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Emeril strives to keep it real with new cookbook

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By JEFF HOUCK

jhouck@tampatrib.com

Published: November 8, 2009

Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse started working on a cookbook a little more than a year ago, just as the economy took a nosedive. His worry: People would lose sight of cooking fresh and putting out good meals.

With a goal of helping home cooks adapt to time constraints during the week, he wrote "Emeril 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast." It's published by HarperStudio.

Lagasse, proprietor of 11 restaurants, including two in Orlando and one in Miami, visits the Tampa area at 3 p.m. today with a stop at the Books-A-Million in Westfield Brandon Shopping Mall.

The book is broken down into three sections: recipes that can be completed in 20 minutes or less, 40 minutes or less, and under 60 minutes.

I've been fascinated by the psychological 20-minute threshold when it comes to cooking. Why do you think it's important to have the three time frames?

We're all busy, and we all have different lives. Some of us have kids and we're running around to ballet and school things and soccer. Some of us are just hardcore workers who are working longer days and the days are getting shorter. I really wanted to give people a sense of time; I wanted to give them a sense of quality and, if you thumb through the book, you'll see that unless it's a cultural dish, most include very simple ingredients that are in your pantry. There are a lot of side dishes we seem to forget about.

No. 2, I wanted to do what I've been preaching about for years, which is reducing the intimidation factor. I wanted to let people break it down and absorb it and cook it. A lot of the photographs, like the Kicked Up Shrimp Fried Rice and the Fettuccine with Peas and Ham, have multiple photographs because I wanted to show people in the beginning, in the middle and at the end when they should add various ingredients. I think it will make them feel comfortable to see the technique.

When I see these cookbooks that say, "It's a 20-minute recipe," I'm thinking in the back of my head, "I don't have a Viking range at home and a giant walk-in restaurant cooler. I hope these things are tested under real-life circumstances."

Our test kitchens are basically home kitchens. We have three different modules for that. We have an upscale module, basically for expediency. We have a regular, down-home gas system. We have a few independent gadgets like a fryer and a steamer. And we even test them on electric appliances as well. We never ever take it to the commercial side of things. These are recipes for the home cook. This is not a chef's book or a restaurant book.

I don't think I've interviewed anyone who could be recognized, like Cher or Sting, by one name. With your level of success, how do you keep your food rooted in reality?

Well, I'm basically plugged into reality. ... I was on ("Good Morning America") yesterday. It doesn't get any more real than when Whoopi Goldberg brings a bag of groceries that I have no idea what's in it and I have an hour to cook what's in it. It doesn't get any more real than that.

I try to constantly preach that I put my pants on the same way as everybody else. I come home and I'm faced with the same things. I've been at the office and I get home later than I wanted to be or at the restaurant later than I wanted to be. I gotta spend time with the kids, try to teach them how to read, try to put a meal on the table, try to help my wife who's been running around crazy all day as well. That's reality, and when you forget about that, then it doesn't become real anymore. For me, if it's not real, then I don't really want to be in the game.

That explains the Chili Mac recipe.

(Laughs) That's exactly right. The nachos aren't bad either.

Reporter Jeff Houck can be reached at (813) 259-7324. Keyword: Stew, to listen to the rest of this conversation online. You also can subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes.

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