Read an Excerpt

Introduction

Soups, Salads, Sandwiches is my most cohesive book, because after writing and making three books, I now know how to make them. So, what is this book? This book is for you! The home cook. Maybe even some chefs will cook from here. I hope they feel some connection and do a twist on a dish or even put it on a menu at their restaurant. I made Soups, Salads, Sandwiches with no ego; these are just at-home recipes that are easy and fun.

At first, I had no idea what to do with my third cookbook. It’s kinda wild that I’m even doing another one. What the f*** could I make a cookbook about? I really, really tried to figure it out. Like most of my projects, I couldn’t force it. I always have to wait for the moment when it all clicks for me. Maybe it’s a name or a design or something that triggers a way forward. Something that excites me. Something I can chase. I’m always looking for something like that. I’m a snow leopard in a cage. I need to be free. I need to hunt. I need to soar. I need to live through food. Then the pandemic happened, and I couldn’t do a book tour for my little Home Style Cookery. That sucked, but I learned something valuable. Being home for as long as I was, I found out how boring and amazing making food at home is and how lucky we are to have restaurants.

There are always things that I love and hate about cooking. I’m sure some of you feel the same. You love doing dishes or grocery shopping or the act of cooking itself, but there’s always something that gets you and you’re like, I f***ing hate this part. (On a personal note: I hate doing the dishes. I always have. I love cooking so much and make a mess when I do. I’m a big bad dirty doggy. I just love leaving a hurricane of destruction behind me.)

Sometimes cooking is scary or makes you feel uncomfortable. That’s OK. Even I’m uncomfortable when I’m cooking. But the power of cooking always outweighs the anxieties. As long as the love is just a little greater than the fear, we’re eating good tonight.

Food has taken me all over the world many times. I’m truly blessed to have had so many years of travel and taste with me. So many stories, so many flavors, so many techniques. Despite this, I keep coming back to the same things that make me happy. The things that make most people happy. The things that you make that are familiar to you. The things that you make that remind you of cooking at home with the people you love.

That’s when I thought: soups, salads, and sandwiches. Holy shit, like a book you could open to any chapter and cook from every day. Imagine just being like, I want a soup and salad, and boom, just flip the page, and there ya go! Imagine wanting to make a sandwich and being able to make a different sandwich for more than fifty days straight. What the f***, so sick.

I could eat soup every day, at least twice or even three times. Depending on the soups, that’s for sure. Pho for breakfast is my favorite meal. I also love drinking some deep, beautiful beef bone broth, which is just stock, by the way. It’s really funny that people made this a thing, but I guess I do love it, too, so I’m part of that problem, like most things.

This book is that book. Beautiful, well-thought-out, very delicious recipes that can take those bastard days and elevate them to pure happiness, to holy-sh*t-we-did-it days. Pick one soup, one salad, and one sandwich, and you literally can cook a different combination for, like, 238,390,283 days straight (not really, but you get the idea). I love that so much. Life is heavy. Life is wild. Why be trapped thinking about what you’re gonna make for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or late at night? Just open the book, pick a recipe, cook it, close it, and put it back on the shelf.

Even though there are three huge sections, each has its own path. A choose your own adventure. It’s a walk through the woods. It’s a riverboat ride, but there’s no boat and it’s just on an old inner tube. We’re going to get wet and wild. We don’t need a boat. We thrive in the nothingness. Now, control your destiny.

You know that fun little shelf in your kitchen for the true cookbooks. This is one of those. I’m giving you kitchen-shelf material here. The next time you need me, open it again. Every time that you do, you will be filled with love and light. Embrace the pure joy of freewheeling cooking.