Breakfast With Chef Sara Moulton
By Chef Armand

After the successful appearance of Lidia Bastianich at “The Cuisine of Queens & Beyond”, presented by Dish du Jour Magazine last May, Publisher; Frances Grace and I often debated who would be an equally perfect successor to appear at the 2003 event scheduled for this June. Discussing the possible candidates during early planning meetings, it soon became clear that Sara Moulton was a unanimous favorite. Anyone who has met Sara Moulton in person and knows of her impressive achievements, recognizes she is a down- to- earth, charming person who has paid her dues in a highly competitive male- dominated field, where it is very difficult for women to

Her new Food Network Show “Sara’s Secrets” and the release of her best selling cookbook Sara Moulton Cooks at Home are true indications of her stellar popularity with cooks and foodies. Our decision was easy, providing she would be available taking into account her numerous responsibilities for the Food Network, Good Morning America and still, after many years, as Executive Chef of Gourmet Magazine.

It is freezing and windy on the platform of the recently renovated Long Island Railroad train station in Hicksville, as I board the 6.45 am train to Penn Station. My final destination is the Gourmet Magazine office where I was to meet Sara. With the terror alert recently elevated, the mood on the train, packed with early morning commuters, is tense. I am relieved to finally hit the pavement of Manhattan in an accelerated pace to meet my early scheduled appointment. After weighty security checks in the lobby, I am directed to take the elevator to the cafeteria to meet Sara.

It’s easy to feel an immediate sense of comfort the moment she greets you and shakes your hand. “Come on, let’s have some breakfast, the treat is on me. They have great food here at the cafeteria,” Sara says, as she grabs her tray and places her egg white omelet order with the rosy- cheeked breakfast chef sporting a fashionable baker’s cap who greets her respectfully as “Chef.”

The breakfast, as I am a sure all meals, here at Gourmet Magazine’s cafeteria, is impressive and the seating plush by usual industry standards. In a sunny window booth overlooking 43rd Street, we start our conversation while enjoying omelets, fruit, home fries and coffee. Sara wears no make-up in the early morning in preparation for her TV show, which is taped in the afternoon.

When I mention the possibility of taking some photographs, she agrees only under condition to take them from a distance. I smile, while silently engaging in a personal forum of disagreement, for I feel she is just as pretty without the make-up. As we sit, I have so many questions for Sara, well knowing that she has such a busy day ahead of her, I jump right into asking some of the things I want to know.

Chef Armand: Your new cookbook Sara Moulton Cooks at Home is doing very well. Which of the recipes has received the most feedback?

Sara Moulton: People love the Butterscotch Bread Pudding with Coffee Sauce, the Roasted Salmon with Warm Lentil Salad, Jean Anderson’s Oven Fried Chicken and the Arugula Salad with Aged Gouda, Savory Praline and Whole Grain Mustard Dressing. When I was a kid, one of my all-time favorite desserts was coffee ice cream and hot butterscotch sauce. I still love it to this day and I am happy to see other cooks agree!

Jean Anderson’s Chicken is the most requested on my TV show “Cooking Live.” She is my mentor and good buddy with who I have traveled on food-and-wine assignments to Holland, Portugal and Brazil. She learned it when she was working at Ladies Home Journal and then adapted it for The Double Day Cookbook. I have never met a chicken lover who wasn’t nuts for it. My kids are crazy about it!

CA: They all sound delicious, as a matter of fact; Chef Joey Canella of Bourbon Street Restaurant in Bayside uses cookbook recipes for some of his dinner specials. He received your book as a gift and claims the recipes are fantastic as well accurate. How efficient was your recipe testing procedure for this book?

SM: My new publication is first a home cookbook. I have tried to make it an accessible cookbook with recipes that work and ones that are easy to work with. With that enormous responsibility on my shoulders, I made sure they would be tested in various ways by culinary people such as Charles Pierce, my ace recipe tester and Andrea Hagen, my tireless assistant recipe tester. Andrea is a recent CIA graduate, who stayed at my house to test the recipes while we were in the recipe production phase.

CA: How do you come up with recipe ideas?

SM: Sometimes I get an idea or inspiration and quickly start putting a blueprint together for the recipe. When I feel comfortable with it, it goes through the testing phase. Many of the recipes in the book are also family heirlooms or those of friends who were instrumental in my culinary journey to where I am today. I began to see that I was writing a kind of piecemeal autobiography based on a lifetime of cooking and eating. Writing the book was very emotional for me. It brought back wonderful childhood food memories and great gastronomic moments with associates in the business.

CA: Tell us about taping your Food Network show, “Sara’s Secrets”?

SM: At this time I am proud to have taped 126 shows with the Food Network. I tape my new show “Sara’s Secrets” after 2 PM in the afternoon and we do an average of 2-4 shows a day. Our shows are very focused on getting dinner on the table. Remember, after deducting commercials, I only have 19 minutes to cook. I therefore have to be focused and to the point.

CA: What are the demographics of your audience?

SM: After conducting a survey and sifting through our e-mail, we concluded that the majority of viewers are women in their late thirties and early forties, who want to cook for their families.

CA: What positive feedback do you receive from them?

SM: They like the valuable tips I give them. As example, I would recommend when making a vinaigrette to prepare a large amount to last throughout the week. Also, double up on the entrees, so you can have them for lunch or another evening later in the week. Cooked food will last for at least 4 days. Some foods can be recycled into another creation.

CA: Can you give us some examples?

SM: Roast Lamb and mashed potatoes are perfect examples. You can make a Shepherd’s Pie by chopping up the leftover roast lamb and decorating it with the leftover mashed potatoes. Pop it in the oven and the rest is history. By baking some extra Idaho potatoes for dinner, you can use them the next day for hash browns at breakfast, or potato skins as an appetizer.

CA: How did your book tour go and which cities did you visit?

SM: The tour started in the Fall of 2002. Some of the big cities I visited where San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, LA, Seattle, Portland and Chicago. In Chicago I was bestowed the honor of having a private press luncheon at Charlie Trotter’s restaurant. He did such a wonderful job with the food. In each city, I was thrilled to see the fans of my show expressed their appreciation by showing up in large numbers. At a book signing in Santa Cruz, Ca, a whopping 500 people showed up to meet me. All the restaurants hosting press parties did a marvelous job, like Brennan’s in Houston and Realto in Boston. Many of the women chef associations organized special ceremonies, when I visited their cities; the support was overwhelming.

CA: Did you perform any cooking demonstrations on the road?

SM: Yes, I cooked at the Sur Le Table stores throughout the country. As a visiting chef, you cook various dishes in a classroom format. I believe there is a store in Manhasset on Long Island, if anyone locally is interested. Such events tend to be nerve racking. You are on the road and not always sure if you will have all the ingredients or equipment needed to do a perfect demo. Luckily for me, most of them went smoothly!

Sara nervously checks her watch and kindly beckons me to start taking pictures. She has a full agenda of meetings with Gourmet and Food Network tapings. We decide to take pictures at Gourmet’s very own test kitchen, where all the wonderful recipes are created and tested for accuracy. Test kitchen chefs Ewa Kryszpin, Jennifer Webb and Gourmet associate Joseph Arbo join the fun of peeling apples for a delectable dessert, with Sara as the host. As Sara walks me back to the elevator, she tells me she’ll be looking forward to meeting the readers of Dish du Jour at the Cuisine of Queens & Beyond food event in June.

For more information on Sara Moulton, check out her website at www.SaraMoulton.com