Why self-pub­lish? The main­stream pub­lish­ing indus­try con­tin­ues to be in a state of flux and when we began our cook­book many pub­lish­ers were not tak­ing on first-time, high-risk authors. There were small pub­lish­ing hous­es will­ing to take us on, but the return was so min­i­mal that the rai­son d’être, to raise funds for Jew­ish elder care, would not even­tu­ate. Self-pub­lish­ing was the best option to achieve our goal.

After all infor­ma­tion gath­er­ing was com­plete, we changed our busi­ness plan and became pub­lish­ers. To ensure cred­i­bil­i­ty and suc­cess, and to pro­duce the envis­aged high-qual­i­ty cof­fee-table cook­book, we employed pro­fes­sion­als: a well-known edi­tor, food pho­tog­ra­ph­er, food styl­ist, award-win­ning graph­ic design­er, index­er, colour cor­rec­tion expert and lawyer. The next step was to pro­duce the phys­i­cal book. After print­ing in Chi­na, the books were shipped toware­hous­es in Syd­ney and Chica­go. No easy feat for two women with­out spon­sor­ship nor expe­ri­ence in the industry.

Our self-pub­lish­ing route was an enor­mous task with a mix­ture of sur­prise, dis­ap­point­ment, joy and fun. We had our fair share of laughs, from drop­ping the angel cake onto the floor, with no spare, just before the final pho­to­graph to the insist­ing by one poten­tial con­trib­u­tor on a recipe for lob­ster ther­mi­dor that we could, of course, not use.

After eleven years of deter­mi­na­tion, One Egg Is A For­tune is avail­able world­wide. Even more impor­tant­ly, we’ve already been able to make our first dona­tion: to the Cen­tre of Age­ing in Syd­ney, Aus­tralia, a com­mu­ni­ty group cre­at­ed to help Jew­ish seniors to stay in their own homes for as long as practicable.

Make sauce: Com­bine all sauce ingre­di­ents in a bowl, mix well and set aside (makes 2¼ cups).
Make chick­en wings: Boil wings in a large pot until they rise to the sur­face. Drain, place the wings into a bak­ing dish and pour over sauce. Bake for 45 min­utes or until crispy.
Note: This sauce can also be used as a dip­ping sauce for chick­en tenders.