Justin Warner - The Laws of Cooking: And How to Break Them

By the time Justin Warner walked into my studio, I was already grouchy and burned. Grouchy because Id been auditioning cooks all day for my Food Network Star team without a lot of luck and burned because what I wanted was teachers and had assumed the best way to find them would be to have candidates teach me to make a dish, literally talking me through the paces while I did the cooking. For some reason Id chosen Bananas Foster and after following ten sets of faulty instructions, my arms had been flambed to the elbows.

Then, in walks this scrawny kid with Clutch Cargo lips wearing a flat-brim cap jutting off-angle like a rapper, which it turns out he actually was. He looked fifteen but when he spoke there was a smooth confidence in his voice that told me hed seen some stuff, yo. Sure, he knew the whys, whats, and hows of the dish, but he also understood what actually mattered. Like a hacker, hed considered the laws of Bananas Foster and had decided which of these laws were going to pertain to him and which werent. When we were done, a perfect Bananas Foster had been prepared without sacrificing a single arm hair or eyebrow. As Warners bright red clogs walked out of the room I remember thinking, The (culinary) force is strong with that one.

Justin Warner made it onto my team, and with each challenge he displayed a rebellious legerdemain that continuously beamed out one message loud and clear: I know the rules and I know exactly how and when to break them. His kitchen chops, specifically his ability to create and combine unexpected flavors, gave him the edge, but I think it was his experience as a fine dining waiter that provided the crux around which the contest turned. He won the competition with style and (although he might argue the point) ease.

With the competition over, I was finally able to visit Justin in his restaurant, Do or Dine, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Although his Foie Gras Doughnuts and Lamb Breast with Coriander, Cumin, and Lime were already famous, it was his Cold Cantaloupe Soup that made me realize this kid had a touch of Mozart, a kind of crazy genius that doesnt come around very often and when it does it often takes decades to find its proper expression.

But not for Justin.

The Laws of Cooking and How to Break Them is exactly what I expected... the unexpected. From its playful but totally rational organization (by Law rather than simply ingredient or course) to its playfully mouthwatering photos to Justins proselike recipes, stories, and explanations, this is a cookbook unlike any other. This kid may be an outlaw but, like I said, the culinary force is strong with this one. And now hes sharing a bit of that crazy magic with us all. So hang on, kids, its going to be a tasty ride.

Alton Brown

Painting by Alex Paozols

Thanks for my first chocolate, GMA!

Our first interactions with food, from baby mouthfuls of mushy peas to little slurps of apple juice, are characterized by likes and dislikes. Every person I know loves some foods and is not so crazy about others. But why do certain dishes almost always inspire wild amounts of pleasure while others are pretty much guaranteed to be disappointing? As with Legos, Social Security, and the Genetic Sequence, there is a system that governs what makes food tasty. In fact, there are laws. These laws have been around for as long as cooking itself.

We know that rich, salty peanut butter (a fat) is complemented by grape jelly (sweet and fruity), and the combination is best experienced when spread evenly between two pieces of bread (the canvas). This primal truth is the Law of Peanut Butter and Jelly. We know that a mixture of lemon juice (something sour) and sugar (something sweet) becomes refreshing lemonade, after being diluted with water to make it palatable. This primal truth is the Law of Lemonade. Even those who dont feel confident in the kitchen know how to make a PB&J sandwich or a pitcher of lemonade. These arent just a lunch and a drink: they are archetypes. And, as such, they provide a path to create countless recipes. As just one example: Whats Peking Duck if not a PB&J? The fatty duck is the peanut butter; the sweet bean sauce is the grape jelly; the pancake or bun is the bread.

I considered other classic and beloved combinations, and came up with eleven powerful flavor systems, each of which serves as a law. I discovered that by following these eleven laws, I could create an endless number of things people would love to eat. The trick was simply to substitute and riff on ingredients and components within the recipes to create new and tasty dishes. Suddenly, ingredients and techniques that were previously intimidating became a piece of cake (or, in this case, a piece of a PB&J).

Working for years as a server in restaurants taught me what people want to eat, and how often theyre drawn to the same familiar dishes over and over again. But what if we could convince even the most unadventuresome diner to try Escolar with Strawberry Salsa () by tapping into a collective culinary consciousness formed by the Skippy and Smuckers jars from our early childhood? What if we could confidently combine foods weve never paired or even cooked before, knowing that by law they will taste delicious? This is what this book is about.

LAW OF PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY:Fat meets Fruit

LAW OF COFFEE, CREAM, AND SUGAR:Bitter meets Fat and Sweet

LAW OF BAGEL AND LOX:Smoked meets Acid and Fat

LAW OF THE HOT DOG:Salt meets World

LAW OF THE WEDGE SALAD:Funky meets Fresh

LAW OF GUACAMOLE:Meet Vegan Fats!

LAW OF CHEESE FRIES:Sharp meets Mellow

LAW OF LEMONADE:Sour meets Sweet

LAW OF PESTO:Herbs meet Fat

LAW OF GENERAL TSOS CHICKEN:Spicy meets Sweet

LAW OF GIN AND TONIC:Aromatic meets Aromatic