Allison Fishman - You Can Trust a Skinny Cook

You Can Trust A Skinny Cook

Allison Fishman

Photography by Lucy Schaeffer

JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright 2011 by Allison Fishman. All rights reserved

Photography copyright 2011 by Lucy Schaeffer

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Food styling by Simon Andrews

Prop styling by Deborah Williams

Graphic Design by idesign, inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Fishman, Allison, 1972-

You can trust a skinny cook / Allison Fishman.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-470-87635-0 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-0470-94559-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-94560-5 (ebk);

ISBN 978-0-470-94561-2 (ebk)

1. Reducing diets--Recipes. I. Title.

RM222.2.F515 2011

641.5'63--dc22

2010023282

Printed in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dedication

For Mom, who writes in the margins of her cookbooks. For Dad, who clips the recipes from the paper. You showed me that cooking is a conversation.

Acknowledgments

A good cookbook, which I hope this has turned out to be, is a nod to old-fashioned craftsmanship. Craftsmanship never comes easy, and along the way I relied on (and am indebted to) the following guides for their grace, humor, and insight:

Steve Goldberg, who read and improved every page, and Sue Park, who tested each recipe. Food and word friends Harry Eastwood, Andrew Burman, Tamar Haspel, Nikki Elkins, and Michelle Duda.

The Institute for Culinary Education, the NYU Food Studies program, and Tim Harper's graduate journalism classes.

Those of you who gave me a chance to try it for the first time: Martha Stewart, Susan Sugarman, Susan Spongen, Lucinda Scala Quinn, Sarah Carey, John Barricelli, Bob Altman, Heidi Diamond, Linda Corradino, Sara Kozak, Diane Hensley, James Peterson, Francine Segan, Einav Gefen, Melanie Underwood Karmazin, Jennifer Clair, Olivia Buehl, Michael Bernstein, Marge Perry, David Bonom, Mindy Fox, Mark Ferri, Ben Fink, Ellie Krieger, Kathryn Corro, Bernice Mast, Ellen Jackson, Tia Cannon, Deb Richman, Karen Affinito Greco, Scott Mowbray, Ann Taylor Pittman, Mark Turner, Tracy Weiss, Samantha Paladini, and Christine Connor.

My divine editor, Justin Schwartz. Natalie Chapman, Suzanne Sunwoo, Amy Zarkos, Joline Rivera, Jana Norstrand, David Greenberg, Chandni Patel, Lucy Schaeffer, Simon Andrews, and Deborah Williams, who made sure this book flew first class, nonstop.

The best kind of literary agent, one who knows when the time is right: Stacey Glick.

Aaron Task, who will always try a bite.

And most importantly, all the cooking students who trusted me to guide them from cutting board to skillet, and every friend who shared a recipe.

You Can Trust A Skinny Cook

I am a cook, not a nutritionist. There are nutritionists who can tell you what to eat, but this isn't that kind of book. I'm going to show you how to make food that tastes good and is low in calories.

For almost a decade, I was a corporate executive, running around, eating food that was cooked by other people. I was overweight. When I ate at home, it was to everyone's benefit that I didn't cook. I was a disaster in the kitchen.

I left the corporate world and went to culinary school. I wanted to help people who had never learned how to cook (like me) make good food and gain confidence in the kitchen.

And then, something crazy happened. I cooked all morning at school, practiced what I learned at home in theafternoon, ate a lot, and lost 20 pounds. I knew that cooking for myself was the healthiest way to eat for a variety of reasons, but how could a person eat so much and lose weight?

I Ate More, But In A Different Way. Here's How I Did It.

1. I nibbled and snacked throughout the day. Cooks taste their dishes constantly to determine what they need. In school, I was tasting all the time, and as a result, I was never ravenous. I ate small bites all day long instead of three big meals.

2. I was surrounded by delicious food and said "yes" to everything. For six months, I was surrounded by perfectly seared steaks, homemade bread, and just-churned ice cream. I did not lose 20 pounds eating rice cakes while lusting after brioche. I ate a little bit of everything and never felt deprived.

3. I ate what I cooked. Here's a funny secret that most home cooks already know. If you take the time to prepare a meal, you're in the kitchen with caramelizing onions, sizzling steak, maybe licking the beaters while the cake is baking. What's the cumulative effect of hearing, smelling, watching, touching, andyestasting delicious food as you make it? You're not as hungry when mealtime comes. Cooking helps you eat less.

4. I cooked what I ate. During my pastry courses at culinary school, I consumed half a day's worth of calories before lunch. At home, I chose to improvise lighter cooking since I was already full of butter, eggs, cream, and sugar. Instead of adding half-and-half to the mashed potatoes, I went with whole milk (see ). When you're in charge of the kitchen, you decide what to eat and how to cook it. This book will equip you with the skills to make intelligentand tastychoices.