For years Trent Pheifer has been on a culinary journey to cook his way through Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa’s, entire recipe collection. He documents every single delicious second of it on his Instagram page @storeboughtisfine which is one of Ina’s famous sayings. So far Trent has completed over 1,000 recipes and there are still more to go and if you think that once he’s done, he’ll just stop, then you’re sorely mistaken. Trent is just getting started and this project is clearly just the beginning.
We had a chance to chat with Trent about not only how and why he got started but what the journey has been like and how he manages it all. We were vying to know what recipes were his favourite and not-so-favourite, plus we even got the full scoop on what it was like when he met Ina herself!
Blair Stutz: Congrats on completing over 1,000 Ina recipes, that’s such an accomplishment! What even led you to start this project in the first place?
Trent Pheifer: Thank you! Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d make it past 50 recipes – let alone be doing this for 6 years, and completing over 1,000 recipes.
I started the project in 2015 after Julia Child’s “My Life In France” inspired me to get in the kitchen and finally learn how to properly cook for myself. I quickly realized I didn’t know the first thing about being in the kitchen, and many online recipes I was attempting had not been tested thoroughly to account for mistakes an inexperienced home cook might make. It was after a particularly bad chicken alfredo with a cauliflower cream sauce, that I decided I need to learn how to cook from a pro. My roommate and I had binged the Barefoot Contessa for years, but that didn’t translate to making many of her dishes. The few I had made, though, were out-of-this-world and easy enough for an inexperienced cook. I soon learned her recipes were rigorously tested making them foolproof – and my hope was that by cooking my way through all of her books, I’d gain confidence in the kitchen. I was shocked to discover that @storeboughtisfine (a favorite Ina meme) handle wasn’t taken on Instagram and decided to document my journey there. I’d be the store-bought version of Ina – not the real deal but good enough! The original concept was side-by-side photos of her professional and beautiful dishes next to my slop – but that went by the wayside quickly.
BS: How many recipes are left? What do you think you’ll do when you’ve finished all of Ina’s recipes?
TP: I have about 200 recipes left – which should take me about a year to complete! I really do think finishing will be bittersweet – this project has become so ingrained in my life that I’m sure I’ll be lost for a little bit. On the flip side, I’ve been wanting to develop my own recipes for several years. I’ve kept a running list of every dish or idea I’ve had and can’t wait to get working on them! I haven’t had the time or money to dedicate to recipe development while doing this project, so I am super excited to take what Ina has taught me and put my own spin on it!
BS: I remember seeing on Instagram a while back that you even met Ina! What was that moment like and how did it come about?
TP: Paris is truly a magical city! A couple of years ago, my friends and I took a culinary trip through Ina’s favorite country. We celebrated our last night in Paris with the tasting menu at Verjus – a cute little restaurant in the 2nd arrondissement. As soon as we walked in, I spotted Ina and Jeffrey enjoying dinner in the corner! What were the chances?! Our table was in the opposite corner of the restaurant, and I chose a seat facing away from Ina – how would I have been able to concentrate on anything with my culinary idol in eyesight? While dining on our delicious feast, I downed glasses of wine gaining the liquid courage to go over to their table after they paid. We apologized for interrupting them and introduced ourselves. I mentioned to Ina that I was cooking my way through all of her recipes and documenting it on @storeboughtisfine. A flash of recognition crossed her face as she said “oh I heard you were in town” and turned to Jeffrey to explain that we had talked online before. I could have died right there and then!!! We had a wonderful chat about Verjus, our respective trips, and when their cab arrived we walked outside and got photos together! As she left, she thanked me for what I was doing, and I proceeded to skip all the way back to our Airbnb in the Marais. Both Ina and Jeffrey were everything you’d expect – warm, gracious, and welcoming to a stranger coming to their table. You always worry that someone you look up to could never live up to the image you’ve created in your head and Ina exceeded that!
BS: Your journey totally reminds me of the movie Julie & Julia where a woman works to make every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook. However, it’s reported that Julia Child wasn’t very impressed. Were you nervous about what Ina would think? Do you know what she thinks of your project?
TP: This idea had to come from somewhere, right!? The honest answer is yes and no. When I started this project, I had no inkling that Ina would ever find out about it, and I truly began with the goal of simply teaching myself how to cook. But I will say, when it started picking up traction I started to get more nervous that she may not approve – having that scene for Julie & Julia seared in my mind. Was I doing her recipes justice? Would she see my handle or photoshopped images as mocking? I mean, who wants to see regular photos of some guy photoshopping his face onto their own for fake scenarios of them hanging out? Even I’ll admit it’s all a bit weird. But she has been so supportive of the project – commenting and liking photos often, responding to an occasional DM, etc. The icing on the cake was my boyfriend’s Christmas gift this year: he reached out to Ina who signed a picture of the night we met in Paris! She signed it “Love you! Xxx Ina” I asked my boyfriend if he asked her to write that, and his response “I’m not telling Ina Garten what to write!!!!!!!!” So I’d like to think all signs point to approving the project!
BS: Were you big into cooking before taking on this project?
TP: Prior to reading “My Life In France,” not at all. I grew up helping in the kitchen when it came to special projects or activities like Christmas cookies or egg rolls, and I barely cooked anything that wasn’t microwavable in college – my friend Laura and I always talk about the kitchen disasters we had including the time we nearly set our microwave on fire! After moving to the city, there were too many restaurants to try and in between those splurges, I was pretty much only eating meals from the frozen food section at Trader Joe’s. It was the confluence of Julia, Ina, and being in a relationship and home more that really started my cooking.
See also: 10 Apps That Will Help Keep You Organized in the Kitchen
BS: What’s your process like? Do you have a set amount of Ina recipes to cook every week? How do you choose what you’ll make?
TP: Each week I set out to make four Ina recipes whether that’s a drink, dessert, side dish, etc. When I first started this project, I created a massive spreadsheet listing all the recipes and dividing them into sections like appetizers, soups, salads, breakfast, dinner, desserts. These sheets include book and page numbers for easy reference, ingredients that may be hard to find, and columns for ratings and notes on each recipe. This took a lot of time upfront, but it makes meal planning insanely easy now.
I’m cooking out of all the books simultaneously, but finishing them in the order they were released. I’ve officially finished four books to date – the last being Barefoot in Paris. As for picking the recipes, it’s usually just what I’m craving – when I’m really struggling to decide, I had a formula in excel that randomly generates a couple of recipes to choose from but now that I’m close to finishing I pretty much know what I need to make every single month for the next year!
BS: How does it feel to have over 40K people following along this journey with you?
TP: I feel incredibly lucky that so many people are following along and enjoying what they’re seeing – and getting (or at least putting up with) my sense of humour. The community has been the absolute best thing about this project – from OG followers to the ones just discovering the account. They’ve encouraged me when I didn’t feel like cooking, helped me when I encountered issues in the kitchen and made this all-around more fun. As for the 40K number, it’s such an abstraction that I really can’t wrap my head around it. I think if I could, I’d be paralyzed into never posting again thinking that 10-, 20-, 30,000 people were about to view what I put out!
BS: Has any Ina recipe not worked out or been disappointing?
TP: In all honesty, I’ve loved 90 to 95 percent of the recipes. The ones I haven’t tend to fall into two categories: ingredients/combos I don’t like and my own mistakes in the kitchen. One of my least favourite recipes, though, was her Pear & Parsnip Gratin – it made soooooo much and I didn’t love the pureed combo.
One recent example of a kitchen fail was Ina’s Four-Hour Lamb with French Flageolets. It all started because I didn’t read the recipe before buying the ingredients. Since it’s just the two of us during the pandemic, I’d been buying small boneless legs of lamb rather than full legs and adjusting the cooking time accordingly with amazing results. Unfortunately, for this particular recipe, the bone is key for the long, slow roast and tender, fall-off-the-bone results. Deciding to forge ahead, I took my 2-pound leg and thought I’d roast it for 45 minutes to start, then check it every 10-15 minutes until it was perfectly medium-rare. After 45 minutes, I checked the temperature and it was already well, well, well done. A rookie mistake for a cut of meat I’ve made so often! The beans were delicious and I turned the overcooked lamb into a slightly dry, but delicious cumin lamb stir fry.
BS: What’s been your fave Ina recipe so far?
TP: It’s so hard to choose, but ever since making her Rigatoni with Sausage & Fennel for the first time 3 or 4 years ago and it’s continued to reign as my favourite dish! Everyone that I’ve recommended this to absolutely loves it. I mean, what’s not to love – it’s pasta, sausage, and a rich decadent cream sauce! One recipe I made recently ranks up toward the top: Ina’s Pineapple Carrot Cake. I adore carrot cake and was a little apprehensive about the pineapple, but it ensured the cake was supremely moist. Ina even got me to enjoy raisins and nuts in a cake!
BS: I can imagine this project can get costly at times – how do you manage that?
TP: It can, at times, get costly – like $75 for a capon (a large castrated chicken) with a broken leg – but overall has been manageable. I par down costs by cutting recipes in half where feasible and committing to eating all leftovers before making more recipes. And while I’d love to have all my groceries delivered, I shop around for the best deals – often going to 2-5 grocery stores a week. Planning has also come in handy – on the spreadsheet I previously mentioned I note recipes that contain those ingredients where you almost never use all that you bought, such as buttermilk or fresh herbs. This allows me to make multiple recipes using those ingredients so they don’t go to waste – nothing bothers me more than having to toss an ingredient I could have used in another Ina recipe! I’ve also been able to spread out the pricey recipes – although now that the end is near they are stacking up!
BS: Do you make any tweaks or changes to the recipes at all? I know Ina famously detests cilantro but some folks argue that certain dishes aren’t complete without it. Do you follow each recipe exactly?
TP: I try to stick as closely to the original recipe as I can the first time making it. There are times where I can’t find a non-key ingredient and I end up leaving it out. And, as Ina has an aversion to cilantro, I’m not a huge fan of certain ingredients she favours such as Pernod and will often leave it out. But speaking of cilantro, it’s one of my absolute favourite herbs. The more the better! Certain dishes like her Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas where Ina calls for parsley or cilantro, I will 100 percent use handfuls of cilantro!
BS: Is there an Ina recipe that you’re not looking forward to making or are nervous about tackling? If so, what is it?
TP: One thing I’ve learned during this project is that baking is not really my forte. I always make an absolute mess – not sure how I manage to get flour absolutely everywhere!? And because I’m not a super confident baker, I second guess myself often and haven’t quite learned to trust my gut. All that to say, I’m a little nervous about tackling her Boston Cream Pie, there are a number of elements to it – cake layers, chocolate glaze, Grand Marnier cream, an orange soak. In my head, all opportunities to mess something up! But Ina spent many, many years perfecting this particular recipe, so I’ll put my faith in her sage instructions.
BS: You’ve garnered a lot of attention on social media through your Store Bought Is Fine project – where do you think it’ll lead you?
TP: We shall see! I’m taking a Shonda Rhimes “Year of Yes” approach – and saying yes to any opportunity that arises from this project even if it takes me way out of my comfort zone! It won’t end when I’m finished with Ina’s recipes in a year and I’m hoping people will stick around as I explore expanding into something different in the realm of food such as developing my own recipes. The project has already exceeded all of my expectations and taken me places I’ve never thought it would – I’m enjoying the ride and half the fun is not knowing what’s around the next bend!
Featured Image: Trent Pheifer
