Stevens Mark C - The world sauces cookbook: 60 regional recipes and 30 perfect pairings

Copyright 2019 by Rockridge Press, Emeryville, California

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, Rockridge Press, 6005 Shellmound Street, Suite 175, Emeryville, CA 94608.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The Publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering medical, legal, or other professional advice or services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the Publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an individual, organization, or website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the Publisher endorse the information the individual, organization, or website may provide or recommendations they/it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (866) 744-2665, or outside the U.S. at (510) 253-0500.

Rockridge Press publishes its books in a variety of electronic and print formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books, and vice versa.

TRADEMARKS: Rockridge Press and the Rockridge Press logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Callisto Media Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Rockridge Press is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Interior and Cover Designer: Joshua Moore
Art Producer: Karen Beard
Editor: Kim Suarez, Daniel Grogan
Production Editor: Andrew Yackira
Photography 2019 Nadine Greeff. courtesy of Jess Kearney
Cover Recipes (left to right):

ISBN: Print 978-1-64152-478-0 | eBook 978-1-64152-479-7

This book is dedicated to all those who, without question, open their kitchens to voyagers from distant lands. And to my mom, who carried me on her hip across the sea before I could walk.

Questo libro dedicato a coloro che, senza chiedere nulla in cambio, aprono la loro casa a quelli che vengono da lontano. E a mia mamma, che mi ha portato in braccio attraverso terre e mari prima ancora che imparassi a camminare da solo.

Contents

I N THE SUMMER OF 2018, I CAME BACK TO MY HOMETOWN OF Jackson, Mississippi, to appear on a panel with several other cookbook authors at the Mississippi Book Festival and talk about storytelling by way of food. Three of us were Mississippi natives with books primarily focused on the flavors closest to our Southern hearts. The fourth panelist, Mark C. Stevens, came with a different perspective.

A nomad of sorts who works in the film industry when hes not trotting the globe, hed just had his first cookbook published: Cooking with Spices: 100 Recipes for Blends, Marinades, and Sauces from Around the World. To say he took the research seriously is an understatement. Aside from studying the origins of each seasoning on his laptop, he traveled straight to several of the sources on every continent, tasting the most authentic dishes of each spot he visited and chatting up the local cooks who made them.

As I listened to him speak about the lessons hed learnedfrom watching his Italian Nonna prepare pesto alla Genovese in the Mediterranean coastal town of Chiavari, to getting schooled in the art of seasoning fresh meat over a parrilla flame in Argentinait became clear to me why hed been invited to join this discussion. Southerners love swapping stories as much as they do sharing their favorite foods with friends and strangers alike, and Mark fit right in. The crowd of food-loving Mississippi folks was clearly charmed.

Happily, the conversation didnt end after the Q&A. We ended up hanging out together much of the rest of the weekend, sampling the traditional and uptown cuisine of some of the local restaurants, listening to live music at a popular downtown bar, and yapping endlessly about dining adventures at home and abroad. We parted ways with vows to keep in touch, and we have.

Ive continued to follow his culinary escapades on Instagram. Should he ever start leading food tours, Ill be ready to sign up. I was especially delighted to hear that he was working on a follow-up to his excellent Cooking with Spices with a global guide to sauces, and honored to get a sneak peek.

Like the seasoning blends of his first book, these recipes have backstories that open windows into other cultures. Theyre also easy and practical to execute no matter where you live, and enormously versatile. Blend a selection of red and green chiles with shrimp paste and a few pantry staples, and you have an insiders version of the fiery Indonesian sauce known as a Persian stew of pomegranate molasses, walnuts, and sweet spicesin your freezer to turn cubes of any protein into a remarkably tasty topping for couscous.

Through these recipes and stories, Mark teaches us the rewards that await when we step out of our comfort zones and into the unknown with a listening ear, an open heart, and a hungry belly.

Grab your saucepan, and let the tour begin.

SUSAN PUCKETT

Atlanta, Georgia

Author of Eat Drink Delta: A Hungry Travelers Journey through the Soul of the South and coauthor of Turnip Greens & Tortillas with chef Eddie Hernandez

A FEW YEARS AGO, I SET OUT INTO THE WORLD WITH two ultimately successful and intertwined missions. The first was writing a travel cookbook called Cooking with Spices . The second was completing the Continent Grand Slam: visiting all seven continents in one calendar year. In Antarctica, the landscape was breathtaking and otherworldly, even if our culinary panorama was limited to our vessels galley, lest we end up like Ernest Shackleton and made to survive on penguin. Charles and Miranda Shackleton, relatives of the famous explorer, happened to be on the same expedition trip. Upon our return to the tip of South America, they invited me to their farm in Vermont to finish the final chapters of the book, and I duly obliged.

People invite me into their homes and feed me quite often. You might say its luck, but it keeps occurring. It coincidentally is also my preference to be had over for dinner versus attending a stuffy, crowded tourist attraction. Besides, I usually find the layout of a local kitchen to be more culturally indicative than the regions highest art or classic architecture. It is in those cooking spaces that the secrets to what is really valued are revealed, usually to my pleasant surprise. Marveling at how pans are stored, or how the boxy cheese grater is identical to my Nonnas in Italy, are paramount cultural indicators from my perspective and how I get my kicks.