Gather ’round the Smollett family table
The furniture at clan’s heart literally and figuratively holds beloved recipes
The first recipe in the new cookbook from the accomplished Smollett siblings — they’re all over television, including Food Network’s “Smollett Eats” — is to make a dinner table:
1. Go to lumberyard and buy wood.
2. Use wood glue to hold planks of wood together and attach wood clamps to bond.
3. Use nuts, bolt, a drill and wrench to put the legs on.
4. Sand the table with a sander. Use goggles! 5. Varnish the table with a rag. 6. Wait for the varnish to dry. Put a coat of shellac over the varnish. 7. Show it off. The Smollett clan’s mother, Janet, broke out that recipe every time her family moved to a new home. And there was a lot of moving; they crisscrossed from coast to coast multiple times in their youth. At each destination, a new table was
made. Not just because they were perpetually broke, but the kitchen table was the first and most important piece of furniture in the Smollett home. It’s where they came together; the warm, living heart of the family.
That communal table and all it symbolizes is a theme that runs through “The Family Table: Recipes & Moments From a Nomadic Life,” written by four of the six Smollett children: Jazz Smollett-Warwell (an actress, writer, producer), Jurnee Smollett-Bell (actress and activist), Jussie Smollett (actor, singer/songwriter who starred in TV hit “Empire”) and Jake Smollett (chef and food-television personality).
Jake, whom fans know from his cooking segments on “The Rachael Ray Show,” took the lead in the cookbook project by testing all 125 recipes that came from various Smolletts. All share a common DNA of economy, improvisational flair and scratch-made instincts from a mother who knew how to stretch a dollar.
For example, she’d create a cauldron of Top Ramen soup, ditching the flavoring packets and adding mushrooms, chicken, miso paste, kale, spinach and bok choy to create something that was kid pleasing with a healthful bent. Galveston-born and New Orleansraised, Janet instilled the love of Cajun spices, seafood, rice and hearty one-pot meals in the entire Smollett tribe.
“The book is totally influenced by her New Orleans upbringing,” said Jake, 28, who was in Houston recently for a series of private events and a book-signing at Kuhl-Linscomb. “We love spice. We love garlic and herbs. That definitely influences the majority of the recipes.”
And his own style of cooking: Jake’s “New Orleans/CaliFresh” cuisine will be the focus of his latest project, an eightepisode digital series called “Naked Soul Food” that he’s developing for YouTube Premium, a paid monthly subscription service set to debut this fall.
During his Houston visit, Jake spoke about the cookbook, a natural outlet for the family where cooking meals in great quantity was second nature. Unlike most cookbooks whose recipes feed four to six, the Smollets’ recipes are usually eight to 10 servings — perfectly appropriate for their family of eight. His father, Joel, who was of Jewish and Eastern European descent, met Janet when they were both working at a sweater factory in San Francisco — their children, according to the book, were raised in a nomadic, “idealistic but broke” household that celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah, Easter and Passover.
They moved 13 times — from New York to California and back — necessitating a new table with each move. “There was such a big emphasis on eating together,” Jake said. “Food was a festive thing, and we never ate at a dining-room table (my mother) didn’t make.”
The table is where all the siblings learned to express their opinions. “That’s where I learned to have a voice,” he said.
And his mother’s kitchen was where he learned to cook. Jake recalls the first meal he made for his family — a giant lasagna made with homemade marinara. “Mom was a firm believer of no store-bought sauces,” he said.
That family-style lasagna — as well as Seventh Ward Gumbo, NOLA Smothered Chicken, Brown Butter Lamb Chops and Spicy Fish Curry Soup — are among the dishes that the Smolletts bring to the table in their new cookbook.