Lynn Crawford - Lynn Crawford’s Pitchin’ In: 100 Great Recipes From Simple Ingredients

VIKING

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First published 2012

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (CR)

Copyright Lynn Crawford, 2012

Food Photography: Kathleen Finlay

Prop and Food Stylist: Sasha Seymour

Food Stylist and Recipe Tester: Lora Kirk

Additional Photography: Frantic Films Corporation, Kuba Psuty

The book is based on the television series Pitchin In, which is produced by Frantic Films Corporation and broadcast in Canada by Food Network Canada. The publisher acknowledges Frantic Films Corporations participation in respect to elements from the show featured in the book.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Crawford, Lynn
Lynn Crawfords pitchin in.

Includes index.

ISBN: 978-0-670-06593-6

1. Cooking. 2. Cookbooks. 3. Pitchin In (Television program). I. Title.

TX715.C684 2011 641.5 C2011-906198-8

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I dedicate this book to all the farmers, growers, fishermen, and ranchers I have met on this incredible journey. I thank you all for your generous hospitality, heart, passion, commitment, and inspiration.

My life has changed in so many ways over the past few years. I am a cook; I always have been. I could not think of anything else Id rather do. I would be lost if I could not slice, chop, whisk, peel, and cook something each and every day. I have always been driven to create a perfect dish, a perfect meal each day to work harder and to cook better.

Im always on fire with ideas. I have an active imagination that means that if I think it, I want to do it. Plans, hopes, dreams: my mind is always busy with a million thoughts. It was really just two simple thoughts that led me to set out on my Pitchin In adventure and to create this cookbook.

Connections are everything. That was my first thought. I dont mean who you know, as in celebrities or power hitters, but who you know on a pure human level. The root of understanding and knowledge comes from being connected. Who do you know?

And the second thought was that I love to cook. The higher I climbed the culinary ladder, the farther away from the food I got. I was the Executive Chef of a luxury hotel in New York City. I was on top of the mountain. I loved living in the Big Apple. I worked with an amazingly talented and committed team. I could pick up the phone and, almost magically, any ingredient I wantedlobsters, truffles, the best quality beef, fish, seafood, or caviarwould appear instantly. You name it, I got it, without any effort on my part. I loved my job and the people I worked with, but there was only one problem: I was not cooking anymore and I knew that I needed to change my direction. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, but I left my 24-year career with the Four Seasons. It was with a real longing for understanding, and a need to reconnect, that I embarked on my adventurous, hands-on apprenticeship in the farming trenches of North America with Pitchin In.

Whether you are trying to connect to a person, place, thing, or idea, you have to experience it directly. You have to walk a mile in their shoes, so they say, and only then can you understand the what, why, and how of something. For me, the two connections I wanted most were with people and food. And I didnt want those connections to be exclusivemeet some people and find some foodI wanted it to be inclusive. My goal was to meet the people who produce the food so that I could understand everything that went into making that product the best in its domain.

If youve seen Pitchin In, you know I dont shy away from dirty jobs and hard work. I never thought I could get that dirty, stinky, sweaty, cold, hot, wet, parched, embarrassed, humiliated, nauseated, or grossed out. I used to think working in a kitchen was tough work. Have I ever learned a thing or twothe hard way. Try hauling thousands of pounds of mussels out of the cold waters off the coast of Prince Edward Island on a blustery cold day in April. Or, in Alberta, how about corralling an angry two-thousand-pound wild bison into a tiny space to vaccinate her. What about battling the heat, humidity, and insects as youre dragging around a swamp loading and unloading crawfish traps in Louisiana.

I have a much finer appreciation for cream since visiting a dairy farm and assisting a vet with a pregnancy test. Or turkey: how can a frozen ball of protein and fat wrapped in a tight white plastic bag compare to a free-range, native North American bird that I have personally chased through a field while trying to keep my pants from falling down (without luck). The chasing, the feeding, and the cleaning have richly added to my understanding of these foods, and that understanding has given me the knowledge I need to create better dishes and be a better chef.

Thats how it all comes full circle. Because through the food I prepare and serve, I also want to connect with people, whether its friends and family, or guests at my restaurant. To my mind nothing is as intimate or visceral as the gift of food prepared with passion and thought. It touches all the senses, while evoking a warmth and connection for both the giver and the receiver. So, when a fisherman who has worked for days catching pink shrimp the best way he can gives me some of his shrimp, I understand and feel the pride and love that went into fishing his product. Then when I prepare those shrimp to the best of my ability for my dinner guests, I pass that feeling along with the love that I embedded in the dish. The diner enjoys all this back story combined with delicious, fresh taste. Its all connected.

And now youre connected. I hope reading this book will inspire you to explore, get to know where your food comes from, and be hands-on with your food. I encourage you to meet the producers at your local farmers market and get out to some u-picks in the country. Get dirty if you have to. These valuable experiences will make you a better cook, and youll be giving back to the hard-working farmers, growers, and fishermen who give us these amazing products. Its about appreciationon both sides.