calendar
What is it that Molly Baz wishes she could use a magical wand to bring cooking to everyone
Molly Baz, recipe developer and owner of mollybaz.com is a dreamer with big dreams. "When I was young, I wanted to be an astronaut," she says "Then I wanted to be a United Nations translator. After that, I thought I wanted to manage an art gallery in New York City." That's why, naturally, she pursued a education in art history at Skidmore College, the liberal arts institution.
However, it was during her year abroad in Italy, studying renaissance art, that Molly's love for food took over other hobbies: "I was living with an old lady called Graziella whom I called my"grandma" at my homestay. She was not fluent in English and couldn't be understood when I told her thank you, but she cooked like a pro."
It appears that Graziella's primary daily hobby was to head to the market in town, buy the ingredients and then cook Molly dinner. "She simply loved it," Molly continues. "I hadn't consumed food like that. I hadn't been exposed to Italian food seasons and the reverence for ingredients. It was all I could think of"oh, my god it's amazing! !'." Molly says that this kind of cooking wasn't something she grew up with - and she's sure it's the same to the vast majority of folks out there. "My parents were not looking for top-quality ricotta or the finest tomatoes. It just wasn't the thing."
Molly tells me about "mind-bending "whoa" moments" in Italy that made her come home and want to learn more about food. In addition, the way she shopped at the market for groceries was very different from Molly's experiences. Molly explains: "Instead of going to the grocery store on Sunday during the week, Graziella was a market shopper every single day. The reason was that you didn't know which vendors are likely to be at the market, and the peaches might look more attractive today than yesterday'. It was about respect."
Molly says to me that with the most classic Italian way, Graziella's Tuscan meals were both simple as well as delicious and rustic. "Her tomato sauce has been ingrained in my mind," she continues. "It's very good, particularly for winter, because it uses cherry tomatoes, which according to me, the only fresh tomatoes that are worth your while outside of the season."
It's apparent from the manner in which Molly talks about food that, for her, cooking is about more than just making flavours. It's all about investigating the available ingredients as well as analyzing what is appealing, and crafting a meal within your head. "That's simply not the way my mind worked. It was just that I didn't consider eating that manner. Now, of course, this is all I can think about." she smiles. This is perhaps why Molly calls herself a recipe developer rather than an executive chef.
Food, recipes, and rolling around
In order to continue her career within the food industry following her departure from Italy, Molly worked in establishments where she was taught how cook. It wasn't the final desired goal "I burned out on restaurants and decided I didn't really want to own the restaurant of my dreams. But I knew I wanted to cook and needed to find a career which made sense to me."
Molly began her journey into food styling due to the fact that "the the next step in art history, which included composition and color, was to make food look delicious". As Molly's father was a photographer, she felt this could be the method to interact with food , based on her expertise, skills and how she was brought up.
"It worked for a while and I enjoyed it," she continues, "But ultimately, I had this feeling that I was cooking and fashioning food items for others. The feeling is, "Cool, it looks great', and you have some ownership over the photograph, but it's not your food. It's someone other's. I was hoping to cook with my own mind and heart and soul."
So the next step was to get into developing recipes for magazines. She was already in the food industry by working in food styling for Bon Appetit magazine and was exposed to the position as food editor. This was a position she was able to take on. "I was a bit unsure of the definition of a food editor prior to this!" she jokes, "But they write and creates recipes and is able to spend 75% of their working time cooking. This was an opportunity for me to work in a restaurant setting, and be in touch with food for the majority all day." The role clicked. "I was thinking, 'This is the only thing I will ever do again and I was like, 'This is it'" she smiles. Molly then became a senior associate food editor and then progressed to senior food editor and made use of the time to sharpen her recipe development skills throughout the subsequent four years.
The transformation from foodie to food stylist, to food editor was done however there was a final stage in the journey. "It wasn't my plans to become a personality and to be in videos," she continues. "The Bon Appetit YouTube channel was in existence at the time I joined, and it was already gaining some followers, but it wasn't popular in the way is the case today. After a few weeks, I got the job and was hired, one of the production staff wanted to know if I would like to do a video?' Then I thought"Holy sh*t!. I'm not sure. I'm no actress. I believed I was a behind-the-scenes person'. And then I obviously f*cking was in love with this."
Molly confesses she was anxious the first time she was photographed in the test kitchen. "I was like, 'Can I see them shaking?'! Then the video came out and I was like"Wow! This is amazing. The video wasn't part of my plan; this was Bon Appetit's strategy and I just rolled with the plan." The natural evolution to foodie personality the challenge of "figuring out who was that makes her Molly" was completed.
Cook the Book How to become an author
While working at Bon Appetit one editor of Clarkson Potter, part of Penguin Random House publishing group, reached out to Molly and requested meetings. "The dream is to get an email from a Penguin Random House email address," she remembers. "I knew this was cookbook-related. I went to the conference and then one thing lead to another and suddenly, I had a book deal."
"It's quite an exciting 'tension' when you're putting together a menu plan for your debut cookbook." she adds "Because you're simultaneously thinking about the dishes that are the best expression of who I am in the world but also what other cooks are most likely to make. What are the dishes that will be accessible? This isn't about "How difficult can Molly bend within her work?' but it's about what I can do to create dishes which are authentic to me, but are not intimidating or overwhelming as well as non-starters for regular ass cooks. The meals I've created are ones that I'd make at home, however, not when I'm being super extra."
Molly describes: "75% of what I do is to be a brain an amateur chef, and take everything I've learned about cooking and approach it like it's only the only time in my life I've had to be in the kitchen. She has trained herself to feel what it's like to be a novice cook as well as "to be overwhelmed by all the food items sitting on the counter in the front of your eyes". She says "My role as a recipe developer is to create order for people who are overwhelmed with a method that makes it fun, and not an annoyance in the ass."
"My most dreadful fear is that my generation, and generations younger than me are going to have spent their whole existence just grabbing the app that delivers food Caviar. And they'll wake up in the morning with a six-month-old on their hip and a toddler running around and a job to complete and don't know which dish to put at the table -- not even pasta with tomato sauce and then say"F*ck it. I'm going to order from Caviar and again!'. The goal of my the world is to stop that situation from happening the best way I can."
I inquire Molly whether there is a plan for a sequel novel. "I have to start making it up as early as three days ago!" she smiles. She says that she got a second book deal a couple of months ago through the same publisher. It is intended to act as a sequel to build upon the understanding taught in the initial book. Keep an eye out for.
Food that is fun, Caesar salad and Tuna the dog
One of the recipes that is most well-known in Cook this book is Molly's Caesar salad. Self-proclaimed the 'Queen of Cae Sal', Molly smiles whenever asked what she thinks about the salad. "I don't really have a one-sentence banger of response to that!" she says, "I simply think it's the best salad on the planet. When I visit the restaurant and I see caesar salad on the menu, there's literally zero chance that I won't order it. I've been enthralled by this dish over time; I've discussed it often, and I make the caesar salad often. And people know that now. I just frickin' love it!"
It could be that Caesar salad conforms to Molly's ethos in the sense that food should be fun. It's simple, accessible and full of flavourit's how cooking ought to be, according to Molly. Perhaps counterintuitively, this mindset comes from her experience with professional cooking rather than from eating and enjoying food: "I've always found such satisfaction in the kitchen while working in restaurants; there were the highs and the excitement of getting at the front of the line, churning off service while thinking"F*ck yeah, that's what we did'.
Molly has experienced the pleasure in cooking, as well as the stress it could cause: "I hate that I don't have the ability to wave the magic wand and create a fun experience for all. When I state that cooking ought to be fun, it's because I'm just always trying to enjoy myself -- not just with the kitchen. If I asked my husband, "Do you want to go bowling this evening?' he'd answer no, and I'd reply, 'You just never would you like to be bored!" My work here in this world is to help make cooking enjoyable for others so that they can access that joy too.
As if Molly's love for food wasn't apparent enough in her kitchen, her love for food has infused into her home life. As seen sometimes on her Instagram her Instagram account, she owns an animal companion named Tuna. If you ask her if tuna is a boring choice to have as a food of choice She says: "I do not find tuna boring at all! I think the water-packed cans that we used to use growing up are dry and dull, however high-end oil-packed tunalike that you find in Portugal, is such a joy. The flavors are different the place, don't you think? !"
Molly as well as her partner Ben were in Portugal when they 'conceived' of Tuna. While in the pool, on their honeymoon, rather than making a decision to get a child, they decided to get an ox-like puppy. "We consumed a lot of fish that was tinned and I think we just had tuna on the brain. Today, we consume tuna at least four times in a week!" she concludes, smiling.
There is a sense that from Italy across the USA and then back to Portugal, Molly's passion for easy, delicious, tasty food has never been stronger.