Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

An autographed copy of Craig Claiborne’s New York Times Cookbook. One evening after a school dance, friends descended on my parent’s home and one of them piped up, “Where’s the eggs benedict?” I popped into the kitchen and shortly produced something resembling poached eggs with Hollandaise. (One egg never made it past the side of the stove.) From that first effort, I prepared several other winning recipes like Knockwurst in beer. Fast forward 15 years and dozens of other cookbooks and I am co-author of Passport to New York Restaurants and auction correspondent for Wine Spectator.