Opening up the pages of Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Street Journey is a one-way ticket to sun-drenched afternoons on the Central Coast of California. From rolling vineyards to salty ocean breezes, each web page is an escape into the world of the fishermen, crabbers, farmers, winemakers, and foragers who stretch alongside the Pacific Coast Freeway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Past its attractive imagery and thoughtfully-curated recipes, this cookbook stands out for its deep reverence of recent, seasonal elements—every one lovingly spotlighted in easy but elevated dishes.
I used to be captivated by Chef Scott Clark’s journey from San Francisco’s most celebrated eating places to proudly owning his beloved sandwich-and-pie store, Dad’s Luncheonette, in Half Moon Bay. And fortunate for us, Clark isn’t simply sharing gorgeous dishes within the e-book; he’s revealing secrets and techniques that effortlessly elevate our cooking at house. Under, I’m sharing his good but sensible ideas that any house cook dinner can use to immediately remodel meals from good to unforgettable. Get able to uncover the insider methods cooks swear by—and begin cooking with extra confidence, ease, and pleasure.
Get the recipe: Scott Clark’s Charred Broccolini with Melted Anchovy and Garlic
The Chef-Proprietor of Dad’s Luncheonette Shares His “Rules of the Road”
1. Prep on your touchdown.
Should you’re going to take a leap and do one thing you haven’t performed earlier than, bounce with mindfulness. The place am I going to place this scorching pot? Do I’ve a bowl for my kitchen scraps? Reply these questions earlier than you begin. Prepping on your touchdown ensures that if you’re doing one thing outdoors your consolation zone, you will have every little thing in place to know that you simply’re secure.
In restaurant kitchens, the time period for that is “mise en place.” Nevertheless it’s not simply measuring out elements beforehand. You mise en place your self, your station, your kitchen. Include an apron on and a kitchen towel folded over your apron strings. Arrange a clear water tub, or what cooks name a bain-marie, filled with spoons and a whisk. Get your kitchen timer in place. Put all these issues so as, so you may get out of your consolation zone however nonetheless really feel safe that you understand the place every little thing’s going to go. Then you possibly can crush it. You need to be organized to cook dinner nicely. Not solely will you do it higher, however you’ll additionally make much less of a multitude, wash fewer dishes, be all-around extra snug, and have extra enjoyable.
2. Learn the recipe earlier than you begin cooking.
That is mise en inserting your thoughts. Put one other approach, your recipe (sure, together with the headnote) is your guidebook and highway map to the place you’re going; it particulars every little thing it’s worthwhile to cook dinner the dish efficiently. I prefer to hit the highway absolutely conscious, particularly when the journey takes a number of hours, like quite a lot of the recipes on this e-book do. You don’t wish to uncover you possibly can’t make it to your vacation spot on time, irrespective of how recklessly you velocity, similar to you don’t wish to attempt to make Rooster Liver Mousse (web page 270) final minute, solely to search out out you had been purported to brine the livers in a single day. You don’t wish to end up stranded on the facet of the highway and not using a spare tire, similar to you don’t wish to try to copy Dad’s Hamburger Sandwich with out Pickled Onions in your fridge. We’re after a chill experience, and hopefully, studying the recipes will likely be a pleasure in and of itself.
You need to be organized to cook dinner nicely. Not solely will you do it higher, however you’ll additionally make much less of a multitude, wash fewer dishes, be all-around extra snug, and have extra enjoyable.
3. Should you’re cooking, you’re tasting.
The rationale issues style so good at Michelin-starred eating places is that somebody put a spoon within the meals and put that spoon of their mouth and saved doing that with extra spoons about fifteen instances earlier than the dish received to the desk. Should you’re cooking in one in all these eating places, you in all probability shouldn’t want household meal since you style meals so many instances through the day. At 4 p.m. day by day at Saison, we’d name for tasting trays. Ice cream, caviar, diced grapefruit, lobster gelée, micro herbs—the sous cooks and I’d style each element of each dish we prepped. The factor that at all times received me is when folks didn’t clear their chopping boards between jobs. I’d put that grapefruit in my mouth and style shallots. You have got to have the ability to catch these issues. And with long-cooked dishes like soups and stews, you wish to see how your flavors are growing and whether or not you want extra seasoning. Style as you go, at all times.
4. Lavish consideration on every little thing.
Cooking is like being in a long-term relationship. You need to hold relationship your elements. You possibly can’t simply count on them to be there day by day should you don’t hold the spark alive. Be a lover; open the door on your ripe tomatoes. Present them your ardour. Wash them, admire their seasonality, and put them to mattress lovingly.
5. Retailer every little thing correctly.
Should you don’t pack and stow meals accurately, then all your good work turns bitter. All through these recipes, I point out how lengthy you possibly can hold meals and the way it’s best to retailer them. Take my recommendation. Then give your self the time to wrap and stack issues proper. Use hermetic containers in your fridge and freezer. Label the containers so you understand what’s in them and the way lengthy it’s been there. You’re making all this enjoyable stuff, and also you wish to hold it on the proper temperature and within the right situation to make sure its deliciousness.
6. Your fingers are instruments.
It’s a frowned-upon state of affairs for some folks, however I’m telling you: Cooking is excessive contact. Wash your fingers first, then contact every little thing. I’m a tactile human, anyway, due to my ADHD. I wish to contact. Nevertheless it’s smart too. It’s so simple as realizing how smooth a lemon is, or if a radish is woody. It’s kneading dough, it’s tossing salad, it’s pulling the meat from the pig’s cranium for head cheese (web page 271). Should you simply get in there and get after it, you be taught lots within the course of. You should utilize the perception you acquire to develop into a extra succesful cook dinner. I additionally promote consuming something you possibly can along with your fingers. Really feel it, adore it, seize it, become involved.
7. Focus.
Fingers on the wheel, eyes on the highway. Decelerate, assume deliberately, and also you’ll be taught a ton. Issues that really feel overseas at first will develop into your signposts, and small, even seemingly annoying methods will reveal themselves to be wildly helpful since you strove to know what it’s you’re doing. Why will we peel fats asparagus after which cook dinner it in a broth made with its peels? Do it rigorously, style it, and also you’ll know why. The primary time you put together a recipe, you’re clunky, however should you pay shut consideration, by the third or fourth time, you’re transferring gracefully. So be current whereas making a meal for your self and your family members. You’ll benefit from the course of extra.
Excerpted from Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Street Journey by Scott Clark with Betsy Andrews, © 2025. Revealed by Chronicle Books. Pictures © Cheyenne Ellis.
