I thank my editor at Little, Brown, Tracy Behar; my agent Richard Pine; my business partner, Richard Baxter; and my executive assistant, Nancy Olmstead, for their help in making this book possible. Working with them is always rewarding.
Producing a cookbook involves a lot of attention to detail. I could not have done this one without the assistance of a great team. First and foremost, I am indebted to my friend and colleague Rebecca Katz, a skilled chef and author of a number of excellent cookbooks who provided, vetted, and tested recipes, turned me on to ingredients and techniques new to me, and organized the manuscript with great proficiency. She, in turn, wishes to thank her colleagues Catherine McConkie and Jen Yasis for helping her with recipe testing, as well as her canine companions, Bella and Lola, who cleaned up scraps. Rebecca and I love to cook and teach together, and I look forward to more collaborations with her.
Dr. Jim Nicolai helped me test and refine recipes, as did Stacy Wrona, a chef in Tucson. Jeanie Linders provided a test kitchen that we put to good use. Jonathan Heindemause contributed recipes and ideas to the book, as did Kengo Ikeda, Paul Remer, Julie Burford, Nori Fletcher, and Stacy Wrona.
Ditte Isager of New York and Copenhagen, with whom I have worked before, did the outstanding photography in these pages. I am grateful that she made time in her busy schedule to do so; it is an invaluable addition.
Christine Rudolph was the prop stylist and Susie Theodorou the food stylist for the book.
Finally, I thank my own canine assistant, Ajax, who put his stamp of approval on most of the recipes and lent his name to one.