NEW! Link to purchase the Cookbook to Benefit Baltimore Restaurant Fund

From the press release for the book:

In the wake of COVID-19 continuing to ravage the service industry, photographer J.M. Giordano and editor Jess Mayhugh co-created a recipe and photo book to benefit restaurants and bars.Titled Back of House, the community cookbook contains recipes from Baltimore chefs, bartenders, baristas, bakers and home cooks. In addition, Giordano’s black-and-white photographs chronicle the intense, and often unheralded, labor of tireless service workers.

Featured chefs and restaurants include Land of Kush, Dylan’s Oyster Cellar, Mera Kitchen Collective, Pure Chocolate by Jinji, Friends and Family, Hersh’s, NiHao, Krystal Mack, Heritage Food Group, Sally O’s, The Smoking Swine, Amy Langrehr, Dutch Courage, The Franciscan Center, Pinch Dumplings, Sophomore Coffee, Cocina Luchadoras, Ekiben and many more.

Local pillars from the community also contribute essays on what the effects of the pandemic have been like for the service industry.The book is not only meant to serve as a resource for home cooks and a time capsule documenting unprecedented times, but, most importantly, 100 percent of its proceeds are benefitting the Baltimore Restaurant Relief Fund, the city’s only nonprofit committed solely to supporting and developing the local restaurant industry.

“The COVID outbreak brought to light just how important Baltimore’s service industry workers are to our community,” Giordano says. “From preparing food for the homeless to running our bars and restaurants, they have been there for us with no questions asked. I wondered how could a photographer and some writers and food lovers give back? I hope that the proceeds of this book will provide support and express our gratitude for the enormous amount of work they do for us on a daily basis.

Back of House will be released on Labor Day, September 6, 2021—both online and in local bookstores. The book was designed by local artist, and a cafe owner herself, Jen Tydings.

Incredible! Thank you, Joe and Jess for taking on this project. I just ordered my copy yesterday. Thank you for asking me to be a part of this. When I thought about what recipe to submit, I immediately thought of my mom's crab soup because it's both comforting and really easy to make. Since crabs are the best (big and fat) RIGHT NOW, I am hoping to splurge on some steamed crabs and pick some meat for this soup. So happy about this project to support my city and my friends in the industry.

Keep going out. Sit outside. Tip big. This is far from over.