![](\"https:\/\/cupofjo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_5164.jpeg\"\/)
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIna Garten\u2019s memoir \u2014\u00a0Be Ready When the Luck Happens<\/a> \u2014 is out this week, and it made me realize something\u2026<\/p>\n I discovered Ina in my mid-twenties, just as I was figuring out my way around a kitchen<\/a>. I used her seminal first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook<\/a>, so often that many of those recipes feel like members of my family: Coconut Cupcakes<\/a>, Turkey Meatloaf<\/a>, Roasted Carrots, Outrageous Brownies<\/a>. Recipes that are famous enough that I don\u2019t even have to elaborate, because I imagine you can picture them, too. I also distinctly remember how different<\/em> the book felt from Martha Stewart and Gourmet<\/em> magazine and other big food names of that era \u2014 Ina\u2019s food was messy and real, without making any sacrifices in quality.<\/p>\n But Ina\u2019s path to Barefoot Contessa Superstardom didn\u2019t play out in a straight line. Raised by demanding, controlling parents \u2014 a joyless, emotionally bereft mother and an abusive father prone to unsettling bouts of anger \u2014 her life changed, as most of her fans know, when she met her famously adoring husband Jeffrey. She was only 16, visiting her brother at Dartmouth College, when Jeffrey, also a student there, spied her on the college green, and \u201cin an instant was smitten.\u201d The two of them married young, moved from military base to to base (Jeffrey was ROTC), spent a formative summer camping through Europe, and supported each other as their careers skyrocketed, often living apart in different cities and even continents to make things work. One of the more notable revelations of the book was that the couple separated briefly<\/a>, right after Ina bought the Barefoot Contessa specialty store in the Hamptons and struggled to redefine her role as an equal partner in their marriage. There were other surprising tidbits \u2014 she can fly planes (!) \u2014 but for me, the most compelling thing about the memoir was the way she discussed her philosophy around food.<\/p>\n Good food is simple food.<\/strong> Three main flavors, max.<\/strong> But really bring out those flavors.<\/strong> There\u2019s a strategic way to enjoyably entertain.<\/strong> Brightness is crucial, for both taste and visuals.<\/strong> When it comes to quality, be ruthless.<\/strong> Be yourself.<\/strong> Thank you for the inspiration, Ina. We love your cookbooks<\/a> and your memoir<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n P.S. Coming home dinners<\/a> and the embarrassing food blunders<\/a> I\u2019ve made along the way.<\/p>\n (Photos courtesy of Ina Garten<\/a>.)<\/p>\n![\"ina](\"https:\/\/cupofjo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_5164.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
Ina seemed to fall in love with quality-ingredient driven meals when she and Jeffrey camped their way through Europe in 1972 (above). She describes the perfect sandwich: \u201cIn the United States, a sandwich [was] two slices of bread from a plastic bag\u2026 Instead, the French take a length of a crusty baguette, one thin slice of delicious ham or prosciutto, maybe a little cheese, maybe a little butter or Dijon mustard, and voil\u00e0! The best sandwich you ever ate\u2026the delicacy of it all is perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t been able to get this rule out of my head since I read it. \u201cI don\u2019t think there should be more than three prominent flavors in any recipe,\u201d Ina writes. \u201cMy brain just can\u2019t process more than that without becoming overloaded.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal is to help each ingredient taste like the best version of itself. \u201cHow can I make chicken more \u2018chicken-y\u2019 or chocolate more \u2018chocolate-y\u2019?\u201d she asks. This is something that most cooks know inherently, but it helps to hear it again: \u201cAlmost every recipe, whether savory or sweet, needs an edge. Savory things tend to need something acidic, and sweet things tend to need something bitter to give them more depth of flavor.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The first time she and Jeffrey tried to have a \u201cgrown-up\u201d party, they invited 20 people to brunch, none of whom knew each other \u2013\u201cbad idea.\u201d Everyone sat in a big circle in the living room, saying very little. \u201cTo make things worse,\u201d she writes, \u201cI had decided to make an omelet for each person, which had to be prepared one at a time, so I was stuck in the kitchen for the entire party\u2026 while Jeffrey was in the living room trying desperately to keep the conversation interesting. Total disaster!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is [chicken salad] always so beige?\u201d she asked herself when she was developing a recipe for the Hamptons store. \u201cI started with grilled lemon chicken and added raw sugar snap peas, julienned red and yellow peppers, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and good California olive oil. The colors were bright, the ingredients were fresh, and the lemon juice gave it all an \u2018edge\u2019 that made everything taste better.\u201d (How good does that sound right now?)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ina is obsessed with using high-quality ingredients in her cooking, but it\u2019s also a theme of any<\/em> work she puts into the world. On choosing what recipes to feature, she asks herself: \u201cWould a customer get out of bed, put on their clothes, get into a car, drive to town, find a parking space, and walk to the store to buy this dish? That was a hard test to pass, and I wanted only those recipes in the store and the book.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the more entertaining stories in the book is when her friend, the famous photographer Richard Avedon tells her that the design of her first cookbook<\/a>, was \u201cthe worst I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d Which made sense, sort of. His style was stark and minimalist, the opposite of Ina\u2019s style: happy, casual, bountiful. She listened to his criticisms \u2014 who wouldn\u2019t? It was Richard Avedon! \u2014 ultimately realizing that the reason for her success was that she wasn\u2019t trying<\/em> to be anyone else. She was only trying to be Ina.<\/p>\n