Acknowledgments

If some books take a village, this book took a small city.

Thank you to everyone at Stonesong and my wonderful agent,

Alison Fargis, who nurtured a book proposal out of me with tough

love and well-seasoned patience. She was a huge emotional crutch

for me as I wrote this book, convinced as I was that I’d never be

able to cook with 50 chefs and test 150 recipes before my

deadline. I’ll be forever grateful for her kindness, humor, and

constant availability.

Judy Pray, my editor, is any cookbook author’s dream editor: a

delight to be around, but absolutely ferocious on the page. She

pushed me to do great work not only in the writing of this book

but over the whole cookbook-writing process, engaging with me

about chefs and recipes every step of the way. Thank you to

Kevin Brainard, who designed this book, and to Susan Baldaserini,

Michelle Ishay, Laurin Lucaire, and Nancy Murray, who brought

it to its beautiful completion. Thanks to my copy editor, Janet

McDonald, and Sibylle Kazeroid, my production editor, for going

over this book with a fine-tooth comb. Also thanks to Ann

Bramson and everyone else at Artisan for making this experience

so pleasant. And thank you to Peter Workman for his early vision

that set this book in motion.

My constant companion over the course of my cookbook

journey was Elizabeth Leitzell, this book’s snapshot