Girl Cook Quotes

“Picking me up, Frank carries me like they do in the movies to the back of the loft, pushing aside a gauzy scrim on rollers to reveal a king-size bed with Gothic-looking wooden posts jutting out from each corner. This is not the innocent white-sun-dappled bed of my dorm room fantasy. The sheets and duvet are a manly gray, and those posts recall certain scenes in Dracula and Wuthering Heights.
Placing me on top of it, he pulls of his sweatshirt, revealing his pale, hairless chest. His disheveled hair hangs limply above his shoulders. He looks a little Klaus Kinski-ish- in need of blood, yet sexy, vulnerable, yet ready to please.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“The dinner is delicious- the poivre sauce is perfect with the medium-rare duck, which cuts like butter. The potatoes are creamy, well seasoned, and cheesy, the rabe bright green, croquant and garlicky. Gustav has brought along a bottle of Cru Bourgeois, and I'm drinking it like grape juice.
Dessert is an assortment of small tarts- vanilla crème brûlée with a chocolate crust, key lime, and pear.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“I've been studying every aspect of every dish on sauté for the past two months. How the orzo-filled roasted onions accompany the red snapper in a tart broth dotted with hot chili and cilantro oil. How the pheasant, seared skin-side down and flipped, then finished off in the oven, is served with pumpkin risotto, cranberry coulis, and a side of garlic greens. How the grouper, sautéed in olive oil, then butter, and finished in the oven, lies on a mountain of mashed potatoes surrounded by baby turnips and roasted bits of corn, lightly drizzled with a balsamic reduction.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“I spent a year learning how to slice, dice, chop, and taste- perfecting dishes like boeuf bourguignon, cassoulet, filet de porc vouvray, and lapin à la moutarde. I studied fine wines and the difference between a brunoise and a mirepoix. I apprenticed with Jacques Vincent at Le Diamond in the Jura Mountains outside of Geneva. I dined at some of the best restaurants in France. I had it good and I know it. Plenty of people would kill to go to cooking school in France. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“I envision a trendy upscale diner, not too expensive, where you can get well-made, beautifully presented homestyle cooking- savory meat loaf, steaks, roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, wiener schnitzel, pie à la mode, little baskets of five different kinds of homemade bread.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“Pinky Fein, a friend of Oscar's, owns the Gilded Lily, a four-star Midtown restaurant renowned for its beggar purses- paper-thin crepes filled with créme fraîche and Beluga caviar, tied into small bundles with chives, lightly sprayed with edible gold leaf, and presented like candles in a candelabra.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“He orders an expensive bottle of Rioja and we begin our tapas extravaganza with plates of dates wrapped in bacon, langoustines in garlic and butter, chorizo in a tomatoey sauce, and a miniature Spanish tortilla (potato, egg, and onion). Our medium-rare steaks are set before us along with a basket of thinly sliced, golden crisped fries. I'm happy to see that Frank enjoys food- with no mention of any weird hang-ups or allergies.
"I was hoping they'd have sweetbreads on the menu," Frank says.
"You like sweetbreads?" I ask, my heart expanding at the mention of calf thymus.
"I'm an organ man," Frank says, taking a sip of wine.
"I know a place where they make great sautéed sweetbreads," I say.
"You?" he asks, a look of pleased astonishment spreading across his face.
"Love 'em," I say. This mutual infatuation with organs bodes well.
Cutting into the steaks with sharp knives, we put morsels in our mouths, close our eyes as if we've died and gone to heaven, chew, and groan, the salty, bloody juices trickling down the backs of our throats.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“Turning my right hand over, he notices the half-moon-shaped birthmark that no one never notices. "What's this?" he asks.
"A pudding stain."
He looks like he believes me. "Really?"
"No. It's a birthmark."
"You're like a painting," he says, "constantly revealing new things."
I stare at Frank like he can't be serious, and he laughs and says, "What? It's true!"
"The pickup handbook?" I ask.
"You can't take everything in to for gospel, but it's amazingly instructive," he says, running his finger back and forth over the café au lait spot.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“Bobby Flay taught me the secret trick to shucking at a party at Bruce and Eric Bromberg's house out in East Hampton. They're all huge now, Bruce and Eric with Blue Ribbon et al. and Bobby with Mesa Grill et al., new cookbooks, and a television show. They put me to work at the enormous four-sided grill they'd set up in the backyard next to the roasting pit where a cuchinillo (young suckling pig) was being basted on a spit, turning darker shades of pink. I had no idea who Bobby was at the time, and the two of us were working side by side, flipping peppers and onions, zucchinis, squash, swordfish steaks, and New York strips. Fresh out of the Cordon Bleu, I thought I was pretty hot shit, ordering Bobby around like a redheaded stepchild. He was very nice about it. Took my guff and told the other grill cooks to listen to the chef. It was the best cooking time I ever had, feeling like I was one of the guys. When I found out who Bobby Flay was, I was mortified. And then I thought, Wow, he was so cool. He never once pulled rank or made me feel like I didn't know what I was doing. He let me be in control. I guess that's what happens when you're the real McCoy. You don't need to piss on other people to make yourself feel better.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“I don't know, those ice-cream balls could be a little tighter," he says, a serious look on his face like he actually means it.
Noel's chuckling, which is a relief because it means it looks okay to him, but I'm ready to lose it. I can't believe I'm letting this coke-snorting new guy get the best of me. "Yeah," I say, "like marbles. We could name the dish after you.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel

“Now, no one likes to grill more than I do. But everyone in the business knows there's a huge difference between grill and sauté. Grill guys- and by no means would I want to imply that grilling isn't an art- but grill guys tend to be the cavemen of the kitchen. The guys who don't possess much in the way of artistic flair but can give you a perfectly pink tenderloin of venison after sprinkling it with salt and pepper, searing it, and poking it a couple of times. These are not the men for delicate seasonings and sauce making. They stick to the meat, mostly. And they can take a lot of heat.
Sautéing is the highest station in the kitchen, below the sous chef and chef. And I, for one, goddammit, have piled enough skyscraper salads to be given consideration. I'm not working my way up the kitchen ladder for my goddamn health. I know all too well the sting of vinegar in an open cut. Oh yes, that salad you're eating as a light appetizer? My bare hands have massaged dressing into every leaf. Lettuce loves me.
But I've got ambition and, I don't mind saying, a decent palate. I believe I'm capable of executing the finer sauce nuances. I want to start my own place. I want to be The Chef. And the only way to do this (aside from buying a place outright) is by becoming the greatest cook I can be. Which means kicking ass on the line, not just salads and desserts. These are my hopes. These are my dreams.”
― Hannah Mccouch, Girl Cook: A Novel