Joe Sasto, a 2010 graduate of UC Davis, has established himself in the culinary world after years working in acclaimed restaurants and appearing as a finalist on the 15th season of “Top Chef.” Sasto, known for his passion for pasta and his distinctive handlebar mustache, continues to engage with food culture through travel, festival appearances, pop-up dinners, charity events, and as a guest judge on Food Network competition shows. He is also involved in the packaged goods industry with 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 both recipes and 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 now was the right time for his debut cookbook, Sasto explained: “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 the meaning behind “Breaking the Rules,” Sasto said: “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 creating recipes for home cooks rather than restaurants’ kitchens Sasto 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. And not only the recipes but also the stories. A lot of that process involved me recording voice notes.”
While he initially planned an all-pasta cookbook due to his reputation with pasta dishes he explained why he expanded its scope: “Interestingly enough,I set out to write a pasta cookbook.That was my proposal.It was an all-pasta cookbook with all my pasta,pasta,pasta.But we had along conversation [withthe publisher]that I’m known formore thanpasta,and Imight bepigeonholing myselfas afirst-time author.Sorather thanallpasta [inthebook],it’s two chapters.One about driedpasta.I say use any dried pastayouwant.Andthen there’sachapteron filledpasta.Andit’s oneall-purpose pastadough.I teachyou howto make three simple folds or shapes,but then it’sallfillings.Andspoonover melted butter ,boil theminwater ,drizzlewitholive oil,but don’tworryaboutmakingthiscomplicateddish.Iwanted toeliminatethatbarrierofentrytopastawherepeoplethinkithastobeaweekendproject ,oritisgoingtodestroythekitchen.Thenextbookwillprobablybeeitherpastabreadorfocaccia,butthisoneIwantedtobemuchmoreapproachable.”
Reflecting on his studies at UC Davis where he majored in communication,Sastosaid:“IknewI[wantedamajorthat]isgoingtotranslatethebesttotherestaurant.Ioriginallylookedatviticulture,butIrealizedscienceandmatharenotmyareasofexpertise.Andcommunicationturnedouttobeincrediblyvaluablethroughoutmycareer.Kitchensareverydiverseinterpersonalcomplicatedsystems.Andhavinganunderstandingandabaseunderstandingofhowtointeractwithpeoplehowtodeescalatesituationshowthingsinteracthowtobettercommunicatehowtobeagoodleaderallreallyhelpedmeexcelinmycareer.”
