home,
with varying degrees of success. I've learned that the
easiest way to get the best results is to simply ask the
chef for the recipe. Chefs are incredibly generous, they
love to share and inspire. To be a great chef perhaps
you have to be generous. How else can they give of
themselves day and night so the diners have the best
possible experience?
I love cooking from recipe books-it's like magic
when you follow the instructions and everyone tucks
into your creations with gusto. I am particularly fond
oflooking back through history and exploring early re
gional American recipe books. I love the short, direct
instructions, Twitter's 140 characters would have been
a piece of cake for these accom plished cooks. It's amaz
ing that from these brief sentences, often without fixed
6 PREFACE
quantities, anyone could have cooked anything consis writes pages and pages on utensils and the care of them
tent, let alone edible. It's pure alchemy. How could they in her Boston Cook Book (1884).
possibly work without a great deal of prior knowledge? The good news is that home cooks today have ac
It seems like the cooks in the nineteenth century were cess to a far greater variety of produce than anyone
much better home cooks than we are today and knew cooking in the nineteenth century. Mario Batali wisely
how to fill in the gaps, the recipes being there just as a says to buy less but shop more often-there's nothing
basic guide. like fresh, local ingredients to elevate any dish. At the
I needed to learn how to be a better cook and who Santa Monica Farmers' Market chefs can be seen navi
better to teach me than our country's best chefs? Asking gating the crowds with flats of peaches, pluots or pota
today's chefs for their interpretations of these nineteenth toes. Here you can buy the exact same tomato or butter
century recipes was not only a way of journeying back nut squash that a two-star Michelin chef is selecting for
through time but also a fun way to explore the culinary his menu. Most of these chefs shop at their local farm
landscape of America in the twenty-first century. ers' market because the food tastes better for it and in a
Most American food originated somewhere else number of cases around the country they are cultivating
the world, was brought here and then adapted the land themselves.
III
and adopted. America is, in the case of food, the true Throughout this delicious journey, I cooked ev
melting pot of many cuisines and cultures. Whether ery dish in the book, and collaborated with the chefs
it's spaghetti and meatballs from Italy, apple pie from to make sure their recipes work for the home cook,
England, hamburgers and hot dogs from Germany, or in some cases I had to reduce the yield and in others I
fried chicken from African-American slaves and Scot simply pared the recipe back so that it wasn't off put
tish immigrants-all these dishes and more have come ting by its sheer complexity. I have tried to keep the
to America and then been made into truly American more challenging aspects of the recipes as an optional
food. As I traveled from New England to Hawaii and item-a fancy garnish or side-rather than the heart
from Chicago to Miami, crisscrossing the country many of the dish. I hope that in some small way these reci
times, it was refreshing to see how much Americans pes feel like you have invited America's chefs into your
love their regionally specific cuisine. From truffles in kitchen to cook with you.
Oregon to Gulf shrimp in Louisiana, the local produce I've included as many chefs tips as possible
was celebrated and honored by the chefs, as they took things that they take for granted but will really help
pride in the classic American dishes they were rein you to get the best results. My mantra was always, "If I
venting and revisiting. can cook it, anyone can." The best part about learning
I not only traveled great distances geographically from a professional is in the details of their technique,
by plane, train, and automobile, but I also traveled which can make the difference between a good dish and
back in time to those early colonial days as I tried to a great dish. Alain Ducasse was kind enough to share
imagine what it was like to cook in America long be his tips for cutting onions with me, going straight to
fore gas stoves, refrigerators and electric stand mixers. the underpinnings of most cooking-the knife. "The
Early American cooks would have had an open fire fumes that cause your eyes to water are released when
with a spit for roasting, later they would have had a the petals are crushed," says Ducasse, "a common issue
wood fired range with no temperature gauge and very when slicing with a dull knife. Minimize the tears by
limited refrigeration. Yet even with these limitations using a properly sharpened blade that will cut the veg
they somehow managed to make ice cream. What etable cleanly." Valuable advice to follow when making
they didn't have in electric gadgets they made up for his French onion soup and for any recipe that requires
in utensils, there is a vast "List of Utensils, Needed in chopped onion-I think of Ducasse every time my eyes
Every Well-to-do Family of Six Persons or More" in tear up in the kitchen. So sharpen your knives and let
How We Cook in Los Angeles (1894) and Mrs. Lincoln the cooking begin.
PREFACE 7