Adrienne Cheatham — 91��߹ Chef

How to Pitch Your Cookbook Idea

aday — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 15:28:23 +0000

How to Pitch Your Cookbook Idea aday Fri, 04/16/2021 - 11:28 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/cookbook%20shoot%20header.jpg.webp?itok=5UZgzZzs "Top Chef" alum Adrienne Cheatham explains the process. April 16, 2021

By Adrienne Cheatham — 91��߹ Chef

Private chef Adrienne Cheatham (Culinary, '07) shares how she connected with a co-author, agent and other contributors to the cookbook development process before writing outlines, editing, testing recipes and pitching her idea to publishers.

Every chef, cook and home cook that I know has an idea for their own cookbook and what it would be about when and if the opportunity presented itself. Sometimes it’s a theme, a narrative that guides the recipes they will later develop, and sometimes it starts with the recipes and a narrative will be woven together later.

For me, it was a little of both. At restaurants over the years, I would sometimes work on menu ideas when I got home late at night, and sometimes I would devote a little time to my hopefully-someday-future cookbook, writing a narrative paragraph or adding to the list of dishes I hoped to later write recipes for.

I always had a theme in mind for what I wanted to put out into the world between the covers but didn’t know how to officially begin the process of working toward that goal.

After about 13 years in restaurants, I finally started to come up for air and began attending industry events, networking and meeting so many new people. I was no longer solely focused on working every day and catching up on the sleep and laundry that had fallen behind on my one day off each week. I started meeting other professionals that I didn’t work directly with — writers, public relations pros, lawyers focused on our industry, food and prop stylists, agents, entrepreneurs and others representing areas in the food industry beyond a restaurant kitchen.

Chef Adrienne Cheatham works with her crew at a photoshoot for the coming cookbook.

It was while attending the annual Cherry Bombe Jubilee conference that I met a well-established writer who asked me if I ever thought of writing a cookbook. This led to working with her as a co-author. That led to an agent, and we began putting together the pieces of what would become a pitch to present to publishers. Some of the well-known chefs in our industry don’t have to go through the same pitch process, they are courted by large publishing houses who know their books will sell and often get contracts for multiple books with the same house. For me and many other chefs, it’s different, you have to get publishers excited about your point of view, your voice and the recipes that reflect them.

The process begins with a formal pitch, introducing yourself as the author, what you have to say and why it’s important. Be as detailed as possible. You want to be clear about what your book is about so the publisher and editor know how to guide and develop that idea instead of molding and shaping it into something different than what you intended. You’ll write up an outline of chapters or how the book is to be organized, and you’ll list dishes that hopefully get the publishers’ attention. Write out around 10 of the most exciting dishes into full (tested) recipes that the people reading your pitch will hopefully want to try at home as part of their due diligence.

Chef Adrienne Cheatham curates props at her cookbook photoshoot.

This is one of the many reasons why the co-author was so important for me. I knew my general idea and some of the recipes but needed someone who could listen to my stories, make sense of them, and weave a consistent narrative through the chapters and headnotes. I also still cook professionally full time and knew there was no way I could focus my frazzled brain and devote the time needed to thoughtfully write this all out. Outlining, reviewing and editing was better for me instead of the actual draft writing; it would have taken me forever, and you want to keep momentum on your side.

During the pitch writing, your agent will already be drumming up interest in your project with contacts at publishing houses. You may even have a few meetings to get to know some editors whose interest has been piqued. Then, when you, your author and agent are happy with the pitch, your agent starts to send it out. You will have already looked up the books that you love, who published them and which editors worked on them, and the list of houses you pitch will be guided by that diligence. While some publishers may occasionally try a new cookbook/chef that’s different from their traditional style, you want to make sure it’s a good fit for you and your book. You should also see if you know at least one person you can reach out to, even through a direct message, to see what their experience was like there.

Chef Adrienne works with photographers and food stylists on the photos for her cookbook.

Your agent will be your advocate and close friend during this. They will push to get you seen and heard, and scream from the rooftops why everyone should see the value in publishing your book for sales and the importance of your POV. It will be like an interview, but you should feel comfortable. You’re getting to know each other and what working together would be like. The editors you meet with will also fight for your book if they believe in it. They will tell their bosses, the publishers at the imprint, why they need to make an offer and pay to get this project. You will hopefully get offers from several of the editors you meet with. For some, it may not be a good fit. Some might want a broad, commercially appealing book while you want a tightly focused book with a more niche audience. Some might support you taking years of research to create a thick tome as an authority on your area, while you want to introduce the reader to the broad strokes and get your project on shelves within two years. Don’t take it personally, and don’t feel pressured to mold and change your vision to align with an offer if it’s not what you want. Hopefully, in the future, you will have an opportunity to do another book in that way with that publisher.

Pick an editor you want to work with for the books they’ve done and their belief in you. The money you are offered is important, it shows how much they really want you as an author on their roster, and how much they really believe in your book and its ability to sell, but the money is not everything. You want to pick an imprint and editor that will help you make your book the absolute best it can be, aligned with your vision for it.

Having one offer is something to be proud of. With luck, you will have multiple offers and multiple editors/publishers you could see yourself working with. That means that your pitch really resonated, and these editors can see your vision and believe in it. All you have to do next is make the tough decision about who will be the one for you. And then the real work begins!

Before you're developing recipes and pitching your cookbook, attain the fundamentals in Culinary Arts.

Cookbooks Food Media 91��߹ Chef Alumni

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Adrienne Cheatham's Path to Private Cheffing

aday — Fri, 15 May 2020 19:55:57 +0000

Adrienne Cheatham's Path to Private Cheffing aday Fri, 05/15/2020 - 15:55 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/Adrienne%20private%20chef%20header.jpg.webp?itok=Uuq3CDAv 91��߹ alum and former Le Bernardin executive sous chef, Adrienne Cheatham (Culinary, '07) shares her journey to accepting the private chef path, figuratively and physically. May 18, 2020

By Adrienne Cheatham — 91��߹ Chef

In an industry where offensive jokes and cursing have historically been commonplace, there are very few things one can say that are considered “dirty words.” Conversation that would make even the “Mad Men” blush would hardly cause someone from the back of house at a restaurant to bat an eye. But there’s something about hearing the words “private chef,” that once put a look of disdain on the faces of a whole brigade.

There was a certain stigma that came along with private chef work in the restaurant industry, it was passed on to newly minted line cooks as tribal knowledge along with mise-en-place lists and station recipes. Before knowing why they looked at it with contempt, I could feel the disdain in the way senior cooks and sous chefs spoke about private chefs when I was starting out.

I had my own culturally inherited reasons to consider private work something I would never do. After slavery, there weren’t many jobs available to people of color, especially women. For several generations, gainful employment of African American women in the U.S. had largely been relegated to domestic work – housekeepers, nannies, cooks – in the homes of wealthier, predominantly white people.

When I proudly announced to my parents in high school that I wanted to become a chef, my father (who is black and grew up in Mississippi), crossed his arms over his chest, hung his head and told me that he fought for civil rights and equality so that his children could become something more than a servant. I was shocked, a “servant?” I told him things had changed since his parents’ generation, and I wanted to cook professionally, meaning that I wanted to work in fine-dining, Michelin-starred restaurants and become the first black woman chef to hold a Michelin rating. He cocked his head to the side, and told me that after he worked to obtain two master’s degrees, me becoming a “glorified burger flipper” was taking our family a step back.

Luckily, things started changing within a few years of my announcement: Food culture was starting to be highlighted on television beyond just a few shows on PBS, and chefs started to gain notoriety and respect for their work. This visibility helped my father understand the art and craft of cooking that I had chosen to dedicate myself to as a restaurant chef. But this visibility of restaurant chefs had not yet changed the perception of cooking food in someone else’s home as a private chef.

Racial issues aside, there was another inherited barrier to considering private work as a respectable option. Traditionally, cooking has been considered a woman’s job in the home and received little respect, but when cooking became a serious profession, women were largely shut out. We could cook at home (or in someone else’s home) but not in the vaunted hotels and restaurants where it was considered a man’s job.

These perspectives were part of me long before I worked in any restaurant. But it was in restaurants that I picked up another perspective on working as a private chef from my tribe of male counterparts who were mostly white: It was something you do if you couldn’t hack it in professional kitchens. It was like wearing a scarlet letter: You were looked at as someone who couldn’t handle the pressure, couldn’t meet the standards of professional kitchens or had burnt out. Any way you looked at it, this was not something I ever wanted to be associated with.

But just as menus change, so does the world. Concepts like work-life balance and mental health were working their way into social consciousness. It has become less okay to expect cooks to work 16-hour days, seven days a week, at the expense of family and personal relationships, under tremendous physical and mental stress, without making a livable wage. Only with a promotion to a head chef position did things get better, but the number of executive chefs are a small percentage of the number of people in back-of-house careers. Within the industry, it was well-known for a long time that this wasn’t a sustainable lifestyle or work model, but most chefs seemed reluctant to make changes.

A new generation of people who wanted to pursue their culinary passions wondered why they had to sacrifice their health and sanity for the art and craft of cooking. There had to be other paths that didn’t require you to give up your life to be able to cook good food. As this younger generation was beginning to question the status quo, some in the older generations were starting to admit that the old way wasn’t necessarily the right way, and wanting a life didn’t mean that you were selling your culinary soul.

Other professions within the culinary industry were attracting people who would have otherwise seen kitchens as their only option for creative expression with food. People were going to culinary school with no intention or desire of ever working in a restaurant kitchen, the times had changed. I was younger than some of my peers but had been trained by old-school chefs and had heard their regrets about sacrificing so much for a job that they physically could no longer perform in the same way after it took its toll for years.

In a rare moment of reflection, one of my chef mentors dropped some true gems of knowledge on me out of the blue. He told me that he had wanted to leave restaurant life earlier but had “Stockholm syndrome,” that there should be no shame in wanting to see your family, and that the act of cooking and making people happy is why we do this, so why do we have to be so miserable?

I continued in restaurants for years after this conversation, and so did he. During those years I started hearing the conversation around private chef work change. Chefs, men and women, began to talk about it as something they would inevitably do when they were ready to leave restaurants. Not because they had to, but because they chose to. They spoke longingly about the prospect of having more time with their families, starting families, having weekends off and making a respectable living. But I still had my cultural hang ups and wasn’t so sure.

After I left my last restaurant post as the head chef, I was exhausted, physically and mentally. I had always thought I was impervious to burn-out, but after almost two years of working for a chef that I had to travel with for demos and events, while also being the exec chef of his flagship restaurant, I had only been able to take 2.5 days off. I was burning out. Most work days began at 7:30 a.m. (stepping into the restaurant) and ended at 11:30 p.m.-12 a.m. (out the door). On days I could sneak away, I would take short naps between services in a certain banquette booth while my sous chefs were putting up family meal and doing the ordering. I realized I was probably shaving years off of my life, and my chef either didn’t notice or in an old-school way, expected it. I gave proper notice and left.

I didn’t have a plan, but I let some of my former chefs know that I was taking time off and to please send me any referrals they thought I’d be a good fit for. I was contacted by head hunters from prestigious restaurant groups, and while deciding what restaurant I wanted to go out for, I got an email from one former three-Michelin-starred chef of mine about a long-time regular from the restaurant who was looking for a new private chef. We talked about it and I said, “Chef, thanks for thinking of me, but no way.” My chef told me I would be crazy not to consider it; I would have weekends off, holidays off, and I’d be home by 9 p.m. during the week and earn a good salary. I decided to interview and do a tasting for the client.

I was contacted and told the client wanted to make an offer, and while my chef was right about the perks he mentioned, there were more: benefits, health coverage, paid vacation time, no travel requirement (which is uncommon), and because of my experience as an exec sous at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, the starting salary was higher than I expected. Still, I wanted to go back to being a restaurant chef so I gave the client a one-year commitment. At the end of the year I was happy, loving my job, learning everyday, experimenting, and the client turned out to be one of the most genuinely good people I’ve ever had the pleasure of cooking for. I have now held the private chef position with my client for two and a half years.

Chef Adrienne's dishes for a private client

One of the greatest benefits is the freedom. Since finishing as runner-up on my season of “Top Chef,” I started a pop-up series, SundayBest, that I’ve been able to grow into a city-hopping series of sold-out dinners. I’m working on a cookbook based on the pop-up series, and I get to do brand-building and ambassador work with companies and causes that I truly believe in — all while having a steady job that allows me to pay my bills and invest in myself.

I am constantly pushing myself, thinking on my feet and being far more creative in ways that I may not be able to in restaurants (French one night, Punjabi the next, followed by Italian…). I also get to flex muscles that not all chefs have an opportunity to regularly; imagine being the prep cook, line cook, pastry chef and exec chef of an operation, and the skills required to execute every course to the highest level. There are no James Beard Awards or Food & Wine accolades for private work, but with social media, private chefs can still share our work with the food-loving world.

When I’m out doing my daily shopping for work, I’ve run into several old friends and coworkers at fish markets, niche produce purveyors and high-end butcher shops, and all of them are doing private work. Some of these are the very restaurant chefs that once spoke so distastefully of private chefs. They’re still cooking and making people happy with amazing food, just in a more intimate setting. And all of them are happy.

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Chef Adrienne Cheatham's Churros and Horchata

aday — Tue, 05 May 2020 20:46:31 +0000

Chef Adrienne Cheatham's Churros and Horchata aday Tue, 05/05/2020 - 16:46 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/churros%20and%20horchata.jpg.webp?itok=aXiNEqnB We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a demonstration of the treats on Instagram Live. May 5, 2020

By Adrienne Cheatham — 91��߹ Chef

Chef Adrienne Cheatham celebrates Cinco de Mayo the way she did growing up in Chicago: with a light agua fresca and fried dough.

You get to know other cultures through food," she explained on an Instagram Live while demonstrating the treats. "Mexican cuisine is so regional and so varied. The south side of Chicago is known for being an African American community, but there's a huge Mexican population."

Her neighbors made their light, refreshing, water-based agua frescas with simple white rice. "It's a beverage you make with any cereal grain or nuts," Chef Adrienne said of the original beverage, kunu or tiger milk, from Africa. "When people came to Mexico and mixed with the indigenous culture there, they started using corn and rice. People would smash grains, mix it with water, and let it sit to settle and separate. It's a nutrient-rich beverage without having to chew the fiberous grains."

The perfect pairing? Fried dough made from the traditional pâte à choux used in many French pastries, like eclairs.

"I like churros dipped in chocolate sauce, not filled," Chef Adrienne adds. "The first cultivated chocolate came from Mexico, that's why it's such an integral part of the cuisine and interwoven into the culture."

Celebrate Mexico with the sweet recipes below.

Churros

For the coating:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the batter:

1 cup water
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), cut into pieces
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Neutral oil for frying

Place the coating ingredients )sugar and ground cinnamon) in a bowl or container that has a base of 5-7 inches. (I like to use a plastic take-out container with a lid so I can gently shake the finished churros to coat, but turning by hand in a shallow bowl is just fine!) Set aside.
Pour oil into a medium-sized pot to a depth of about 2 inches (look for an oil with a high smoke point like canola, grapeseed, or rice bran). Heat to 375 F over medium while making the dough.
Combine the first four batter ingredients in a medium-sized saucepot, and bring to a light boil over medium-high heat. Moving quickly, reduce heat to low, add the flour all at once and stir with a wide silicone spatula or wooden spoon. The dough will form a ball and there will be a light film on the bottom of the pan, keep stirring until the dough is smooth.
Turn the dough ball out into a mixing bowl and let cool for about 2-3 minutes. Using either a wooden spoon or hand mixer, beat in eggs one at a time, with vanilla until thoroughly combined. At first dough with separate and look clumpy but keep beating, it will come back together.
Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with a ¼-½-inch star tip. Squeeze dough through piping bag into hot oil to about 3-inch lengths, and cut dough with clean scissors to separate from the bag. Fry for 3-4 minutes per side, occasionally turning churros to make sure they get golden brown all over.
Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and drain for about 2 minutes on paper towels to remove excess oil and cool just a bit, then place in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Turn hot churros in sugar mixture until they are well coated all over. Enjoy!

Horchata

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1/3 cup whole raw almonds (unsalted)
2 sticks cinnamon, lightly broken
4 cups water, divided in half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk (or almond/non-dairy milk)
Ground cinnamon for dusting

Directions

Combine rice, almonds, and cinnamon sticks in a blender with half (2 cups) of the water. Cover and start on low, increasing speed to high, and blend for about 1 minute or until ingredients have been finely processed. Add remaining water and puree again for another 2 minutes. Pour into a container and refrigerate overnight. (If making to drink the same day, keep rice mixture in a container at room temperature for at least 3-4 hours before next step.)
Stir rice mixture and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing on the solids to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Stir or whisk in vanilla, sugar, and milk until sugar is dissolved. Taste and adjust sugar to your taste. Chill until ready to serve.
When ready to serve, pour over ice and sprinkle with a pinch of ground cinnamon on top.

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Recipe steps

For the Churros;
Step 1 - Place the coating ingredients )sugar and ground cinnamon) in a bowl or container that has a base of 5-7 inches. (I like to use a plastic take-out container with a lid so I can gently shake the finished churros to coat, but turning by hand in a shallow bowl is just fine!) Set aside;

Step 2 - Pour oil into a medium-sized pot to a depth of about 2 inches (look for an oil with a high smoke point like canola, grapeseed, or rice bran). Heat to 375 F over medium while making the dough;

Step 3 - Combine the first four batter ingredients in a medium-sized saucepot, and bring to a light boil over medium-high heat. Moving quickly, reduce heat to low, add the flour all at once and stir with a wide silicone spatula or wooden spoon. The dough will form a ball and there will be a light film on the bottom of the pan, keep stirring until the dough is smooth;

Step 4 - Turn the dough ball out into a mixing bowl and let cool for about 2-3 minutes. Using either a wooden spoon or hand mixer, beat in eggs one at a time, with vanilla until thoroughly combined. At first dough with separate and look clumpy but keep beating, it will come back together;

Step 5 - Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with a ¼-½-inch star tip. Squeeze dough through piping bag into hot oil to about 3-inch lengths, and cut dough with clean scissors to separate from the bag. Fry for 3-4 minutes per side, occasionally turning churros to make sure they get golden brown all over;

Step 6 - Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and drain for about 2 minutes on paper towels to remove excess oil and cool just a bit, then place in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Turn hot churros in sugar mixture until they are well coated all over. Enjoy;

Horchata;
Step 7 - Combine rice, almonds, and cinnamon sticks in a blender with half (2 cups) of the water;

Step 8 - Cover and start on low, increasing speed to high, and blend for about 1 minute or until ingredients have been finely processed;

Step 9 - Add remaining water and puree again for another 2 minutes;

Step 10 - Pour into a container and refrigerate overnight. (If making to drink the same day, keep rice mixture in a container at room temperature for at least 3-4 hours before next step.);

Step 11 - Stir rice mixture and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing on the solids to squeeze out as much liquid as possible;

Step 12 - Stir or whisk in vanilla, sugar, and milk until sugar is dissolved. Taste and adjust sugar to your taste. Chill until ready to serve;

Step 13 - When ready to serve, pour over ice and sprinkle with a pinch of ground cinnamon on top;

Adrienne Cheatham — 91����߹ Chef

How to Pitch Your Cookbook Idea

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Adrienne Cheatham's Path to Private Cheffing

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Chef Adrienne Cheatham's Churros and Horchata

Churros

Horchata

Ingredients

Directions