Segal - The once upon a chef cookbook: 100 tested, perfected, and family-approved recipes

Copyright 2018 by Jennifer Segal.
Front cover and photograph copyright 2018 by
Chronicle Books LLC. Photo credit Joseph De Leo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 9781452156224 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Segal, Jennifer, author.
Title: Once upon a chef, the cookbook : 100 tested, perfected, and family-approved recipes / Jennifer Segal.
Description: San Francisco : Chronicle Books, [2018] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017005019 | ISBN 9781452156187 (hc : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: CookingTechnique. | Cooking. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.
Classification: LCC TX651 .S424 2018 | DDC 641.5dc23 LC
record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017005019

Photographs by Alexandra Grablewski
Prop Styling by Maeve Sheridan
Food Styling by Cyd McDowell

Design by Alice Chau
Typesetting by Frank Brayton

Chronicle books and gifts are available at special quantity discounts to corporations, professional associations, literacy programs, and other organizations. For details and discount information, please contact our premiums department at or at 1-800-759-0190.

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

Thank you!

To my wonderful agent, Maria Ribas, who discovered my blog a few years ago and asked if I was still interested in writing a cookbook. Thank you for ushering this book from idea to reality, and for being my coach, friend, and cheerleader along the way. You are amazing.

To my small but mighty Once Upon a Chef team: Lacy Walpert, for your endless creativity and positive attitudeand for pushing me outside my comfort zone (yes, good things do happen). And Betsy Goldstein, my do-everything colleague, whose attention to detail, wit, and work ethic are second to none; I dont know how I managed before you came on board. I love working with you both.

To my editors, Amy Treadwell and Sarah Billingsley, for believing in this book and making it so much better than it was. Thank you for taking a chance on a first-time author and guiding me through the process. To Alice Chau and the entire Chronicle Books team: Im honored to be part of your beautiful cookbook tradition.

To the lovely Alexandra Grablewski for her gorgeous photography and impeccable eye. To Cyd McDowell, Christine Buckley, and Brett Regot for their boundless energy and flawless food styling. And to Maeve Sheridan for supplying the fabulous props that brought the photos and recipes to life.

To my mom, for always encouraging me to chase my dreams, especially this one. Thank you for being my biggest championand for proofreading my blog posts all these years, even when you had way more important things to do.

A heartfelt thank you to my dad, who pored over every word of my manuscript with a red pen before I submitted it to my editor, although he never cooked a day in his life. Dad, can you believe youre still helping me with my homework?

To my sister, Erica, for nudging me to start a cooking blog, when I had no clue what a blog was. And for patiently answering a million Which do you like better? text messages about the design of this book.

To my husband Michael for giving me the support and space to do what makes me happyand for being the kind of dad that allowed me to dive into this project without worrying for one second about the kids. Thank you for never complaining about eating the same dinner five nights in a row while I tried to get it right.

To my kids, Zach and Anna, for understanding my long nights at the computerand for laughing when I forgot to pick you up from practice, complete the fieldtrip form, or fill in the blank. You guys have been on my hip or by my side from the start. I feel like we created this book together.

Finally, to all of my blog readers: thank you for bringing me into your kitchens and giving me the opportunity to do what I love every dayfrom the bottom of my heart.

THE FIRST FLICKER of an idea for this cookbook came to me about twenty years ago when I was working my first kitchen job at LAuberge Chez Franois, an acclaimed French restaurant tucked into the rolling hills of Virginia, right outside of Washington, D.C. It was late at night after a grueling shift, and I had a nasty burn on my wrist to show for it. Fighting back tears, I wiped down my station and thought to myself, What on earth have I gotten myself into? The restaurant had a large, European-style brigade kitchen with the chef at the helm and all the cooks manning their stations. Not only was I the only woman, at five feet two inches tall, I was also hopelessly undersized for the massive equipment that surrounded us. I had to get lifts on my shoes just to reach the plates over the stoveand dont even ask about those fifty-pound sacks of potatoes!

My job as the newbie in the LAuberge kitchen was to prepare all of the vegetables during the day, and then operate two large deck ovens that kept plates and vegetables warm during the dinner service. Every time an order came in, I arranged the appropriate vegetables on a plate, covered the plate with an aluminum pie pan, and stacked it in the oven with dozens of others. When the chef called the order for pickup, I located the piping hot plate in the oven and handed it off to the more experienced cooks to add the entre. I did this same job every night for an entire year. To this day, my dad teases me that he paid for four years of college and culinary school so that I could be a professional plate warmer.

The truth is that even though I went to culinary school and graduated with honors, I was completely overwhelmed with what I was doing. No amount of schooling or passion for cooking can prepare you for the rigors of working in a restaurant kitchen: juggling an incessant stream of orders, sweltering heat, flames, short tempers, sharp knivesit was terrifying! Thankfully, my fellow cooks took me under their wings, jumping over to my station to pitch in if I got in the weeds or covering for me if I screwed up. I loved those guys. Eventually, I got the hang of it, but I knew from the start that I was not cut out for an adrenaline-charged career as a restaurant chef. Instead, I wondered, Maybe I could write a cookbook?

Fast-forward about five years and a few restaurant jobs later: I met Michael and we got married, and had our son, Zach, two years later. I happily left the restaurant business to be a stay-at-home mom, and then my daughter, Anna, was born seventeen months later. With two little ones, I had my hands fullliterally! When Anna started preschool, though, I got the itch to go back to work and start cooking more than just buttered noodles and chicken nuggets.

One day, a girlfriend of mine asked me to bake a cake for her sons fourth birthday party. I spent three days baking and decorating a three-tier farm-themed cake with blue and green fondant icing and handmade barnyard animal cookies grazing around the edges of each layer. Granted, I went a little (okay, a lot) overboard, but it was so much fun, I decided to start a business baking specialty cakes and cupcakes, mostly for childrens birthday parties. Through developing my cake recipes, I realized how much I loved the process of creating, testing, and perfecting recipes, so I started to think about ways I could turn that into a career. What about that cookbook?