Preview Naomi Pomeroy's First Cookbook, 'Taste & Technique'

Naomi Pomeroy, the self-made chef behind Beast and Expatriate, both members of the Eater Portland 38, will release her first cookbook, Taste & Technique, Recipes to Elevate Your Home Cooking, on September 13. Coming out from Ten Speed Press, it's crammed with coffee-table-book-style photographs and practical cooking lessons to help cooks of all levels pull off what Pomeroy describes as "classic, time-tested" recipes.

Pomeroy taught herself how to cook by pouring over cookbooks like the Time Life cookbook series, and Taste & Technique is designed to help DIY cooks do the same. "An ambitious 12-year-old could probably make every recipe in it," she tells Eater, and she's talking about making demi-glace, chicken-liver mousse, and puff pastry from scratch.

At 386 pages, the cookbook has more than 130 recipes and is broken into the following sections: sauces, starters, soups, salads, vegetables, eggs, seafood, poultry, pork, beef, lamb, desserts and pastry, and pantry, along with a few ancillary sections. It is not a list of greatest hit recipes from Beast but a detail-oriented guide to the techniques behind these dishes. For instance, with entrees, she includes recommendations for seasonal sides to keep the recipes fresh year-round. It's a snapshot of Pomeroy's favorite and most fundamental things to cook.

Pomeroy says she got a lot of help writing the book. "I even had my step mom test the puff pastry." Jamie Feldmar co-authored the book, and the two first met while standing in the line for the bathroom at a party in New York. When their paths crossed again by chance in Thailand, their friendship was cemented. "I had no idea how hard it is to write a book," reflects Pomeroy. Additionally, the "dessert and pastry" section of the book was developed with help from pastry chef Ellen Laing.

Taste & Technique is currently available for pre-sale on Amazon for $27.58 (usually $40), and if you preorder before September 1 and email tasteandtechnique@beastpdx.com with proof of purchase, you will be entered into a raffle to win a free dinner for two at Beast (see full details here). This fall, Pomeroy will take off on a cross-country book tour, and in Portland, you can catch a book signing on Friday, September 16, at 1 p.m., as part of Feast Portland's Grand Tasting event, as well as a reading at Powell's Books on Friday, September 23, at 7:30 p.m.

Taste & Technique hits shelves September 13. Pre-order from Amazon and take a look inside: