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March 13-19, 2003

naked city

Sara Spills Some Beans

Recipe for success: Sara Moulton on the set of her Food Network show. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

How to cook with a dirty old Frenchman and other secrets from TV food star Sara Moulton.

Interview by Marc Kravitz

Sara Moulton is the affable host of Sara's Secrets on the Food Network, executive chef of Gourmet magazine, author of Sara Moulton Cooks at Home and a wife and mother of two. Surprisingly enough, she still has time to visit Philadelphia: She'll be at Novelty Restaurant in Old City on Sun., March 23, as part of The Book and the Cook's restaurant series. For a list of other Book/Cook highlights, see Maxine Keyser's recommendations on p. 53. For a few of Sara's secrets, read on.

City Paper: What was the difference, in terms of expectations and personalities, between working in a kitchen in France and in America?

Sara Moulton: You work even harder in a French kitchen than you do in an American kitchen. You just work a million hours. The restaurant that I worked in (a one-star restaurant in France, 1979) was really strict compared to working in an American kitchen, especially since it was a starred restaurant in France. The expectations are much higher upon your performance. You cannot goof off. It is not just a job.

As far as personalities, [all of the chefs] were men, and they were quite chauvinistic. The chef was the classic "screaming chef." He was an elder gent. He turned out to be a dirty old man, which was a bummer, because I was the only woman in the kitchen.

But I learned a ton, because I watched. At the time I visited France, I was a chef at a restaurant here [in the United States] and took a leave of absence. I learned food cost. You don't waste anything in Europe. If there's trimmings left over from one thing, you make sure that it goes into another dish. The other thing was the excellence of the ingredients.

CP: You mentioned that the men were chauvinistic in France. Has the working environment for female chefs changed, at least here in the States, since you co-founded the New York Women's Culinary Alliance?

SM: I think it has gotten somewhat better. I think it's terrific on the West Coast, especially in San Francisco, L.A. and north of San Francisco in Napa. When I meet with young women who are just graduating from cooking school and want to work in restaurants, I tell them: "You should head west, young lady." I think that it's gotten better for women, but I don't think that it's terrific.

CP: What are the types of problems women encounter?

SM: Women don't get promoted as fast. And there aren't as many women chefs as there could be. I think women are kept down. I think, as much as I am a Francophile, from start to finish, that the French chefs have a lot to do with that. That's one of the reasons that in New York, you don't see more [female] chefs. The whole city is really dominated still by French chefs.

I'll tell you one thing. A day doesn't go by where I don't experience some kind of chauvinism from men.

CP: Such as?

SM: On my show even. Men are coming on that haven't read my bio. Who don't know anything about me. Who treat me like a happy little hostess. They can be quite condescending. I'm not saying all of them. But, still, I encounter it, and it just floors me.

[Laughing] You can tell you touched on a sore subject here.

CP: What advice would you give to an aspiring female chef in terms of initiating her career?

SM: First go to cooking school, like the Culinary Institute of America, or Johnson & Wales, because it will give you a credential that will make people take you more seriously. And then go get a job in a restaurant where you know they're not jerks and screamers, and just -- and this is the same advice I will give to a man or a woman -- be willing to do anything, be willing to work all kinds of hours, say that you just want to learn. That's what any chef who hires you wants to hear. And do it as long as you can while you're still young. Because it's the best training anybody will get anywhere in the food industry.

CP: You've worked in restaurants, taught at a culinary school, worked with Gourmet magazine, have hosted your own television shows and now you've authored a cookbook. What has been your favorite job?

SM: I really have many. I loved this little restaurant I was a chef at in Boston called Cybelle's. I love my job here in the dining room at Gourmet. I'm the executive chef. And I really do love doing the TV. I'm just getting used to the taped. I liked the live better initially. What I realized is that I only have 22 minutes, and every single second counts. I don't even have time to crack a joke.

I am really so blessed. And I also really loved doing the cookbook, which was a surprise. This was really fun.

CP: You worked behind the scenes with Julia Child on Julia Child and More Company. What was it like working with her?

SM: Fabulous. I mean, I was scared to death, frankly, because she's such an icon. But it wasn't her fault. She's really friendly, and nice, and down to earth. I thought I would just sit at her feet and learn from The Master, but as it turned out, she wanted to know our opinion. She had the final say, but we all developed the recipes together for her show. And I've continued to have a relationship with her, and she's just been a wonderful mentor and taught me so much. She's also one of the funniest people on the planet.

CP: What is your take on food critics, such as William Grimes from The New York Times? And how much influence do they have on diners in New York?

SM: I think they do and they don't. It's really funny, because sometimes they'll write a review, and they only give somebody one star, yet it reads like a two-star. And likewise, sometimes they'll give somebody three stars and it reads like a one-star. So it's a tad confusing.

I think good critics can inspire restaurants to do better. And good critics who stay incognito are doing us all a service. I think each critic obviously has their agenda and prefers certain kinds of restaurants. You know I don't think they can completely destroy a restaurant. Although, well actually, no. I take that back. A complete pan, I think, yes, can destroy a restaurant. But I think that as long as you get one star, you're going to do OK. I think below that, you really could be creamed. So yes, I think they are really powerful.

CP: If you had a special occasion to celebrate, which restaurant would you choose to dine at?

SM: I guess in New York, it would be Babbo. I really haven't eaten there in a while. It's so damn fattening. I guess If I could choose anywhere in the country I do love Charlie Trotter's [the famous Chicago eatery].

CP: You mentioned Babbo, which is owned by one of your Food Network peers, Mario Batali. Are you friendly with any of your Food Network colleagues?

SM: We don't hang out. But when we find ourselves together, we're all pretty friendly and supportive. Oddly enough, everybody can be competitive as hell, but we're all pretty nice. Bobby Flay has been one of the biggest supporters of women in the kitchen -- and I don't mean women he's got the hots for -- and he's always been very respectful of me.