The Untold Truth Of Smitten Kitchen

Smitten Kitchen is a New York City-based cooking blog centered around the idea of "unfussy cooking" and easygoing meal inspiration. Deb Perelman, the founder of Smitten Kitchen, bases her recipes off of both her love of cooking and recipe development, and also with the foundational thought that food does not have to be made up of fancy or high-end ingredients to be delicious and comforting. The blog was officially founded in the year 2006, and Perelman still lives in New York City all these years later with her husband and children. 

So far, she's published two cookbooks and has a strong following on social media, with almost two million followers on Instagram and about 40,000 subscribers on YouTube. Whether you're a recipe-loving foodie or simply a home cook wanting to learn some more tips and tricks, you'll be blown away when you read about all of the details that follow Deb Perelman of the well-known Smitten Kitchen blog. 

In 2012, Deb Perelman published her first cookbook titled "The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook," and all of the text and photography came solely from her. Perelman shared with Bon Appétit that she didn't have a ghostwriter or even a stylist for the food photography. Perelman wore all of the hats. Before the boom of her blog and following the peak, she's stayed consistent in being the full-time writer, blogger, photographer, editor, shopper of ingredients, washer of dishes, and on top of that a full-time mother. We know, that's an impressive mouthful.

As seen written on her website, Deb Perelman truly does it all in the kitchen and in the formal parts of running her blog. She maintained many positions in her career prior to starting Smitten Kitchen, like being a store shift supervisor, a bakery cake decorator, an art therapist, and even a technology reporter. She does admit, though, that being a full-time food blogger is her favorite job yet. 

Alongside running her blog completely independently, she also partakes in some freelance writing work here and there, writing for sites like The Kitchn, Nigella.com, Parents Canada, Epicurious, Bon Appétit, and even People Magazine. Some of her freelance work includes pieces about her favorite blueberry muffins, a recipe for chicken and rice with leeks and salsa verde, and a caramel pretzel blondie recipe. We're hungry just reading about it. 

According to Bon Appétit, a few years after Perelman rebranded her blog Smitten to Smitten Kitchen, she was named best food blog from Saveur magazine, and Time magazine noted her in blogs to watch, too. NPR referenced Perelman when talking about tiny kitchens, and she proved that even though she didn't have much kitchen space to work with, she had talent and relatability, and that was worth a lot. 

Referenced in The New York Times, Perelman's debut cookbook ranked at number two right under Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" cookbook, just a few years after she started up her blog. Once she launched her blog full-time, it became a resource and place of connection for her and her colleagues, and through running the blog, Perelman has only broadened her education surrounding food (via Bon Appétit). 

The majority of the Smitten Kitchen recipes are vegetarian, and the meat section of the recipes page only has five tags on it. Between the pork, turkey, chicken, lamb, and beef sections, the chicken tag has by far the most recipes with 42 compared to only one lamb recipe. The other sections of recipes outlined on the page, like the fruit and vegetable sections, have many more recipe tags and also show how exciting and popular vegetarian-based recipes can be. As written in the New Yorker, Deb Perelman used to be a vegetarian, and now while she does eat meat, she uses it more as "a seasoning" rather than as a main component of a dish. 

She also doesn't think that meat needs to be in a meal for a meal to be complete. Because a lot of her recipes are vegetarian in nature and either only include a small amount of meat or no meat at all, her recipes are pretty affordable to the average person. The New Yorker also emphasizes how Perelman has a fondness for beans, grains, tofu, and eggs and tends to highlight those plant-based ingredients in her cooking. 

The most important tool that Deb Perelman uses in the kitchen are her self-lock tongs, and here's why: In Perelman's interview with The Guardian, she explained that her favorite kitchen tool is "tongs that self-lock, so you can use them with one hand. They're basically an extension of my hand. I use them for flipping steaks and vegetables, tossing salads, and getting things down from high shelves."

Her cupboards always have rainbow sprinkles in them, since although she might be a famous food blogger she's also a mother to young children. Her favorite trick in the kitchen is to brown her food, since the browning develops more delicious flavors in the food. Another important trick up Perelman's sleeve is that in her opinion, everything tastes better with a little bit of acid. Sometimes in the kitchen people opt for finishing their food with a little bit of salt when really, all it needs, according to Perelman, is a squeeze of brightness and acidity from a lemon or even some vinegar. Perelman jokes that even a pickle could work in this case! She's got a whole host of tricks up her sleeve that align with her unfussy, easygoing, fun cooking style (via The Guardian). 

According to Serious Eats, in an interview with Deb Perelman she counted her cookbooks and stated that to her knowledge, she owns a whopping 144 cookbooks(though she did say she tries to scale back). To Perelman, this is too many cookbooks for a tiny apartment, but she often reorganizes and reevaluates which are most important and interesting to her — keeping them in order of the author's last name, and making sure they're all in good condition. The food blogger went on to discuss what are the key features of an enticing cookbook and what catches her eye, like the region of cuisine, or something that's very new and can offer quite a bit of cooking or recipe development inspiration. 

A lot of Perelman's cooking inspiration growing up came from Julia Child and other cookbooks like "The Joy of Cooking" and "The Silver Palate Cookbook," all people and writing that celebrate cooking. She suggested Bonnie Slotnick as a good resource in the West Village to find some really nice cookbooks. To her, it's an obligation to stop by Slotnick's store if you're a cookbook lover visiting New York City.

Perelman attended George Washington University, majoring in psychology and minoring in fine arts. As stated in The New York Times, in 2003 Perelman worked as an art therapist utilizing the skills she gained from her undergraduate degree and after becoming more inspired by her New York City life, she decided to create her blog. Noted in an article from The Great Discontent, she spoke about getting her master's in art therapy from her alma mater in a program that had sparked her interest after not knowing how to handle her degree. The profession of being an art therapist didn't pay well, and living in New York City without a large amount of income was, and still is, very difficult. Since at the time blogging was the up and coming popular trend, Perelman seized the opportunity to be at the beginning of the boom and from there, the original blog Smitten was created.

All in all, the food blogging empire that Deb Perelman has built surrounding home cooking, exciting yet simple recipes, and both approachable and affordable ingredients is highly commendable. As her following continues to grow and her recipes continue to flow, Deb Perelman of the Smitten Kitchen is certainly one to watch.