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The reason Molly Baz wishes she could wave a magic wand and create a cooking experience that is fun for all
Molly Baz, recipe developer and the owner of mollybaz.com, dreams big. "When I was little I was aspired to become an astronaut," she says "Then I was interested in becoming a United Nations translator. After this, I was thinking that I was going to run an art gallery in New York City." Therefore, it was logical that she was able to pursue a study in art history at Skidmore College, the liberal arts college.
But it was during a time spent in Italy, studying renaissance art that her passion for food took over other hobbies: "I was living with a little old lady named Graziella, who was my"grandma" at my homestay. The woman spoke only English and she didn't understand me when I said thank you, but she cooked like a pro."
It appears that Graziella's primary daily pastime was to go to the local market, find some ingredients, and cook Molly dinner. "She was a devoted fan of this," Molly continues. "I hadn't eaten such a way. I wasn't exposed to Italian food seasons and the reverence for its ingredients. But I was like"oh, my god it's amazing! !'." Molly tells me that this kind of cooking was not something she was raised with, and she's certain it's the same to the vast majority of people out there. "My parents weren't seeking out high-quality ricotta and the best tomatoes - it just wasn't the thing."
Molly shares with me her "mind-bending "whoa'-moments" during her time in Italy that led her to return home and want to learn more about food. In addition, the way she shopped for food was different from Molly's experiences. Molly explains: "Instead of going to the grocery store on Sunday to get her groceries for the week, she would go to the market daily. This was because 'You don't know which vendors are likely to be there - and the peaches might look better today than they did yesterday'. This was about respect."
Molly says to me that with the most classic Italian way her Tuscan meals were both simple as well as delicious and rustic. "Her tomato sauce will remain imprinted in my memory," she continues. "It's extremely good, and especially for winter, because it's made from cherry tomatoes which are, in my opinion, the only tomatoes in season that's worth the effort out of season."
It's evident from how Molly talks about food that she believes that cooking for her is more than making flavours. It's about the entire process of exploring the ingredients on offer, considering what looks good, and crafting a meal in your mind. "That's the way my brain was working. I just didn't think about eating that way. It's true that now this is all I can think about." she smiles. That's perhaps the reason Molly calls herself an ingredient developer, not a chef.
Recipes, restaurants and rolls along
To further her journey in the world of food following her departure from Italy, Molly worked in restaurant kitchens, where she learned cook. But it wasn't the end objective "I was fed up with establishments and realized that I did not wish to run my own restaurant. However, I was certain that I would like to cook and needed to determine the path that made sense for me."
Molly began her journey into food styling, because "the next logical step from the history of art, which includes composition and color, was to make food look delicious". Seeing as Molly's dad is a photographer, she felt this could be the way to engage with food , based on her skills, expertise as well as the manner in which she was brought up.
"It worked for a while and I really enjoyed it." she continues, "But ultimately, I felt like I was just decorating food for other people. The feeling is, "Cool, this looks good'. it's your thing to own the image, but it's not your food. It's someone who else's. I always wanted to cook with my own mind and heart."
Therefore, the next step was to start making the recipes that magazines would use. The chef was already part of the food industry through food styling at Bon Appetit magazine and was exposed to the role as food editor. This was a position she took up. "I didn't know the definition of a food editor prior to that!" she jokes, "But it's someone who writes and designs recipes and who spends the majority of their working time in the kitchen. It allowed me to be back in an environment of dining out, and be in touch with food throughout the course of the day." The role clicked. "I realized that this is the only thing that I ever need to do ever again,'" she smiles. Molly was promoted to the senior associate food editor then progressed to senior food editor and made use of the time to sharpen her skills in recipe development for the next four years.
The transition from food lover to food stylist to food editor was completed, but there was one more step on the way. "It was never in my plans to become known as a celebrity and also to be on video," she continues. "The Bon Appetit YouTube channel had already been in existence at the time I joined, and it was already gaining an audience, but it was not popular in the way is the case today. A few weeks after I took the job, one of the producers said, "Do you want to create a short video? And I was like"Holy sh*t!. I don't know. I'm no actress. I thought I was just a Behind the Scenes Person'. And then I obviously f*cking was in love with this."
Molly confesses that she was nervous during the very first time she appeared present during the kitchen test. "I thought, "Can you see my shaking?'! And then the video came out and I thought"Wow! This is so fun.' It wasn't my idea however it was it was Bon Appetit's plan and simply embraced it." It was an organic transition to food personality, and the challenge of "figuring out exactly what it was to be Molly" was complete.
Cook the Book How to become an author
When working for the restaurant Bon Appetit, an editor of Clarkson Potter, part of Penguin Random House publishing group called Molly and requested meetings. "The ideal is to receive an email from an email address associated with the Penguin Random House email address," she remembers. "I realized this was a cookbook related. I took the meeting and then one thing lead to the next and all of a sudden I was offered a book deal."
"It's fascinating to be in the process of coming up with a recipe checklist for the first cookbook," she adds "Because it's simultaneously thinking about dishes that represent the best expression of me and the world, as well as what other cooks are most likely to make. What are the dishes that are going to be approachable? This isn't about "How difficult will Molly flex within her work But it's about creating recipes that feel really true to me. They are not intimidating or overwhelming which makes them not suitable for everyday cooks. The meals I've created are ones that I'd make at home, but not in the case of being super extravagant."
Molly describes: "75% of what I do is trying to become an untrained cook. I discard everything I know about cooking, and treat it like it's only the only time in my life I've had to be in the kitchen. She has trained herself to feel what it's as a beginner cook, and "to feel overwhelmed by the amount of food that are on the counter front of you". She confirms "My task as a creator is to design a recipe for people who are overwhelmed in a way that makes the process enjoyable, not an annoyance on the back."
"My biggest worry is that the people in my generation, and ones that are younger than me are going to have spent their whole life just getting [food delivery app] Caviar. And they'll wake up the next day with an infant on their back and a toddler running around and a job to finish and be unable to figure out what to place in the kitchen and not even pasta with tomato sauce -- and say"F*ck it. I'm ordering from Caviar and again!'. The goal of my the world is to stop the possibility of this happening in the most efficient way."
I inquire Molly whether she has plans for a sequel novel. "I have to start making it up as early as three days ago!" she smiles. She tells us that she was offered an additional book contract a couple of months ago through the same publisher, to be a sequel to the first that builds on the knowledge taught in the original book. Stay tuned.
Food that is fun, Caesar salad and Tuna the dog
One of the recipes that is most well-known from Cook this book comes from Molly's Caesar salad. Self-proclaimed the 'Queen of Cae Sal', Molly smiles when asked how she is a fan of the dish. "I don't really have one sentence to give the answer!" she says, "I believe it's one of the most delicious salads on the planet. If I go out to a restaurant, and there's caesar salad available There's absolutely no chance I'm not ordering it. I've become infatuated with it over the years; I've talked about it often, and have made many of it. The world is aware of that. I'm in love with it!"
It could be that Caesar salad is in line with Molly's philosophy in the sense that food should be enjoyable. It's accessible, easy to prepare and full of flavour- that's what cooking should be, according to Molly. It's possible that this attitude stems from her own experience in professional cooking rather than from eating food and having fun with it: "I've always found such happiness in the kitchen working at restaurants. There was the excitement and highs, as well as the excitement of getting in the kitchen and pounding on the service, and then saying"F*ck yeah, we did it'.
Molly has experienced the pleasure of cooking and the fear it may result in: "I hate that I can't just wave an magic wand to ensure that everyone has fun. When I say cooking has been fun for me, it's because I'm just always trying to have a fun time -but not just cooking. If I were to ask my husband, "Do you would like to bowl tonight?' he would say no and I would reply, 'You just never would you like to be bored!'" My job on this planet is to make cooking more enjoyable for others so that they will be able to enjoy the joy also.
In case Molly's love of food wasn't evident enough in her cooking, this passion has infused into her home life. Like she has posted on Instagram and Instagram, she also has a pet dog named Tuna. If asked if tuna was a boring choice to have as food that you love She says: "I do not find tuna to be boring! I believe that the canned cans with water that we ate when we were kids were dry and boring. However, high-quality oil-packed tuna, such as the ones you can find in Portugal is a pleasure. The flavor is different the place, don't you think? !"
Molly and her husband Ben was in Portugal while they were conceived of Tuna. While in the pool, on their honeymoon, rather than deciding to have a baby the couple decided to adopt a wiener puppy. "We had a huge amount of canned fish, and it seems like we had tuna on the brain. We eat tuna at least four times in a week!" she concludes, smiling.
From Italy to the USA and then back to Portugal Molly's love of simple, salty, happy food is more fervent than ever.