Gail Simmons - Bringing it home: favorite recipes from a life of adventurous eating

Gail Simmons eats her way through life. Sounds simple enoughwe all do, right? Nope. Not like this.

Food is not just Gails job. Its what fires her up and sets her in motion (well, that and chasing her three-year-old, Dahlia).

Most of us eat at regular intervals in our lives; Gail eats her way through life. These are different things. When Gail is not eating, shes thinking about what she ate last night, writing about what she ate this morning, planning what shes going to eat tomorrow, etc. Whereas most people eat while enjoying lifes experiencesfor Gail the food itself is the experience.

For a normal person this would seem compulsive, even borderline obsessive. Fear not: Gail is one of the healthiest, most upbeat, thoroughly honest, balanced, and charming people on the planet. She doesnt need therapy to deal with her food obsession. She just needs more food.

I first met Gail when she was working with Jeffrey Steingarten on an article about the perfect steak. I dont remember too much about the encounter other than those eyes, that smile, that intellect, and the genuine hunger to plumb, to taste, and to catalog everything there was to know about steak. Aging, marbling, grilling this wasnt just a job for Gail, it was a mission. When it was all done, most researchers would have sworn off beef for a few months; Gail probably went out for a burger.

In the years that weve worked together on Top Chef, Ive come to see Gail as more than a co-judge. For one, shes become a great friend. She shares my passion for beef jerky and licorice (the real kind, not the red stuff). She is always reassuringly seated to my left which makes me feel good, as I know it means we can expect a serious food discussion (as in seriously informed and passionate, not serious-boring). Gails opinions about food come directly from her own encyclopedic experiences as an eater. At the Judges Table, that leads us to richer discussions and deeper, more meaningful debate. When the future of an aspiring chef is at stake, thats a good thing.

Top Chef has taken us eating around the world. For years now, I have been blessedly freed from the rigors of travel research because Gail has the list. On our days off from filming, Gail has anywhere from eight to twelve off-the-beaten-track food options only the locals have heard of, thanks to her personal network of fellow food obsessives who know exactly which hawker stand in Singapore or strip mall in Vegas we must visit that minute. And while most of us enjoy these exotic tastes and move on, Gail files the flavors and techniques away in the vivid hard drive of her memory and then mines them later in her own home kitchen for the people she loves.

This book is your chance to experience this for yourselfthe world as seen through the eyes of a passionate eater, brined in Jewish common sense, leavened with Canadian decency and good humor, then distilled into achievable recipes for the home cook. Its your invitation to join Gail for dinner, for the pleasure of the food and the wonderful stories and singular point of view that only she could bring. Cheers!

Do you cook at home?

Ive been asked this question more times than there are grains of salt in a shaker. Its easy to understand. Fans of Top Chef, the show Ive been on for over a decade, dont see me at dawn padding around the kitchen in my pajamas, plotting the first meal of the day, or standing at my stove after work, eager to cook dinner for my family. They dont see the stacks of syrupy Sunday morning pancakes I make with my daughter, Dahlia, or the happy chaos that ensues (and gives our home kitchen that truly lived-in feel) when my husband, Jeremy, and I invite friends for dinner. Instead, they see the discerning critic in a cocktail dress, with styled hair and polished makeup, hyperanalyzing ingredients and cooking techniques.

The truth is, my delicious dual-decade career in the food industry didnt begin with a bespoke seat at the Top Chef Judges Table, or with any of the many twists and turns that guided my professional path up until that point. Instead, it began with four words hollered by my mother to my two brothers and me each and every day of our young lives: Alan! Eric! Gail! SUPPER!

My mom, a freelance food writer and part-time cooking teacher, was a natural at the stove. Her call to the family dinner tableseven nights a week, no excusesgot us kids up and running, no matter what we were doing. She made it clear, both by her words and the heartfelt effort she made to shop for and prepare great meals, that our nightly time together truly mattered. It didnt hurt to know that the dishes she put down in front of us would be utterly delicious.