E L L I E M A T H E W S
:: AUTHOR • H O M E • A B O U T • C O N T A C T • A P P E A R A N C E S
Berkley Books , publisher
A member of the Penguin Group (USA)
New York, NY
PRICE: $23.95(hardcover) $15(paperback)
PAGES: 304 • SIZE: 5 ½ x 8 ¼
ISBN 978-0-425-22578-3
A Cooking Contest Memoir
The Ungarnished Truth is a romp through the big-money, competitive
world of hot buttered biscuits, ooey-gooey cakes, and Salsa Couscous
Chicken. It's the story of how an ordinary woman took home the
$1,000,000 grand prize in that wonderful, silly, extravagant, and uniquely
American contest known as the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Imagine being seated
across the table from Ellie Mathews at a friendly dinner party — a
crystal and silver kind of evening, a neighborhood potluck, or anything
in between. Someone tips you off that she's a former Bake-Off grand
champion. She wouldn't be the least surprised if you began as others
have, saying you didn't know real people ever won those things. She's
here to tell you they do. Not only is she real, she divulges all the juicy
bits in her memoir as if you and she were having that dinner together . . .
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"A page-turner."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"With graceful writing, Mathews takes us behind the scenes . . . where strategy goes beyond 'parsley or not.'"
The Wall Street Journal
"A talented cook, Ms. Mathews is also a talented writer with a gimlet eye for the absurdities of instant fame."
Kirkus Reviews
"Enthusiastic and sharp."
I was up a ladder when the call came about appearing on the Oprah show.
You might think that a woman in her fifties would hire an expert, but even after I'd won the
Pillsbury Bake-Off, I was still obsessed with the idea of self-reliance and self-sufficiency.
Maybe that fixation had been a factor when it came to entering the contest in the first place.
My husband, Carl, had answered the call in his office on the third floor of our historic, and
slightly creaky, Seattle house. He handed the phone up to me on the ladder, where I was
experimenting with real plaster for the first time. The stuff was setting up fast and I was
aware of being slow at smearing it on. Our kitchen ceiling was cracked right down to the lath.
"They want you to do the Oprah show," Carl said.
I muffled the phone against my sweatshirt with one hand, whispered, "This is Oprah
Winfrey?" while extracting a plaster glob from my hair with my other. Hardly the glamour
image of television appearances.
"No, no. It's Marlene Johnson," Carl said.
I let out the breath I'd been unconsciously holding. Marlene was the Pillsbury marketing
director who had eased me through other television appearances a year before. I would
have jumped on just about any plane she wanted me to board and faced any camera she
wanted me to smile toward. After all, she and her company had awarded me a million
bucks for cooking eight chicken thighs in their brand of salsa.
that's a genuine
blue-ribbon winner
Ellie Mathews takes readers with her on her roller-coaster ride to the top of the food
chain as the Pillsbury prizewinner. As a cooking contest insider she goes behind the
counter and beyond the aprons to reveal a fascinating slice of Americana
team had dressed her for her picture in the
New York Times Magazine, Ellie had
completely submitted to the crazy, wonderful,
wacky world of high-flyin', high-falootin,
high-fashion cooking. Here, she stands in
her Seattle dining room, wearing a Jean
Paul Gautier wrap dress, Martin Margela
pearls, and a "brooch" by At Four. Ellie
thought the brooch looked more like an
oversized pot scrubber. But it does offset
those stunning pink oven mitts!
Bon appétit!