Product. Passion & Salt.

When I was chosen to be in Julia’s show “In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs” (which I ain’t) I was asked to make two dishes. “Well” I said, “I’ll do velvet soft shells and….”.
Nope, I was told, no seafood. What?? I have to do softshells, if nothing else. Nope, seafood doesn’t sell cookbooks, and this is all about selling cookbooks. Besides, we have other chefs already doing seafood dishes. I told them if they’d let me do my softshells, I’d do any other dish they wanted. They wanted turkey. So I took a turkey leg, boned it and stuffed it with local shiitakes and Virginia ham. Really stuffed it. Then I wrapped it in caul fat, tied it up with butcher’s twine, and roasted it.
Then, with no warning, I was told that Julia’s new mission was to stop chefs from touching food after it has been cooked. How the hell am I supposed to untie it if I can’t touch it? So I pleaded with Julia to let me wash my hands, on camera, before touching the turkey leg. We’ll see, she said. Well, she let me do it (whew) and I made it through the taping.
Now, there’s one thing I’ve learned about doing TV.  If you want to get invited back, feed the crew. So I planned ahead and brought a huge bowl of tapioca pudding with me, which I set on the counter with a big spoon in it. Julia happens by and asks “Is that tapioca? I love tapioca”. With that, she grabbed the spoon, ate a big mouthful, and stuck the spoon back into the bowl of pudding. Ya gotta love her.