Interview: Laurie Boucher, “Baltimore home cook”

Laurie Boucher told me that she always knew she wanted to study law. The vocation brought her from Pennsylvania to Baltimore, where she now resides. When Boucher needed more time to take care of family, she scaled back on lawyering, enrolled in culinary school, and began to master the art of pasta-making. As she shared her pasta creations on instagram, along with detailed information and instructions, she began to acquire a few thousand enthusiastic followers. At some point I became one of them!

Laurie’s instagram is a well of inspiration to try new things and to have fun. It’s even resulted in her offering some pasta classes. I knew that meeting Laurie would be a great way to get back into doing some interviews for Old Line Plate and I knew I could not turn down an opportunity to learn the technique of laminating herbs into fresh pasta. Problem is, I was a little intimidated. How could I keep up with a lawyer whose idea of relaxation was to spend so many dedicated hours mastering intricate techniques?

When I stepped into Boucher’s kitchen, stocked with tools for pasta and more, I was instantly put at ease. Yes, I met a highly driven and self-disciplined person. What I found beyond that was someone a lot like me – a person whose self-driven need to follow a passion on one’s own terms has allowed them to share information freely; a fellow introvert who has found that food can be a way to reach out and connect with others – even online.

I see you grew up in PA & your mother is quite a cook as well. Did you grow up eating homemade pasta?

I was born in Syracuse but grew up in Allentown. I have three siblings (and I am a twin!). I attended college and law school in Pennsylvania and moved to Baltimore for my first legal job.

I did not grow up eating homemade pasta, although Sunday was always pasta day. Typically, we would have pasta of some sort midday, along with red sauce and homemade meatballs, sausage or pork ribs. Sunday evenings my Mom typically made homemade pizza. Both my parents are third generation Italian.

My mother is an amazing cook. We ate dinner as a family every single evening. Mom loved to not only cook but to bake as well. Mom knew how to make almost any Italian cookie you could imagine. I remember going to Italian bakeries and marveling that I recognized almost everything in the display cases, because Mom made them at home.

What brought you to Baltimore? Does your career relate to your culinary interest at all?

I went to law school at The Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle PA. Carlisle was lovely for attending school, but it is a very small town. My twin sister was working on her master’s degree at Towson University, so it made sense to move here when I finished school in 1992.

I have been an attorney for 27 years. I always loved to cook but did not really consider that as a career option back then. Several years ago we had several family members get seriously ill, and it became clear I needed to scale back my law practice to be able to “stop, drop and go” when needed. I found as I scaled back, I had some time on my hands. I decided I wanted to explore culinary school. I took 1 class, loved it and decided to enroll part time in the degree program at AACC. I am currently part time as we still have some family with serious medical issues, but I am in no hurry these days.

Culinary interest: I have always taken community cooking classes, starting as soon as I moved to Baltimore in 1992. I would take continuing education classes at the now closed Baltimore Culinary Institute, classes from Donna Crivello when she had her location down at the Inner Harbor, A Cooks Table which I believe was on Key Highway, and Indian cooking classes at the Akbar Palace in Randallstown. I am sure there were other places, I just cannot recall. If I had free time, I was cooking or taking some cooking classes.

Why pasta? I see photos of you doing other things in culinary school, have any of them became a favorite thing to make or captivated you the way pasta has?

Simultaneously with starting culinary school, I decided to go back to what I used to really enjoy, making pasta. The first meal I made for my now husband was a homemade spinach fettuccini, that was almost 20 years ago. I still remember the look on his face when I told him I had made that, from scratch.

I started an IG account as a way to chronicle my food journey/experiences. I am passionate about learning everything I can about techniques and different foods and my IG represents that interest.

Nothing captivates me like pasta. I love the simplicity of ingredients, and the meditative process of having my hands in the dough. As an attorney, my creativity was all in my mind, but with pasta, it is through my hands. I cannot really explain how the repetitive motion of kneading dough or quietly sitting and hand forming shapes centers me. It is yoga for me, pastazen.

Have you ever thought of doing a blog or anything else to get a wider audience for your pasta creations?

I have briefly thought of doing a blog or website, but right now my plate is full with work, school, two teenagers and some ongoing family medical issues. I cannot even consider another thing until things become a bit less complicated. Family will always come first. What I do at the moment is teach, both in the community and privately and that is my way of sharing, and I really enjoy that so much. I do keep a small food notebook with sketches of pasta shapes, ideas of dishes I want to make, and I started to reduce my recipes to writing. One day I hope to do something with that.

What are some of your influences/favorite resources for learning about pasta making?

I have connected with some great folks on IG who also have a sharing mindset. I also have a bit of an addiction to cookbooks, which I read and absorb like novels. Of course, the internet is amazing, and you can find lots of resources and education right at home. When I want to learn something, I will research it like crazy in an effort to learn, understand and hopefully master.

I’ve been really touched by the way you connect with your audience with heartfelt captions and have so many people who seem to really care about you, all through watching you make pasta. Any thoughts on that?

I am really flattered by that comment, thank you. What started out as a project to chronicle my food journey had the unexpected but welcome experience of really connecting with folks with similar passions. I think I connect with people because I always share information. There is nothing to be gained by showing some really cool result without also sharing the recipe, technique or source of a cool tool. I am not on IG for the likes and followers, I don’t really keep track. I am very clear in what I want out of IG and that is to learn, inspire and share.

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