Food legend Sally Schmitt reflects on life after cooking in restaurants like the French Laundry

So I had to downsize my pantry, and learn more about what to do with leftovers. We would have breakfast, which we never did when we ran the French Laundry. There, I started the day with a cup of coffee and went right to work, waiting until lunchtime to eat anything. When Don and I moved to Elk, we always ate breakfast, often eggs, and once or twice a week, granola, which I’d make myself or buy from Margaret Fox, who had started the Café Beaujolais in Mendocino.

I continued to read cookbooks and magazines, always Saveur, sometimes Cook’s Illustrated or Food & Wine. I would get excited about cooking a recipe I came across, but nine times out of ten, I wouldn’t like it. So I’d simply go back to my old favorites. Sometimes, though, I did find something new that was appealing and fit into my regular routine, or a new combination of flavors, or even a new way of cutting vegetables.

My restaurant years taught me to be prepared, and I carried this training over to my life at home. While washing the breakfast dishes, I liked to think through the food for the rest of the day, since I liked to have all my ducks in a row. If dinner was to be a meat from the freezer, I would take it out to thaw, salting it so it would taste better. Almost without thinking about it, I would do what I could ahead of time, so I could concentrate on the sautéing and the seasoning just before dinner. If we were going to have something with a cream sauce that night, I would make it early and keep it on the back of the stove. The salad I would prepare and keep covered with a damp paper towel in the fridge to keep it cool.

Back when I was in my restaurant kitchen, I learned to have things ready to serve at the same time, and always made sure the food was either very hot, or cold. It was only during these later years in my kitchen in Elk that I learned how many flavors actually peaked at room temperature.

I’ve also learned not to fixate on measuring much, unless I’m baking, of course. You can learn what a half teaspoon looks like in the palm of your hand by practice. My ingredients became simpler. I stopped, for example, playing around with so many varieties of salt, and kept just two by the stove, Diamond Crystal kosher salt and Maldon sea salt flakes, which I could sprinkle on when I wanted a little crunch on top. I kept only one olive oil in the house, a really good one made in Modesto, and coconut oil for stir-frying. The only dried herb I used was Mexican oregano. For any other herb, I would just go out and pick what I needed. I almost always made my own stock, but kept a can in the pantry for emergency use. I also kept in my pantry rice, polenta, and pasta. My kitchen equipment was simple. No dishwashing machine, no garbage disposal, no microwave. But I had never had any of these in my home kitchen, so it was nothing new.

I never baked bread in my restaurants. I left it to the experts, who had the knowledge and equipment to do a good job. That didn’t change when we moved to Elk. There were good bakers up the road in Mendocino and Fort Bragg, and I felt it was important to support them by buying their bread.

Inevitably, whenever I would see friends or former customers, they would always ask me, “Do you cook for yourself at all anymore?”

“Of course I do,” I would say. “That’s what I do.” I can’t imagine life without cooking.

Reprinted from “Six California Kitchens” by Sally Schmitt with permission from Chronicle Books, 2022. Photographs © Troyce Hoffman. Email [email protected]

Green Eggs & Ham

Serves 6

The sauce in this recipe, adapted from Sally Schmitt’s “Six Kitchens” (Chronicle Books), was inspired by a creamy green salsa she tasted many years ago at Señor Pico in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square. The sauce eventually made its way to this Green Eggs & Ham, a tribute to Dr. Seuss, which became an Easter brunch tradition for decades.

1 bunch fresh parsley

1 bunch fresh cilantro, including tender stems, plus more for garnish

1 bunch green onions (white and light green parts)

2 cups half-and-half

½ tsp. salt, plus more to taste

1 green poblano pepper, charred, peeled and chopped

2 or 3 small jalapeño peppers, depending on how hot you want the sauce

8 tablespoons butter, divided

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 or 3 tablespoons chicken stock or cream, as needed

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

12 thin slices ham

3 English muffins, halved

6 eggs

Sweet red chile powder

To make the green sauce, chop coarsely the parsley, cilantro and green onions. Transfer to a blender and add half-and-half and salt. Purée until smooth. Add to the blender the poblano pepper and jalapeños. Purée until smooth.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Whisk in flour. Cook, stirring, until just starting to brown. Pour in the green sauce and cook, stirring, until it comes to a boil and thickens. If necessary, thin with chicken stock or cream until pourable. Remove from the heat and stir in cheese. Taste for seasoning and add salt, as needed, and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside, uncovered, until needed. A skin may form, but if you cover it while it’s hot, you may lose the beautiful bright green color.

Gently warm ham in a large skillet over low heat. Toast English muffins. Using a knife, spread 2 tablespoons butter on the muffins.

In another large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over low heat. Gently fry eggs, sunny-side up, just until the whites are firm.

To assemble the dish, gently reheat the green sauce, whisking smooth if necessary, and ladle a generous amount onto each plate. Top with a buttered English muffin half. Ladle more of the green sauce on the muffin. Place two slices of ham on each muffin half, and then a beautiful egg on top of it all. Garnish with cilantro and a sprinkle of sweet red chile powder. Serve immediately. Although best the first day, the sauce will keep, covered, for 3 to 5 days in the fridge.

Coffee Pots de Crème

Serves 6 to 8

“Six California Kitchens” is full of dessert recipes from Sally Schmitt, who prepared a nightly sweet at the French Laundry. These smooth coffee custards, which she preferred over the more common chocolate variety, were a favorite of her children and grandchildren scouring the fridge for leftovers.

2 cups half-and-half

3 tablespoons instant espresso coffee

1 cinnamon stick

½ cup egg yolks (from about 6 eggs)

½ cup sugar

Softly whipped cream, for serving

Chocolate-covered coffee beans or chocolate curls, for serving

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, scald half-and-half, instant espresso and cinnamon stick. Remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar gently to avoid having too much foam.

Add the hot half-and-half mixture slowly to the bowl in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Strain the mixture into a large heatproof measuring cup. Fill 6 to 8 ramekins or espresso cups and place in a baking or roasting pan.

Pour enough hot tap water into the pan to come about two-thirds up the sides of the ramekins. (Don’t pour in too much water because the ramekins will be difficult to lift out when they’re hot.) Bake until the custard is barely set, 30 to 50 minutes depending on how warm the mixture was to start. It should jiggle in the middle.

Let cool a little, and then lift the ramekins out of the pan, using a jar lifter if they’re still too hot. Then cool before serving, or refrigerate.

To serve, top each serving with a spoonful of softly whipped cream and chocolate-covered coffee beans or chocolate curls.