The Mistress of Apples & Bécasse Has Arrived!

Chers rêveurs de goût, (Dear dreamers of taste)

Today, I am celebrating!

After years of weaving together stories, recipes, memories, and travels, The Mistress of Apples & Bécasse has taken flight into the world. And I couldn’t have done it without so many people who shared their wisdom, their kitchens, and their stories with me along the way.

The Mistress of Apples and Bécasse has arrived!

In modern-day France, Miel Nerra, a gifted chef, becomes entangled in the ancient traditions of the Mistresses. Guided by tapestries and haunted by memory, she must follow the elusive Bécasse into a world where story, legacy, and love collide.

A multitude of Merci’s to Chef Marie-Claude Gracia Rey and her family in Gascony, merci for opening your Auberge and your hearts. To my oldest son, Erick, and to Jennifer Santos Madriaga, and Alice Hall thank you for joining me on that strangely mysterious and wonderful Bécasse adventure in Gascony, I carry that memory still.

I’m grateful to my CIA professors, including the curiously old-world Chefs Roland Henin and Jacques de Chanteloup, whose voices still echo in my kitchen.

To my youngest son, Jaryd, whose insights into media and film reminded me that stories take many forms.

To Denise Vivaldo, the food stylist who once answered my endless questions, shared her handbook, and taught me to see food through a lens. To Janet Grennes in North Carolina, who gave me the chance to train under her and learn how to pin chicken skin for House Autry or glue sesame seeds to buns for Hardee’s. And yes — even the infamous Emson Pasta Infomercial deserves a smile here.

I’ll never forget the week-long class I took with Delores Custer at the CIA in the early ’90s. Her lessons have stayed with me, quietly shaping the way I work to this day.

These moments — some grand, some humble, some nearly forgotten — are all part of the journey that led here.

So today I am not just celebrating a book release. I am celebrating all of you who have walked beside me, whether in Gascony, New York, North Carolina, or through the pages of these stories.

Thank you, truly. The legacy continues — and it is richer for your presence in it.

With gratitude and joy,

Dorette