Jenn de la Vega is a chef, cookbook author, caterer, and food stylist who recently made the leap to pursuing her culinary passions full time. On Drip, she shares the process behind her egg-centric food-art experimentations — and some seriously mouth-watering recipes. She’s currently curating a series of events at Babycastles Gallery in New York City that explore the complicated origins of comfort food.
She recently joined us for a Twitter AMA to answer questions from her fans, followers, and subscribers about her favorite ingredients, her go-to airline food alternatives, and how to dedicate yourself to your creative career full time. Read on for highlights from our conversation, and check out the full AMA — including Jenn’s NYC produce-shopping recommendations and some really great GIFs — here.
What ingredient do you think is most underrated, and how do you like to use it?
Anchovies and fish sauce! I know it sounds gross but they pack huge flavor. They’re the basis of some of my favorite dishes like bagna cauda, kinilaw, and nuoc mam cham sauce. Did you know that steak sauces and Worcestershire have a little bit of anchovy in them? They’re great base notes for Kansas City BBQ sauce.
If you’re vegan, ground up capers and miso are an awesome substitute for fish flavors. Use it to make soups and stir fry richer. Fold it into non-dairy butter and have it on toast!
If you could only work with five ingredients for the rest of your life, what would they be and why?
This is a brutal question! If you’re familiar with my projects, I like randomness and pretending that I’m on Chopped. I really do not like repeating myself. But if I really had to choose, I could live with fresh milk, wheat berries, a very fat live pig, salt, and chili crisp. If I were stuck in the middle of nowhere, I at least know how to make cheese and cure meats, and maybe I could figure out beer.
Also, if you’ve never had Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, you’re messing up. I’m also excited to try the Kickstarter-funded Fly By Jing chili sauce!
What are the best recipes for cleaning out a fridge?
I love this question. I am constantly running out of room in my fridge! My go-to dish is savory bread pudding. You take a bunch of staling bread and cube it. Toss it with a bit of milk or broth and eggs. Then you can layer in chopped veggies, shredded cheese, pesto, ends of hot sauce bottles — whatever, really! You can make it sweet with chopped fruit, jam mixed with milk, and lots of butter dotted throughout. You cover it and bake it at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, then uncover it for another 5 to 10 minutes for crisping up the top. I have a recipe here.
You’re about to hop on a long flight, and you know the airplane food is gonna be bad. What snacks do you make or bring to get you through the trip?
I do this a lot! TSA has a new rule about pulling the food out of your bag now, so I keep it in a dedicated bag that I can run through security separately. I’ve been bringing unassembled BLTs (because it’ll get soggy otherwise). Making it on the plane also kills time.
I’ve also brought hard cheeses, carrot sticks, and hearty greens like kale. I can bring a little 2 oz bottle of olive oil and mix it with mustard from a food court for dressing. I try to think of ways to improve the pretzels that I get on the flight, like bringing 3 oz of hummus. I recently bought a W&P Design Cocktail Kit for the plane; it has a cute little muddler and bitters.
What’s your advice for people who are thinking of quitting their day job to pursue their creative passion full time like you did, but are scared to take the leap?
It took me a long time to get to this point. I spent over eight years juggling my day jobs with my passion for cooking. I spent every waking moment studying, experimenting, and competing in cooking contests to hone my skills. There came a time where I started to feel momentum and confidence about my cooking career. More opportunities for collaboration and potential for happiness started to outweigh just tolerating a desk job.
I made a six-month plan to transition out of my job, move to an apartment with the space and equipment I needed, and got to work. My time as a Kickstarter Creator-in-Residence gave me time to breathe and figure out what my day-to-day could be. I’ve cultivated a food community over all these years, so for me, that meant going to events, entering contests, writing, and connecting as much as I could in the little time that I had.
Also, give yourself time to recover from burnout. I took two months off before I started getting hardcore into cooking and writing full time. One month, I tried to stay off the internet and go outside. The second, I figured out a daily routine.
My rules for working from home:
1. Read for at least 20 minutes
2. Write or test a recipe
3. Go outside, preferably see someone I know
4. Change out of my pajamas
5. No more emails or work in bed
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