How Ina Garten Learned To Craft Elegant Food In A Greenwich Village Basement

Before becoming the star of "Barefoot Contessa," Ina Garten was mastering her craft in Greenwich Village in New York City. Something that many people don't know about Ina Garten was that a humble brownstone in that neighborhood set the stage for the evenings she spent learning from one of her mentors, writer and chef Lydie Marshall. This setting also influenced Garten's love of simple elegance. Originally a graduate student studying romance languages, one day Marshall came across an inspiring passage from Jean-Paul Sartre about putting one's effort where a person worked best. This quotation made her refocus her passion on what she truly excelled at: the worldwide love language of food.

As Garten writes in her memoir, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens," Marshall lived in France until she was a teenager, then moved to America, but her French roots remained an inspiration in her cooking class attended by Garten. With a professional kitchen in her basement, she taught aspiring culinary students about cooking the unpretentious country fare she had grown up with. Garten, who had been working at the Barefoot Contessa store and was looking to upgrade her own cooking, was captivated by the straightforward charm and high level of skill with which Marshall made these dishes shine. Garten only attended three classes in the Greenwich Village brownstone, but the impact it had on her love of cooking lasted a lifetime.

Ina Garten attended Marshall's class in the evenings, make all the easier because it was only a small distance from her own humble apartment building. Garten was immediately enamored with what she witnessed. Elevating simple country fare was a sight to behold, and the future Barefoot Contessa made her best attempt not to let one morsel of knowledge go unremembered. She later said that her experience in Greenwich Village was where she began to master the art of seasoning (perhaps that's why Garten only uses a certain kind of salt when cooking) and of balancing flavors. These are two essential lessons any chef worth their (literal) salt must learn before achieving greatness. This also may have contributed to why Garten always follows a recipe to a T.

One dish that stuck out for Garten was pissaladière, a lemon tart made with puff pastry and crowned with razor-thin lemon slices. In the modest basement kitchen, dishes like this were constructed with purpose; then, the class would enjoy the fruits of their labor together. Garten's time with Marshall was clearly instrumental and galvanized her love of elegant, earthy cuisine. Ultimately, this helped project her into the limelight where she shared her knowledge with aspiring chefs around the world.