Six California Kitchens: A Collection of Recipes, Stories, and Cooking Lessons from a Pioneer of California Cuisine

Schmitt, the founder of California’s famed French Laundry restaurant, reflects on the food that defined her life, in this sumptuous collection of recipes and tales from the kitchens that inspired them. Even before she and her husband opened their farm-to-table Napa Valley restaurant in 1978, Schmitt writes, local and seasonal ingredients had always been a part of her culinary DNA—beginning in the 1930s with her parents, whose use of produce straight from their garden and meat “from our own animals” set young Schmitt on a lifelong course of “making use of the food around me—in season, local, fresh, and carefully raised.” Taking readers on a delicious tour through her decades-spanning career, she highlights the dishes and stories from half a dozen homes and restaurants where she honed her craft. A recipe for Green Eggs & Ham served over a verde sauce gets its inspiration from the enchiladas at Schmitt’s first restaurant, the Chutney Kitchen, while a group of “doctored” mayonnaises (garlic, sorrel, and red pepper) evoke the homemade versions of her childhood. Inventive techniques abound; instead of poaching the poultry for curried chicken breast, she sautés the pieces slowly in olive oil. Elsewhere, the sauce for her rendition of steak au poivre (beloved by French Laundry’s erstwhile dishwasher, Tom) calls for a mix of peppercorns, soaked and toasted, to add complexity. Fans of Alice Waters won’t want to miss this delectable page-turner. Agent: Nicki Richesin, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Apr.)