RACHEL REUBEN:
PLANNING PAYS OFF
In Rachel Reuben’s family, culinary skills are
intergenerational. The daughter of a holocaust survivor
who cooked professionally into her 80s, Reuben grew
up in Bergen County eating fresh food cooked at home.
Regular work in kitchens and bars led to a post-college
career in Los Angeles, catering for agents at William
Morris and celebrities such as Peter Falk and Michael
Keaton. She left the food service business while raising a
family, but was drawn to it again when touring culinary
schools with her son.
“I found myself leaping because I was reminded of my
mother, and because being a passionate cook has been the
through-line of my life,” she says. She enrolled in the
French Culinary Institute in Manhattan, and found that her
ability to speak French came in handy working with legendary chefs such as André Soltner and Jacques Pépin.
After graduating, she launched Food Fix Kitchen, her
mobile cooking school business; a triumph on the Food
Network show “Chopped” helped boost business. She
designed a farm-to-table style restaurant called Harvest on
the Rutgers University campus in New Brunswick, and currently conducts culinary tours of Italy in conjunction with
travel planner Carol Ketelson of Delectable Destinations.
The advice she gives to her students applies to holiday
hosts and hostesses. “Read a recipe from start to finish, and
pretend it’s a short story, with a beginning, middle and
end,” she says. “Look at the picture and ingredients, say
‘I’m going to make that,’ and visualize a happy ending.”
And: “In professional kitchens and on cooking shows,
everything is mise en place – in place, ready to be chopped,
sliced and diced before the cooking starts. Also, create a
production schedule three days out. If the meal is Friday
night, you can make the brownie batter two days earlier,
and keep it in the fridge. They can still come out fresh from
the oven when guests arrive, so you can enjoy the meal.” ➤
PLEASURES OF ITALY
Right: Olive/herb
Bagna Cauda over goat
cheese; smoked salmon
and dill goat cheese
roulade.
RACHEL REUBEN
PHOTOGRAPHED BY
ANNE-MARIE CARUSO
AT SALLY ROSS DESIGN
STUDIO
MAKEUP BY
SUSANA CANARIO,
MAKEUP ARTIST AT
BOBBI BROWN STUDIO
HOLIDAY 2016
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
39