Andrew Rea - Binging with Babish: 100 Recipes Recreated from Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows

Copyright 2019 by Binge Entertainment, LLC

Photography 2019 by Evan Sung

Butterbeer is a trademark of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Cinnabon is a registered trademark of Cinnabon LLC

Food styling by Erin Merhar

Prop styling by Maya Rossi

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rea, Andrew, author. | Sung, Evan, photographer.

Title: Binging with Babish : 100 recipes recreated from your favorite movies and TV shows / Andrew Rea ; photography by Evan Sung.

Description: New York, New York : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing

Company, [2019] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019013137 (print) | LCCN 2019014076 (ebook) |

ISBN 9781328592385 (ebook) | ISBN 9781328589897 (paper over board)

Subjects: LCSH: Cooking. | Television programsPlots, themes, etc. | Motion

picturesPlots, themes, etc. | Food in motion pictures. | LCGFT: Literary cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX714 (ebook) | LCC TX714 .R385 2019 (print) | DDC 641.5dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019013137

Cover design by Allison Chi

Author photo Evan Sung

v2.1019

To my mother: Everything Ive ever made is steeped in your love and memory

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Ive often touted myself as something of a one-man-band. To some extent, its true: I still cook, shoot, edit, color, animate, and perform the voice-over for every episode of Binging . But like any burgeoning enterprise, an ever-growing team of creatives, collaborators, obsessives, and partners begin turning the screws in the increasingly complex machinations of what started out as an after-work hobby. This book, the show(s), and my career would not exist without them, and while they deserve an entire chapter dedicated to their tireless contributions, I remembered that this is a cookbook, and maybe I should just relax a little. So here goes.

First up is my familywhenever I need encouragement, love, or a swift kick in the ass, theyve been there with unrelenting support and honesty. My mother died when I was eleven, and I responded to the pain and confusion by becoming a total prick. Despite my predictably bad behavior, a rapidly changing world, and his own grief and heartache, my father, Douglas Rea, was unflappable in his efforts to instill a sense of kindness, morality, and work ethic in his wayward son. I wouldnt be the man nor the storyteller I am today without him. My brother David, in addition to raising a beautiful family (and being nothing short of a genius), has always been there for me with words of wisdom and a glass of brown liquor when Ive needed it most. Barb, Kelly, Christopher, Everett, Donna, Kathy, Bob, Lauren, Josh, and the rest are a small but passionate and connected family that I cant imagine my life without, and I cant wait to see what comes next for each of us.

Next are my friends and colleaguesthe line between which is growing blurrier as we speak. Sawyer Jacobs, my best friend and business partner, has grown from being an invaluable member of my team into practically my common law husband. Despite knowing him for almost two decades at the time of this writing, he relentlessly surprises me with acts of wild creativity and intelligence, and there is no one else Id even want to imagine taking this journey with. Binging would have stayed a pastime forever were it not for the patience and moral support of my former roommate and forever my dearest friend, Rashid Duroseau. Im lucky enough to have remained thick as thieves with my roommates from college, Eddie Liu and Steven Farrell, the latter of whom has helped me shoot four episodes in his home (any of the ones to do with BBQ, fittingly). Though theyve moved halfway across the world, Jon Magel and Diana Dayrit continue to be the confidants, role models, and dear friends theyve been for nine years nowI would not be the man I am today without them. Kevin Grosch, Keith Johnson, Brad Cash, and all the folks at Made In Network have been instrumental to the channels success, not to mention Ben Davis, Miles Gidaly, Eve Attermann, and the rest of the team at WME. The show has certainly been helped by those who have been kind enough to appear on it: Sean Evans, Maisie Williams, Masaharu Morimoto, Brad Leone, Alvin Cailan, Roy Choi, and many others. Jon Favreau will be a recipient of my endless thanks not only for appearing on the show, but for writing the absolutely stunning foreword for this book. No book is possible without its publisher, but this ones beauty, thoughtfulness, and singularity wouldnt be possible without Justin Schwartz, Evan Sung, Erin Merhar, Maya Rossi, Susan Choung, and Allison Chi.

The biggest thanks, however, is owed to you. Yes, you, the one who bought the book, who watched a video, who told a friend, who supported me on Patreon, and who commented, liked, and subscribed. We live in an incredible time of democratized self-expression, where almost anyone with something to say has been given a voice. Audiences now choose, support, and decide the fate of the very content they watch, and I am in a constant state of disbelief that youve chosen to lift me up so dizzyingly high. Ive lived the vast majority of my life in fearfear of being rejected, mocked, and dislikedbut youve made me unafraid to be my truest self. My entire world as I know it would not be possible without you, and I will spend the rest of my life working to try and earn everything youve given me.

FOREWORD

My kids asked me one day if I had heard of Binging with Babish . I hadnt. My children share my appreciation of cooking-related content and are always pointing out cool videos to watch online. They sat me down and I immediately began to binge Binging with Babish .

I felt a connection to Andrew as I watched his playlist of cooking vignettes. There was something very unique about what he was doing. He was a content creator, but he was also a film fan. He didnt show his face, but his videos werent just a sped-up close-up of disembodied hands. The pace was swift and succinct, but he actually went into great depth about technique. Above all, it was obsessive.

The one unifying characteristic I found as I trained under chefs is that theyre all obsessive. They are fixated on details and will relentlessly dissect and organize. Directors, especially those involved with visual effects, tend to share this proclivity. It was no surprise when I learned that Andrews background also included a career in visual effects and film before Babish was born.

I was taken in by how meticulously he recreated recipes from movies and how he, like I, appreciated the impact food could have in the right story.

I was also taken in by the care with which he re-created the recipes from my film Chef . I was flattered by the deluge of views they received and the amount of people who actually replicated the steps shown in the film and meticulously documented by Andrew in his tutorials.