The making of my own cookbook

[FauxPas]

May I ask what's in the bag there? 

[gfweb]

So tomorrow I'm going to dig back through old pics and online reviews to jog my memory.

 

 

 

 

I thought that I was the only one who does this. I have a few written recipes, but photos of everything. If I can see the dish, I can remember how I made it.

 

I know, I know, this isn't how its done. But it works most of the time and, lazy sod that I am, I'm not good at keeping this sort of thing organized.

 

I do save recipes that look good in magazines/online and annotate them. And I have trusted cookbooks with annotated post-its. But most of what I cook isn't through following a written recipe.

[gfron1]

That was from our May shoot and its cattails.  If I remember right the day ended with stinging nettle, watercress, monkey flower and a bit of early currant.

May I ask what's in the bag there? 

[huiray]

That was from our May shoot and its cattails.  If I remember right the day ended with stinging nettle, watercress, monkey flower and a bit of early currant.

 

Well, from where I am sitting it looks like a cymbidium plant in that bag.  I also wouldn't have thought that cymbidiums grew wild in New Mexico.

 

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I am another who thinks that copious numbers of glossy photographs in a cookbook is...excessive...and renders it a "coffee table book".  Concentrate on the recipes.

[gfron1]

I can't imagine cymbidiums growing here, at least not in my part of the state.  We're at 6,000' and in the high desert.  Flowers only come on cactus in these parts.

[huiray]

Oh, I'm sure it wasn't a cymbidium.  (Cattails, you say?) I'm saying that it looks like a cymbidium from this side of the screen. ;-) 

[gfron1]

Today we talked timeline.  My editor, who is quickly becoming content coordinator, had it in her mind that we wanted the book out for this year's Christmas.  She kept saying how there was no way and we should have had everything done months ago.  I kept saying Christmas of 2015.  She kept freaking.  Finally I sent her a message with no distracting content of other topics and said, I need to make sure we're on the same page here.  I am talking 15 months from now - Christmas of 2015, NOT 2014 in 3 months.  She just sent this reply:

 

 

 

OMFG. You meant NEXT Christmas? I've been in a cold panic about getting stuff done and being behind. I, need, a, drink.

I do to!  I'll update you all here after she and I regroup on our timeline because she had some great info about book expos and such.

[Tri2Cook]

So it wasn't an official recipe test, but I made Rob's peanut butter pie this past weekend. It's every bit as tasty as I remembered it being. I actually made 2 of them and both are already gone. I included Rob's update to drop the butter and it hurt it not at all. So, unofficial though it was, I'll vouch once again for that particular recipe being a winner if you like peanut butter. I think it's better by a large margin than the peanut butter pie recipes that use a cream cheese base. I'm really looking forward to this book.

[gfron1]

Thanks Larry.  I think you'll enjoy seeing the growth from when i was last highly active on eG to now.  I went through that hydrocolloid phase and now my food is very modern but not showy.  I'm really enjoying my work right now and putting it in a book is a blast - painful, but a blast.

[gfron1]

My photographer just uploaded 100+ photos - many of them BRoll stuff like the one below.  We've been using DropBox as our storage so we can all have access to edit and move.  Today I labeled all of the photos and created folders designating the 3 sections of the book plus front and back matter, and moved all the completed content and photos into the proper folder.  Good organizing work that will make my designer very happy.

[Smithy]

That photo has good quality in terms of grey balance and clarity. What is the activity? Knife sharpening?

[gfron1]

Yeah, I had all of my knives out on the front lawn (our beer garden) and was giving them a go over.

[mkayahara]

Edge-trailing knife sharpening? I thought that practice was deprecated. Why do you go that way? (Sorry if I'm drifting off-topic. Believe me when I say I'll be putting your book on pre-order as soon as I can!)

[gfron1]

Old habits...actually, just today I got my new EdgePro system and I am so much faster and happier!   Like I said - BRoll

[gfron1]

I have no idea what pics will make it in but this one makes me really happy.  I have a recipe for a wild grass seed risotto that we top with a cattail ash brulee.  Here's one of the pics that Jay Hemphill captured.

Edited October 3, 2014 by gfron1 (log)

[gfron1]

Here's another - Molé Negro Cauliflower.  Pardon the cropping - its interplatform sharing.

[Shelby]

The food is beautiful and so are those PLATES!  Where did you find those?

[gfron1]

All of our dishes are local artists with the exception of a few Steelites.  That one Is Phoebe Lawrence.

[Naftal]

I have no idea what pics will make it in but this one makes me really happy.  I have a recipe for a wild grass seed risotto that we top with a cattail ash brulee.  Here's one of the pics that Jay Hemphill captured.

Hello- I am curious: What part(s) of the cattail did you use?

[Shelby]

All of our dishes are local artists with the exception of a few Steelites.  That one Is Phoebe Lawrence.

Tell her to hurry up and get herself online.  She might have a few new sales

[Smithy]

That shell is cauliflower? What part, or what did you do?

[gfron1]

Hello- I am curious: What part(s) of the cattail did you use?

I use all parts of the cattail throughout the year.  For that pic, the ash comes from the woody fronds - a byproduct of when I use the tender centers.  But in early June I gather the pollen, and right now I'm heading into the time when I use the root and corm.

[gfron1]

That shell is cauliflower? What part, or what did you do?

The shell is a sweet potato sheet made with my Japanese peeler.  The cauli is inside. 

[Naftal]

The shell is a sweet potato sheet made with my Japanese peeler.  The cauli is inside. 

Interesting! Would my mandoline work like your Japanese peeler?

[gfron1]

It could work if you did your cuts lengthwise.  With the rotary peeler I get a 15-20 foot strip off of one potato.  All you need is enough to go around which would be maybe 6-8".  Of course that's just for fancy plating...its not necessary.