Ina Pinkney's First Cookbook Planned For September Release

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jul 30, 2013 6:15PM

Today in news that will make every eater in Chicago smile a little bit wider: Ina Pinkney, Chef/Owner of Ina's in the West loop and the Breakfast Queen of Chicago, is releasing a cookbook. Finally. After 22 years of turning out wonderful food at Ina's, Pinkney is handing over all of her recipes to the public.

"I'm not a traditional cookbook author," Pinkney said when we contacted her about the cookbook. "I've built something here in Chicago that has a certain connectedness to it, and I want any book to reflect that." She was contacted by agents and spoke with book companies, but ultimately decided to self-publish. They kept asking her if the book was a memoir with recipes or a cookbook with stories. Her answer? Both.

"I don't have a family to leave my recipes to," Pinkney explained. "So Chicago becomes my family." All of your favorite dishes from Ina's will be in the book, including her famous scrapple and her heavenly hots pancakes. Unlike some cookbooks that are padded with recipes that never actually showed up in a restaurant or were invented by some consultant, this book is all real.

"Every recipe in here works," Ina exclaimed, "because we have been doing it for 22 years." Instead of fake recipes, the book will be padded with stories of how, as Pinkney put it, she got from "Brooklyn to Breakfast." She's got plenty of stories, having run for Mayor of Chicago and Senator from Illinois, appeared on tons of television programs, and, most recently, vied for the host position for Check, Please on WTTW.

There's no title yet, but photographer Stephen Hamilton (who you may know from Who's Hungry Magazine) is doing all of the photos. Look for more news over the next couple of months—this book is sure to be a must-buy for any Chicago cook.