Tosi - Milk bar life : recipes & stories

Copyright 2015 by Christina Tosi
Photographs copyright 2015 by Gabriele Stabile

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tosi, Christina.
Milk bar life: recipes & stories / Christina Tosi.First edition.
pages cm
1. Cooking. 2. Desserts. 3. Momofuku Milk Bar. I. Title.

TX714.T674 2015
641.86dc23 2014041740

ISBN 978-0-7704-3510-3
eBook ISBN 978-0-7704-3511-0

Design by Walter Green

v3.1

To the old folks who keep me longing to become a wise and weathered soul and to the younguns who remind me to never grow up.

Im not your average gal. I never wanted a pony, or to be a pretty princess when I was little. Instead, I dreamed of Cookies, Cookies, Cookies (working name), a bakery of my own that would leave me happily covered in flour and sugar, morning to midnight, and, if I played my cards right, an unconscionable amount of raw cookie dough. Chubby and sporting the finest bowl cut the local cuttery could trim, I would turn cardboard boxes into cash registers and bakery cases, practice making change with Monopoly money (you gotta know how to make the sale!), and concoct gluey batters and sprinkle-ridden doughs to feed to my stuffed animals (they were BIG fans). As I got a little older, my legs grew longer, and my dreams stretched too. I imagined a fun but simple place that brought people happiness and anchored their morning commute or evening stroll, a place where anyone could stop by, say hi, and eat cookies.

And, by some stroke of insane luck, universes aligning, honest-to-goodness hard work, and practical kitchen experience, thats exactly what happened. I opened Momofuku Milk Bar when I was twenty-seven, nearly six years ago. And in barely enough time to blink (and still not yet enough time to sleep) it has grown from one tiny bakery to a bigger thing than I ever imagined, all anchored by an 11,000-square-foot kitchen that sends cookies around the world and stocks six shops in New York where people stop by, say hi, and eat cookies.

I can never quite put my finger on exactly how or why it all happened. All I remember is a onetime admission into the school of hard knocks, bakery edition. Dave Chang pushing me out of the nest and more or less tricking me into opening the first Milk Bar was also probably a big help too.

Funny thing is, when asked just how I got to where I am, I know the answer is pretty simple: I. Have. No. Clue.

When did it all begin? Shrugging my shoulders, Ill tell you its always existedIve always been working up to this moment. My entire life, all I have ever tried to do was to be me and stay me, Cookies, Cookies, Cookies and all.

Now Im in it deep! There are more than ninety of us at Milk Bar, and it seems like there are more with every new batch of cookies that comes out of the oven. And, as the dream has grown, Milk Bar has turned into a huge family (that frequently drives each other crazy, just like any close family should). We blast bad music. We circle up overturned milk crates at 1 p.m. every day to sit together and eat family meal. We will all stop, drop, and roll whenever someone needs help, whether its scrubbing down a station or nursing a broken heart. But it doesnt stop there.

This book is not just about food. Its impossible to separate the food and the stories behind . Each recipe exists in the smallest way because its food and in the biggest way because eccentricities, camaraderie, and a dont-take-yourself-so-seriously mentality are the only way to approach anything and everything in life, including time spent in the kitchen. At least if youre living it on our terms.

Every moment we spend in the wild world outside the green double doors of our work is about the intersection of family, food, creativity, compassion, and simple acts of silliness and/or kindness. Cooking together, gathering for meals (even if its sharing a candy bar for breakfast), and swapping food stories in the funniest scenarios are an important part of what keeps us full of smiles and innovation. We take road trips and have off-the-clock cookie swaps, beach days, and bingo nights; we even have a couple dozen beanbags hidden away for movie marathons, when we feast on nachos and snacks and act like were thirteen again.

I think quirks are what make the world go round, just like dogs, dessert, quilting, jumping rope, bad movies, and great music. I love junk food. I play the ukulele. (More honestly: I take ukulele lessons.) Id never sleep if that were possible. I would run for miles and miles every day just to be at peace if I had the free time. If I didnt live in New York City, Id live in the middle of nowhere on a farm or a ranch. But I love what I do and I know how lucky I am. I get to choose to make a difference. Every. Darn. Day.

I am a dreamer. I want to create a world where cookies let people know its going to be okay and remind them to let their imaginations run free.

These pages are my attempt to share that world, the Milk Bar worldthe culture, community, and all-out sprint toward life through the food that surrounds and powers and guides our bakery and our lives.

Now lets get down to it: Despite the fact that many of us are formally trained and have worked in great restaurants, we also crave and embrace food with a more down-home, lowbrow approach. We long for FLAVOR, not fuss. Theres no shame in saying I work fourteen hours a day and by the time I get home at 11 p.m., all I want is a or something that incorporates eggs, cheese, and onions, the triumvirate that rules my hungry heart. Milk Bar Life is about celebrating it and not hiding it. (That said, I will take a meal at Eleven Madison Park any day of the week if youre buying.)

So Im not trying to sell you a got rocks, high-class, glossy magazine version of Milk Bar. We dont play that. This is how we really cook and eatand with gusto because this food is just so damn tasty. I can teach fancy techniques as easily as I can teach simple techniques. Its about reading the situation and knowing what tastes good.

Youll find that the chapters are organized by my favorite occasions and inspirations rather than by course. Thats how the day to day really goes, complete with Hand-Me-Downs, the dishes and desserts that I was raised on; Freakin Weekend, when theres actually time to cook a big meal at home; Craft Night/Sleepover, when I need to feed my crafty mind with hijinks and freezer jams, complete with silly pajamas, Die Hard action scenes, and giggles; and Going Out, the days we wrap early, let our hair out of our colorful head scarves, put on something cute, and decide that hitting the town is the best way to shake off the workday and pay respect to our chef friends. Every chapter opens with a dessert, because, lets get real, behind every good savory dish, theres something else you really want to eat. I figured Id make it easy for you, so you wouldnt have to go digging.