A Colander, Cake Stand, and My Grandfather's Iron Skillet - Today's Top Chefs on the Stories and Recipes Behind Their Most Treasured Kitchen Tools by Erin Murray & J. Kenji Lopez-Alt - Hardcover
In every cook’s kitchen, there is a treasured tool: a workhorse utensil, go-to gadget, or a family heirloom with its own background story and the lofty standing of being a cook’s most-prized possession.
These beloved items say as much about the cook as their style of cooking. They tell stories about a cook’s past and about the moments that led them to where they are today. For some, it might be a spoon inherited from a grandmother’s silver set, which they use to taste every sauce. Or it could be a spaetzle maker picked up during a stage in Germany that’s been used during every job since. Whether it’s a colander, cake stand, or a grandfather’s iron skillet, every chef has a piece in their arsenal that gives a glimpse into their cooking history, their philosophy, and their technique.
In the enlightening kitchen compilation, A Colander, Cake Stand, and My Grandfather’s Iron Skillet, author Erin Byers Murray collects stories from 37 top chefs about their favorite kitchen utensil. The stories, told in the chef’s own words, include the tale of how they came to acquire it, the details that it so essential, and insight into why―and when―they rely on it. Along with each story, the chef provides a recipe utilizing the particular tool or something similar, so that home cooks can try their hand at a professional chef’s approach.
Laid out with a minimalist’s design and featuring fine-point illustrations of the tools as well as beautiful color photographs of each recipe, A Colander, Cake Stand, and My Grandfather’s Iron Skillet reveals the personalities of some of America’s best and hardest working chefs, while giving readers a keepsake of recipes to go along with an insider’s guide to some of the most treasured – and essential -- kitchen tools in the country.
Featured in A Colander, Cake Stand, and My Grandfather's Iron Skillet are some of today's most respected chefs including, among others, Jody Adams, Chris Kimball, Anne Willan, Andrew Zimmern, Norman Van Aken, Linton Hopkins, Joanne Chang, Slade Rushing, Jeremy Sewall, Ken Oringer, Jonathan Benno, Rob Newton, Chris Shepherd, Steven Satterfield, Virginia Willis, Ford Fry, and Kevin Gillespie.
About the Author
A Nashville-based food writer, cookbook author, and magazine editor with a not-so-secret obsession with oysters, Erin Byers-Murray loves telling stories about farmers, cooks, kitchens, and local food communities. She is the author of Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm (2011) and the co-author, along with award winning Boston chef Jeremy Sewall, of of The New England Kitchen: Fresh Takes on Seasonal Recipes (2014). Currently the co-editor of Nashville Lifestyles magazine, Byers-Murray was also one of the co-founders of Dirty Pages, a culinary storytelling project celebrating shared, passed-down food memories, launched in early 2015. Before moving to Nashville from Boston, she worked a writer and editor at Boston magazine and DailyCandy.com. In her spare time, she writes for various publications including Food & Wine, The Local Palate, Tasting Table, FoodNetwork.com, LuckyPeach.com, AOL Travel, and Wine & Spirits Magazine. She currently lives in Nashville with her husband and two children.
J. Kenji López-Alt is the managing culinary director of SeriousEats.com, author of the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab, and a columnist for Cooking Light. His work has appeared in numerous publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Wired Magazine, and Men's Health. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Adriana and two dogs, Jamón and Shabu.
- Hardcover: 184 pages
- Publisher: Spring House Press (July 15, 2016)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1940611369
- ISBN-13: 978-1940611365
