About
Why I built rouxlette
My earliest memories are sitting on a blanket with my toys in my grandmother's kitchen, watching my mom and grandmother move around me preparing meals. I never appreciated how many home-cooked meals we had every week until I got older.
I started cooking in college for roommates and friends. At my first job out of college on the tech team at the Washington Post, I moonlighted as a recipe tester for the food section. Every week, I'd receive an email with 12-15 recipes they needed tested for the following week's paper. I'd pick one or two, learn a new technique, force myself to work with a new ingredient. It was cooking with a safety net-if it failed, it was the recipe; if it succeeded, I was amazing. Plus I could expense groceries at Whole Foods, which mattered to a twenty-something.
When I moved to New York, I started cooking Sunday night "din dins" for friends-somewhere between a dinner party and an excuse to end the weekend on a high note without the Sunday scaries.
After nearly 20 years in tech, I needed a break and enrolled in the International Culinary Center's bread course. I was ahead of my time: I went deep into sourdough in 2019. I bought kitchen shoes and kitchen whites. I started making bread for friends and pop-ups. It was a new kind of work-physical, different.
Then the world shut down. Culinary school was delayed, then the school went bankrupt. During the pandemic, I started Kitchen Rodeo with friends-might as well create the culinary school I always wanted to attend. Community mattered more than ever. There had never been more people cooking at home and more expertise not cooking in restaurants. Best of times, worst of times. We raised nearly $200k for people who needed it most.
Then I became a dad and everything changed, not the least of which, my cooking constraints.
The problem I was trying to solve
Every Saturday morning, I'd find myself in the same staring-at-the-refrigerator paralysis. What should we cook this week? The internet has millions of recipes, but finding five good ones that work for a family with two very different palates felt like work. Too many tabs open. Too many clicks through recipe blogs stuffed with life stories I'll never read. A grocery list scattered across three apps.
I wanted something simple: a weekly menu from someone who understood the seasons, could tell good recipes from bad, and knew when a Wednesday night needed a one-pot meal versus a weekend project. My own personal food editor, basically. So I built one.
Who this is for
Rouxlette is for anyone who wants to eat well without making it a second job. For parents trying to find meals that both kids and adults can enjoy. For cooks who love good food but hate decision fatigue. For people who'd rather spend time actually cooking than searching for what to cook.
Why "rouxlette"?
Roux, the thickening agent in so many sauces, is humble but essential. It's the foundation beneath gumbos, chowders, and dozens of other dishes that wouldn't be the same without it. And "rouxlette" just sounded right. Spin the wheel. Cook something new.
Being confident in the kitchen is something everyone can be.
One more thing
Rouxlette shows recipe snippets only. Full recipes and ingredients live on publisher sites — always.