Gale Gand Dishes Up Brunch at the Northbrook Public Library

Northbrook foodies got a sweet treat on Saturday when pastry chef Gale Gand came to the library to talk about her latest cookbook.

For a girl who began her cooking career mixing up mud pies for Life magazine at the age of 6 (her best friend’s father worked for the publication and used the neighborhood kids in a photo), Gand has come a long way.  Named Outstanding Pastry Chef by the James Beard Foundation and Pastry Chef of the year by Bon Appetit magazine in 2001, she has also appeared on Oprah, The Martha Stewart Show and Iron Chef America.  You might also know Gand as partner of the four-star downtown restaurant TRU and former host of Food Network’s Sweet Dreams.

On Saturday, she was in town to demonstrate recipes from her newest book, Gale Gand’s Brunch! 100 Fantastic Recipes For the Weekend’s Best Meal. 

In spite of all her accolades, Gand came across like the girl next door or the friendly neighbor you might run to when you’re out of sugar. A wife and mother of three, she grew up in Deerfield and currently resides in Riverwoods. While waiting for the auditorium to fill up, she shared the story of how she came up with the idea for an earlier cookbook, Chocolate and Vanilla.

 “I was pregnant with my twins and on bed rest,” she recalls, “and I was thinking about what two ingredients I could not live without.” The title of the book was her choice, she said, noting that chocolate and vanilla bean plants grow side by side in the rainforest—almost like fraternal twins.

She spoke about cooking recently for President Hu Jintao of China, who autographed her chef’s coat with the traditional Chinese characters.  “It took a few minutes and there I was, my face inches from the President of China!”  She jokes that now she can’t wash her favorite lucky coat.

Another favorite memory was the time she spent working with Julia Child in 1996, when the famous chef asked her to appear on the PBS show Baking With Julia. The emotional enormity of such a magical experience brought her to tears, she said. Back then, she recalls, she was shy and amazed that she was able to teach the renowned cook something new—cooking with phyllo dough. Gand does a hilarious (yet respectful) imitation of Julia Child’s instructions while they were filming at her home. “If you’re talking too much,” she recalls Child saying, “I’ll stick my thumb in your thigh.  After all,” Child apparently drawled, “It is my show!”

The idea for Gand’s most recent book came about when she began to feel overwhelmed at attempting dinner parties with small children at home. She realized that entertaining for brunch was easier, less expensive, and family friendly. (Also, no one tends to drink too much or end up staying overnight at brunch, she pointed out.)

She suggests serving one signature drink and simple make-ahead recipes, stressing easily accessible and inexpensive ingredients. She created a beautiful prosecco and dark red cherry juice cocktail and rimmed the glass with colored sugar.  Gand also demonstrated a make-ahead Pear Streusel Coffee Cake that came from her grandmother’s recipe and prepared crepes that could also be made in advance and assembled by guests right at the table. If you’d like your kids to help out, she noted, use the highest mixing bowl possible so ingredients don’t fly out.

Northbrook resident Susan Beal, who was in attendance, said she owns two of Gand’s cookbooks and first saw her speak at the Westin Hotel. “Her food’s good, that’s the important thing,” she said. “She uses easy ingredients and things come out nicely.”