Joe Sasto, a 2010 graduate of UC Davis, has established himself in the culinary world after working in renowned restaurants across the United States. He gained national attention as a finalist on season 15 of “Top Chef” and later appeared on an all-star edition of the show. Sasto is recognized for his enthusiasm for pasta and his distinctive handlebar mustache.
Currently, Sasto spends much of his time traveling to food and wine festivals, participating in pop-up dinners, supporting charity events, and serving as a guest judge on Food Network competition shows. He has also entered the packaged food industry with ventures such as Tantos, which produces puffed pasta chips, and Ripi Foods, a company specializing in gourmet frozen pasta.
Sasto’s first cookbook is set to be released on October 21 by Simon & Schuster. The book is titled “Breaking the Rules: A Fresh Take on Italian Classics” and features original recipes along with personal stories from his career.
“Cookbooks take a very long time to do,” Sasto told UC Davis Magazine. “I wanted it to be something that I was proud of and something I could hang my hat on — or hang my mustache on.”
When asked why he chose this moment for his debut cookbook, Sasto said: “For the longest time I did not think I was ready to write a cookbook, because I didn’t have a restaurant. In my mind, as a young chef growing up, that was the route you went. You had a restaurant, then you would have a cookbook. Then COVID turned everything on its head. Social media made people a lot more interested in personal stories and gave chefs and creators an entirely new opportunity that wasn’t really there before. It was my best friend and Tonto’s co-founder, Sean, who really pushed and convinced me to get my proposal written. And as 2020 happened and people were starting to cook my recipes as I was posting things online, I realized people did care. People did want to know what I had to say, and people did want to cook what I was cooking. And so, it was this little birdie in my ear that kept pushing me to do this.”
On breaking culinary traditions with his book’s title “Breaking the Rules,” Sasto explained: “Yeah, I think it speaks a lot to my own culinary point of view. I spent 10 years in Michelin-star kitchens in the world of fine dining, not only honing my craft but understanding the so-called traditions of Italian cuisine, all these rules — what shapes of pasta could go with certain fillings and what sauces could go with certain cheeses. When I slowly became my own chef and my own person, I realized I wanted to break all these rules now that I knew them. That’s my goal with the book: to make the reader feel comfortable in their own kitchen. Maybe you don’t have an ingredient. The recipe calls for kale but you only have arugula. Or it calls for spinach and you only have kale. That’s okay. There are no rules. And if there are they’re made to be broken.”
Describing his process for developing recipes for home cooks rather than professional kitchens he said: “I went the route of finding a co-author, Thea Balman. She really helped bring all these crazy ideas and stories that I had in my head come to life. Because at the end of the day I’m first and foremost a restaurant chef. I’m not a cookbook author…And it’s very different writing a recipe for a home cook…She was able to take my shorthand version of these recipes that I had been cooking for years and digest them and turn them into something that was easily adapted for a home cook…A lot of that process involved me recording voice notes.”
Although initially intending his book would focus exclusively on pasta dishes—his specialty—Sasto broadened its scope after discussions with his publisher: “Interestingly enough…I set out to write a pasta cookbook…But we had long conversation [with publisher]…that I’m known for more than pasta…and might be pigeonholing myself as first-time author…So rather than all-pasta [in book], it’s two chapters…One about dried pasta…I say use any dried pasta you want…then there’s chapter on filled pasta…and it’s one all-purpose dough…I teach you how make three simple folds or shapes…but then it’s all fillings…And spoon over melted butter boil them water drizzle olive oil but don’t worry about making this complicated dish…I wanted eliminate barrier entry where people think it has be weekend project or going destroy kitchen…”
Reflecting on how studying communication at UC Davis influenced him professionally Sasto noted: “I knew [wanted major] is going translate best restaurant…I originally looked at viticulture but realized science math are not areas expertise…And communication turned out incredibly valuable throughout career…Kitchens are very diverse interpersonal complicated systems…And having understanding base understanding how interact people how deescalate situations how things interact how better communicate how good leader all really helped excel career…”
