Mother Sauce: Now Available on Amazon

MOTHER SAUCE by Rozanne Gold
Four-time James Beard award-winning chef turns from food to poetry 

“This book was created by a singular poet - death doula, legendary chef, geographer of women’s souls - who writes with a memorable voice. Deft, wise, and delicate, the poems of Mother Sauce are powerful recipes for wisdom and compassion.”

—Annie Finch, author of Spells and A Poet’s Craft 

Brooklyn, New York (Dec. 27, 2022)   After more than four decades in the food world, award-winning chef, celebrated author, food writer, and international restaurant consultant Rozanne Gold turns her formidable creativity to poetry with her first poetry collection Mother Sauce published by Dancing Girl Press.   

Mother Sauce refers to the five classic sauces created by chef Auguste Escoffier, and the subsequent “daughter sauces” that form the basis of all French cuisine. This metaphor weaves itself through Gold’s “spare and deceptively simple” poems which, like her minimalist style of cooking, resound with unexpected complexity that “tease the senses and excavate bliss.”    

This poetic memoir, a bildungsroman, takes the writer from an unhappy childhood in Fresh Meadows, Queens, finding nourishment through men, to becoming a chef and food writer in order to nourish herself, and an end-of-life doula to deal with her grief after her mother’s death.

It’s about the heartache of "motherlessness" -- caught between not being one and not having one; a story of endometriosis; a powerful connection to Nefertiti, and what it means to become a poet in her 60s. It’s about trading the language of food for the language of words and images; it’s about the search for spiritual nourishment and what it means to become a mother at age 53; and what it means to care for dying people. It’s about a psychological dimension that gives rise to a city of women, of women carrying women home, and ultimately about God as a woman… the ultimate source of nourishment.  

Buoyed by her singular career, both glamorous and gritty, Gold delves deep into her own experiences of feeling unworthy, unseen, and taken for granted; taken from, not celebrated, known and yet not known. It is a quiet reclamation of the divine and the feminine in her later years.  And while Gold’s story is uniquely her own, women, men, humanity at large can relate in their own way to the book’s many steps, both in its path and pathos.

 “Mother Sauce is nourishment for the heart and soul. Exploring loss and joy in motherhood and motherlessness, these poems entice the reader into a feast of contemplation and experience. We are served a savory and well-balanced meal ranging from “how to grieve” to “how to peel a carrot.” From the Imaginative leap of the first poem – God as cook creating Mother Sauces – the culinary serves spiritual Inquiry, seasoned with everything from razzmatazz to gravitas.”  --Krista Leahy, Nothing but Light 

“With a chef’s touch Rozanne Gold’s debut chapbook exquisitely gathers memory, loss, and boundless love into a redolent bouquet garni. With a keen eye for lush detail and epic sweep through the sensorial necessity of food, Gold offers process, where a recipe holds the future, where we grow memories older than water. Step into this kitchen. There is nourishment here.” –Robert Balun, Acid Western and Traces

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rozanne Gold is an award-winning chef, food writer, journalist, and end-of-life doula. At age 23 she was first chef for New York Mayor Ed Koch and later the consulting chef for the Rainbow Room and Windows on the World. Considered “one of the most important innovators in the modern food world,” by Bob Spitz, (Julia Child’s biographer), she is the author of 13 acclaimed cookbooks, and winner of four James Beard Awards. Rozanne has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Gourmet and Bon Appetit, where she was entertaining columnist for five years. When Gourmet closed its doors, Gold bought their expansive library and donated it to New York University. After Hurricane Sandy, she ran a pop-up kitchen in Park Slope for 1-1/2 years, preparing 185,000 meals for those in need. A finalist of the 2020 Sappho Poetry Prize, she is a board member of Brooklyn Poets and co-founder of the Death & Living Project. 

DETAILS                      

Title: Mother Sauce
Author: Rozanne Gold
Publisher: Dancing Girl Press
ISBN #: 979-8-218-06304-7     
Price: $8.00
No. of pages/51  
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON    

Brooklyn Poets | Rozanne Gold

It was a great honor to be chosen "Poet of the Week" by BROOKLYN POETS from October 24th to the 30th. The timing coincided with the publication of my first poetry collection called Mother Sauce published by Dancing Girl Press (October 28, 2022). I was delighted to be interviewed by this esteemed organization dedicated to celebrating and cultivating the poets, poetry and literary heritage of Brooklyn, the birthplace of American poetry. You can read the full interview and listen to a recording of my poem Kitchen Work, chosen as a finalist for the 2020 Sappho Poetry Prize below. Mother Sauce can be purchased from Dancing Girl Press .

Click here to read the full interview.
Listen to Rozanne read her poem, “Kitchen Work.”

Brooklyn Magazine | The Life and Rhymes of Rozanne Gold

Oh, my God. Rozanne Gold — the four-time James Beard Award-winning chef known as “one of the most important innovators in the modern food world” per Julia Child’s biographer, Bob Spitz — has come for lunch.

I’m not sure why or how it seemed like a good idea at the time to offer to cook a meal for the author of 13 cookbooks, but here we are.

Lauded as a food influencer before everyone was some kind of influencer, she seems to have done it all: At age 23 she was living at Gracie Mansion as the private chef for Mayor Ed Koch, and by the time she was 40, she had cooked for a president, prime minister and brigadier general; created the original menus for both the Rainbow Room and Windows on the World; helped usher in the small-plate craze; and written her first book, “Little Meals: A Great New Way to Eat and Cook.”

Click here to read the complete article in Brooklyn Magazine

Tastes of the Month

It’s been a splendid month of tastes, many now taking place beyond the four walls of my own Brooklyn kitchen.  From the summer’s first lobster roll at Captain Scott’s Lobster Dock in New London, Connecticut, to the exquisite cuisine of Persia by way of Brooklyn’s Sofreh; from the gorgeous beet, fennel and goat cheese salad at Trattoria Bianca (in the New Yorker Hotel), to the four-course tasting dinner on the patio at Claro; from a stalwart tuna salad on seeded rye at the New Amity on Madison Avenue, to the fabulous aged burger with bacon jam and taleggio at Tribeca’s Kitchen, many restaurants are humming.  Loudly.   Add to that, the cacaphony at home.  From a bag full of voluptuous heirloom tomatoes from Saturday’s farmer’s market (um, $18 worth), sliced thick and drizzled with my friend’s organic olive oil (by way of Los Olivos, California and her amazing company, Global Gardens), to the always-fun whirl of pesto made entirely from the basil on my windowsill; from roasted cod and buttery corn consumed in our flowering backyard, to the ripe flesh of succulent nectarines (from Coney Island Avenue where good fruit is both a luxury and commodity), our chins have been sticky with the juice of summer.

Tostada de esquites (heirloom corn, bottarga, queso fresco)

But first, Claro.  Located on Third Avenue off Union Street in Brooklyn (an exuberant 15-minute downhill walk from our house), this early-on trendy dining spot, boasting the authentic flavors (and ingredients) from Oaxaca,  both surprised and surpassed a memory of a pre-Covid meal there long ago. First time around, their menu was prickly and oddball, so there was nothing I really cared to eat or drink; except for the freshly-made charcoal blue-gray tortillas, and anything that sounded remotely bug-free. The menu, with its cricket vinaigrette and challenging wine list, had me order, instead, a large glass of tequila (my first) on the rocks (lime wedge on the side).  My husband told me I never stopped talking.  (Wine does not have that affect on me).  Although I love the word “claro” and recently used it in a poem, I never had the urge to return. 

Aguachile (scallops, melon, serrano)

But our friend, the food journalist from Newsday, was eager to try it and we’re so glad we did.  Sitting outside at a wonderful stone bar overlooking a towering kitchen window, we pretended we just landed in Mexico. The food was mostly exceptional (and even worth its $72 prix fixe, four-course meal). In fact, the first courses (we each tried something different) would together have created one of the best meals I’ve had all year: Aguachile (scallops, galia melon, serrano); Tostada de esquites (heirloom corn, bottarga, queso fresco, chintextle); and Tosdada de Tuna (Montauk yellowfin, salsa negra, puffed amaranth) were sensational.  Mole rojo with pork cheeks and pea shoots, and mole negro with pekin duck, potato and spring onion were also excellent and although complex, were a tad sweet.  Full to the brim, after our last bites of churros and arroz con leche, we welcomed the walk (uphill) back home, clutching chocolate bars given to us by Shari, the seriously experienced and brilliant host, who explained the micro-batch collaboration between La Rifa and Claro BK (#elchocolaterifa).  Recommended with a shot of mescal (their list is extensive).

And then there’s Sofreh. One of my very favorite places to dine in New York, with extraordinary tastes that linger still, deserves a blog post of its own. Coming soon.

Three Hours In Greenpoint

The sun broke abruptly through an Elsa-whipped sky of rain and clouds and we jumped in the car eager to book a spot at the Faurschou Foundation in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. We’d tried to visit the oddly-sited private museum once before, only to find it closed, and feared it could happen again. Located on a sleepy street of warehouses, black glass apartment towers and low-rise homes of red brick or wood, it was indeed open, and we were greeted by a hipster who was both gate-keeper and cheerleader. In less than twenty minutes we were transformed by the exhibit of sculptor Christian Lemmerz.

Clearly we were witnessing the future in the eerie power of five marble human forms chiseled by computer, in the way I imagine one experienced the power (or divinity) in Michelangelo’s “David” ages ago. Whereas the latter embodies the grandiloquence of the human body, Lemmerz subverts the human form into figures that feel at home in “the night of the living dead” and yet possess unimaginable grace and religiosity (although I am certain the German-born artist would scoff at that word). And yet. Lemmerz works in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Pietrasanta (Italy) where we coincidentally are headed this summer. Maybe we’ll run into him at the quarries in Carrara. The Faurschou Foundation, headquartered in Copenhagen and Beijing, was established in 2011 to exhibit important works of contemporary art and foster dialogue between the East and West. It opened in this “becoming” area of Brooklyn in 2019. The museum is free and will, next year, house a restaurant by a well-known Danish chef. Coincidentally, there is a timely article in the New York Times today about technology, robots, and the future of sculpture.

If you’re hungry now, at it’s 5 p.m., head over to Madre’s, around the corner on Franklin Street (and next to the tony Franklin Guesthouse, who knew?). Lurking behind two imposing wooded doors, is a trendy place to dine on croquetas with gruyere, black truffle and vinegar powder, fluke ceviche with coconut leche de tigre, artic char with spring onion dashi, fava beans & wild mushrooms, chicken with papas bravas, spiced jus & salsa verde, accompanied by a great selection of drinks.

The Springs

Or, if you’re ready to party in a huge outdoor patio with pink flamingos, sofas and tents, a food truck, Tivoli lights, and a welcoming GREENPOINT mural, try The Springs “inspired by the retro oasis vibes of Southern California.” You can have a Aperol slushy and a side of guate-yucca fries. Why not.

More our speed (since we are probably decades older than most who hang out here), was shopping at AS Warehouse, a Polish authentic-as-they-come smoked meat-smoked fish herring-kielbasa-fresh sauerkraut-homemade pickle-food emporium. It made us so hungry we shared a stuffed cabbage in the car and bought a mess of sausages, porky and aromatic, strewn with sweetly cooked peppers and onions, atop a mound of fresh-cooked buckwheat groats to take home for dinner. Three hours in Greenpoint.

Faurschou Foundation/ 148 Green Street
Madre /214 Franklin St
The Springs/ 224 Franklin St.
AS Warehouse/276 McGuinness Blvd.

One Woman Kitchen: Allison Kave of Butter and Scotch - Queen of Baked Goods and Booze

Allison Kave is this week's awesome guest on "One Woman Kitchen." The co-owner of the trendy "Butter & Scotch" in Brooklyn, where cakes and cocktails happily coalesce, she is the author of "First Prize Pies" and co-author of the "Butter & Scotch Cookbook." Once upon a time Allison may have been a successful gallerist and art historian, but now she's happier than ever as social activist, community-builder, brilliant conversationalist, and hipster restaurateur. Get ready for the world's best pie crust recipe and a kitchen tip of my own.

Listen here and subscribe!

One Year Later: 100,000 Meals

Come volunteer with us!  Everyone is welcome.  CBE Feeds (at Congregation Beth Elohim, Garfield and 8th Avenue) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Monday thru Friday, every week, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. For more info: rozannegold@mindspring.com

Like most chefs, I'm used to feeding people in good times.

But one year ago, I began a pop-up emergency operation in the second floor kitchen of a synagogue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and as of today, along with hundreds of volunteers, have prepared and delivered our 100,000th meal to victims of Hurricane Sandy.

At midnight after the storm, Andy Bachman, a social-activist Rabbi, fired off an email to his congregation: He was looking for a way to feed several hundred people at a nearby Armory for a few days. These poor souls had been uprooted from the city's nursing homes. Some were old, some were sick, and others in desperate need of a warm meal. I woke my husband and said...we need to do something. Credit card in hand, we raided our local Key Food and bought everything we could carry.

When we arrived at the shul, a platoon of volunteers was waiting. Within several hours, together we made 600 sandwiches. The next day, 1,000.

Everyone wanted to do something. We had few pots, pans or utensils but we managed. I asked everyone I knew for a dozen hard-boiled eggs and a loaf of bread. This simple request demonstrated the amazing power of community. Within 24 hours we were peeling thousands of eggs for sandwiches. Without everyone's involvement, we would not have been able to reach our goals those first few days.

Cooking was one thing, but how to get the food to those in need? Many people had little fuel in their cars and gas stations were shuttered. More volunteers became the beneficent commanders who located drivers and dispatched them to the most vulnerable areas. They ensured that our promise was delivered from that day forward.

The next day Rabbi Bachman made another request. In addition to 2500 sandwiches, he told us he wanted to prepare 500 hot meals. My husband ran home to get his cleaver and we bought and hacked up 150 chickens from Costco. We made mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables and sent out cookies (and fruit when we could find it.) The next day, we did it again....and again...and again. We made sandwiches and cooked up whatever raw ingredients were donated to us. The chapel was filled with potatoes, onions and fresh green beans and canned vegetables. The upstairs ballroom, where meals were assembled, resembled an outsized army mess test. We cooked for 3000 hungry people that first Sunday after the storm.

We operated this way for months -- feeding people without homes, without kitchens, without power, people who lived near markets that had no food.

That's when it struck me: I realized that I never knew anyone who was truly, chronically, hungry. After all, at the age of 23, as first chef to New York Mayor Ed Koch, I knew more about catering political parties than hunger on the streets. Later, as consulting chef to the Rainbow Room and Windows on the World, I fed happier people in happier times, that is, until another tragedy took hold. But Sandy brought to my door the reality that people very close to my community grapple with hunger every day. Our kitchen, affectionately known as CBE Feeds, was able to lift some of that worry. Yes, with food and sandwiches -- but also with spiritual nourishment -- we showed up day after day, provided hope and connection, and proved that we cared.

The kitchen has become its own sacred space. Volunteers arrive from everywhere -- from Staten Island, Riverdale, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and from all over Manhattan, church groups from Ohio, students from Harvard Divinity School. During the Christmas holidays there were people from California and Washington State, from Israel and France.

In the beginning, Anne Hathaway heard about our efforts and came to lend support. And so did Natan Sharansky who'd heard how we'd helped the Russian communities in Brighton and Manhattan Beach.

Today we feed those-in-need in the Gravesend housing projects, hungry students at the Red Hook Initiative, abused women and their children at the Sea and Salt Mission, volunteer construction workers rebuilding homes in Coney Island, and displaced folks at Chips.

My main job is not to make sandwiches, but to honor everyone who walks through the kitchen door. We ask their names and are eager to hear their stories. One woman who touched my heart had lost her Far Rockaway home yet came every day to cook for those who were less fortunate. She felt lucky; she had a friend in Park Slope to spend time with. We didn't see her for awhile, her name was Alice, but then she came to the kitchen several more times. "We missed you," we all said. Do you have a home, now? No, she replied, but I still want to help. That was months ago. Miraculously, Alice appeared at the kitchen today. One year later, still no home, but still eager to make a chicken salad sandwich.

For those of you who pitched in after the Storm, you know that this work is its own reward. Some 2,800 volunteers have walked through our kitchen doors, and with amazing grace put on a hair net and gloves and, one year later, continue to prepare food for others, with little more than a thank you and a cup of coffee. The need is still great, so join us -- you might meet Alice.

For Illuminated Foodies and Cookbook Lovers: Come Join Me at "Brooklyn by the Book"

on Wednesday evening, October 24, 2012. I'm delighted to be part of a sparkling initiative created by two Brooklyn institutions -- Congregation Beth Elohim and Community Bookstore -- as they launch a new literary forum.  At "Brooklyn by the Book's" first food event, I will have the pleasure of interviewing the celebrated authors of JERUSALEM: A Cookbook and engage in a lively conversation about their gastronomic journey and culinary inspirations.  Hope to see you next week in Park Slope.  Share with all your Brooklyn friends! More information below (click to enlarge).

Cold SpaghettiOs and Tastes of the Week

The impending hurricane had us scurrying to a local supermarket in Jeffersonville, New York to gather some goods before we headed back to Park Slope. As suggested by camp officials, we brought our daughter home from French Woods one day early. "What to eat?" we asked ourselves, if we're to lose electricity during the storm. "Beans, "I said to my husband. "I'll make some beans."  "You can't," he replied, "nor can you make your morning coffee." (Our oven needs a jolt of electricity to work.)  "Wow, I thought."  Our daughter doesn't eat fish and we can't heat anything up, so what does one eat, I muttered, as we sauntered up and down the aisles.  I really had to laugh as we pulled baked beans off the shelf (cold? could be good!); canned corn, breakfast cereal, peanut butter, applesauce, mandarin oranges, and spaghettiOs.  Yes, we did. Other tastes of the week included:

Fabulous gelato at Grom in the New York's Greenwich Village:  espresso gelato and crema di Grom (with nubbins of corn biscuits and shaved chocolate).  A great marriage of flavors.  Luxurious texture.

Such a delicious feijoada and pernil (roast pork) -- washed down with a couple of glasses of pinot noir-like Zweigelt (from Austria) at Samba Cafe in Jeffersonville, New York.   More about that tomorrow!

Two wonderful salads at our daughter's camp! (French Woods for the Performing Arts.)  Roasted sweet potato and white bean salad (with a touch of vinegar and curry), and one of best couscous salads I've had.  Will try to get the recipe -- will feed 800!

A great seasonal summer tomato salad with buffalo mozzarella, wood-fired olives, and a credible Pizza Margherita at the Park Slope hotspot, Franny's.

Robust, savory, yum cannelloni filled with lamb and some unknown (but knowable) pungent cheese at Tarallucci e Vino on East 18th Street in NY.

Good white-and-yellow corn on the cob from Key Food.  Really.

And...a great, rare burger at Slainte (Irish bar) on the Bowery.  Decent house red.  Cheap.  Good fries.

Tastes of the Week

August 15  through August 21 A delicious, intense cafe cortado (espresso with milk foam) at the charming, tiny Italianesque coffee bar in Park Slope called Cafe Regular du Nord -- located on Berkeley off 7th Ave.   It is the only time I ever have milk in my coffee: I am a die-hard black coffee addict.  The cortado tastes like a special treat and better than dessert!

A wonderful salad of baby calamari and a sformata of polenta, gorgonzola and wild mushrooms at restaurant Da Andrea (across the street from the Quad Cinema where I saw Passione for the 2nd time!)  A glass of a good Montepulciano -- their house red wine.

An espresso upstairs at an adorable cafe called Adore (run by a Japanese man) whose customers are mostly Japanese.  A tiny secret on West 13th Street, where soups, sandwiches and other light food is also served.  It's a great place to hide, get hydrated, read, and stay cool.

Went to to uber-famous little pie shop in Brooklyn called Four & 20 Blackbirds.  The salty caramel apple pie and the strawberry-balsamic pie actually exceeded expectations. (3rd avenue and 7th street in Bklyn).

Not far from the pie shop, if you want some savory food before your pie, is Bar Tono which has style and good food.  Pizza looked good, so did my friend's burger, and my salad of wild arugula, roquefort, dried cranberries, and walnuts was delicious and ample.  (3rd avenue and 9th street in Bklyn).

Went to restaurant La Mangeoire on 2nd Avenue and 52nd street in Manhattan for the first time in over 30 years!   The 4-star chef Christian Delouvrier is cooking there!  Lovely stuffed sepia, calves liver with caramelized onions (you hardly find that any more!), Provencal vegetable tart, even chocolate mousse for dessert.  What a lovely trip down memory lane.  Gerard, the owner, is charming.

Another amazing coffee -- this time a "macchiato" -- an espresso with just a dab of steamed milk, on the rooftop of Eataly at the new Birreria.  A credible offering of paper-thin slices of coppa with good bread and olive oil, and excellent Prosecco poured from a magnum in a beautiful glass. Nice touch.

Great chorizos in dry sherry at Cafe Espagnol off 7th Avenue in NYC.  Such an institution, I've wanted to go for decades but finally did.  My husband and I shared a bottle of good Rioja and pork chops with peppers, onions and sausages (awash in an old-fashioned, finger-licking brown sauce).

A dish at home of succulent pork "tonnato" (it's usually made with veal) blanketed in a velvety sauce of tuna, olive oil, mayonnaise, white wine reduction, background perfume of garlic, rosemary and bay.  As a garnish, lots of capers and a unique touch of whole leaves of fried sage!  Really good!

Sherry, Anyone?

A little more than six months ago, Alessandro Piliego opened a sleek, inviting tapas bar, and decked the walls with Botero paintings and high shelves teeming with sherry bottles. The hanging rustic chandeliers cast a warm glow along the bar and caress the tall tables and high-back stools where one sips and sups small plates of Spanish food.  Located on the burgeoning end of Court Street in Brooklyn, near the now-famous Prime Meats and Buttermilk Channel, Alessandro named his place Palo Cortado, and I asked him what it meant.  Something new to me, although I am an avid fan of fino sherry, palo cortado is a style of sherry, slightly richer than oloroso.  To that end, he could have similarly named his tapas bar, Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Oloroso, Moscatel, or Pedro Ximenez, as each is a different type of sherry along the spectrum of very dry to very sweet. I was delighted to learn about this and even more delighted to drink it.  These fortified wines deserve more respect.  The varying descriptors of their flavor profile are rich and include, unlike wine, words like salty and nutty.  They are great companions to authentic, and not-so-authentic, tapas -- at once both piquant and lusty. It was fun to share the night with the food maven, Arthur Schwartz, whose birthday we were celebrating, and Bob Harned, who had not been to Palo Cortado since it opened.  They did, however, know Alessandro and had been to a tasting in the summer.   If I could order 5 servings of the patatas bravas for myself, I would have.  At $4 a plate, that would be bargain. They were exceptional: small cubes of perfectly fried potatoes laced with aioli and Rioja sauces.  We had delicious octopus (pulpo a la gallega) served with small potato discs and a pimenton vinaigrette.  Next came spiced lamb meatballs with mint-cucumber yogurt and preserved lemon, and piquillo rellenos -- small roasted peppers stuffed with chicken and cheese, served with a white bean puree and pepitas.  We enjoyed fabulous mixed olives and briny caperberries and acidic boquerones, which are marinated white anchovies with capers, garlic and parsley.  These two palate openers went especially well with the super-dry, and slightly salty, mineral-y, manzanilla that we had.  We moved on to a delicious full-bodied Rioja.  Instead of birthday cake, Alessandro brought something brilliant to try:  Medjool dates marinated in sherry with vanilla yogurt mousse and roasted almonds.  Happy Birthday Arthur, and muchos gracias to Alessandro.

I offer you one of my most radically simple and delicious tapas to serve at home.  Fatty and rich, these chorizos will taste wonderful with a glass of cellar-temperature Amontillado, or...Palo Cortado!  (located at 520 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY.  tel: (718) 407-0047). Grilled Chorizos in Red Wine In a shallow ovenproof dish (a small paella pan is great), slice 8 ounces chorizo or pepperoni 1/4-inch thick.  Place flat-side down, 1/4-inch apart.  Pour 1/2 cup red wine to come halfway up the sides of chorizo.  Preheat broiler.  Broil 6 to 8 minutes until crispy.  Spoon pan juices on top.  Sprinkle with finely slivered cilantro.  Serves 4