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My Ten
With a new show coming to Discovery+, the Barefoot Contessa discussed her passion for French butter, Nordic dramas and a very American musical.
Here is how Ina Garten described her style of cooking: “It’s simple and elegant. I like things that are the essential flavors they’re supposed to be, but they taste better than you expect.”
Garten is the past owner of the renowned Hamptons fine food store the Barefoot Contessa; the author of 12 best-selling cookbooks, with a 13th, “Go-To Dinners,” out in October; and the host of “Barefoot Contessa,” a legacy program on the Food Network. She was speaking, via video call, from her sleek studio kitchen in the barn adjacent to her East Hampton, N.Y., home.
She looked simple and elegant herself, in a denim work shirt and a blue-and-white silk scarf. A vase of orange ranunculus peeked out behind her, heralding spring. Her husband and occasional co-star, the economist Jeffrey Garten, remained offscreen.
She is not, by her own admission, a trained cook, and yet she has built a multimillion-dollar business selling her version of elevated, comforting home cookery — roast chicken, roast carrots, caramelized apple tart. Even in private, she follows her own recipes to the letter. “I don’t want to just throw things in,” she said. “I’m really a scientist.”
Another woman might rest on her homegrown laurels and pour herself an outsize cosmo, but Garten had recently finished shooting a new show, “Be My Guest with Ina Garten.” An hourlong version, featuring interviews with the likes of Julianna Margulies and Willie Geist, will debut on March 26 on Discovery+. A half-hour, food-focused version will run on the Food Network. There’s a companion podcast, too.
“I want it to be like you’re at a great dinner party. And you’re listening to a conversation that the people next to you are having,” she said.
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