24 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ MARCH 9, 2020
Cookbooks
In Chefs’ Fridges (Harper Design, May), food photog-
rapher Carrie Solomon and food writer Adrian Moore
open up the home refrigerators of big names in the
culinary world, giving readers a peek at how the pros
cook when they trade their whites for slippers.
(Hint: all the condiments.) PW spoke with the
authors about some of the surprising things they
found in what Moore calls “Willy Wonka fridges.”What’s the most ingenious, or unusual, item you
saw in a chef’s refrigerator?
A.M.: Kristian Baumann [of the sustainability-minded
Restaurant108, in Copenhagen] is Korean and was
adopted by a Danish couple; when he went to Korea
for the first time a few years ago,
he said, he stepped out of the
airport, smelled the spices on the
wind, and felt at home. His fridge
contained foraged mushrooms from
a park in Copenhagen, soybean
paste made by seven nuns from a
mountaintop temple near Seoul,
and a honey-preserved pinecone.
C.S.: Sean Brock [Audrey,
Nashville] had lots of
little containers of
what you could call
garbage garam—
garam is a sauce from
Roman times—which
is a way of using up
everything from his restaurant kitchen,
from fish to meat to vegetable
scraps.What surprised you?
A.M.: Fridges looked really
different depending on
whether the chefs were
married, lived alone, had
kids, etc. Some had canna-
bis extracts—Barbara
Lynch [multiple restau-
rants, Boston] was experi-PW talks with Carrie Solomon and Adrian Moore
Garam, Gummies, and a Green Vegetable
Reduction
© carrie solomon © carrie solomonmenting with gummies. Mette Søberg [Noma,
Copenhagen] had a slice of wedding cake in her
freezer from her sister’s wedding. Pascal Barbeau
[Astrance, Paris] had half French luxury products,
half Asian—sardines and caviar, supermarket rice
pudding, and a 100-year-old egg between them.
Dan Barber [Blue Hill, New York City] had a
completely wrapped child’s birthday cake, and also
leftover Halloween candy.What home cooking tips did you glean from
speaking with the chefs?
C.S.: Prep and freeze. Sean Brock kept prepped
potatoes for hash browns in the freezer; Amanda
Cohen [Dirt Candy, New York]
froze a green vegetable reduction,
which could be used to make quick
five-minute meals. David McMillan
[Joe Beef, Montreal] kept canned
peaches in the fridge, and used the
syrup instead of maple syrup. And
they all had a ton of condiments,
both commercial and homemade.
Any leftovers can be made
better with condi-
ments, especially
Asian ones; regard-
less of their specialty,
a lot of chefs had
gochujang, or ponzu,
or chili garlic sauce.
Hugh Acheson [5&10, Athens, Ga.]
made his own vinaigrette out of kimchi.Whose home fridge situation
sparked the most envy?
C.S.: Ivan Orkin [Ivan Ramen,
New York] had four fridges.
Upstairs, one for family meal
prep; downstairs, three more:
one for beer, one was a
freezer for prepped sea-
food, and one was for
Adrian Moore everything else. —L.S. Carrie Solomon