Six California Kitchens is the title of a recently released cookbook that features just what the title says, but instead of profiling the kitchens of six different chefs, all of these kitchens were influential in the life of one California woman: Sally Schmitt.
“My grandmother was proud of being from California and lived here all of her life,” says Byron Hoffman, Sally’s grandson and the driving force behind the production of Six California Kitchens. Sally is widely considered integral to the foundation of what we now refer to as “California cuisine.” She sourced ingredients from her own farm, and other local farms, long before that became “the thing to do.” According to Byron, his grandmother always believed in eating what was fresh in each season, and her decades in the kitchen reflect that ethos.
It might seem like someone as influential in modern day cuisine would have been published before and, it’s true, Sally had written a previous cookbook, but at that time publishers considered California cuisine too “regional.” So she moved on. With five kids and several restaurants, the cookbook could wait. Family always came first.
The “six kitchens’’ of Sally Schmitt range from her mother’s, where she learned the foundations of cooking, slowly stirring pudding, to those of her three restaurants in Yountville, when the now-world-famous destination was just beginning to be noticed as a wine capital. Those were The Vintage Café, The Chutney Kitchen and The French Laundry. Yes, The French Laundry was founded by Sally and her husband, Don Schmitt. They sold it in 1993 to Thomas Keller—after a long search for the perfect suitor—and Keller took the restaurant’s reputation worldwide as Yountville and all of the Napa Valley exploded onto the wine and food scene.
According to family lore, Thomas Keller always kept a place for Sally and Don at The French Laundry, but the couple did not have a lot of time to enjoy being guests at fine-dining establishments— they were on to their next kitchen and much more. “Much more” included an apple orchard and large farm property in Philo (Mendocino County). The Apple Farm (kitchen number five) was a wreck when the family bought it, but with care, love and five [child] helpers, the farm became a destination for culinary education as well as delicious meals. For many years thereafter, Sally taught cooking classes to guests of the farm, many of whom were lucky enough to stay in cottages the family added to the property.
Sadly, Sally passed away shortly before the book was published, but she got to see it in draft form after a family “pitch” for the book at her 80th birthday gathering. Daughters Karen Bates and Kathy Hoffman had gathered Sally’s recipe cards and the entire family (and it’s a big one) contributed photos and recounted stories about their matriarch in her various kitchens, as well as at home.
Grandson Byron says he was determined to make the cookbook happen and calls Six California Kitchens a 10-year labor of love. The first printing by publisher Chronicle Books was 5,000 copies, which sold so quickly that the next printing was for 50,000 copies. The publisher has since announced it will be a “perennial cookbook,” never going out of print. And, yes, Chronicle Books was one of the publishers that had told Sally her first “California cuisine” book was too regional.
Sally’s philosophy for keeping a happy kitchen: “I was never into complexity. When I ate something, I wanted to know what I was tasting ... I liked to keep it calm in the kitchen. There was no throwing pots and pans around or angry chopping ... and I learned early on that a glass of wine never hurt the prep,” is one we would all do well to adopt, so thank you Byron, for your determination and persistence in getting this book published.
If you’re counting, kitchen number six was at Don and Sally’s home in Elk, California, where she cooked only for him, friends and family. Fortunately, her legacy and teachings live on in this wonderful cookbook.
Barbara Barrielle is a freelance wine, travel and food writer, as well as a film producer and PR consultant.
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