The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of Spoon University.
The inevitable fate of all my cookbooks has been to sit, gathering dust, on a shelf, remarked upon only when I have guests who might recognize the names of the authors. As much as I love the idea of flipping through tangible recipes and planning out my meals each week, it just hasn’t been practical when there are so many other tasks on my to-do list. As a result, I tend to stick to online recipes, often by the same people who wrote the cookbooks that I own.
After stumbling upon a reel series on Instagram by Isabelle Heiken, called Cookbook Club for 1, I got the urge to start using my own cookbooks more often. I was unaware of the premise of a cookbook club–I thought it was just a cool name she had come up with–until one of my roommates explained it to me as I told her about my brainstorming. While I decided I would be the one cooking everything for this article, I have always loved gathering a bunch of my friends to cook a meal and eat it together. So, I went to my bookshelf and took out the one I was most excited to buy, but has sat on the shelf almost entirely since it came in the mail: START HERE by Sohla El-Waylly.
I love Sohla, and I love this book. While I hadn’t made any recipes from it at this point, I had read through most of the front matter pages and several recipes. What I love about it is that it serves to educate—Sohla isn’t just giving you meticulously written and tested recipes, she’s giving you as much of a taste of culinary school one can get through a cookbook.
Unlike most, Sohla includes bits and pieces of her own journey, and divides the book into cooking techniques rather than general food category-specific chapters. Little blocks at the end of several recipes titled “Get Loose!” describe how you can add your own flair to a recipe. Another section at the end of the book, titled “Putting It Together,” outlines a few menus for a variety of occasions. She also frequently dives into the chemistry of different techniques and the history and cultural implications of different ingredients, adding intrigue and a greater level of understanding for the reader. In addition, each recipe includes a short spiel that details any tips and background for the recipe, as well as the typical level of difficulty, time to make, and number of servings.
I gathered a few friends (many from Spoon @ Berkeley) to test a few recipes with me. I chose ones that allowed me to try a variety of levels of difficulty. Additionally, the menu I made would allow me to both “Get Loose!” and follow a few recipes to the letter.
1st Course: Steamed Mussels with Sake and Coconut
The most difficult and time-consuming part of this dish was cleaning the mussels. Having cooked them before, I was aware of the extensive process required. However, I appreciated that Sohla included steps within the recipe detailing how to safely and efficiently clean them. Once the mussels were prepped, the rest of the recipe came together within 15 minutes to create a beautiful dish with a level of complexity that indicates a much longer and demanding cooking process than in reality.
The mussels were a great way to open the night, and were well enjoyed by everyone. I served them with a baguette to soak up the broth, but rice or noodles would also have worked well. Cindy, a Spoon Editor, said the soup was “light, but super flavorful… all the ingredients were very cohesive and balanced.” Ashley, a Spoon Photographer, noted that the tartness from the lime accompanied the richness of the mussels well.
2nd Course: Chilled Green Tahini Soba and I Promise It’s Good Poached Chicken
These dishes were great because I was able to prep almost everything ahead of time. I’ve never had sumac before, but it blew my mind when paired with the thinly sliced red onions and lemon juice. The red onion slaw looked beautiful atop the creamy green sauce-smothered soba, and tasted just as incredible. I served this with Sohla’s “I Promise It’s Good! Poached Chicken Breast.” I made it mostly out of skepticism: in my experience, poached chicken is a dry, flavorless dish that leaves much to be desired. If anyone could make it good, it would be Sohla—and make it good she did.
Asha, another Spoon Editor, seemed to share my sentiment regarding the chicken, and was just as surprised to find that, “it wasn’t stringy and it wasn’t dry.” Simon, a friend, and Ashley added to this, noting that it had a decent amount of flavor without overshadowing the soba. The soba dish itself was creamy and flavorful, balanced by the herbs in the dressing and complemented by the onions (Cindy and Ashley). However, we did find that without the red onion slaw, the soba felt incomplete—bad news for all the onion haters out there.
3rd Course: Ginger Guava Strawberry Cake
For the final dish, I knew I wanted to try one of Sohla’s cake recipes. However, in also wanting to “Get Loose!”, I decided to wait until I was grocery shopping to determine the specifics. While walking around the expansive produce section of Berkeley Bowl, a pile of guavas caught my eye. I grabbed some guava nectar and freeze-dried strawberries on my way out to incorporate the guava into the cake in multiple ways and add another fruit to (hopefully) enhance it.
The original recipe is Cardamom Pistachio Cake with Mango Whipped Cream—probably tasty in its own right—but I changed several components. Simon is allergic to nuts, so I omitted the nuts within the batter, substituting an equal weight of flour instead. I replaced the ground cardamom with ground ginger, the Mango Whipped Cream with a strawberry alternative, and added a guava curd on top.
The whipped cream ended up being the main highlight for everyone. The guava curd, which wasn’t incredibly flavorful to begin with, was lost under the strawberry in the cream, and the cake was very dense and a bit dry. Ashley noted that it would pair well with tea or as a scone-type of dessert. However, it was more than satisfactory for Cindy, who claimed she was full but still went in for seconds.
Many of these criticisms can be attributed to user error: omitting the nuts, which are typically pulsed into the dry ingredients with a food processor, may have contributed to a denser cake; I also likely overbaked it by 2 or 3 minutes, which would have only compounded the effects. The guava curd wasn’t very flavorful to begin with—the nectar I chose didn’t end up having a notable guava taste. I’m sure that if I had stuck with the true recipe, it would’ve turned out great, which truly only proves the purpose of the book: to teach through example and trial and error.
Overall, the recipes were fresh, engaging, and fun to make. From a student’s perspective, making coconut sake mussels isn’t incredibly accessible on the regular. However, both the poached chicken and green tahini soba were affordable, easy to make, and would work well as meal prep—you could even pair the green tahini sauce with other dishes to keep things from getting boring. Considering the beauty of the cake, it came together fairly easily and quickly.
START HERE features over 200 recipes, culinary lessons, tips for home chefs, and many other great features I haven’t mentioned. For the depth of information alone, I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their cooking and baking skills. In a world full of digitized recipes, it’s nice to have a tangible, user-friendly book that serves to teach the reader how to fundamentally be a better cook. It only reinforces my admiration for Sohla El-Waylly’s creativity, vast expanse of culinary knowledge, and personality while simultaneously reminding me of why I love cooking and baking in the first place.
