STEVE MCHUGH’S COOKBOOK, CURED, IS AS DELECTABLE AS HIS RESTAURANT

WORDS BY NATHAN MATTISE

Steve McHugh photo by Josh Huskin

Cured, the new cookbook from chef Steve McHugh and Austin- based veteran food writer Paula Forbes, is not a typical cookbook. Readers won’t simply find a biography of a restaurant or chef with recipes sprinkled throughout.

Fans of McHugh’s beloved historic Pearl District institution of the same name shouldn’t fret, though — the techniques and ideas in the book were definitely inspired by what happens at Cured, the restaurant. McHugh says he has over 300 cookbooks in his personal collection but often finds himself only using bits and pieces from each. When it came to his own cookbook, he wanted it to be something different. He and Forbes only discovered what that would be after Forbes started observing the kitchen at the James Beard Award- nominated establishment.

“People love Cured because they come in and it’s always different. We replan every day based on what we have — Friday, I had some very beautiful baby carrots on the steak but today we’re using snow peas a farmer dropped off,” McHugh says. “So Cured is always, ‘What do we have and what will we do?’ It challenges my chefs, because you can get stuck in a rut otherwise.”

Photo by Kimberly Suta

“The book started as more of a preservation book — focused on pickling, curing — but as Paula spent more time with my chefs and partners, she started to see this evolutional thing we do every day,” McHugh continues. “We would take granola we made and make a bread pudding, or we’d turn pickles we made from unused vegetables into a smoky pickle remoulade. She said, ‘This is what we have to do.’”

Available since late March, Cured does still include directions for those who want to pickle, ferment, dry age and cure like their favorite San Antonio culinary destination. But McHugh and Forbes’ work goes beyond that — it’s less how to preserve foods and more why. They ultimately put together over 150 recipes that focus on everyday ingredients, how to build upon what you have and encourage creative tinkering.

For example, there’s a recipe for mustard, of course, but then Cured has ideas for several variations, such as sambal mustard, sweet potato mustard or cherry mustard. And once the mustard has been created, the book takes readers to the next logical steps with ideas like adding mustard to macaroni and cheese or offering recipes for mustard-centric dishes such as bacon potato salad or split pea soup.

“There’s a million chef books out there, I get it, but that’s not what I wanted to create. I was adamant about a book that was purposeful and not necessarily about me,” McHugh says. “I wanted a holistic book that’s put together in a way the everyday reader could enjoy, not just some young line cook or an aspiring chef. So with a lot of these ingredients, a lot of people already have them in their refrigerators or pantries. And they sit there. In our brains, we think granola only goes on yogurt, or mustard goes on a hot dog. But we’re trying to get people to think about these things — you 18 Summer 2024 can really use this mustard to brighten up a soup or things like that. We want to give people license to get outside common restraints.”

McHugh has been living with Cured for a while. He started his book proposal in 2019, devoted a ton of time to the project during the early days of the pandemic, and worked with Forbes for five years to generate recipes, write and revise. McHugh even surprised himself with some of the ideas he and Forbes ended up including.

Photo by Scott Martin

“The one that surprises most people is the granola pie,” he says. “It was the simplest, dumbest aha moment. Once you make granola, what do you do with it — do you just toss it on some yogurt with berries and be good with it? I remember thinking, ‘Well, what if instead of a pecan pie, we just used granola? Well, that might work. I don’t know if I’ve seen it anywhere or read it in a book, but I’m sure someone’s done it.’ So I took the pecan pie recipe I developed years ago for the restaurant and swapped ingredients. Texturally it makes so much sense — I love pecan pie for the texture, the sweet, the crunch, the salt. So this really works and I’ve been geeking out about it recently.”

For anyone visiting McHugh’s restaurant in 2024, the cookbook has a clear presence. Not only can you buy it (and McHugh says he’s been signing copies if he’s around when customers ask), but recipes from Cured the book have become recipes for Cured the restaurant — like the granola pie. McHugh now creates the pie in mini-form as a check presenter “because everyone just loves it,” he notes. There may be no immediate plans to do another launch event at the restaurant, but you can find some of the other new recipes on the menu.

“Recipes from the book have been creeping onto the restaurant menu,” McHugh says. “The pickled shrimp is now on the menu, we’re doing the granola pie, and we’re getting back into our mustard game — things like that where we say, ‘Hey this is a great recipe’ or, ‘Let’s put this on to showcase the book.’ So now if people come in and say, ‘What’s in the book?’ ‘Well, how did you enjoy that pickled shrimp or how was the dressing you had?’ Offering these things showcases the book’s versatility. That pickled shrimp you had? That’s easy to make.”

You can purchase signed copies of the book at Cured or (unsigned copies) can be found at the Twig bookstore or online at Amazon.com.

About the Contributor

Nathan Mattise (@nathanmattise) is always working to perfect his sourdough bagels. He also enjoys bocce, amaro, road trips, and a good playlist.