Brookhaven gourmet dishes new recipes

NICOLE SGROI

When it comes to the culinary space, Andy Baraghani has spent many years of his life refining his craft and completely immersing himself in the world of cuisine. From preparing onions and making stock to standing behind the line at some of New York City’s best restaurants, Baraghani has done it all. Now, Baraghani is sharing his love of food and the techniques he has learned throughout his career with home cooks around the world in his cookbook, “The Cook You Want to Be,” due out May 24.

Between keeping up with his more than 300,000 Instagram followers and traveling back and forth between his residency in New York City and his cozy home in Brookhaven, Baraghani still makes time to experiment in the kitchen. Raised in an Iranian household in the East Bay region of California, Baraghani’s love of food began at a young age. In the late 1970s, both his parents left Iran to come to the United States, making Baraghani the first generation. Iranian culture played a huge role in shaping his childhood, and he grew up consuming Iranian cuisine for most of his adolescence.

When it comes to his passion for cooking, Baraghani first developed a deep love for the actual consumption of food, and it wasn’t until he was about 10 years old that he developed a new love for the creative process of cooking. He started doing small experiments in the kitchen and let his imagination run wild.

A few years later, Baraghani became more interested in restaurants and was introduced to many different cuisines from all over the world, expanding his mainly Iranian palate. At the young age of 16, Baraghani wanted to gain professional experience in the industry and did his first internship at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. He worked his way from intern to line chef, and this experience gave him the foundation to turn cooking into a profession.

While studying at NYU, Baraghani continued to develop as a chef, working his way up to several restaurants across the city. Eventually an internship at his then favorite food magazine, saveuroffered him the opportunity to move from working in restaurants to working in test kitchens and entering the food media space.

After graduation, Baraghani spent a year at the Estela restaurant, in downtown New York, before being recruited to work at a “digital first food media publication.” Tasting table, for about two years. The bold choices he made when publishing it caught the attention of the national food magazine enjoy your meal, where he served as a senior food editor for six years. He left the publication a year ago to spend time finishing his debut cookbook due out at the end of this month. Did I mention he did all this without ever going to culinary school?

Baraghani discussed how he was asked to write a book a while ago, years before he even wanted to write a cookbook, but felt he wasn’t ready. “It didn’t feel like the right time. I felt like I had a lot of work to do and a lot of things to learn about myself as a cook and as a writer,” said Baraghani.

After three years of creating his cookbook from start to finish, Baraghani is ready and eager to share his masterpiece with the world. “The Cook You Want to Be” encompasses his Iranian culture and the lessons he has learned throughout his life working in two different eateries, restaurants and media.

“I know a lot of people in the food world, and they’re either very much in the restaurant space or the media space,” Baraghani said. “You really don’t see people going from one to the other. I made that switch and it allowed me to follow a trajectory that I hadn’t really planned. †

The pages of his book are filled with various recipes, photos, ingredients, techniques and essays about his childhood, travels, experiences in restaurants and more, showing his more personal side. By sharing his lessons, Baraghani hopes “that the home cook will take them and really apply them to their own cooking, so they can discover the cook they want to be.”

Baraghani started developing recipes for his cookbook in 2020. While some may think sitting at home during a pandemic should be great for productivity, for Baraghani it was the opposite. “My inspiration when it comes to the kitchen goes beyond the kitchen. It draws inspiration from my experiences visiting restaurants, living in New York, my travels, and those are the things that inspire me in the recipes I make,” says Baraghani.

Having been in the food media space for so long, Baraghani has been able to study many cookbooks, the trends that come and go, and have written recipes in many different ways. Baraghani recognizes how recipes act as a “template” for the cook to bring ingredients together to produce something delicious, and he hopes his own recipes serve the same purpose.

“My goal in writing these recipes is not just that, but to really make the reader feel like I’m there, where I’m encouraging them, where it’s not necessarily stiff and robotic, but I’m right there with their hand throughout the process,” said Baraghani. “I really had a goal when it came to developing recipes where it was so makeable that if I can make it in my small kitchen, anyone should be able to make it.”

What’s next for Baraghani? He embarks on a two-month book tour that includes book signings, parties, restaurant pop-ups, collaborations with other brands and more. Don’t worry, a stop on Long Island for his book tour is a “must and non-negotiable”. He also hopes to work on another book in the future.

Hardcover and autographed copies of “The Cook You Want to Be” are available for pre-order at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/ and can also be found everywhere where all books are sold on May 24th.