Peter Som's New Debut: A Cookbook
Entertaining With shows how a party came together, with expert advice on everything from menus to music.
At a dinner party on the final evening of the Year of the Dragon, the fashion designer Peter Som was a charismatic host in his amber-lit West Village apartment, teasing guests, refreshing wine glasses and finishing several dishes in his galley kitchen. Friends, several of whom had known Som for decades, were put to work upon arrival. Seth Johnson, a gardener and florist, shaved cucumbers on a mandoline. Christine Y. Kim, a curator at large at the Tate Modern, lit candles and filled water glasses. Kim, whom Som has known since college, wore a black wool dress with petal sleeves from the designer's first collection from fall 1999. Later, Roopal Patel, the fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue, arrived wearing a dress covered in plush black ribbons and invited Som to guess its maker. 'You're rusty,' she said with a smile after he made a few suggestions. 'It's Prada.' Image Som, left, chatted with a few of his guests around the table before serving dinner. Credit... Eric Chakeen
Som, 54, is best known for the crisp silhouettes and precise seams of his namesake collection and his 2009 to 2012 women's runway collections for Tommy Hilfiger. But if he's out of practice with identifying designers, it's because, since 2019, he's immersed himself professionally in the culinary world. The pivot may seem surprising but, Som says, 'especially during my crazy fashion career, cooking was what kept my feet on the ground — something that would always be there after a [chaotic] day.' Once he shut down his runway collection, cooking became even more central to his life, and he found that he 'could be creative in another way, and have another dream doing something that I loved all along.' This month, he'll release his first cookbook, 'Family Style: Elegant Everyday Recipes Inspired by Home and Heritage,' which shares more than 100 dishes that pull from the flavors of Som's Chinese American upbringing. The recipes are approachable, with easy international touches such as cinnamon toast with miso and brown sugar and a potsticker frittata. Som's Crispy Deviled Tea Eggs are marinated in soy sauce, sichuan peppercorns, anise and black tea and topped with fried panko crumbs, nori and bonito flakes. Credit... Eric Chakeen Som's Famous Lemon Chicken, a recipe passed down from his grandmother and included in his debut cookbook. Credit... Eric Chakeen
On this February evening, Som had gathered close friends to celebrate the Lunar New Year and preview recipes from the cookbook. His guests aimed their iPhones over the kitchen island to capture Som confidently inverting his Dutch oven onto a plate to reveal fried rice with a cracker-crisp top. (His recipe borrows the technique from the Persian dish tahdig.) The dish elevates the Chinese American staple without too much fussiness, a hallmark of the food in Som's book. 'In the fashion world, the term 'front of closet' [refers to] garments that you wear all the time,' Som said. 'I want these recipes to have the same idea: You'll make them over and over.' Ingredients for Som's Famous Lemon Chicken and 'Prawn' and Prosciutto. Credit... Eric Chakeen
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