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cooked in butter is an ode to my grandmother.
my earliest memories of cooking were all with her. she ignited my love and passion for food as a child. as I lived in my parent’s homeland for a few years as a child, I witnessed her preparation of elaborate home-cooked meals every day. I sat near and got to help out as the cooking began in the afternoon and led into the evening just in time for dinner. I mixed, kneaded fresh dough, even mashed meats into the meat grinder for fresh ground meat. it was in these moments my love for cooking grew. the recipes and methods that I got the privilege to experience with my grandma, recipes passed down through all the women in my lineage, it was my history. these were the same dishes that nourished and fed my family for generations, from farm life to war and economic hardship. I knew as a kid these recipes were timeless.
later, my parents decided to permanently move to New York City when I was 8 years old. as the dinner table suddenly shrunk, I started reminiscing those moments with my grandma and getting to eat with family. having been severed from my family and cultural heritage, food is sometimes the only tie I have.
as a member of the diaspora, I can rethink the dishes I grew up with. growing up in NYC I also got the priceless experience and exposure to countless other flavors and cultures. food celebrates origins like nothing else.
on a solo trip back to the motherland in 2022, for the first time in 8 years, I got the opportunity to cook and eat with my grandmother again. I will never forget the aromas wafting through the home the morning after my flight. as we cooked together on my trip, just like we had when I was a kid, I noticed she solely cooks with butter, or olive oil, something we have lost in the US. every dish started with a healthy knob of butter gliding in the pan. and that is what inspired the name.
I have been cooking since I was 9 years old and it is my form of self-expression and celebration of my identity. cooked in butter is the record of the foods that I hold dear and foods that ignite me.
