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Why Molly Baz wishes she could use a magical wand to bring cooking to everyone
Molly Baz, recipe developer and owner of mollybaz.com she has big goals. "When I was little I was aspired to become an astronaut," she says "Then I dreamed of becoming a United Nations translator. After my first attempt, I thought that I would like to operate an arts gallery within New York City." That's why, naturally, she went on to earn a master's education in art history at Skidmore College, the liberal arts college.
But it was during a year abroad in Italy and studying Renaissance art that her passion for food took over other passions: "I was living with a little old lady named Graziella whom I called my homestay 'grandma'. The woman spoke only 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 activity was to visit the local market, find certain ingredients, then prepare Molly dinner. "She just lived for the food," Molly continues. "I hadn't consumed food in the way she did. I wasn't exposed to food seasonality and Italy's reverence for its ingredients. But I was like, 'Oh, man I'm in love with this! !'." Molly tells me that this kind of cooking was not something she was raised with - and she's sure it's the same for the majority of people who live in the world. "My parents weren't seeking out high-quality ricotta and the best tomatoes - it just wasn't the thing."
Molly tells me about "mind-bending "whoa" moments" in Italy which led her to come home and want to learn more about food. The way that Graziella shop to buy food differed to Molly's experience. Molly describes: "Instead of going to the supermarket on Sundays to get her groceries for the week, she would go to the market every single day. This was because 'You don't know what vendors are going to be there - and maybe the peaches look better today than they did yesterday'. This was about respect."
Molly tells me that, typical of Italian way, Graziella's Tuscan food was simultaneously simple yet delicious, and rustic. "Her tomato sauce is forever imprinted in my memory," she continues. "It's really good, especially during winter since it's made from cherry tomatoes which I believe to be the only tomatoes in season that's worth the effort out of season."
It's apparent by the manner in which Molly discusses food that, to her, cooking involves more than making flavours. It's about the entire process of investigating the available ingredients and evaluating what's appealing while creating the perfect meal with your own mind. "That's simply not the way my brain was working. I was not thinking about eating in that kind of way. Now, of course, it's all I think about," Molly smiles. Perhaps this is the reason Molly describes herself as an ingredient developer, not an executive chef.
Recipes, restaurants and rolls around
To further her journey in the world of food following her departure from Italy, Molly worked in restaurants where she learned how cook. It wasn't the final desired goal "I was fed up with places and decided that I didn't really want to own an own restaurant. It was clear that I'd like to learn how to cook, and I needed to figure out the career that made sense for me."
Molly was drawn into the field of food styling, because "the following logical progression from the history of art, which includes colors and composition, was the art of making food look delicious". As Molly's father was a photographer, she felt this could be the approach to deal with food , based on her expertise, skills and how she was raised.
"It went well for a few days and I was happy with it." she continues, "But ultimately, I had this feeling that I was just cooking and decorating food for other people. It's like, 'Cool, it looks great', and you're in some way responsible for the photograph, but it's not really your food. It's somebody who else's. I wanted to be cooking with my own mind and heart."
So the next step was to start developing recipes for magazines. She was already in the realm of food media through her work in food styling at Bon Appetit magazine. She was also introduced to the role as food editor. This was a position she accepted. "I did not know the definition of a food editor prior to that!" she jokes, "But they write and creates recipes and who spends the majority of their time working in the kitchen. This was an opportunity for me to return to a restaurant setting, and be in touch with food the bulk of the time." It was the right job. "I realized that this is the only thing that I ever need to do ever again and I was like, 'This is it'" she smiles. Molly became senior associate food editor and later was promoted to senior food editor and utilized the time to refine her skills in recipe development for the next four years.
The shift from food enthusiast to food stylist, to food editor was completed however there was one more step in the journey. "It wasn't my plans to become known as a celebrity and also to be featured in videos," she continues. "The Bon Appetit YouTube channel had already been in existence before I joined it and was gaining an audience, but it was not popping in the manner that it is nowadays. A few weeks after I took the job, one of the producers asked, 'Do you wanna create a short video? Then I thought, 'Holy sh*t. I'm not sure. I'm no actress. I thought I was just a behind the scenes person'. Then I realized that I was in love with this."
Molly admits to being anxious the first time she was on camera during the kitchen test. "I was like, 'Can you see my shaking?'! When the video started to play, I was out, and I thought"Wow! This is so fun. The video wasn't part of my idea however it came from Bon Appetit's plans and they just rolled with the plan." The natural evolution to foodie personality the task of "figuring out who is that makes her Molly" was completed.
Cook this Book The process of becoming an author
When working for at Bon Appetit, an editor of Clarkson Potter, part of Penguin Random House publishing group, reached out to Molly and asked for meetings. "The dream is to get an email from an email address associated with the Penguin Random House email address," she remembers. "I knew this was cookbook-related. I attended the event as a sign of the times. One thing led to the next , and all of a sudden I was offered an agreement for a book."
"It's quite an exciting 'tension' when you're putting together a menu checklist for the first cookbook," she continues "Because it's simultaneously thinking about the dishes that are the most authentic expression of me around the globe, but also the dishes that other people will most likely make. What dishes are going to be approachable? The question isn't 'How much can Molly bend in her book But it's about how can I create things that are true to me, but are not intimidating or overwhelming as well as not suitable for everyday cooks. These meals are something I'd cook at home, but only in the case of being super extravagant."
Molly describes: "75% of what I do is trying to inhabit the brain of an untrained cook. I eliminate everything I've ever learned about cooking. I approach cooking as if it's just the only time in my life I've gone to the kitchen. She has trained herself to understand what it's like to be a novice cook, as well as "to feel overwhelmed by the amount of food lying on the counter front of you". The woman says that "My role as a recipe creator is to design a recipe for these people in a way that makes it fun, and isn't a pain in the ass."
"My biggest concern is that my generation as well as the generations younger than me are going to have spent their whole existence just grabbing food delivery apps like Caviar. Then they'll get up the next day with the six-month-old baby on their lap and a toddler running around and a job to complete and don't know how to put anything on the table -- not even pasta with tomato sauce -- and just be like, 'F*ck it. I'm ordering food from Caviar once more!. My aim in life is to prevent that situation from happening in the most efficient way."
I inquire Molly whether she has plans for a sequel to the novel. "I have to start writing it as of three days from now!" she smiles. She says that she got another book deal few months ago from the same publisher, to act as a sequel that builds on the understanding taught in the initial book. Keep an eye out for.
Fun food, Caesar salad and Tuna the dog
One of the recipes that is most well-known in Cook this book includes Molly's Caesar salad. The self-professed 'Queen Of Cae Sal', Molly smiles when she is asked how she is a fan of the dish. "I do not really have one sentence to give the answer!" she says, "I just think it is one of the most delicious salads anywhere on earth. If I go out to an eatery and see caesar salad on the menu, there's literally zero chance that I'll not order it. I've become infatuated with it over the years; I've spoken about it often, and I cook it a lot. And people know that now. I'm in love with it!"
It could be that Caesar salad conforms to Molly's ethos in that food must be enjoyable. It's accessible, easy to prepare and packed with flavour -it's how cooking ought to be according to Molly. Perhaps counterintuitively, this mindset comes from her experience with the professional kitchen, rather than dining out and eating: "I've always found such joy in the kitchen when working in restaurants. There were the highs and the adrenaline of being at the front of the line, churning out service and being like"F*ck, yeah we've done it'.
Molly has seen the joy of cooking and the anxiety that it can result in: "I hate that I can't just wave a magic wand and ensure that everyone has fun. When I state that cooking ought to be fun is because I'm constantly trying to make sure I enjoy myself -- not just with the kitchen. If I were to ask my husband, "Do you wish to take a bowling trip this evening?' he'd not say yes, while I'd reply, 'You just never want to have fun!" My job in this world is to make cooking more enjoyable for people around the world so they will be able to enjoy the joy as well.
In case Molly's love of food wasn't apparent enough in her kitchen, her love for food has made it into her personal life. In her posts on Instagram, she has an animal companion named Tuna. If asked if tuna was a boring choice to have as a food of choice, she disagrees wholeheartedly: "I do not find tuna to be boring! The water-packed canned tuna cans that we ate when we were kids were dry and boring. However, high-quality oil-packed tuna, such as what you see in Portugal is a joy. It just hits different over the place, don't you think? !"
Molly and her husband Ben were in Portugal while they were conceived of Tuna. Talking in the pool on their honeymoon, rather than deciding to have a baby, they decided to get an ox-like puppy. "We consumed a lot of fish that was tinned and I think we just thought of tuna. To this day we eat tuna at least four times in a each week!" she concludes, exclaiming with laughter.
It seems that, from Italy to the USA and then back to Portugal Molly's love for easy, delicious, tasty food has never been stronger.