spotlight B
(continued on page 21)
ack to the subject du jour, Skladany finalizes his Beyoncé menu. “I’d say I’m the most confident in my pasta. I would probably make her a risotto. It would have to be an Italian dish, and we would obviously be drinking some lemonade. Basically, every food reference in
Beyoncé’s songs, I would try to incorporate.” Skladany has always had a yen for diligence. “I was hardwired to be a creative
writer from a young age. I have early memories of other kids playing with BB guns and G.I. Joe, but I was home stapling loose-leaf papers together and writing my own book.” Sprinkling emphatic garnish on his sentiment, Skladany punctuates, “I’ve just
always had a passion for writing.” Generous to a fault, Skladany serves up the perfect segue to his new release, Basic Bitchen. “I feel like I’ve always expressed myself through writing. I’ve been very honest and open and it’s been very cathartic to me. I approached this cookbook in the same way.” When asked which Basic Bitchen recipe will resonate with readers, Skladany
answers with sweet brevity. “My chocolate chip cookies. Such a simple recipe, but that’s kinda what this book is all about: the universality of these dishes that everybody’s going to love. But for some reason, these damn cookies, people cannot get enough. There are just a bunch of little secrets like using sea salt or more brown sugar than white sugar. Just a bunch of little tweaks that help make it this big, fluffy, Instagram-able cookie, if you will. For some reason, after I posted it, people went nuts.” Social media doubles as a virtual dinner table for @JoeySkladany. For some
chefs, connection is merely a side dish, but for Skladany, it’s the main course. “Community means everything to me. When I was growing up, I was always
ostracized for being different. I actually found comfort surrounding myself with other people who were picked on because of their differences or were minorities. This book, I feel, is very celebratory of the fact that the commonality that we all share at the end of the day is we love good food. We love simple, basic food.”
22
ragemonthly.com | August 2020
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
