Andrew Rea told us, “I specifically don’t rehearse dishes before I do them on camera so that I can catch my screw-ups. I like to show them as learning experiences, and it’s therapeutic for me, as someone who’s beaten up on themselves for making mistakes their entire life. It’s nice to reclaim [those mistakes] as learning experiences, and it’s where the sum total of my cooking knowledge has come from. I haven’t gone to culinary school. I haven’t trained in any formal capacity. It’s all been trial and error my entire life.”
This approach even made it into the new cookbook’s full title, “Basics with Babish: Recipes for Screwing Up, Trying Again, and Hitting It Out of the Park” — and despite what one might think given the mistake-friendly focus, the 100-plus recipes are for more than just the kitchen clueless. Rea clarified that the book is not only for beginners but also anyone who wants to step up their game in the kitchen, including those who might want to try a normally intimidating recipe but with a less intimidating guide to help along the way. From bread to pasta to eggs benedict, Rea has made the mistakes — often on camera, no less — so you don’t have to.
“Basics with Babish” by Andrew Rea is out now wherever books are sold.