In 'Big Heart Little Stove,' chef Erin French focuses on recipes and hospitality
Dec 28, 2023
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Chef Erin French, author of Big Heart Little Stove, shares her journey from addiction to culinary success. She discusses creating extraordinary meals, the welcoming atmosphere of her restaurant, and the challenges of staying centered amidst success.
Being a hostess is a powerful role that goes beyond serving food, by showing people you care, you can make them feel valued and create memorable experiences.
Simplicity and intentionality in both the environment and the food can create extraordinary moments for guests, and surrounding oneself with supportive individuals can help create a warm and loving atmosphere at a restaurant.
Deep dives
The Power of Hosting and Making People Feel Special
In this podcast, chef Aaron French discusses the importance of hosting and creating a special experience for guests. She emphasizes that being a hostess is a powerful role and goes beyond just serving food. By taking little steps to show people you care, you can make them feel valued and create memorable experiences. French views herself more as a hostess than a chef and strives to make her restaurant, The Lost Kitchen, feel like a welcoming and intimate space. She believes that simplicity and intentionality in both the environment and the food can create extraordinary moments for guests.
Finding Balance and Overcoming Challenges
Aaron French shares her personal journey of finding balance and overcoming challenges in her life and career. After struggling with addiction and experiencing a major life setback, she returned to her hometown and reevaluated her priorities. French decided to create a restaurant that reflects her values and provides a meaningful dining experience. She emphasizes the importance of not burning out herself or her staff, and this led to serving meals only two nights a week. French also highlights the importance of surrounding herself with supportive and like-minded individuals, including her female friends, who help create a warm and loving atmosphere at her restaurant.
Simple Food and Creating Extraordinary Moments
French believes in the power of simple food and creating extraordinary moments through thoughtful details. While her recipes are based on simple ingredients, she adds special touches to make each dish unique and memorable. She encourages readers to focus on the feeling they want to evoke through their hospitality, whether it's the choice of tablecloth, vintage candlesticks, or a bed of moss as a backdrop for serving oysters. Through her book, Big Heart, Little Stove, French aims to provide readers with the tools to transform ordinary moments into extraordinary ones and emphasizes that being a hostess is about creating an overall experience, not just about serving food.
For chef Erin French, a meal is about a lot more than the food on the table. Her new cookbook, Big Heart Little Stove, provides not only recipes from her family and famed Maine restaurant The Lost Kitchen, but also her philosophy for sprucing up a table setting or presenting a particular dish in a way that elevates the meaning of the entire experience. In today's episode, French speaks with Here & Now's Robin Young about the rocky road that led her to open her hit dining destination, and how the pandemic's reduced hours changed the way she runs her business.