About the Author

Cal Peternell grew up on a small farm in New Jersey where his family tended vegetable gardens and raised an assortment of livestock. Convivial family dinners were a focal point of every day, when homegrown seasonal produce, eggs, and meats were enjoyed, opinions and stories shared. After graduating with a BFA in painting from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Cal and his wife, artist Kathleen Henderson, moved to Lucca, Italy, to pursue their art careers. While in Italy, the pervasive culture of food and wine was so seductive that, upon his return to the States, Cal embarked on a cooking career that started at Bix in San Francisco, c

Reviews

New York Times Bestseller -- New York Times IACP Cookbook Award Winner -- IACP "The best beginner's cookbook of the year, if not the decade. In addition to being warm, funny and smart, Twelve Recipes will actually teach you to cook... [Peternell] can nudge anyone, from novice to expert, to want to be a better cook... His wit and intelligence are apparent throughout." -- New York Times Book Review San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller -- San Francisco Chronicle "Delightful and instructive... Marked by Peternell's zeal for good, simple food, this title takes a very different approach from cooking handbooks that emphasize science or technical precision." -- Library Journal (starred review) "[A] smart new cookbook...written for new cooks, for uncertain cooks, for good cooks looking for simple inspiration, for anyone wrestling with a New Year's resolution to cook more and better...The recipes are narratives, written conversationally, like excellent emails from a friend explaining how to make bechamel." -- Sam Sifton, New York Times A Best Food Book of 2014... "Encouraging and discursive... Peternell [teaches] the oldest of his three sons how to cook... a skill he realized he'd neglected to pass along while he was growing up, even if Alice Waters in her foreword calls Peternell 'one of the greatest teachers I know." -- The Atlantic "Warm, funny, and full of cool recipes. [Cal Peternell's] decades of working at Chez Panisse are molded into solid, grounded advice for cooks who are just starting out." -- Refinery29.com "Chef Peternell offers an informal crash course in the "big 12" recipes "at the heart of home cooking"... Essays have an inviting personal tone, and Peternell encourages cooks to use good sense, relax, and enjoy the unexpected pleasures that come with cooking for yourself and for others." -- Publishers Weekly "This book is very much a representation of the chef's home cooking-nothing fancy, but all prepared properly...The tips and tricks he shares throughout might be game-changers...This is a fun read." -- Yahoo! Food "Many consider chefs culinary artists, but Peternell, of Berkeley's Chez Panisse, actually has a degree in painting. Art runs in the family: His wife and sons added whimsical illustrations to this already beautiful book." -- Entertainment Weekly "His tone is casual and conversational, and makes you feel you have a friend in the kitchen with you, cheering you on... If you feel you could use help with the basics... this is the book for you. More seasoned cooks... there's plenty here of interest for us, too." -- SF Weekly "Practical and very funny... I could not put this book down." -- Huffington Post "I love this book above all for the felicity of Cal Peternell's writing. It puts me right there, with no sense of artifice or forcedness. It's simply him, and his family, and his food, and it all seems so comfortable and real and immediate. It's a splendid achievement." -- Thomas McNamee, James Beard Award-winning author of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse "An extraordinary cookbook... Funny, warmly embracing, beautifully written and sweet, not what I expected from a well-known chef... Every recipe I tried was a home run... [It] will be my new gift to any high school graduate, newlywed or new cook." -- Florida Times-Union "Grabs the most intimate culinary moments -- parent and child cooking together... Originally planning that the collection of recipes would be like a private, family love letter, Peternell discovered a glorious connection to his childhood and an impulse to share on a broader scale." -- San Jose Mercury News "One of the best books of the year... [Twelve Recipes] is a culinary manual written for beginners, but full of useful chef wisdom that an experienced cook will appreciate, all written in a very conversational tone that makes this book such a pleasure to read." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune "A poignantly penned kitchen manual designed to provide even the most insecure of cooks with the framework to master everyday cooking." -- FirstWeFeast.com "Conversational and fun... His recipes ... function like basic building blocks. A good chef can improvise with any cookbook, but this book inspires improvisation from the get-go." -- Berkeleyside.com "Twelve Recipes offers an expert's take on the essentials of cooking... a book that celebrates the kitchen as the heart of the home, be it a college-student apartment or a house full of family." -- The Register-Guard