The Story of the New Book
From Scratch came about while I was writing a completely different cookbook, thinking about one of my favorite meals, roast chicken, and all you can learn from it (how to make a stock, and then any stock, how to make a pan jus, how to make gravy, a refined sauce fines herbes, various sides that go with it).
And I recalled the long ago BLT From Scratch Challenge. How great was that?! Everyone agreeing to make their own bread, make their own mayonnaise, grow their own lettuce and tomatoes, and cure their own bacon. None of it particularly difficult, and a blast if you like to cook. I went back to the winners entry, and remembered 9-year-old Emma Kate, who once again brought me to tears with her story (sadly, the post is cached without pix). And I tell this story in my introduction. So Emma Kate, who with her father, Walter, made a BLT from scratch, bringing father and daughter and family and friends together with a simple sandwich.
And so, thinking of that great challenge and all the people who took it up lead me to wonder aloud (lying in bed one Sunday reading The Times), “What other meals can you learn from?” My wife Ann, stepping into the shower, shouted out “Lasagna!”
Yes, I thought! How to make pasta dough! A variety of tomato sauces. How to make your own ricotta, and even mozzarella! And also Bolognese sauce and Béchamel! And other pasta dishes. There’s even an offshoot recipe for the cleanest, most refreshing Bloody Mary you can make.
And so the book began. Image at top is the table of contents and the ten meals I chose to represent all of cooking.
What does “From Scratch,” really mean?
To me it means only this: you made the meal yourself. You didn’t buy it and reheat it or have it delivered. Is popcorn made on the stove top in a pot with melted better “from scratch” if you didn’t make the butter yourself? Of course it is.
For lasagna, if you roll your own pasta, make your own sauce from tomatoes you grew, include sausage you seasoned yourself and add ricotta and mozzarella you also made? That is SERIOUSLY from scratch. But so is my pal Blake’s version—and he uses jarred sauce, frozen spinach and cottage cheese (seriously, Blake, cottage cheese?)—he calls it “from scratch” and in my opinion it definitely is. Why? Because he cooks everything, assembles it and bakes it, filling the house with great smells and sharing a delicious homemade lasagna with his beloved wife and daughter.
He cooked his own food. That what From Scratch means to me.
And this is what From Scratch looks like:
You get it. Enough with this taking "from scratch" literally. Its not sustainable - in other words, you might do it once and then never darken a kitchen again. If you already love to cook, you haven't learned much. For the rest of the world, "from scratch" is indeed just that. You cooked it yourself. If that gets more people enjoying time in the kitchen and interested in food and cooking, then you've gone beyond preaching to the choir to and increased the size of the congregation. And THAT'S a good thing.
I remember that BLT challenge. I just made my own bacon, but if I recall correctly, someone went all FROM SCRATCH and evaporated buckets ocean water for salt.
Yes, Stafford Park Culinary, agreed! And Jon, yes, I remember that guy! He even gave a ratio for how much salt you got out of 4 liters of sea water!
I love that there's so much potential and so many journeys and stories in each of those contents pages headings.
What a fab idea for a book!
x
thanks elizabeth! Hope you guys get to NYC one of these days. Ann and I would love to see you!
I cannot *wait* to get my hands on this book! I maintain that some of my best dishes "from scratch" involve canned ingredients when I really don't have the time for the full-blown everything-completely-fresh version. It's still effort, it still fills the house with lovely cooking aromas, it's still made with love.
Congrats on the new book!
thanks Reese!
Saw the book on Amazon and became excited!....(I have most if not all of your others.)
The Emma Kate story is one that inspired me to search for her smile and post here and I'm so happy to've done so. I'm especially excited for her and so happy for her dad....he must be glowing with pride!
To this day, I use your pretzels formula exactly as written and always keep food grade lye on-hand.
I am also a CIA graduate (2016) - best times of my life.
I'm still very happily cooking professionally (many leave but I couldn't) in smaller, independent restaurant groups because these cultures are what I will forever love having opportunity to impact.
Cheers and thank you. ☺️
thanks for this and keep on cooking!
re emma kate. I wrote in this newsletter, possibly behind a paywall, sorry, https://ruhlman.substack.com/p/meat-pies-200, but the gist of it was this:
"This summer, I received the worst email a friend can get, subject line: Sad News. Walt told me that Emma Kate died in an ATV accident in June. She was a passenger with people she’d only just met.
"She and her father have meant so much to me that I wanted to honor Emma Kate here, along with Walter, his wife Bernie, and their son Tyler. I am heart-broken."
What to do with this? I don't know. Thanks for writing.