Having released 'Food Between Friends: A Cookbook' with Julie Tanous, the 'Modern Family' star admits he became more inventive in the kitchen after encounter with domestic guru Martha Stewart.
- Mar 20, 2021
AceShowbiz - Actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson decided to start writing down the recipes which formed the basis of his new cookbook after a failed attempt at penning his memoir.
The "Modern Family" star has just released "Food Between Friends: A Cookbook", which he created with his best pal Julie Tanous, but admits he never expected the little project to actually be published, because that was never his intention.
"I always thought maybe I'll write a memoir or something. Or a book of funny essays," he shared on the "Just for Variety" podcast. "I sort of tried and then I got writer's block and I felt overwhelmed by it. It's not like I even had a book deal to do that, I was just like, maybe I'll do it for myself and just see if I can sell it."
Jesse continued, "With this cookbook, I had a blog that I developed with my friend, Julie, called julieandjessecook.com... That's where we just housed all these recipes we were developing together and then Clarkson Potter, the publishing house, approached us and said, 'Let's turn this into a book.' And it took them having the confidence in us to actually do it."
The actor admits he only started growing passionate about cooking later in life, when he moved to Los Angeles, and it was a promotional appearance on a cooking show with domestic guru Martha Stewart which gave Jesse the inspiration to start being more inventive in the kitchen.
"When I was doing press for 'Modern Family', I got to be on Martha Stewart's show and I got to cook with her a little bit," he recalled. "I felt like, 'I'm not bad at this, I think I can do it.' "
And working on the cookbook has helped Jesse overcome his fear of making pie crust from scratch.
"Julie, my cooking partner, is a really good baker so she has taught me a lot," he said. "One of the things she really helped me get over was my fear of pie crust. I just could not do a good pie crust. Like a deep fear of pie crust. Not eating it, but making it."
"There's like, three ingredients in pie crust, but if they're not at the right temperature or added at the right time, you're screwed. I've cried over the pie crusts that I've tried to make, like, with flour all over my kitchen and all over my face."
"Julie walked me through everything I was doing wrong. The first thing I was doing wrong was not breathing. I just was just so tense about pie crust!"
