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Loads of people, some of which have been acquaintances of mine for years, have slid in the DMs and asked for assistance/advice on how they can get their foot in the door. And my creator’s honest advice is: I don’t know.
I'm sharing my award-winning cookbook proposal with you so you can be as successful as you can when approaching agents and publishers with your idea.
This is a realistic approach to creating a cookbook proposal.
Included in this workshop
How to get an agent. Do I need an agent?
What is a cookbook proposal?
Cookbook and Recipe Style Sheet
You’ll receive my very own cookbook proposal and a cookbook proposal template courtesy of Claire Yee, Editor at Weldon Owen.
How to pitch a food editor at magazines like Food & Wine, including editor contacts
Learn about agents versus publishing lawyers, queries.
Building a platform, what is a platform and why it's important.
LIMITED NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIP TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE.
UPDATE: No one was interested in this class either. Two people signed up and it just wasn’t enough to justify the work that goes into it. I cancelled the class. And I think I’m done with trying to do these. LMAO! It’s hurting my ego.
I tried to offer some cooking classes last week, but no one was interested. It’s actually really hard to admit that. I had to cancel both of them. Either way, I’m trying again. This will be my first cooking class of 2023!
Califas Shrimp and Quesitos de Queso y Guayaba from Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook
There are two scholarship tickets available, for those who can’t swing the full price.
MAPO TOFU
Serves 4
Listen, I cheated. I used a pre-made seasoning packet for this recipe. And while I would have loved to have made The Woks of Life “real deal” version, I honestly don’t always feel like purchasing a lot of ingredients that I’ll only use for one recipe. It called for fried red chilies, Thai chilies, Sichuan peppercorns and spicy black bean paste. Am I a weakling when it comes to spicy food? Yup. Does that make it probably not a Mapo tofu now and probably just some basic ass pork and tofu dish? Possibly. Do I care? Ehhhhhhhhh.
I tried to see if Omsom had a sauce packet for Mapo Tofu, but the closest I could find was their Chinese Mala Salad Starter, which I’m sure is not the same thing? So, I went with the House Foods brand (a Japanese company) because…it was literally the only one they had at the store.
By the time I had added adobo seasoning and sofrito to the mix, I think I crossed the threshold of caring and there was no turning back. I doctored it up in only the way that my mother has shown me to add a little something of yourself to the dish.
1 tablespoon of oil
1 pound ground pork
1 tablespoon of unsalted adobo
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 - 5.9 ounce packet of Mapo Tofu, mild
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons of sofrito
Chili Crisp, to taste
Sriracha, to taste
1 pound soft tofu
In a 10” skillet or pan or pot, over medium high heat, bring your oil to temp. Add your ground pork to the hot oil and season with adobo. Add in your finger and garlic. Allow the meat to brown and the garlic and ginger to soften.
Add in your sauce packet and add water to the packet, ensuring you get all the residual sauce. Add sofrito, chili crisp, sriracha and simmer for a few minutes. Add in your tofu and simmer on medium low to low, for 15 minutes allowing the tofu to absorb the sauce.
Serve with white rice.
The next day I added a shit ton of lemongrass to the leftovers. It was insane.
NOTE: There are different spice levels when it comes to the Mapo tofu sauce packets. I used mild and build my spice to reach my tolerance. But, they also offer a medium spicy and spicy spicy!
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