Interview with Dorie Greenspan, continued
by Amanda Formaro
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The Interview, continued
FC: Might we ever expect to see a cookbook from you that doesn't involve baking, but rather cooking?
DG: Yes, and fairly soon. I'm working on a book now called Around the French Table and it's due to be published in fall 2010. I've been traveling to France for over 30 years, and I've been a part-time Parisian for the past 12 years, and so the recipes and stories - of course there are stories, so many good recipes come with good stories - are gathered from this part of my life. There are recipes from my own kitchen, from friends, from restaurants and from a lot of travel. And there are also recipes and stories from the many French chefs I've worked with over the years, and I've been fortunate enough to work with the best.
FC Fabulous! Will Around the French Table be just as large as Baking From My Home to Yours?
DG: Yes! In style and feel and accessibility, Around the French Table is the savory companion book to Baking From My Home to Yours.
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FC: Have you always wanted to be a food writer?
DG: No, no, no. First of all, when I was growing up, I was absolutely uninterested in food. Second, when I was deciding what I wanted to be when I was grown up, food writer wasn't an option - I don't even think the term existed. I became interested in food by necessity. I was a young bride and I had to cook for myself and my husband. I'd never cooked - truly, never - before I got married and I had to learn fast. And I did. And as fast as I learned, that's how fast I discovered that I loved it. I loved the process of cooking and baking; I loved the food that I cooked and baked; and I loved sharing what I'd made. But still, being a food writer didn't cross my mind. It wasn't until after I'd gone to graduate school (I studied for a doctorate in gerontology: the scientific study of old age and the process of aging) and after Joshua was born, that making a career in food seemed possible. It was then that I worked as a pastry cook and from there started writing about the food I'd come to love so much.
FC: When you wrote your first book, how did you juggle work, family and writing?
DG: I was very lucky - actually, I feel as though I've always been lucky - because, from the start, my husband has encouraged me to do what I want and has helped me to do it. He's been a true partner and so, while I juggled, he juggled, too.
FC: When did you decide to pursue writing full time?
DG: I don't think I ever made a decision to write full-time. In fact, so many of the good things in my life came about not through conscious decision-making, but through saying "yes" a lot and being lucky. At some point in the late 1980s, I realized that I was writing steadily for Elle magazine and that I'd become a full-time writer without noticing it.
FC: How did you go about getting started with the publishing process?
DG: Again, I'm not sure how to answer this question. I had my first set of recipes published in Food & Wine magazine almost by accident - a friend had suggested I send them a proposal and, because I didn't know what a proposal was, I sent them a basket of all the sweets I'd put in the story, and they gave me an assignment that afternoon - and I was asked to write my first book by an agent and an editor when a project I'd had with a celebrity chef fell through. Very little in my career followed a traditional path or happened because I planned it carefully and in detail.
FC: How many cookbooks have you written?
DG: I've written nine cookbooks: Sweet Times, Simple Desserts for Every Occasion; Waffles from Morning to Midnight; Pancakes from Morning to Midnight; Baking with Julia; Desserts by Pierre Herme; Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme; The Cafe Boulud Cookbook; Paris Sweets; and Baking From My Home to Yours.
FC: Do you measure everything, or do you sometimes eyeball?
DG: When I'm baking, I measure everything. Oh, I might eyeball the vanilla or "measure" the chocolate chips by the handful, but I'm very precise when I bake. However, when I'm just noodling around the kitchen - not working on a project - I rarely cook with a recipe. When I'm making dinner for my family or having friends in and I'm not testing something for a book or magazine, then I just cook "free-hand". I'll shop in the market without a list, change a dish in the middle because I've had a different idea or just make something up to use what I've got in the house.
But when I'm cooking or baking for publication, things get measured down to the last peppercorn.
FC: Do you systematically create recipes or are they based mostly on trial & error?
DG: I didn't know that there's another way to create recipes other than trial and error! Even if I get a recipe right on the first try, I'll always retest it, as will one of my testers.
FC: How often do you bake during the week?
DG: Up until I started working on Around the French Table, I baked almost daily. Now, because I've got so many other kinds of recipes to work on, I bake 3 or 4 times a week. Like many other people I know, I bake for the love of baking and for the calm it brings.
FC: How do you stay so thin having so many sweet treats around you all the time?
DG: I eat some of everything I make - I've got a ferocious sweet tooth - but because I bake so much and so often, I give away most of what I make. In New York City, I live in an old apartment building that still has elevator men - they're my biggest fans and they get the lion's share of what I bake.
FC: There's a blogging/baking group called Tuesdays With Dorie, where over 200 men and women from all over the world bake one of your recipes from Baking From My Home to Yours. As you know, I am one of those bakers. It has helped me to step out of my comfort zone and try new recipes I probably wouldn't have on my own. I've also learned quite a few things from making your recipes (how to temper eggs, why a water bath may be needed, etc). I've fallen in love with so many of your recipes it's hard to keep count! What would you say to that group if you had to sum it up in a paragraph for all to read?
DG: I think I might repeat what Laurie Woodward, Tuesdays with Dorie's founder, always says, "Bake on!" Just as you've learned to move out of your comfort zone with baking, I think we all learn something about ourselves through baking, something that we take to other parts of our lives. By setting yourself a goal of making new recipes each week, you not only learn a new skill or encounter a new flavor combination, but you gain confidence in yourself and your ability to meet new challenges. And, best of all, you get to share what you've made. Most people who bake get to share their sweets with family, friends and colleagues. But what I love about Tuesdays with Dorie is the bonus: TWD bakers get to share what they've made with each other and with their readers. It's a wonderful way to spread the joy even further.
FC: On that same subject, what is your favorite recipe from Baking From My Home To Yours?
DG: I always say I don't have a favorite or that choosing a favorite recipe from any of my books would be like choosing a favorite child, but I do have a soft spot for the World Peace Cookies.
FC: Are there any "go to" recipes that you absolutely love and use over and over again?
DG: Oh, too many to name. For example, when it was my turn to choose a recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie and post it on my blog, I chose one that I'd made for years and still make very often because it's one of my husband's favorites: The French Pear Tart. One of the great pleasures of writing Baking From My Home to Yours was that I got to collect the recipes that I came to love over the years, so there are many recipes in the book that are my go-to recipes. When Around the French Table comes out, you'll see a lot of my savory go-to recipes.
FC: Do you have any recipes in a "secret" collection that will never make it into your books?
DG: Nope - I'm not very good at keeping secrets of any kind, and I don't think recipes should be secret. Food is about sharing and I think it's important to pass along recipes, traditions and techniques.
FC: So here you are, a successful food writer with 9 (soon to be 10) cookbooks under your belt. If you looked back to your college years, did you ever expect to be where you are now doing what you do?
DG: Never! Of course, as I mentioned, I didn't even know about food writing when I was deciding on a career, but also, I never expected to be a public person in any way. And even when I became a writer, my expectation was that I'd write and that my work would go out into the world while I would stay in my little cocoon. Of course, I had it all wrong and I'm glad I did. One of the things that I love about what I do is getting to meet people who share the same passions that I have.
FC: For moms out there that have a dream and feel it's unattainable, what would you say to them and did you ever feel that way during high school, college or as a young mom?
DG: Hold on to your dream, hold on tight and keep working toward it, but keep yourself open to everything else around you, because you never know what might come along, and you can't tell if a little detour might not bring you to your dream. I was very lucky, but, as I mentioned, I always said "yes" to opportunities, even when I wasn't sure where they'd go. I'm convinced that being open and flexible gives you a better chance of making your dreams come true.
On behalf of FamilyCorner.com, I want to thank Dorie Greenspan for taking this time with us and for letting us into her world. It was an absolute pleasure speaking with you Dorie and I will wait in anticipation for Around the French Table to appear in book stores!
About the Author:
Amanda Formaro is the entrepreneurial mother of four children.
She is the founder of FamilyCorner.com Magazine, craft expert for Kaboose.com, and runs a host of blogs, including her popular food blog, Amanda's Cookin'
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