Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice and her love of good food and good friends.

Chef Erin French takes an unflinching appr in her memoir, Finding Freedom Remaking a Life from scratch, published in 2021.

From her tween years literally slinging hash in her father's di to the challenges of toxic relat to her evolution into a beloved entrepreneur in s Maine.

French tells all.

I'm so glad to be sharing the ki with Ben Futa, owner of the Bota to discuss this gritty and gastr focused memoir.

Welcome, Ben.

It's my pleasure t So you immediately thought of th as something to do on the show?

I did, and it's because I resonate so d with Erin's experience as an entrepreneur, as a busines and also just for food, for flavors are phenomenal.

Well, and speaking of which, what are we going to make today?

So I'm going to be making Aaron' roasted butternut squash with apple slaw and then with black beans recipe.

That is a family recipe for us.

That, of course, has been doctor and changed in evolved over time Okay.

And I'm going to be making her fresh celery soup from her lost recipe book, and then a pomegran and cucumber salad with some min That'll be a nice little pop on the side of all of this.

So, tell us what you're getting with, and I just have to confess as a vegetarian, this sizzling pan of bacon smells outrageous.

So we've already already cooked off the bacon.

This is going to be used in both And so the biggest, most critica for me with this is we're saving The fat is what matters the most especially the next phase of wha we'll be doing.

So I'm just taking it out with a slotted spoon, so that we can utilize the pan a bit later.

All right.

And I'm just starting the celery by collecting some of the beauti fresh, celery leaves which have so much flavor in the And we're going to use those on as a little garnish.

Erin French really likes making that are beautiful.

Does this presentation matters?

So this is a memoir, but it's more than that.

We really see.

Well, how would you describe kind of the big picture of this?

I think you might have used the unflinching in your introduction and I think that that's that's pretty accurate.

But, you know, I think what is m both eye opening and refreshing is that she's not sugarcoating this journey of entrepreneurship because it is it's it's it's not for the faint of heart.

And I think especially she gets to this notion of reall knowing yourself and understandi what matters to you and how you find balance, becaus a, if you don't have those thing clarified before opening a busin it's going to be rough.

It's going to be rough.

Yes.

The small business.

Not small.

Independent local and independen My two favorite work.

That aspect is also really paral what's happening inside as she talks about her, her, evo So let's maybe talk about some of those early s in the book in her father's dine which are a little harrowing.

Yes.

Well, and it just so happen As I open the book, just as we were getting started, I open to the page of her frying bacon in the diner Oh, really?

So talk.

Talk about a little, magic.

A little bit of magic.

Yes.

But, yes, she started out very early on in her father's di Learning how to, you know, run t and be a basically a short order cook and keep up with the demand.

The high demand.

Of running a diner.

And that's sort of where it all began for her.

So, so much of what she's built the lost kitchen, and everything since has been sort of grounded in nostalgia and this deep personal relations to food and making people feel w and comfortable and welcome, which I think is really, you know, food and plants super superpower together.

Yes.

Very nice, very nice.

Yeah.

The she learns timing in t And even though the diner food, you know, it's it is just diner But she understands very early on the importance of the importance of making things with somebody particular in mind And even those early stages here And I'm just going to chop up so and garlic to be part of the bas What are you.

So I'm whipping, whipping togeth the dressing for the apple slaw.

And, if you haven't noticed, I'm shoot from the hip chef, which i I'm not a baker.

Because that doesn't translate to baking quite as well, but.

But a slaw, but a lot, you know, a little bit more oliv a little bit more vinegar.

It's The nice thing is, if you're making this at home, make it to It's it's it's an easy one to, evolve in that way.

And then that slaw could go on the side of other things as well Absolutely.

And part of what I love so much about these recipes toge the chicken with black beans and is they both utilize the oven at They both use the bacon in that sort of using all pieces of the ingredients, as we go.

Okay.

And I'm going to do this is one I think six bits of this, of this soup is you toast.

It starts by toasting in a dry hot pan or warm pan.

Some celery seed.

So it gets a little bit of a toa under under, tone.

Very indicative of the layered f in her cookbook.

And is the bacon your own?

The.

So, yes.

The tip.

Yes.

The bacon is my tradition.

It wouldn't be a feud, a dish without some bacon.

And, the the original recipe for the with black beans calls for pork But the bacon bacon works just f And just as easy to sort of adap So again, the bacon is going to in both recipes.

And the nice thing with this two it is an optional addition.

I'm only going to take a little The rest I'm going to reserve for the next recipe.

And then just nice and finely ch And this sort of can act as a ga the top of the salad.

Once rolled up.

What's a salad with that?

What's a salad without me?

Yeah, it wouldn't be.

We wouldn't be in the Midwest wi without it.

Right?

So I'm going to add the, little mirror at the bottom of t To get this started.

So after, Erin kind of gets tired of that small town life, she does make it to college.

She discovers a, she goes to Bos runs into what I would say is, you know, the first of many situations that are really connected to her So, so much of this book is in s a women's story, but so much is is more than that But she does find herself unexpectedly pregnant and, that the fact that she's a mother and to navigate motherhood in the mi so many other things is definite absolutely part of part of the s And she begins to start having h ideas about forming her own rest So maybe we can talk a little bi about what those and how her diner vision evolves into something.

Well, and and again, I think tha that diner history really made h think deeply about, simple flavo and comfortable, familiar flavor So, you know, she'll do things l how do we elevate that, strawberry shortcake that, you k we probably all had with the sto bought little molded cakes that, you know, are clearly not homema and clearly not of, of a kitchen But there's such deep nostalgia And I think we've all all grown having that at some point in our And so she's really and she's never gone to culinary She's all self-taught.

Most of this is behind, again, the counter in her father's dine And so thinking about how she ca those, those techniques to the sort of, method of cooking, essentially.

And I also want to mention.

So I just pulled out the other half of this recipe, the butternut squash cups that h roasting, for the last 45 minute There's butter, there's nutmeg, there's cinnamon a little bit of salt and pepper sugar all sort of baked into the And then the apple slaw is going to go right inside.

And I'll leave the bacon off of You can put it on.

But this is sort of, again, I lo this as a first course to this, if you're hosting, a dinner part This is a nice way to start the while the chicken is finishing o in the oven, which does take a f So it's also, instructive for me I think when I think of, acorn s or butter cup, I almost always serve it as a, a and then it's the whole dish.

But of course it could be quarte Yes, absolutely.

So and another, alteration that I've done in the past for t oh, mama's here in town, has thi cow based caramel this time of y And if you lose a little extra s and salty, drizzling that on is Oh, my gosh, incredible.

Yeah.

So that sounds wonderful.

So, Erin, in those early days, w and probably you identify with t somebody who's had to get a busi off the ground without much mone Yeah, she she has to find a plac for the restaurant, and, she walks into over and over locations that just seem ab Oh, yeah.

Let's do the research.

And what is her response to thes There's an abandoned mill.

There's other spaces.

I think she has a really incredible capa to see beauty in these, in these spaces that a lot of ot may look at as neglect or, you know, liabilities in a lot of other such situation Again, she has this ability to t you know, also simple things and just really go back to, you know, building all the table from scratch and choosing all the silverware and all of th making the napkins with her moth looks like so much intention goes into the space that she cre And I think is really inspiring us as a local business as well.

That's a lot of how we approach what we do as well.

Yeah, really making the most of almost no mon So and this has become part of h brand that is you know, she didn't have money to get a bunch of dishes.

So she goes to flea markets and, but there's also so much charact and all of these things as well.

Yeah.

Yes.

So, and she began by doing pop up dinners.

I've just added some vegetable b but you could certainly use chicken broth as well.

And this will just cook until everything is soft.

Whoops.

Got to add the potato.

Don't forget the potato.

Potatoes are Yes.

This does.

How dare we forget?

Starch does give it a little bit of cre and we'll blend the whole thing.

This this turns into a into a bi So she begins, The idea of having kind of exper pop up experiences, and she takes us along on that j early on, sometimes cooking in some really unusual p Absolutely.

She's got a she rehabs a Airstream trailer, and we'll see.

What are you rehabs?

The Airstre So I'm actually working ahead a little bit.

I'm getting my onion prepped for the chicken, and tha why I'm also leaving the cast ir So after frying the bacon, do not throw the fat away.

This is the most the most important ingredient.

For the next stage.

And again, onion fried in bacon.

Okay, you heard it here.

So we're going to take a little and you'll get to see some reall inspiring pictures of Erin Frenc at work in so many different loc We'll be right back.

Ben and I are having so much fun about Finding Freedom and cookin And that's dish.

So tell me what's going on here.

Yeah.

So we are getting the chic with black beans ready to go.

I have again we're using the bac from the very first step.

That's why it was really importa to keep it on hand.

I've also already browned off th And so with this chicken, it's g I did this one with Cajun season Pepper and salt.

Salt and pepper You could doctor this anywhere y within your your personal flavor But next, I'm going to keep this this beautiful bacon fat with th sticking is in there.

Toss in the onion and there's en Again, there's nothing better th and bacon together.

So again, you heard it here.

So, and I'm going to, in tribute to so many Erin French recipes, going to add butter.

She loves to this.

Since butter is a sacred, this, soup has been cooking down The vegetables are all very soft and so I'm gonna finish it with a little bit of butter, a little bit of cream, and I'm going to let that cool d a little bit, and then we'll use blender to, blend it all into a So I'll let this cool down a lit And then while that is getting a little less hot, I'm going to, start the salad, which starts with a little bit of red onion that I'm going to soften with, by masquerading it a little bit in some white wine So that will kind of take the edge off a little bit.

And we'll let's set that aside while I seed a pomegranate.

Oh awesome.

So and you're okay.

It is.

So the onions and again this after once everything is as this will go in the oven at 350 for at least three hours.

To get really get the meat tende So the onions don't have to be, cooked to perfection.

We're really just going for that translucent.

Yes.

And really.

And working to pick up all the p drippings for this one as well.

Okay.

So this is great.

And I'm doing sort of a coarse c for this, red onion so that the color will be visibl And here we go in a little bit of the white win So and speaking of white wine, we should talk a little bit about how much of this is an add and recovery memoir and really pretty brutal.

Yeah, I would say yes.

Well, and I think it's especiall because, you know, as we mentioned before like this journey of owning a bu it's not gentle, it's not easy.

And hours.

Yeah.

Especially in restaurant work.

Yes.

The hours the stress level is pretty incre on top of just owning a business to begin with.

And yes, that, you know, she's very transparent that is something she struggled and worked through.

But I think seeing I mean, she i I think one of the epitome of th is what can happen when you when through and get help and get sup But it also was really dark for It's a, it's yeah.

Any anyone who has been through has loved people who've been thr I think will really appreciate h her description.

So I'm going to, seed a pomegranate in, so it doe like I've murdered anyone.

Not this time.

I'm going to seed the pomegranate in water, which is my favorite way to do i So, you know, everybody has thei little strategy here, but I cut the ends off, and you can kind of pull this ap And this strategy preserves, in my experience, most of the whole seeds, which is what you're going to ne And so this is, this is it looks very it looks like a very therap It's very, very therapeutic to d So I'm going to just be sort of kind of rubbing these off into t And then, I just love doing this I think pomegranate is still on everything.

So.

So while you're doing that, reaching the stage of little gla All right.

So I have my dry white wine hand I would recommend dry.

Not a sweet for this.

And this is going to get all of sticking and drippings and all o from the chicken and the bacon into the sauce that essentially with the chicken here in a momen Okay.

Wow.

Also my favorite sound in the wo And again from the hip, it's lik was maybe a quarter to a half a Whatever.

Oh seems fine.

And really you can again doctor this around a little bit just in terms of how much liquid in your sauce at the very end.

Okay.

Yeah, it is beautiful.

And what is the story of this beautiful pan?

So it's like it's it's know some It has some.

Yeah.

So this one has been with me sin undergrad I think really early u And I won't tell you how many years it's been at this But this was, inherited.

So this didn't actually come fro within our family.

This came from a friend of the f I think a colleague, actually, one of my parents.

And that's one of the beauties o iron, is they are passed on.

They are inherited.

They are.

The more they've been used, the more they've been seasoned.

The more love that is in them.

And so, I mean, this gets used about 3 to 5 time probably in our kitchen at home.

I mean, this is the mainstay, piece of cookware really for our And it's got really nice deep si Yes.

And, so you share this with Erin Fren This desire to preserve, to use and dishes and things that have worked for a long time Yeah.

She's got a whole little thing a iron.

Does she does.

Yes.

She, she has a similar love with cast iron, I would say.

And in particular to just from a cooking perspecti I mean, these are so great becau they're going to go right to the They can they can bake, and they don't mind, but they al distribute heat so evenly and be It's really nice for again brown something like the chicken or sa onions like we're doing right no All right.

So it looks absolutely great.

I'm going to set this aside just for the moment and start cutting out some of my cucumbers.

So this salad is super simple.

Cucumbers, mint, salt, pepper a little bit of dried mea another layer in there.

And then just, just with lime ju So better do a few more of these This is so hilarious.

But I could only always like, ke So, takes 1 billion key limes?

N Yeah.

It takes, really just, juice from one lime.

Will, will probably mostly do it but I'm doing several here.

So, so once Erin French recovers I mean, part of this, she's, she's in a facility for a little True loss of dignity.

And and still she persists.

She.

Yeah.

And she begins to start over in But you just can't make this up.

It's called freedom main.

So the book title has maybe a couple of double mea Yes.

Yes, absolutely.

So she builds on all of the experience that she has had in the past, through her, you know, through her early care And again, this is when she come across a mill, this kind of abandoned mill that She's the queen of saying, oh, this has good bones.

Yes.

Yes, absolutely.

Oh, here come this, here come the black beans.

Yes.

So.

And these are just standard blac two cans typically.

And I put them in with the, with the sauce.

With the juice.

So I don't drain these out.

As this cooks in the oven for th few hours, it will dry out a lit So you need this liquid.

And then the final sort of finis are the bay leaves, just a couple of those dotted on the to sort of infuse the flavor as And the bacon that we reserved f one is going to get just sort of spread over the top so that it still cooks into it.

And again, I really brown well, I didn't really brown.

I could have browned it more, but it's cooked through just eno where it doesn't really have muc more cooking to do at this point So what happens in the oven then Just kind of the melding of flav rendering of really tenderize th I mean, when this is all said an the chicken literally should fall off the bo Really nice and tender, deep, deep flavors.

And yeah, it's a I would say, again, 350 for at l and a half to three hours.

In a perfect world, you can rush if you need to, but I wouldn't advise that one would you know e Well, this is a great like French would frown on.

Exactly.

Well, and this is such a great, you know, winter season, comfort kind of a vibe.

And I mean, it'll stick to your It'll stick to your ribs, all of those pieces.

And through the magic of televis this one is going to slide into And I'm going to pull out the one that I made last night.

All right.

Smell and fantastic.

And a different cast iron.

Okay.

I'm just layering in the cucumbe and the, these a slotted spoon h Some of the marinated onion and some more of the pomegranate and a little bit of salt and pep Flaky sea salt and pepper as we And, then I'm also going to just amazing, by the way.

Like so fresh.

Very.

Yeah.

This is, in winter months, this And citrus are the things that keep us aliv Very.

Yes.

So Aaron really has been a succe at this point.

You can go to her website and follow her on Substack.

And I mean, her restaurant at th point is so popular.

You need a it's a lottery.

Yes, it's a lottery to get into the restaurant.

Yes.

Okay.

Let's see.

I'm going to make a little noise So this just to show you, this blends completely.

I'll, I'll finish blending this a little bit, but the potatoes give this a super silky flavor h And, it really is nice.

Completely sm And we'll finish it off in the, final segment with a little bit softly whipped cream and some, s fresh celery leaves.

So, so we can learn a lot from this, person who continues to reinvent hersel and she really invites her whole family to participate.

You have some.

Yes, experience with this as wel We do, you know, in our local bu my mom is sort of beginning to f as our floral expert, working wi dried florals that we're growing So there's a lot of what, how the kitchen operates that's inspiring, how we operate That's great.

I see why you recommended this b And so we're going to take a lit You'll get to see some of the unusual spaces that Erin French and a sense of the interiors.

We'll be right back.

Oh.

I'm.

Then future and I have plated these beautiful dish inspired by Erin French's Findin Tell us about the dishes you need.

Absolutely.

So again, we started with the ro butternut squash with the apple and then the chicken with black Okay, gorgeous.

And I see you left the, bacon of personal touch.

Yes.

And I've made this, lovely fresh pomegranate and, mint and cucumber salad and Erin French's, creamy celery soup.

I'm going to top it off with a little bit of savory whip If you haven't ever had just a l of savory whipped cream, I haven Give it a whirl and a little bit celery leaf and pepper.

So, so what stays with you from and why might somebody want to r I think it's a story of resilien and reinvention.

And so I feel like if anyone is at a point in their where they are also feeling the need to do any of those two which I feel like a lot of us might be at this moment.

I think it's a really great plac to go to ground and to just get inspired and know that even as dark as it could be, there's there's some real beauty that can come out of darkness.

Yeah.

And I think real insights on what it's like to feel the responsibility of owning your own business, and the responsibility of others to support those businesses.

So I'm sure that the botany shop is here in town.

And also very proud that you're a graduate of IU South Bend.

Yea So the sustainability degrees have really taken hold.

So Erin French's memoir inspires all of us, I think, to, be ready to reinvent ourselves and to see, you know, anything from, from a hollowed out mill, an empty space, as full of poten any other part of our life we might walk into and say eithe this is a disaster or and also just invent embracing h Embracing home.

Yeah.

What a beautiful way to pu So, cooking fresh, cooking with ingredients in seas not forgetting that food should be beautiful and that, you're such a good place maker.

She also I think you, understand what it's like to make a place that people want to be.

So we hope you'll read this book Thanks so much for joining us.

I hope you read it.

Adventurousl And cook Adventurously, and we will see you next time on And about.

Oh, let's have a toast to you.

C This WNIT, local production has been made possibl by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice and her love of good food and good friends.