“Style Magazine, 2008, Galen describes his cuisine.”

From Style Magazine, November 2008.

To Market, To Market: Galen Sampson, The Dogwood

Things that are seasonal—at the peak of their goodness—are the essence behind Galen Sampson’s cuisine. On Saturdays, when he was young, his parents would say, “Let’s go to the market and see what’s good.” He remembers driving down highway 140 and “there’d be guys selling oysters on the side of the road. The farmers would put out a stand at their driveway, and you picked out what you wanted and put your money in a cigar box. There was an honor system and the food was fresh.” He learned early that good cooking was not about covering everything up, but letting the flavors of the food sing on their own. “People don’t realize the flavors you get from a properly raised bird,” he says. Sampson uses only pasture-raised chickens and slow-roasts them in a white wine and herb marinade. He enjoys taking things that are good on their own and letting them play together, such as his layered strata potato dish—a combination of sweet potatoes layered on top of Yukon golds with celery root added. He cooks the way his favorite photographer, Galen Rowell, takes photographs. “He has a way of catching things on film that inspire us, but that we take for granted. He makes us appreciate them again. He makes a wow out of simplicity.”