Hi, I’m Adrienne Boswell. Welcome to The Good Plate’s kitchen. I am an award-winning home cook and cookbook author.
Adrienne Boswell – Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
I have been cooking since I was 9 years old when my mother asked me to put the roast of beef in the oven because she was running late getting home from work. We lived in Hollywood, California, in one of the stately old buildings that used to house Hollywood’s élite. We had an old stove whose top burners had to be lit with a match, and luckily, the oven had a pilot light, so I was good. I took the roast from the refrigerator and put it in the oven. Then, not knowing any better, I put the temperature knob to like 450. I didn’t know! When I started smelling it, I thought I might turn it down. That roast was the best one we had had, and I still do that very same thing when I want to sear something I am roasting. After that, my mother decided I would be a fine cook, which became my chore. I loved it!
Rotisserie Stuffed Beef Roast for Labor Day or Any Day
As you can see, I got a lot better at making roast beef, and now it’s one of my favorite things to make.
My Mother Taught Me to Cook
Mamma was a good cook, self-taught. She collected cookbooks, and we would go through them, find something new we had never had, and make it. My mother liked gourmet food. She couldn’t see why you had to go to an expensive restaurant for an excellent meal. When we went to a restaurant, my mother and I would take notes about how the food tasted, what ingredients we thought were in it, and how we could make it at home.
My mother and I only had one disaster – it was a recipe with dried mushrooms. My mother paid a lot of money to make this pasta sauce, which was nasty. We tried everything to make that sauce palatable, but nothing worked. The sauce wound up in the trash. The dish that was the absolute best that came out of a cookbook was the chocolate mousse. It was incredibly rich, and I’ve made it myself a few times.
I miss my mother and her cooking. She did a good job of teaching me the skills I have now, but of course, she didn’t teach me everything. I watched a lot of Graham Kerr’s The Galloping Gourmet, and he taught me how to hold and use a knife properly. He also taught me how to crack an egg and open it with one hand.
John Farion, CWC
I studied under Chef John Farion, CWC. He taught me even more and gave me some wonderful recipes that have become cornerstones of my cooking. He always said that I should have been a baker because I make such good cakes. Sadly, John Farion, CWC, died in 2017. I miss John a great deal, and when I think of some food he would like, I go to pick up the phone—and then remember he’s in the Big Kitchen in the Sky.
John was a great admirer of Anthony Bourdain. I hope they can meet in the Big Kitchen in the Sky and talk about food, people, and cooking because John loved people. Maybe they’ll have a glass of wine together, and John can share his recipe for melon balls with freshly ground black pepper—none of us liked it when he made it, but maybe Bourdain will.
This brings me to the end. I hope this journey of cooking for the people we love will never end. I love my friends and family, and I love to cook for them.
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