Hell of a week for Sean Brock. In under four days he went from palling around the city with TV’s favorite irreverent host, Anthony Bourdain, to winning a James Beard award for his first cookbook Heritage Friday night.
Heritage took the James Beard Foundation’s American Cooking category beating authors Erin Murray and Jeremy Sewall of New England Kitchen and Terry Thompson-Anderson of Texas on the Table. Upon publication in October last year, the cookbook immediately earned acclaim from reviewers across the country. Reviewer Peter Horton called it “a manifesto, a blueprint, an assertion of a culinary philosophy adaptable to any regional cuisine.” But it took over three years to bring that blueprint to fruition and it wasn’t without the help of some local experts. Noted as contributors in the book, Culinary Institute program manager and food writer Marion Sullivan helped Brock fine tune his recipes while food writer and City Paper contributor Jeff Allen assisted the chef in telling his story.
The win makes for Brock’s second James Beard Award following his 2010 win for Best Chef Southeast. In 2008 and 2009 he was a finalist for the organizations “Rising Star Chef” award. Then, in 2013 he was a finalist for the James Beard “Outstanding Chef” award, a semifinalist in 2014, and is currently a finalist again this year. Whether or not the third time is the charm for Brock to take home the Outstanding title will be determined on Mon. May 4 when the 2015 Restaurant and Chef Awards are handed out in Chicago. Until then, he can certainly claim the outstanding author distinction tonight.
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