Jeremy(CuisineNet):
Welcome to CuisineNet Live. Our guest tonight will be Sheila Lukins, chef, cooking teacher, and author of several cookbooks, including the Silver Palate Cookbooks. We will be giving away three copies of her new USA Cookbook at the end of the chat. All chat participants who have entered their email addresses before entering the chat room are eligible to win. We will be announcing the winners at the end of the chat, and we will also be notifying the winners with email messages. This is a chat, so feel free to ask away about food, cookbooks, being a chef, or whatever comes to mind...

Sheila Lukins:
Hello everyone.

Jeremy(CuisineNet):
Can you tell us a little bit about your new cookbook?

Sheila Lukins:
I was on a book tour for the All Around the World Cookbook,and the first stop was Seattle, and it was June, and I was being fed 8 Pacific Northwest oysters -- they were so extraordinary -- and the first of the season's salmon. And there was a wonderful Oregon pinot noir to accompany that. Then the strawberries were in season, and I was living royally, and I was thinking, "What am I doing with food around the world when we have such wonderful food here?" My next stop was Portland, then San Francisco, and there was one of those little bags in the pocket of the seat in front of me on the plane. I took out a pencil and wrote down USA Cookbook, and I wrote the outline, and I got off the plane and called my editor and said, "I've got my next book," and she said, "Come home, I'll have a contract."

Sheila Lukins:
On this book tour, I haven't been inspired yet. But I have 40 cities ahead of me.

Sheila Lukins:
It took 3 years to write the cookbook, and I traveled and worked on the recipes that whole time. I didn't see chefs all over the country. These are my recipes, as in all my books. There are some instances, about 5% of the book, where there are other people's recipes, and they're accredited, but these are my recipes and I went to be inspired by the local ingredients in this country. I really went to learn about all the great ingredients in the country, to have these various ingredients inspire me. These ingredients are the core of my recipes, along with the culture and the civic pride behind the ingredients, and the farmers behind them. I didn't go and eat in fancy restaurants.

terryf:
Sheila, I want to thank you because on Mother's Day, we all feasted on your carrot cake recipe (from Silver Palate Cookbook), which is just scrumptious. I was wondering what recipes you think of as being among your all-time favorites?

Sheila Lukins:
The carrot cake! Ah, that's so wonderful -- that's my mother's recipe! And I was fortunate to spend Mother's Day with my mother!

Jeremy(CuisineNet):
What was the best meal you had while doing "research" for the USA Cookbook?

Sheila Lukins:
The best meal I had? That's too hard to answer. Once I got into barbeque country, forget it -- I'm the kind of person who, when they say "ribs or briscuit," I say "yes!" And I kept saying it all through Texas. I gained 35 pounds - and I lost it all. The best food as a whole was in the South. In general, from the mid-Atlantic down was the best.

Shanna:
Sheila, I just wanted to thank you: when I went off to college some years ago, my mom packed me off with a copy of the Silver Palate Cookbook and The New Basics. They served as the fundamental cookbooks for me, and even now I think of them as my "bibles." Thank you!

Sheila Lukins:
Shanna! You're Welcome!