Munchies - BONG APPETIT: mastering the art of cooking with weed

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the writer of this book, Elise McDonough, for her off- and on-set assistance. Her cannabis knowledge and styling skills, plus her endless supply of weed puns, were invaluable throughout the project. A big thank-you to our publisher, Ten Speed Press, and the dedicated editorial team guiding this project: editor Emily Timberlake, Doug Ogan, Serena Sigona, Carey Jones, designer Kara Plikaitis, and Sharon Silva. As well as the entire staff at Ten Speed, especially Aaron Wehner, Maya Mavjee, Hannah Rahill, Windy Dorresteyn, David Hawk, Daniel Wikey, and Allison Renzulli.

A very special thanks to producer Jason Pinsky, and Bong Apptit cast members Vanessa Lavorato and Ry Prichard; first for how their creativity and knowledge has expanded the boundaries of what we know about cannabis cuisine, and also for their extensive help on this book.

Thanks to MUNCHIES publisher John Martin, channel manager Tommy Lucente, Nyasha Shani Foy, and Leslie Stern for their continuous support in our printed efforts. Thanks so much to Bong Apptit executive producers Lauren Cynamon and Chris Grosso, co-executive producer Ari Fishman, and the entire cast and crew of Bong Apptit involved in making the MUNCHIES Digital and VICELAND series: Gayle Gilman, Erica Winograd, Tracy Wares, David Bienenstock, Elana Schulman, Peter Courtien, Abdullah Saeed, Jason Pinsky, Tami Alfasi, Ariel Algus, Jessica Bahr, Kathleen Flood, Talin Middleton, Carrie Cheek, Allie Stefan, Davina Dobrovech, Armen Karapetian, Hunter Johnson, JonPaul Douglas, Kyle Marchant, Travis Wood, Ronnie Silva, Lex Sadasivan, Alex Wills, Lex Sadasivan, Gena Gaudet, Ronnie Silva, David Croom, Adam Daroff, Meryl Goodwin, Marley Lister, Katherine Bernard, Arkie Tadesse, Joshua Argue, Will Nails, Zachary Rockwood, Kazmo Kida, Jen White, Ryan Sak, Joeshua Wright, Andre Evans, Robbie Renfrow, Shane Tilston, Sunny Sawhney, George Olivo, Austin Higgins, Karlos Miguel, Dee Wasielewska, and Kalid Hussein.

Thank you to our friends at FremantleMedia, especially Keith Hindle and Elena Magula, and the Tiny Riot team: Regina Leckel, Devon Dunlap, Jessica Porper, and Nathan Rea.

Thank you so much to our agents at the Gernert Company: Anna Worrall, Chris Parris-Lamb, David Gernert, and Paula Breen.

Thanks so much to photographer Marcus Nilsson and world-class photo assistant and hand model, Peter Baker. WE LOVE LA! WE LOVE IT! Thank you to illustrator Ho-Mui Wong for creating beautiful, instructional images that will prevent people from sending themselves to the hospital.

A special thanks to the cutting-edge science used by cannabis lab The Werc Shop and Dr. Jeffrey Raber for helping us understand the test results and efficiency of THC infusions. Science is a powerful drug.

Thanks to marijuana grower Kyle Kushman for providing the marijuana strains Forbidden Fruit, Candyland, and Starberry and Platinum GSC cannabis and Veganic kief for the recipe testing and photography in the book. Thanks to Addison DeMoura and Alex Poof from Rezn Extracts, for providing high-end hash and also a Mothership. Special thanks to Purple Frost Genetics for the pre-rolls and flowers, and Kenny Morrow for commenting on the significance of terpenes and extraction technology.

Thanks to our prop stylist, Amy Chin, and her incredible assistant, Lux Wright. Thank you to our recipe testers, Yewande Komolafe and Julie Beth Tanouswe will never look at flies or shortbread cookies the same way ever again. A big thanks to our kitchen interns Andrew Richmond, Justin Ayoub, Widza Gustin, and Alex Burris for helping us during this cookbook process. Special thanks to Yolande Mabiko for truly helping us make this book in ways we could never imagine.

A huge thanks to our dear friend Khuong Phan. Special thanks to Ariel Stark-Benz of Mister Green for providing so many of the beautiful props in this book, along with Little Garage Shop, Stonedware, Concrete Cat, and Group Partner.

None of this would have been possible without the participation of the chefs and collaborators featured, including Aurora Leveroni, Barbara Leung, Bryant Terry, Cara Nicoletti, Chris Lanter, Christine Ha, Courtney McBroom, Dan Nelson, Daniela Soto-Innes, David Posey, David Wilcox, Deuki Hong, Devon Tarby, Don Lee, Erika Nakamura, Fatima Ali, Frank Pinello, Holden Jagger, Iliana Regan, Jasmine Shimoda, Joan Nathan, Jocelyn Guest, John Clark, Jonathan Brooks, Josh Pollack, Justin Severino, Kelly Fields, Louis Tikaram, Mason Hereford, Melissa DElia, Melissa Fernandez, Michelle Gayer, Mindy Segal, Natalia Pereira, Rebecca Merhej, Sam Smith, Sarah Kramer, Sheldon Simeon, Thu Tran, Tim Milojevich, Timothy Hollingsworth, Tracy Obolsky, Yoya Takahashi, and Zoe Taylor.

Additional thanks to Colleen Cleary and Joey Lozada at OXO, Barry Frish, Omar Midence, Jason Favreau, Daniel Bonomo, and David DiNoble.

Thanks to VICE co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi, co-presidents Andrew Creighton and James Schwab, and the entire VICE team.

The MUNCHIES team would like to thank our former editor in chief, Helen Hollyman, for all her work on this cookbook and art direction on the photo shoot. Thank you to our culinary director, Farideh Sadeghin, for spearheading the recipes in this book, managing our team of recipe testers, and styling the beautiful food; while our editor in chief, Rupa Bhattacharya, smoothed out all the edges and herded all the cats. Massive thanks and gratitude to the entire MUNCHIES family around the globe, and especially our inimitable senior editor Hilary Pollack and wonderful social editor Sydney Mondry, for holding down the fort while we got this book done, as well as staff writer Mayukh Sen and editorial assistant Danielle Wayda, for tolerating endless weed conversations in Slack.

#420blazeit

MUNCHIES, which launched in 2014, offers groundbreaking content from a youth-driven perspective. Through engaging original video content, compelling editorial features, articles, how-tos, recipes, and events, MUNCHIES offers a signature perspective on the intersection where humans and food connect.

ELISE McDONOUGH is a sixteen-year veteran of the cannabis industry, and the author of The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook and Marijuana for Everybody!

Equipment

Sadly, not everyone can live in cannabis-friendly Los Angeles with an elaborately outfitted pot pantry in their kitchen like on Bong Apptit. On the bright side, you dont need much more than your basic kitchen essentialsplus a good dispensary or a good dealerto cook with weed. So in addition to the usual pots and pans, knives, spoons, and bowls, here is what you will need.

Canning jars: Vital for using the jar method for infusing. The size you need depends on what you are infusing, so keep an array of different sizes in your cupboard, as well as backup lids and bands. When used in boiling water, the lids and bands can degrade quickly and put your precious cannabis oils at risk of becoming waterlogged.

Cheesecloth: Essential for straining cannabis plant matter out of finished infusions.

Digital kitchen scale: Reliable measurements are especially important when dealing with cannabis flowers, kief, and extracts to ensure correct dosing. Look for a high-quality scale capable of precise measurements down to the milligram.

Instant-read thermometer: Cannabis infusions require attention to temperature throughout the process, making our instant-read thermometer the gift that keeps on getting us high.

Mesh strainers: Indispensable for creating infusions. Having mesh strainers on hand in a variety of sizes is a good idea as it will allow you to work at any scale.