If you've always loved the food at Harry's Roadhouse and wanted to try some of their dishes at home, now you can. The restaurant's owners, Harry Shapiro and Peyton Young, just published
Harry's Roadhouse Cookbook: Square Meals from Santa Fe's Favorite Kitchen
(Gibbs Smith, paperback, $24.95). I caught up with Harry last week and he told me
how much harder it is to cook
for
a book than
from
a book.
SFR: What made you decide to do a cookbook?
HS:
I love the southern Junior League cookbooks that look like they were put together by Mom 'n' Pop. My wife Peyton and I-we're business partners as well-we had thought about this for a long time. The thing that really worked out for us was that there were four people, who live in the neighborhood and come in to eat all the time, who agreed to work with us on it. Joel Nakamura did the illustrations, Jack Kotz took the photographs and Hampton Sides wrote the introduction. And then Maria Levy designed it.
How long did it take to write?
From when we signed the contract until the book came out it was about a year and a half...There were some weeks it was probably 25 or 30 hours a week, but not most weeks.
That's a lot of work! Is it going to be worth it? I mean, do you expect to make a lot of money from the book?
It's been selling really well through the restaurant, but for us, we did the book because of all those people who had been saying to us over the years, "write a cookbook!" We're not professional writers and we're not cookbook writers, but this is a way to promote the restaurant. I think if you're a big national name it's like hitting the lottery with a new book every couple of years, but that's not our expectation.
How different is cooking recipes for a book from cooking for a restaurant or just for your own dinner?
Cooking recipes for a book is really different! You know, as you develop your skills as a cook you tend to rely on your senses more and when you're cooking for a book you have to do the opposite. I never measure salt and pepper and I don't usually measure herbs or weigh things out.
Did you have any surprises as you were cooking?
The biggest surprise was how complicated it was to put everything I did for so long into a recipe that other people could follow. Sometimes when you cut a recipe down [from restaurant quantities] you have to change things. If you usually put 2 teaspoons of salt in something and you cut it by six it doesn't mean you use that much less salt. You really have to taste and experiment and change. Some things really didn't taste right when we cut them down. We did a smoked turkey andouille hash and it just didn't taste right until I added some chicken stock and a little heavy cream. I don't do that at the restaurant. I really can't explain why it didn't taste the same.
Which recipes are you proudest of?
[Shouting to his wife, Peyton] Which recipes are you proudest of? Peyton says the cinnamon roll recipe, although she hasn't heard of anyone actually making them at home. It's kind of a complicated recipe.
What do you want people to know about your book or the restaurant?
So many people get uptight about cooking and following recipes exactly, but it should be fun for you and fun for your guests. It's about recreation...not perfection. I think some of the greatest things are when you hear cooks tell stories about our biggest mishaps. Everyone does it and people need to relax, chill, enjoy it. When I was
22 and a graduate student I knew nothing about cooking. My friends and I
all took turns cooking for each other and one night I cooked fried chicken, but we didn't have corn oil so I used corn syrup. You can't get much dumber than that! Everything congealed in the pan. It was a disaster. I threw out the raw chicken, the congealed syrup, the pan, everything. But it was fun! We had a great time.
Blue Cornmeal Waffles
Just after he pours the batter into the waffle iron, Harry likes to put two slices of cooked bacon on top, cooking the bacon right into the waffle. You could also skip the bacon and top them with sliced bananas or strawberries. The texture of the blue corn meal holds up well to sauces and syrups.
Makes 6 waffles
1½ cups blue cornmeal
1½ cups flour
½ tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
2 cups buttermilk
4 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
Mix together the dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Then combine the two until mixed, but do not overmix. Follow your waffle iron manufacturer's instructions on how to cook them.
Also, you should check out
Breakfast Santa Fe Style
(Sunstone Press, paperback, $19.95), written by two New Mexico librarians who teamed up to write an unusual guide that pairs reviews of great restaurant breakfasts with book recommendations inspired by the restaurants' themes, dishes or locations. Kathy Barco and Valerie Nye will be signing the book at 2 pm this Saturday, Sept. 16 at Borders in Sanbusco Market Center (500 Montezuma Ave., 954-4707). Be there!
Tell me where to eat! I need your input. Send all of your tips, gripes and raves to
.
