Now, Katie’s back with her 11th cookbook and it’s a deep-dive into Roman history and cuisine. Born in New Jersey, Katie has called Rome home for more than two decades and she’s been obsessed with uncovering the city’s culinary—and non-culinary—history the whole time. She’s written culinary guides, hosted TV shows and podcasts, showed folks like Stanley Tucci and Andrew Zimmern where to eat in Rome, and built a tour company.

This new book distills much of what she’s researched—and ate—into a 350+ page opus titled Rome: A Culinary History, Cookbook, and Field Guide to Flavors that Built a City. Part guide book, part history book, part cookbook—this is a love letter to the city that’s been feeding people for over 2,700 years.

Late last year, I met up with Katie for an evening tour of Trastevere. What struck my most about our conversation is how Katie approaches Roman food as not a static collection of recipes, but very much a living and evolving story that reflects everything the city has been through: ancient empire, Renaissance opulence, cucina povera, Jewish ghetto traditions, modern immigration, and more.

--

Additional Music Credits:

Beat Mekanik - Stylin' (FreeMusicArchive)

This conversation was recorded in Bologna, Italy, at Sette Tavoli, one of Brian's favorite restaurants. We discuss Cathy's journey from vegetarian teenager to celebrated chef, her time training with Marcella Hazan and Dario Cecchini, the cult following around Nostrana's signature Insalata Nostrana, and how the pandemic changed her approach to this book.

In this episode:

• Growing up cooking with Julia Child cookbooks

• Working through every station at Genoa, Portland's premier fine dining restaurant

• The pivotal trips to Italy that changed everything

• Opening Nostrana and celebrating 20 years this year

• Training with Marcella Hazan and the tomato butter sauce that's been on the menu since day one

• The secret to the perfect radicchio salad

• Why she chose watercolor illustrations over photographs

• How COVID-19 shifted the book from restaurant cooking to home cooking

• The "less is more" philosophy of cucina povera

• An ingredient challenge game

Plus, on our Substack: Two recipes from the book—Spaghettini with Prawns and Yogurt Panna Cotta—and hear Cathy read an excerpt from The Italian Summer Kitchen.

Special thanks to Jaqueline and the team at Sette Tavoli in Bologna for hosting this recording.

Guest Cathy Whims

Book The Italian Summer Kitchen by Cathy Whims

Episode Length 45:28

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction & recording in Bologna

02:15 - Growing up in Chapel Hill, NC

04:30 - The vegetarian awakening and her mother's response

07:45 - Latin major turned professional cook

10:20 - Landing the dream job at Genoa

12:45 - Working through every station

15:30 - The trips to Italy that changed everything

18:00 - "The hundred dollar chicken" and knowing it was time to move on

21:00 - Opening Nostrana: a new vision

23:30 - Training with Marcella Hazan

26:15 - The Insalata Nostrana: origin story and technique

30:45 - The ice water secret

33:00 - Other influential cookbook authors

35:30 - The pandemic pivot: from restaurant book to home cooking

39:00 - Why illustrations instead of photographs

42:15 - Summer preservation techniques

45:00 - The ingredient challenge game

45:30 - Challenge #1: Seafood (spot prawns, bottarga, zucchini blossoms, truffle butter)

49:15 - Challenge #2: Agrodolce (hazelnuts, red wine vinegar, peaches, marshmallows)

53:00 - Challenge #3: Tuscan Crossover (chanterelles, guanciale, ricotta, kimchi)

57:30 - Closing

Credits

Host: Brian Hogan Stewart

Recorded at: Sette Tavoli, Bologna, Italy

Salt + Spine is part of the Heritage Radio Network.

Recording this week’s episode with John Bersani reminded me why I started Salt + Spine in the first place: to sit down with a cookbook author and glimpse their world. We’re often recording in studio—or more often these days, virtually—and it’s easy to miss the small details that make these conversations so alive.

But there’s something grounding about being welcomed into someone’s home kitchen, hearing their stories as the dog runs past or a family member checks in to ask when we’re leaving for lunch. It was a real treat to join John and his family for an afternoon in Chianti. And while recording al fresco may not have produced the crispest audio, it offered something you can’t replicate in a studio: an honest glimpse into a life built around food, friendship, and place.

I hope you enjoy our chat:

The first thing I notice at John Bersani’s home in Gaiole in Chianti is the view. I’m so enamored by the rolling hills dotted with vines and olive trees that I miss the driveway. Finally, I find the right entryway, am greeted by John, and we settle next to the pool to record our conversation.

A lifelong cook and host, John built a career in business before turning toward what truly grounded him: food and community. His cookbook—20 Amici 40 Ricette: Twenty Friends, Forty Recipes—is not a chef’s manifesto or a guide to Tuscan cuisine, but a love letter to the community he and his family have made there. Each chapter introduces a friend who’s shaped his life in Italy, paired with one or two recipes that carry the imprint of that relationship.

In our conversation, John talks about growing up in an Italian-American family in Syracuse, New York, where Sundays smelled like simmering sauce. He recalls his grandparents’ small-town kitchens and the rituals that endured even after they left their old neighborhood for the suburbs. And he reflects on the years spent straddling two identities—American and Italian—and learning to see his adopted home from both sides of the table.

We talk, too, about the rules of Italian cooking and how to bend them. About why Tuscan bread is famously unsalted. About the importance of shopping well. About how the right techniques transform a simple pasta into something magical.

🎙️ | We’ve got a great chat with John—and of course, we put him to the test in our culinary game, asking him to create impromptu Tuscan dishes from surprise ingredients! Find this episode here on Substack and anywhere you get your podcasts.

20 Amici, 40 Ricette: Friends and Food from the Heart of Chianti by John Bersani

Experience what it’s like to not only eat in Tuscany, but also how it feels to live there. With traditional Tuscan recipes, heartwarming stories, and insider’s tips from local chefs and family cooks in 20 Amici – 40 Ricette you’ll learn—and taste—why that translates to 20 Friends, 40 Great Recipes.

Feel like you’re wandering the streets of Gaiole, a Tuscan village named “One of Europe’s Most Idyllic Places to Live” by Forbes, as you meet local chefs who share their stories and recipes, from a creamy Risotto Semplice (basic risotto) to a tantalizing Branzino al Forno (whole roasted Mediterranean sea bass). Bring a taste of authentic Italian cooking to your kitchen and a touch of Tuscany to your home with the tales from locals who will feel like friends.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of 20 Amici, 40 Ricette here:

Bookshop // Omnivore Books

This week, paid Substack subscribers will receive these two featured recipes from 20 Amici, 40 Ricette—subscribe today to get cooking!

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you! For this week’s recipes—plus exclusive content and access to hundreds of other featured recipes from your favorite cookbook authors—become a paid subscriber today.

What I’m Reading…

* Food photographer extraordinaire Eva Kolenko (who’s shot more than 50 cookbooks) has a new Substack and she’s pulling back the curtain on her work. (Eva joined us in our Behind the Spine series back in 2022.)

* Cookbook author Marian Burros died at 92 this week. NYT obit. While she authored a dozen-plus cookbooks in her career, the strongest remembrances are around her iconic plum torte, which she published in the Times in 1983 and has remained one of the paper’s most-popular recipes. You can read Pete Wells paying tribute here—or, better yet, bake one yourself.

* We’re right in the heart of fall cookbook season, and this year’s lineup is especially rich—stunning, memorable works that I’ve been lucky to dive into (nearly 100 new books have already crossed my desk!). For a taste of the top titles, check out new roundups from Eater, Epicurious, and Saveur. I’ll be chatting with some of the authors on Salt + Spine and can’t wait to share those conversations with you.

Episode 173: Deuki Hong & Matt Rodbard

This week, chef Deuki Hong and journalist Matt Rodbard join us to #TalkCookbooks! Deuki’s latest restaurant SŌHN is an “all-day cafe and multi-use gathering space” in San Francisco. Matt is a writer who also hosts the prolific TASTE podcast (required listening for food lovers).

When their first collaborative book, Koreatown, came out in 2016, it captivated food publishing. For many readers, it was the first time Korean American food culture was presented with such energy, personality, and depth. Eight years later, Deuki and Matt returned with a new, wider-lens look.

The authors are quick to note that the new book, Koreaworld, isn’t a sequel. It’s a dispatch from a moment when Korean food and culture are everywhere: K-pop topping the charts, Parasite winning the Oscars, Seoul cafes setting global coffee trends, and a Korean tasting menu taking the top U.S. spot on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list this year. As Deuki and Matt write in the opening to Korea World: “You are about to read the story of a culinary revolution.”

In our conversation, Deuki and Matt take us behind the scenes of the ambitious project—from their travels through locations like Jeju and Seoul during the pandemic, to profiling the chefs and artisans who make up what they call “Korea World.”

🎙️ | We’ve got a great chat with Deuki and Matt—and of course, we put them both to the test in our signature culinary game! Find this episode here on Substack and anywhere you get your podcasts.

Koreaworld: A Cookbook by Deuki Hong & Matt Rodbard

A vibrant exploration of Korean cuisine, both in Korea and in Koreatowns around the globe, with more than 75 bold, flavor-packed recipes and stunning photography from the New York Times bestselling authors of Koreatown.

“The wide range of modern Korean food is on display in this fascinating book that is as electric, sumptuous, and diverse as the cuisine it portrays.”—Edward Lee, chef and author of Bourbon Land

Join chef Deuki Hong and journalist Matt Rodbard as they take an insider’s look at the exciting evolution of Korean food through stories of chefs and home cooks, as well as recipes that are shaping modern Korean cuisine, including sweet-spicy barbecue, creative rice and seafood dishes, flavor-bombed stews, and KPOP-fueled street food.

In Koreatown, Deuki and Matt explored the foods of Korean American communities across the United States. Now with Koreaworld, they show how Korean cuisine today is nothing less than an international culinary revolution, from the ancient plant-based cooking of famed Buddhist monk-chefs to modern charred-greens rice rolls and pork-stuffed fried peppers.

Koreaworld takes readers into the bustling metropolis of Seoul, where the modern-day barbecue scene is pushing into new territory with recipes like Smoked Giant Short Ribs cooked over hay and where the city’s third-wave coffee culture is exploding. Deuki and Matt also visit Jeju Island, where seafood dishes like Jeju Whole Fried Smashed Rock Fish rule supreme, and they explore the plant-based temple cuisine found in the rural province of Jeolla-do, with dishes such as Cold Broccoli Salad with Ssamjang Mayo. The tour continues with late-night food adventures in Los Angeles and stops in the kitchens of innovative chefs from New York City to Portland who are putting modern spins on Korean classics with dishes like Rice and Ginseng–Stuffed Roast Chicken, Grilled Kimchi Wedge Salad, Kkaennip Pesto, and Pineapple Kimchi Fried Rice. Filled with recipes, stories, and conversations of Korean food’s global evolution, Koreaworld is essential reading for anyone curious about the future of food.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Koreaworld here:

This week, Substack subscribers can access two featured recipes from Koreaworld:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you! For this week’s recipes—plus exclusive content and access to hundreds of other featured recipes from your favorite cookbook authors—become a paid subscriber today.

This week’s guest brings us a taste of that California seasonality. Elizabeth Poett is a seventh-generation rancher, living and working on her family’s 14,000-acre property outside of Santa Barbara. In her first cookbook, The Ranch Table, she invites us along for a year on the ranch: from Branding Day feast in the spring to summer beach cookouts, fall garden harvest, and winter holiday gatherings.

Episode 172: Elizabeth Poett

Elizabeth joined me last year in San Francisco, at our studio in The Civic Kitchen cooking school, and shared her approach to cooking. Much of her inspiration comes from her family heritage, as with the handwritten recipe cards passed down from her grandfather.

In our conversation, Elizabeth shares:

* How her cookbook The Ranch Table tells the story of a year on her family’s California ranch through seasonal recipes and gatherings.

* Why community and abundance are at the heart of her cooking.

* How recipes serve as heirlooms, connecting generations across time.

Plus, we put Elizabeth to the test in our signature culinary game.

The Ranch Table: Recipes from a Year of Harvests, Celebrations, and Family Dinners on a Historic California Ranch by Elizabeth Poett

From the star of Magnolia Network’s popular show Ranch to Table—a stunningly beautiful cookbook celebrating a year on a ranch on the California coast, featuring simple yet festive recipes, inspiring menus, and fascinating culture and history.

Elizabeth Poett was raised on Rancho San Julian, a 14,000-acre ranch on Santa Barbara’s Central Coast that her family has been working since 1837. Her years are structured around the land’s natural rhythms and annual events: celebrations big and small, harvests, and work days that bring her family and community together—and always end with large meals for everyone to share. Elizabeth feeds her friends and family with seasonal ingredients—including vegetables and meat grown and raised on the ranch and fish from California’s Central Coast—barbecuing tri-tips, turning local cod into tacos, and using heirloom tomatoes and summery eggplant into delicious, family friendly pastas.

Much like Elizabeth’s life, The Ranch Table is also organized around the work and celebrations that take place on the San Julian throughout the year, giving readers and cooks a chance to dive into the ranch’s most important workdays, family traditions big and small, and annual celebrations. Each chapter begins with a description of an event or a special day—the work of a branding, the joys of the annual family reunion, the fun of a fall cider press, the quiet beauty of a winter evening spent at the kitchen table—and invites you to join in on the day with both beautiful photos of the ranch today and archival images of its past. In each chapter, Elizabeth also shares the recipes for the dishes she makes for these occasions.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of The Ranch Table here:

For paid Substack subscribers, we’re sharing two of Elizabeth’s recipes from The Ranch Table: her Butternut Squash Soup with Sage and Cast-Iron Corn Bread. Together, they’re a cozy, seasonal meal that’s ready as we transition into autumn:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipes—plus exclusive content and access to hundreds of other featured recipes from your favorite cookbook authors—become a paid subscriber today!

Host Brian Hogan Stewart is joined by his guest, Makenna Held, on the latest episode of Salt + Spine' now part of the Heritage Radio Network. McKenna shares her journey from a background in consulting to becoming a culinary educator after buying Julia Child's former summer home in France. She discusses her bold pivot into the world of food and explains her cooking philosophy, which focuses on improvisational and seasonal cooking rather than strict reliance on recipes. She also touches on her global culinary influences and the challenges of writing her first cookbook.

00:00 Makenna Held Introduction

03:52 Early Life and Career Beginnings

06:07 The Pull Towards Food and Hospitality

07:58 The Julia Child House Adventure

12:14 Starting a New Life in France

15:45 Balancing History and Innovation

20:16 Courageous Cooking Philosophy

26:49 Global Influences and Cookbook Development

31:41 Salt Collection Obsession

32:27 First Cookbook Journey

33:14 Recipe Development Process

35:44 Balancing Perfection and Practicality

36:42 Personal Stories Behind Recipes

38:41 Cooking for Kids

41:01 Influences and Inspirations

46:37 Culinary Game

52:09 Conclusion

In this episode of Salt and Spine, host Brian Hogan Stewart interviews acclaimed chef Tyler Florence live from Cookbook Fest in Napa. Tyler shares his inspirational journey from a childhood filled with severe food allergies to becoming a renowned chef and television personality. Growing up in South Carolina and cultivating a deep love for Southern cuisine, Tyler's path led him to culinary school and eventually to New York City's culinary scene. He discusses his passion for live fire cooking, his newest cookbook 'American Grill,' and the importance of sustainable beef production. The episode also features a fun culinary game where Tyler demonstrates his creativity in crafting a dish using randomly drawn ingredients.

00:00 The Ceremony of Cooking

00:24 Introduction to the Live Episode

01:05 Tyler Florence's Early Life and Food Allergies

04:11 Discovering a Passion for Cooking

08:35 Culinary School and Early Career

13:34 Moving to New York and Early TV Appearances

15:56 The Journey to Fame and Success

23:24 Sustainable Beef and Regenerative Agriculture

30:33 Mastering Live Fire: The New Cookbook

31:11 The Comet and Its Tail: A Metaphor for Career Decisions

31:53 Launching a Steak Restaurant: The Comet Moment

32:33 From Comfort Food to Grilling: A Culinary Pivot

33:08 The Art of Grilling: Personal Insights and Techniques

34:27 Celebrating Culinary Achievements and Collaborations

36:44 Alice Waters: A Friendship and Culinary Inspiration

37:16 The Essence of California Cuisine

42:38 Cookbook Inspirations and Southern Cooking Techniques

45:49 Fun with Grilling: A Culinary Game

54:17 Conclusion and Farewell

As Viola recounts, one vivid memory stands out from her childhood. It was a late September day when her mother took her to a fishmonger in Orbitel, nestled by the southern Tuscan coast. The experience, accentuated by the salty breeze of the lagoon and the familial presence, introduced her to bottarga—a cured fish roe delicacy—that has lingered in her kitchen and heart for fifty years.

Viola fondly recalls stepping into the courtyard, her mother’s gentle guidance leading her to bottarga, an ingredient as much about tradition as it is about taste. She vividly describes their ritual of shaving it over buttered toast with lemon upon returning home, which later graced their spaghetti—a testament to Bottarga’s sea-like essence that mirrors the salt, wind, and shells.

In this episode of Salt and Spine, host Brian Hogan Stewart welcomes Viola Butoni to discuss her first cookbook, "Italy by Ingredient." Viola delves into her rich Italian culinary lineage, tracing back to the Butoni pasta and bocce chocolate. Growing up surrounded by fresh, homegrown produce and moving to New York, she transitioned from restaurant kitchens to owning a food shop, and eventually becoming a beloved cooking teacher. Viola's cookbook integrates her Italian roots with California's agricultural bounty, aiming to guide home cooks in exploring authentic Italian flavors with pantry staples. Throughout the episode, they discuss Viola's cooking tips, her unique recipes, and the creative process behind combining traditional and innovative Italian cuisine. The show also features a culinary game and an excerpted recipe narrated by Viola.

00:00 Welcome Viola Buitoni03:08 Family Legacy and Food Heritage05:17 Childhood and Early Food Experiences08:22 Moving to New York and Culinary Beginnings11:20 Starting a Catering Business13:43 Transition to Teaching and Italy by Ingredient 15:42 The Concept of Italy by Ingredient 29:07 Choosing the Best Meat for Stew 29:41 Creative Rice Recipes 32:44 Pork Tenderloin in Bread Crust 34:43 Anchovy Enthusiasm 37:40 Chicken and Rabbit Recipes 40:24 Cookbook Inspirations 44:45 Italy by Secret Ingredient Game 49:08 Conclusion and Farewell

This week, Sohla El-Waylly joins us to #TalkCookbooks! I was so thrilled to have Sohla join us in studio for a chat about her career and her debut cookbook, Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook.

In this episode, we hear from Sohla about her childhood, growing up in the San Fernando Valley and watching her mother prepare elaborate, multi-course Bengladeshi dinners for dozens (sometimes hundreds) at a time. And despite a phase as a picky eater, Sohla realized early on that she enjoyed working with her hands—from building furniture (lots of clocks!) to, eventually, cooking.

After culinary school and working in fine dining kitchens, Sohla found herself gravitating towards food media, working first with Serious Eats and then Bon Appetit. While not her initial career objective, Sohla has carved a space in the competitive food media world, celebrated for her on-camera work and creative approach to culinary history.

With her cookbook Start Here, Sohla created a playful-but-informative tome (600+ pages!) that emphasizes teaching culinary techniques for both sweet and savory cooking. And she’s intentionally done so in a way that many such technique-driven cookbooks before it haven’t: by rejecting the notion that European culinary technique are supreme, ensuring the book includes recipes from a wide range of cuisines and diets.

🎙️ | We had a great chat with Sohla—and of course, we put her to the test in our signature culinary game! Find this episode here on Substack and anywhere you get your podcasts.

The book tells the story—through photography, essays, and of course recipes—of Casa Maria Luigia, the boutique inn (albergo) opened by Lara and Mossimo in 2019. Once here, a restored 18th-century villa offers a dozen guest rooms, uniquely decorated with art from Lara & Massimo’s personal collection.

From there, the property unfolds: meticulously landscaped orchards and vegetable gardens supply the casual kitchen, led by Osteria Francescana alum Jessica Rosaval, and the on-site restaurant, Francescana at Maria Luigia, where Rosaval and team offer a nightly tasting menu showcasing nine of Massimo’s most iconic dishes. Nearby is the “playground,” where you’ll find a pool table, a gym, and most visibly Massimo’s collection of cars and motorcycles.

And Casa Maria Luicia breathes the region, down to every detail: guests staying on the property will find hunks of Parmigiano Reggiano and bottles of Lambrusco greeting them in their rooms.

This dichotomy of fast/slow appears often in Massimo’s work. Perhaps most known is his dish, Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano, which has been an evolving presence at Osteria Francescana for decades. “It’s about celebrating the slow passing of time,” he tells Forbes, “with a fast and contemporary mind.”

In Slow Food, Fast Cars, you’ll find recipes like:

Gnocco Fritto, the classic Emilian fried dough, in this case topped with mortadella, whipped ricotta, and extra-aged balsamic vinegar. (“Once you join the fraternity of gnocco fritto,” the authors write, “it is very hard to turn back.”)

Smoked Beef Short Rib, a less traditional way of addressing the short rib cute in Modena, but one that at Casa Maria Luigia is paired with a sauce built from smoked fresh apricots and marigold vinegar.

Tiramisu, an “untouchable classic” that the team serves in small, individual-sized glass jars to guests.

An ML Pantry section that offers infused waters (Fennel Water!), preserved fruits (Amarena Jam!), and other conserves, oils, vinegar, liqueurs, and salts.

🎙️ | We had a great chat with Lara—and of course, we put her to the test in our signature culinary game! Find this episode here on Substack and anywhere you get your podcasts.

This week, James Park joins us to discuss his first cookbook, Chili Crisp: 50+ Recipes to Satisfy Your Spicy, Crunchy, Garlicky Cravings.

James is a seasoned recipe developer and food writer who has been published in outlets including Eater, Food52, BuzzFeed, and Chowhound. After moving from Korea to the American South when he was 13, James began to navigate two cultural identities and continued to turn to food as a medium.

And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know chili crisp has been having a ~moment~ in the United States. While the condiment has become trendy in the US, its roots are deep in Asia and became a more steady consumer product when Lao Gan Ma began producing containers of chile crisp in China’s Guizhou province in the late 1990s. A slew of American brands have emerged with chili crisps and chili crisp-inspired products, with Cathy Erway chronicling the “cult of spicy chile crisp” for TASTE. Just this month, David Chang’s Momofuku brand drove chili crisp headlines after going after (and then backing off) companies using their trademarked term “chili crunch.”

So when James went to write his first cookbook and narrowed his focus on chili crisp, it was in sync with the zeitgeist. Though he considers himself an “unofficial chili crisp ambassador,” James didn’t discover the condiment until later in life, which allowed him to see how he could incorporate it into recipes in creative and unexpected ways.

“Chili crisp opened the door of connections with other Asian cultures for me,” James writes in Chili Crisp. “The more I tasted chili crisp, the more I appreciated it and was proud to be a part of it. It even became my pickup line when making new friends. Do you know about chili crisp? Do you like chili crisp? What's your favorite way of enjoying it? Do you want to try my chili crisp?”

In Chili Crisp, James presents recipes like:

* Kimchi Quesadilla with Chili Crisp

* Savory Morning Oats with Jammy Eggs and Pork Floss

* Chili Crisp Bucatini Carbonara

* Beef Short Ribs Ragu

* Fiery Spaghetti and Meatballs

* Chili Crisp Biscuits with Honey-Butter Glaze

* Chili Crisp Ice Cream Two Ways

* And more!

We’ve got a great chat with James—and of course, we put him to the test in our signature culinary game! Find this episode anywhere you podcast.

Chili Crisp: 50+ Recipes to Satisfy Your Spicy, Crunchy, Garlicky Cravings by James Park

If you already love chili crisp, this book is for you. If you're new to it, this book is for you. With more than 50 recipes, Chili Crisp is here for you, wherever you are on your spicy life journey.

Packed with chili crisp inspiration to take your love of this spicy ingredient to the next level, Chili Crisp provides dozens of no-recipe recipes (like potato chips and chili crisp, a match made in snack heaven) and a handy build-your-own chili crisp formula to inspire you to create your very own version. Soon all your family and friends will be clamoring for a jar.

I hope your 2024 is off to an excellent start. Can you believe we’re already six weeks in? I blinked and it’s Valentine’s Day. And now, I’m so thrilled to be back with all of you to launch our 14th season (!!!) of Salt + Spine.

By the way… It’s a new season of Salt + Spine, and if you love what we do, we would be so grateful if you shared the word! Click below to share this episode with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too.

Before we get to this episode…

🎧 What I’m Listening To

* Absolutely loving this new mini-series from Sohla El-Waylly and Ham El-Waylly in collaboration with The Sporkful team. Episode 1 starts with murder and ends with tamale-inspired soup. Start at the beginning. (Psst, stay tuned for my chat with Sohla soon, too!)

📖 What I’m Reading

* Lots of (very, very deserved) love for The Zuni Cafe Cookbook lately in Eater and TASTE. If you write about TZCC, I will read it.

* I just finished Less and, whew, adored it. I’m late to the party, and it sat on my shelf for several years. But I picked it up recently and couldn’t put it down. I also just finished the behemoth Wellness by Nathan Hill (who’s both an alum of my university and of my college newspaper!) Loved his first novel, The Nix, and Wellness was just as captivating and satisfying.

Episode 165: The State of California Cuisine with Reem Assil, Tanya Holland & Sara Calvosa Olson

Alright, we’ve got some fun conversations in store this season, and we’re starting by letting you into one of our recent, incredible live events. A hearty crowd joined us in the fall at the stunning Mill Valley Public Library, nestled in a great forest of California redwoods, for a chat we called “The State of California Cuisine.”

A lofty title, I know! But we knew just who could bring the modern, representative views of what’s happening in Cali cuisine today: our friends Sara Calvosa Olson, Tanya Holland, and Reem Assil.

* Sara is a Karuk home cook whose first cookbook, Chími Nu’am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen, “reimagines some of the oldest foods in California for home cooks today.” Think: acorn crepes, blackberry braised smoked salmon, wild boar pozole, peppernut mole chicken. Sara bills the book as an “accessible entry for people beginning their journey toward a decolonized diet.”

* Tanya is the award-winning chef and restauranteur behind Oakland’s beloved Brown Sugar Kitchen (no current brick & mortar location), and a well-known culinary personality. Today, the “Top Chef” alumna chairs the James Beard Foundation’s Awards Committee (and sits on the foundation’s Board of Trustees). Her third cookbook, Tanya Holland's California Soul: Recipes from a Culinary Journey West, showcases 80 seasonal recipes rooted in the “key ingredients, techniques, and traditions that African Americans brought with them as they left the South for California, creating a beloved version of soul food.” Alongside recipes, Tanya shares stories of Black Californian food-makers, from farmers to coffee roasters.

* Reem is a Palestinian-Syrian chef-activist based in Oakland, CA, who spent a decade as a labor and community organizer before turning to restaurants and opening Reem’s California. Reem brings her social justice lens to the restaurant industry, pushing for more just economic and labor practices. The La Cocina alumna’s debut cookbook, Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora, “shares stories of the power of Arab communities to turn hardship into brilliant, nourishing meals and any occasion into a celebratory feast.”

We’ve got a great chat with a lively, engaged live audience. And of course, with these three incredible cooks in one room, we had to put them all to the test in our signature culinary game! Enjoy.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of these books via Bookshop:

Coming up this week: Paid subscribers to Salt + Spine will receive three recipes from this week’s featured books:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipe—plus exclusive content and hundreds of other featured recipes—become a paid subscriber today.

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

Catching up with 2024 books here, so these include January releases, too!

* Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson

* The Farm Table by Julius Roberts

* Cool Food: Erasing Your Carbon Footprint One Bite at a Time by Robert Downey Jr. and Thomas Kostigen

* 5 Ingredients Mediterranean: Simple Incredible Food by Jamie Oliver

* Eat More Plants: A Chef’s Journal by Daniel Humm

* 15 Minute Meals: Truly Quick Recipes that Don’t Taste Like Shortcuts by Ali Rosen

* Come Hungry: Salads, Meals, and Sweets for People Who Live to Eat by Melissa Ben-Ishay

* Big Bites: Wholesome, Comforting Recipes That Are Big on Flavor, Nourishment, and Fun by Kate Ashmore

* The Complete Beans and Grains Cookbook: A Comprehensive Guide with 400+ Recipes by America's Test Kitchen

* Après Ski: 100 Cozy Drinks to Warm Up Your Winter by Cider Mill Press

By the way: I’m so thankful for all of you, the Salt + Spine community. After six years, it’s incredible to continue to hear from you all—what you’re cooking, something in our interviews that stood out to you, and getting the chance to meet you at our events and live shows.

🍪 COOKIE SWAP!

Speaking of events… our annual Cookie Swap is just around the corner! For those of you in the Bay Area, I look forward to seeing you on December 10 for cookie demos, cookie sampling, glasses of bubbles, and of course swapping your baked goods with others! It’s always a blast. As in prior years, this event supports our friends at La Cocina and tickets are available here.

🎧 What I’m Listening To

* It’s that time of year and I’m thrilled to for the fifth year to join my friends Stacie & Meghan at Didn’t I Just Feed You to share some of my favorite cookbooks of the year. Give it a listen here!

📖 What I’m Reading

* Mayukh Sen’s wonderful profile of Madhur Jaffrey, 50 years after An Invitation to Indian Cooking was published. Knopf reissued the book, one of 20 she’s written, this year. “You’d be mistaken if you were to perceive Jaffrey, now 90, primarily as a cookbook author. ‘I’m an actress,’ she stated matter-of-factly. ‘And I do parts. One of the parts is playing a food writer.’” Read more in The Washington Post.

* I love a Cuban sandwich. The New York Times offers an illustrated history looking at the sandwich’s origins.

🍳 What I’m Cooking

* Nothing to report this week! Finally wrapping up on Thanksgiving leftovers and lots of meals out. A deserved break from cooking after last week.

Hey there, do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 164: Dan Pelosi

In this week’s episode, Dan Pelosi and I discuss:

* His path to “Grossy Pelosi,” from cooking alongside his family as a kid (yuck cakes!) to how his background in design and marketing set the stage for his pivot to working in food full time,

* How his viral recipes—vodka sawce—take off and whether he’s tired of making them,

* Why he declines potluck dinner party invites and what he asks guests to bring when he’s in control of the menu.

Plus, as always, we put Dan to the test in our signature culinary game.

Let's Eat: 101 Recipes to Fill Your Heart & Home by Dan Pelosi

GrossyPelosi is your best friend in the kitchen--actually, he's family.

In his debut cookbook, larger-than-life personality Dan Pelosi offers up a warm hug of home cooking, sharing both comfort food and connection with 101 of his nearest and dearest Italian American recipes. Some have been passed down through his family, and others have been cooked up from scratch--but all are made with love and accompanied by fun, meaningful stories to warm your heart while filling your belly. Read how Bimpy (the 100-year-old grandpa the internet loves to love!) smuggled homemade subs into Yankee Stadium, then craft your ultimate Big Italian Sandwich. Relive the memory of Dan learning how to make his friend's mom's stuffed chicken cutlets in their Jersey Shore house (and getting himself adopted into their family), then level up with Prosciutto & Mozzarella-Stuffed Chicken Parm. Learn how Dan's mom would spring him out of school before the final bell (just to preheat the oven), then make your own Early Dismissal Pot Roast. And rewind to the beginning of Dan's relationship with his boyfriend, Gus, then recreate the Zabaglione (and the romantic Cheesecake Factory ambiance) that inspired their first "I love you."

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Let’s Eat here:

This week, paid subscribers will receive two featured recipes from Dan’s Let’s Eat—the classic Italian Holiday Cookies with “an elusive and unique flavor profile that’s somewhat hard to nail down,” and a crowd-pleasing Baked Brie Bread Bowl that’s perfectly “Peak Pinterest Mom.”

Both recipes are hitting inboxes shortly so make sure you’re subscribed today:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipe—plus exclusive content and hundreds of other featured recipes—become a paid subscriber today.

See you next week!

Pick’s images — vibrant and charismatic, like the photographer herself, collaborators said — have left an indelible mark on the national food scene, and particularly in the Bay Area. Pick photographed numerous high-profile cookbooks, from celebrity chef Chrissy Teigen’s “Cravings” and Bay Area chef Tanya Holland’s “California Soul” to Andrea Nguyen’s “Vietnamese Food Any Day.” Her photos were featured on the covers of Bon Appetit and Food & Wine magazines. She captured Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters in her Berkeley backyard, and caught the light falling just so across a set restaurant table. 

There is an ongoing GoFundMe to support Aubrie’s husband Erik and 2-year-old daughter Romy here.

📖 What I’m Reading

* Julia Moskin spent over a year working to lock in an interview with Half Baked Harvest’s Tieghan Gerard, who has become a polarizing figure in the cookbook industry—so much so that Moskin notes most of the sources she contacted wouldn’t go on the record. Gerard’s early viral success built her a massive online following, and her books sell quite well—but, as Moskin writes, she has “also become an unwilling lightning rod for controversy, entangled in issues that have galvanized the food world in the last decade: cultural appropriation, intellectual property, body shaming, privilege and racism.” A fascinating piece that prompts many discussion questions. Read more in the New York Times here.

🎧 What I’m Listening To

* 🎙 This week, I adored this conversation with Andrea Nguyen and her mother, Clara, who makes her podcast debut on The Bittman Project. Have a listen:

🍳 What I’m Cooking

* 🦃 It’s almost T-Day! This year, I’m hosting a small pre-Thanksgiving dinner party that’s “Thanksgiving-inspired” and built around cookbooks. A new twist and I’m excited to share the menu with y’all soon!

Episode 163: John Finger + John Ash

This week’s episode was recorded *live* at Hog Island Oyster Co. on the shores of Tomales Bay in Northern California. I’m joined by Hog Island co-founder John Finger and revered chef John Ash for this conversation, which took place while our audience enjoyed a spread of dishes from the new Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood.

In the show, we discuss:

* The history of Hog Island Oyster Co. and oyster farming in America, and the introduction of Hog Island’s Sweetwater oysters;

* How sustainable aquaculture practices have evolved over time—and what’s on the horizon;

* And the wide-ranging new Hog Island cookbook, in which John Ash pulls in recipes and techniques from around the globe.

Plus, as always, we put our guests to the test in our signature culinary game!

The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood: Culinary Treasures from Our Waters by Chef John Ash, with a Foreword by Stuart Brioza

Featuring favorites from the kitchens of Hog Island Oyster Bars and other talented chefs who have embraced the company's sustainability ethos, this authoritative compendium showcases over 250 dishes from cuisines around the world, including regional favorites like San Francisco cioppino, Southern crayfish étouffée, and New England clam chowder. Presenting a wide variety of cooking methods--such as steaming, roasting, grilling, pan-frying, and curing--along with illustrations for techniques like shucking oysters, opening clams, and filleting fish, this comprehensive cookbook will guide you through the basics of seafood preparation. And the extensive list of sauces, butters, and seasonings will help you turn your choice of seafood into a stellar dish.

The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood is a master class from a chef who shows home and professional cooks how to bring culinary gifts from the water to the table at their peak of perfection.

We 💚 local bookstores! Pick up your copy of The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood here:

This week, paid subscribers will receive two recipes from The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood: a perfect-for-Thanksgiving Cornbread Oyster Stuffing with Thyme and Fennel … and a classic Grilled Oysters with Four Sauces (we’re talking Chipotle-Bourbon Butter! Harissa Butter! Mendocino Miso Butter!)

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipe—plus exclusive content and hundreds of other featured recipes—become a paid subscriber today.

And now, somehow, it’s Oct. 31 - Halloween! I’m a sucker for anything fall. We’re in a judgment-free zone, of course, so I’ll readily admit that I’m happily ordering pumpkin-spiced lattes. I made chili as soon as the temps dipped a bit after our recent heat wave. I broke out my extra warm sweaters, put them away (see: heat wave), and broke them out again.

Tonight, I’m making a big batch of Eric Kim’s Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese, which keeps it simple with cheddar and Velveeta. It feels equal parts crowd-pleasing (we’re talking actual toddlers here) and nostalgic. (Usually, for holidays, Martha Stewart’s baked mac is my trusted go-to.)

Ah, and costumes. How fitting that we’re talking with Australia-born Hetty today as my family prepares to transform into the animated, hilarious Australian sheepdog family of Bluey, Bingo, Chili, and yours truly, Bandit. Wish us luck on the trick-or-treat streets!

📖 What I’m Reading

* Kristin Jensen writes about the publication of Butter Boy, the new cookbook from Paul Flynn, “the beloved chef at the Tannery in Waterford and the Irish Times food writer,” wondering: Is a cookbook without photos so retro it's radical?

🎧 What I’m Listening To

* Self-promo: I was so honored to share the origin story of Salt + Spine on the Everything Cookbooks podcast with friends of the show Kate Leahy, Molly Stevens, and Kristin Donnelly. This trio (plus fourth co-host Andrea Nguyen) really ask great questions and it made for a fun and engaging chat. Listen here or wherever you podcast!

🍳 What I’m Cooking

* You already know the Halloween menu: Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese by Eric Kim [New York Times]

Episode 162: Hetty Lui McKinnon

In this week’s episode, Hetty Lui McKinnon and I discuss:

* The loss of her father when she was a teenager, and the impact his passing had on her relationship with her family and with food. “As a child,” Hetty writes in Tenderheart, “I didn’t see living among cartons of fresh produce as anything but normal. … My memories of my father are suspended in time, a disrupted dream without an ending. Every memory I have of him is through the lens of a child. He was tenderhearted—generous, caring, affectionate, kind, and playful.”

* Her path to writing Tenderheart, her fourth and most personal book to date. Hetty first wrote about her father’s passing in an essay for Peddler, her self-published journal on food and culture.

* How Hetty approaches recipe development and her “deep obsession” with vegetables, which leads to recipes in Tenderheart like Cabbage Carbonara-ish, Chocolate-Eggplant Brownies, Tingly ‘Cacio e Pepe’ Snow Peas with Rice Noodles, Lazy Butternut Squash Tiramisu, and—on of my new favorite lunches—an egg salad in which Hetty swaps out the egg for roasted Brussel sprouts. Genius! (By the way, in addition to Hetty’s cookbooks, she publishes recipes regularly with The New York Times and on her Substack, To Vegetables, With Love .)

* Plus, as always, we put Hetty to the test in our signature culinary game!

For more great listening, our 2021 episode with Hetty is here:

Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds by Hetty Lui McKinnon

Heritage and food have always been linked for Hetty Lui McKinnon. Tenderheart is a loving homage to her father, a Chinese immigrant in Australia, told in flavorful, vegetarian recipes. Growing up as part of a Chinese family in Australia, McKinnon formed a deep appreciation for her bicultural identity, and for her father, who moved to Sydney as a teenager and learned English while selling bananas at a local market. As he brought home crates full of produce after work, McKinnon learned about the beauty and versatility of fruits and vegetables.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Hetty’s Tenderheart here:

Hetty’s previous cookbooks include Neighborhood, Community, Family, and To Asia, With Love.

This week, paid subscribers will receive two featured recipes from Hetty’s Tenderheart—a stunning eggplant dish that gets a classic char siu treatment, and a “carrot-laden ramen” that draws on the smell-memory of satay. These are dropping on Thursday, along with an excerpt of Hetty reading from Tenderheart.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipes—plus exclusive content and hundreds of other featured recipes—become a paid subscriber today.

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

* Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook by Sohla El-Waylly

* Big Heart, Little Stove by Erin French

* Kung Food: Chinese American Recipes from a Third-Culture Kitchen by Jon Kung

* Hungry As Hell by Michelle Davis + Matt Holloway

* Preserved: Condiments Darra Goldstein, Richard Martin, Cortney Burns

* Preserved: Fruit Darra Goldstein, Richard Martin, Cortney Burns

Psst, we were quiet the past couple of weeks, so catching up on a bunch of other new releases I hope you didn’t miss!

* Just Eat by Jessie James Decker

* More is More: Get Loose in the Kitchen by Molly Baz

* Rintaro: Food and Stories from a Japanese Izakaya in California by Sylvan Mishima Brackett

* The Global Pantry Cookbook by Ann Taylor Pittman + Scott Mowbray

* Chocolate All Day by Steve Hodge

* Fish Butchery: Mastering the Catch, Cut, and Craft by Josh Niland

* Joshua Weissman: Texture Over Taste by Joshua Weissman

* Let's Bake Bread! by Bonnie Ohara

* Let's Eat Paris! by François-Régis Gaudry

* The Encyclopedia of Cocktails by Robert Simonson

* ScheckEats―Cooking Smarter: Friendly Recipes with a Side of Science by Jeremy Scheck

* Basics with Babish: Recipes for Screwing Up, Trying Again, and Hitting It Out of the Park by Andrew Rea

* Bread and Roses: 100+ Grain Forward Recipes featuring Global Ingredients and Botanicals by Rose Wilde

* Make It Japanese: Simple Recipes for Everyone by Rie McClenny

* Maman & Me: Recipes from Our Iranian American Family by Roya Shariat

* My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Diaspora by Yewande Komolafe

* Polish’d: Modern Vegetarian Cooking from Global Poland by Michal Korkosz

* The Chutney Life: 100 Easy-to-Make Indian-Inspired Recipes by Palak Patel

* Veg-Table: Recipes, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored, Vegetable-Focused Meals by Nik Sharma

Episode 161: Deb Perelman

In this week’s episode, deb perelman of the smitten kitchen digest and I discuss:

* Her initial foray into blogging—from her short stint chronicling her dating life in New York City and shifting the focus to cooking;

* How she approaches cookbook writing, from her initial reluctance to write a cookbook to what makes “keeper recipes;”

* Where she finds inspiration, including which cookbooks she turns to.

Plus, as always, we put Deb to the test in our signature culinary game.

Hey there, do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics For Your Forever Files by Deb Perelman

In her third book, Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files, Deb Perelman gives us 100 recipes (including a few favorites from her site) that aim to make shopping easier, preparation more practical and enjoyable, and food more reliably delicious for the home cook.

What's a keeper?

* a full-crunch cucumber salad you'll want to make over and over again for lunch

* a tomato and corn cobbler that tastes like summer sunshine

* an epic deep-dish broccoli cheddar quiche that even quiche skeptics love

* a slow-roasted chicken on a bed of unapologetically schmaltzy croutons

* a butterscotched apple crisp that will ruin you for all others

* perfect spaghetti and meatballs, better than ever

* Deb's ultimate pound cake, one to redeem all the sleepy ones you've eaten over the years

These are the fail-safe, satisfying recipes you'll rely on for years to come--from Perelman's forever files to yours.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Smitten Kitchen Keepers here:

This week, paid subscribers will receive a recipe for Ginger Garlic Chicken Noodle Soup, the first recipe she worked on for this book and “the definition of a keeper.”

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipe—plus exclusive content and hundreds of other featured recipes—become a paid subscriber today.

New Cookbook Releases*

*from this week and last week, as we’re behind! 😊

* The Ranch Table: Recipes from a Year of Harvests, Celebrations, and Family Dinners on a Historic California Ranch by Elizabeth Poett

* Here We Go Again: Recipes and Inspiration to Level Up Your Leftovers by Tiffani Thiessen

* The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp: Spicy Recipes and Stories from Fly By Jing's Kitchen by Jing Gao

* Always Hungry! by Laurent Degenais

* Sohn-mat: Recipes and Flavors of Korean Home Cooking by Monica Lee and Tien Nguyen

* Jacques Pépin Cooking My Way: Recipes and Techniques for Economical Cooking by Jacques Pépin

* The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen by Bee Wilson

* Seafood Simple by Eric Ripert

* Lidia's From Our Family Table to Yours: More Than 100 Recipes Made with Love for All Occasions by Lidia Bastianich

* The Korean Cookbook by Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi

* Scandinavian from Scratch: A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden by Nichole Accettola

* Unwind: A Devotional Cookbook for the Harried and Hungry by Aarti Sequeira

* The Lula Cafe Cookbook: Collected Recipes and Stories by Jason Hammel

* Zingerman's Bakehouse Celebrate Every Day: A Year's Worth of Favorite Recipes for Festive Occasions, Big and Small by Amy Emberling, Lindsay-Jean Hard, Lee Vedder, Corynn Coscia

* A Man & His Kitchen: Classic Home Cooking and Entertaining with Style at the Wm Brown Farm by Matt Hranek

* Slow Drinks by Danny Childs

* Signature Cocktails by Amanda Schuster

* The Chocolate Chip Cookie Book: Classic, Creative, and Must-Try Recipes for Every Kitchen by Katie Jacobs

* Now & Then: A Collection of Recipes for Always by Tessa Kiros

* Natasha's Kitchen: 100+ Easy Family-Favorite Recipes You'll Make Again and Again by Natasha Kravchuk

* Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America by Sandra A. Gutierrez

* Familia: 125 Foolproof Mexican Recipes to Feed Your People by Marcela Valladolid

* Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many by Jeremy Lee

* Diner: Day for Night by Andrew Tarlow

* Cook Clever: One Chop, No Waste, All Taste by Shivi Ramoutar

Happy Friday folks! This week’s episode is a wee bit late because it’s a live show (!!!) which means the audio gave us a slight technical run-around. But it’s a fun one, for sure, in which we chat with Katie Parla in front of a live audience at our beloved Omnivore Books in San Francisco.

First — last week, I shared the New York Times profile of B. Dylan Hollis, and this week the NYT is back (via Salt + Spine friend Priya Krishna) with a full feature on TikTok stars and how they’re changing the name of the cookbook game. “[Hollis] is one of several TikTok creators, many of them with little or no professional cooking experience, who have gone from tinkering in their home kitchens to topping best-seller lists in a remarkably short time. In the process, they’ve shot a jolt of energy into a sagging cookbook market.”

Now, let’s head to Italy…

* Hey there, do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 160: Katie Parla

In this week’s episode, Katie joined me in front of an audience at Omnivore Books in San Francisco to discuss:

* The cuisines of Italy’s islands—which involve less fish and seafood than you might think;

* Her decision to self-publish her latest cookbook, Food of the Italian Islands—and why she’ll keep self-publishing in the future;

* What she wishes she knew when she first moved to Italy 20 years ago.

Plus, as always, we put Katie to the test in our signature culinary game.

Food of the Italian Islands by Katie Parla

A transportive cookbook inviting readers through Sicily, Sardinia, and Italy’s lesser-known island destinations so you can sink your teeth into the secrets of their rustic, romantic dishes. Katie Parla will take you through the streets of Palermo where her great-grandfather was born, across the caper fields of volcanic Pantelleria, into the kitchens of Sardinia for lessons in ornate pasta making, and to the pristine waters of Ponza to dive for sea urchins. And no island adventure with Katie would be complete without a jaunt through the Venetian lagoon on her fishing boat Laura!

But Food of the Italian Islands isn’t just an island journey with your favorite Jersey girl. There are also over 85 recipes, both original and reimagined, that showcase the allure of the islands, including pane frattau featuring Sardinia’s beloved flatbread; bigoli in salsa, a party pasta popular in Venice; coniglio all’ischitana, braised rabbIt in the style of Ischia; torta caprese, Capri’s flourless chocolate-almond cake; and an array of pesto sauces from Pantelleria, Trapani, Linsoa, and Carloforte that will have you asking, “pesto genovese who?”

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Katie’s latest book here:

This week, paid subscribers will receive a recipe for Pesto Pantesco, the regional recipe from the island of Pantelleria, a speck south of Sicily, which employs tomatoes and the “wonderful, savory flavor of Pantelleria’s most famous export, salted capers.” Yum!

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipe—plus exclusive content and hundreds of other featured recipes—become a paid subscriber today.

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

* Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation by Clarissa Wei

* Simply West African: Easy, Joyful Recipes for Every Kitchen by Pierre Thiam with Lisa Katayama

* Eater: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes from the Authority on Where to Eat and Why It Matters by Hillary Dixler Canavan

* A New Way to Bake: Re-imagined Recipes for Plant-based Cakes, Bakes and Desserts by Philip Khoury

* Crave: Bold Recipes That Make You Want Seconds by Karen Akunowicz

* Les Dames d'Escoffier New York Cookbook: Stirring the Pot by Silvia Baldini and Sharon Franke

* Gatherings: Casual-Fancy Meals to Share by America’s Test Kitchen

* Every Season Is Soup Season: 85+ Souper-Adaptable Recipes to Batch, Share, Reinvent, and Enjoy by Shelly Westerhausen Worcel

* Skinnytaste Simple: Easy, Healthy Recipes with 7 Ingredients or Fewer by Gina Homolka and Heather K. Jones R.D.

* Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts: Wholesome Everyday Recipes Made With Love by Jillian Harris and Tori Wesszer

See you next week!

If you’re not yet a paid subscriber to Salt + Spine, I’d love to extend a special offer of 20% off monthly or annual subscriptions for up to a year. Act fast - this is only valid for the first week of our new season!

A few fun things I’ve been reading lately…

* B. Dylan Hollis (if you have TikTok, you’ve seen his vintage recipes) has one of the breakout cookbooks of the year with “Baking Yesteryear.” He talks to the New York Times (B. Dylan Hollis is Bananas for Vintage Self-Published Cookbooks) about his growing collection of community cookbooks:

* “Community cookbooks come from the church ladies and bridge clubs of the United States. They are the menus and the recipes of everyday folks. They’re a treasure trove of information,” Hollis said. He makes an excellent point: “You’re not going to find Velveeta fudge in an Anthony Bourdain cookbook.”

And now, onto this week’s show with guest Frankie Gaw:

Pssssssst. Hey there, do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 159: Frankie Gaw

In this week’s episode, Frankie and I discuss:

* How growing up in a Taiwanese-American family in Ohio shaped his relationship with food, and how he felt pulled toward a career in food media while working in tech,

* The loss of Frankie’s father, which led to a period of self-reflection that pushed Frankie to re-evaluate his priorities and purpose,

* A winding path—through Skyline Chilis and his grandmother’s recipes and a design-related career and a successful food blog and Instagram—that ultimately led to his debut cookbook, First Generation.

Plus, as always, we put Frankie to the test in our signature culinary game.

First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home by Frankie Gaw

In First Generation, Frankie Gaw of Little Fat Boy presents a tribute to Taiwanese home cooking. With dishes passed down from generations of family, Frankie introduces a deeply personal and essential collection of recipes inspired by his multicultural experience, melding the flavors of suburban America with the ingredients and techniques his parents grew up with.

In his debut cookbook, Frankie will teach you to master bao, dumplings, scallion pancakes, and so much more through stunning visuals and intimate storytelling about discovering identity and belonging through cooking. Recipes such as Lap Cheong Corn Dogs, Honey-Mustard Glazed Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken, Stir-Fried Rice Cakes with Bolognese, Cincinnati Chili with Hand Pulled Noodles, Bao Egg and Soy Glazed Bacon Sandwich, and Lionshead Big Mac exemplify the stunning creations born out of growing up with feet in two worlds.

Through step-by-step photography and detailed hand-drawn illustrations, Frankie offers readers not just the essentials but endless creative new flavor combinations for the fundamentals of Taiwanese home cooking.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Frankie’s First Generation here:

This week, paid subscribers will receive two recipes from Frankie’s First Generation: First up, his Lap Cheong Corn Dogs, “a dream pairing of cornbread batter and Chinese sausage—destined to be together in the mind of a young Asian American kid from suburban Ohio.” Plus, Frankie’s Stir-Fried Rice Cake Bolognese. “I can trace my love of Bolognese all the way back to third grade,” Frankie writes, “when my best friend, who lived across the street, introduced me to what would become one of my favorite meals: SpaghettiOs with Meatballs.”

These recipes will drop into paid subscribers’ inboxes in the next 48 hours! To get these and hundreds more featured recipes, become a subscriber today.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. If you love cookbooks, what are you waiting for?

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

Fall is hereeeee! It’s officially cookbook season. And here’s what is fresh this week:

* I Could Nosh: Classic Jew-Ish Recipes Revamped for Every Day by Jake Cohen

* [🎙 Jake on SALT + SPINE: Jake Cohen on Jew-ish cuisine, reinventing recipes, and becoming the ‘gay Ina Garten’]

* The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope by José Andrés (Longer Tables with José Andrés), World Central Kitchen, and Sam Chapple-Sokol

* Pasta Every Day: Make It, Shape It, Sauce It, Eat It by Meryl Feinstein of pasta social club

* Simply Symon Suppers: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year by Michael Symon and Douglas Trattner

* The Simple Art of Rice: Recipes from Around the World for the Heart of Your Table by JJ Johnson and Danica Novgorodoff

* Gohan: Everyday Japanese Cooking: Memories and Stories from My Family's Kitchen by Emiko Davies

* The Food of Sicily: Recipes from a Sun-Drenched Culinary Crossroads by Fabrizia Lanza

* Comfort and Joy: Irresistible Pleasures from a Vegetarian Kitchen by Ravinder Bhogal

* Pasta et Al: The Many Shapes Of A Family Tradition by Alec Morris

* Restaurant Gordon Ramsay: A Story of Excellence by Gordon Ramsey

In this week’s episode, Vicky and I discuss:

* Growing up for several years on a farm in Kenya, where her father was working in agricultural development, and how she formed a relationship with food at an early age;

* Her nearly-decade-long project, Pasta Grannies, to document the time-honored techniques and recipes passed down through generations of nonnas, the Italian grandmothers;

* The diversity of regional pasta and cooking styles around Italy, and the stories behind these recipes;

* Her cookbooks, including her debut award-winning Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook that has now been translated into six languages, and her latest, Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking.

Plus, as always, we put Vicky to the test in our signature culinary game.

Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking by Vicky Bennison

"Heartwarming and deliciously comforting." - Stanley Tucci

Who better to take inspiration from than Pasta Grannies who have spent their lifetimes plating up comfort and connection. Vicky Bennison, the author of the bestselling Pasta Grannies cookbook, brings you more heart-warming recipes and stories from our favourite Italian grandmothers in this easy-to-follow, crowd-pleasing recipe book that shows you how to make authentic Italian food that everyone will enjoy.

We 💚 to support local bookstores!

This week, paid subscribers will receive two recipes from Vicky’s latest cookbook: Anna Maria's Ziti alla Genovese (Pasta with Stewed Beef from Naples) and Nini's Arancini (Sicilian Deep-Fried Rice Balls)

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipes—plus exclusive content and hundreds of other featured recipes—become a paid subscriber today.

In this week’s episode, Noah and I discuss:

* His early interest in both food television (Lidia Bastianich, Ming Tsai) and cookbooks (Marcella Hazan, Edna Lewis),

* How he fell into opening up new locations of Bludso’s BBQ and then teaming up with Kevin Bludso to co-author Bludso's BBQ Cookbook: A Family Affair in Smoke and Soul … and then with chef Jeremy Fox to write On Vegetables: Modern Recipes for the Home Kitchen,

* The pandemic-inspired “Don’t Panic Pantry” video series, which went onto become the concept for his first solo cookbook,

* And the chef’s favorite pantry staples, including dried seaweed.

Plus, as always, we put Noah to the test in our signature culinary game.

The Don’t Panic Pantry Cookbook by Noah Galuten

As the world changes around us, we are constantly vacillating between two different versions of ourselves: the one who wants to be healthier and the one who wants to be excited, or comforted, by the food that we eat. We all want to eat "better," but what does that mean? This book is here to say: Don't panic.

Don't panic about learning how to cook; or environmental sustainability; or nutrition. Don't panic about what to make for breakfast or dinner or midnight snacks, because Noah Galuten has your back! In Noah's kitchen, trying really matters, perfection is overrated, and better is good enough.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Noah’s The Don’t Panic Pantry Cookbook here.

This week, paid subscribers will receive a recipe for Noah’s Vegan Minestrone with Miso Pesto, his riff on Soupe au Pistou, the “French classic in which a usually mild broth gets livened up at the very end with a dollop of pistou (French pesto) placed onto each bowl.”

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipe—plus exclusive content and hundreds of other featured recipes—become a paid subscriber today.

In today’s episode, Maren and I discuss:

* How her upbringing in the Midwest influenced her decision to pursue a career in food.

* Her work at food media outlets like Food & Wine and Sunset magazine as well as culinary events companies like Just Add Salt.

* The inspiration behind her first cookbook, Fresh Midwest, including how a collection of family recipes compelled her to tackle the project.

Plus, as always, we put Maren to the culinary test in our signature game.

We 💚 local bookstores. Find your copy of Maren’s Fresh Midwest at Bookshop or from Omnivore Books.

This week, paid subscribers will get two featured recipes from Maren’s Fresh Midwest—Wild Rice Salad with Butternut Squash & Pomegranates and Maren’s Apple Cake. Get both with a paid subscription or a free 7-day trial.

Get these recipes this week by becoming a paid subscriber! Salt + Spine is a reader-supported publication. Paid subscribers get bonus content like featured recipes and more for just a few dollars per month.

In today’s episode, Danny Bowien and I discuss:

* Growing up in Oklahoma after being adopted from his birthplace of South Korea, and a lingering nostalgia for Olive Garden.

* His journey to becoming a chef, from an early job at a pizza shop to culinary school to winning the Genova Pesto World Championship.

* The process of opening Mission Chinese Food and how he handled being catapulted to a new level of fame.

* The inspiration behind his latest cookbook, Mission Vegan, and some of the ways his culinary repertoire has evolved in recent years.

Plus, as always, we put Danny to the culinary test in our signature game.

The Recipes!

This week, paid subscribers will get two featured recipes from Danny’s Mission Vegan.

Our Spring 2023 season of the Salt + Spine podcast kicks off right here, right now, with a marvelous returning guest: the delightful Claire Saffitz.

In today’s episode, Claire and I discuss:

* How she’s worked to create dessert recipes that speak to everyone—from sweet to tart, simple to complex.

* The impact of the pandemic on her creative process as she embarked on writing book No. 2, What’s for Dessert.

* Which cookbook authors inspire Claire, and which books she turns to time and again—including community cookbooks!

* Her advice to home bakers, based on years of creating recipes for curious novices looking for a boost.

Plus, as always, we put Claire to the culinary test in our signature game.

The Book!

We 💚 local bookstores. Find your copy of Claire’s What’s for Dessert at Bookshop or a signed copy (!) from Omnivore Books.

P.S. Find Claire’s first book, Dessert Person, on Bookshop and Omnivore.

The Recipes!

This week, paid subscribers will get two featured recipes from Claire’s What’s for Dessert—these vibrant No Bake Grapefruit Bars and an utlra-swirly Flourless Chocolate Meringue Cake.

Get these recipes this week by becoming a paid subscriber! Salt + Spine is a reader-supported publication. Paid subscribers get bonus content like featured recipes and more for just a few dollars per month.

Uliks Fehmiu is a co-founder of the beloved bakery Pain D’Avignon, which sprang up on Cape Cod over three decades ago. But the story of the bakery begins back in Uliks’ childhood and his early friendships in war-torn Belgrade.

What Uliks calls an “improbable journey into baking” is shared, for the first time in this format, with his recent cookbook: The Pain d'Avignon Baking Book: A War, An Unlikely Bakery, and a Master Class in Bread. The book offers an in-person account of Uliks’ and his co-founders’ stories—brought to life with striking illustrations. Here’s more:

In a journey that started in Belgrade amid the beginnings of war, and continued in America, four friends tested this philosophy to the extreme: They began a new life and opened a tiny bakery together on Cape Cod. Working hectic, twenty-four-hour days, while living all together in a loft above their business and making it all up as they went along, the founders of Pain D'Avignon quickly became one of the first highly acclaimed purveyors of artisanal bread in the Northeast.

The book also features 60 recipes spanning from Pain d’Avignon’s chef-loved loaves of sourdough and Cranberry Pecan bread to croissants, sandwiches, sweets, and more.

Uliks joined us remotely in our virtual studio for this Baking Month episode. I hope you enjoy our chat!

Featured Recipes from The Pain d’Avignon Baking Book:

This week, paid subscribers can access two featured recipes from Uliks Fehmiu’s The Pain d’Avignon Baking Book: an Apple Tart and the bakery’s Blueberry Lemon Scones.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Maya-Camille is the creative force behind Justice of the Pies, her Chicago bakery that’s become known for inventive and unmatched flavors (Lemon Espresso Pie … Blue Cheese Praline Pear Pie … and so on).

Much of Maya-Camille’s work traces back to her roots, with a significant influence from her father, the self-dubbed “Pie Master,” who worked as a criminal defense attorney by day. As with many family stories, Maya-Camille’s is complex and dotted with both adoration and strife. A strong sense of social activism and community building runs through her blood, though, and is baked into her work.

Her first cookbook, also titled Justice of the Pies, brings these beloved and revered recipes to home bakers with 85 recipes for both sweet and savory pies—plus quiches, tarts, whoopie pies, and more.

“I've always loved baking,” Maya-Camille says in our chat. “But at my core, I am a creative individual. And also at my core, I love working with my hands. I do have an arts background in terms of dancing, in terms of theater, in terms of visual art. I even played upright bass for five years. But culinary is still an art form—and it's the only art form that we have that's required for us to live. I don't dance as much anymore, but I'm still living, you know? I don't paint anymore, but I'm still living. If I don't eat, I'm not gonna live. So I can take this creative energy that I have and pour it into something that also provides me sustenance.”

Justice of the Pies is also filled with stories of “stewards" who Maya-Camille says are “agents of change who stand for fairness and equality.” Maya-Camille penned short profiles and developed recipes to honor folks like Black Joy Project creator Kleaver Cruz; cookbook author and Equity at the Table founder Julia Turshen and Design*Sponge founder Grace Bonney; and disability rights activist Claudia Gordon. (Or take Big Kika Keith and Kika Jr., who opened LA’s first Black-owned, women-led dispensary. To accompany their story, Maya-Camille developed a “Peaches and Herb Cobbler” that features a weed-infused butter.)

P.S. Maya-Camille starred in Netflix’s “Bake Squad” hosted by Christina Tosi, and she returns to the cast for a second season with it drops later this month.

Featured Recipes from Justice of the Pies

This week, paid subscribers can access two featured recipes from Maya-Camille’s Justice of the Pies: Lavender Whoopie Pies and Chocolate-Peanut Butter + Pretzel Tart.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

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Episode 151: Brian Noyes

Next in our Baking Month series, Brian Noyes joins us to #TalkCookbooks!

Brian is the founder of Red Truck Bakery, the rural Virginia spot that’s become a national attraction and drawn the praise of everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Barack Obama.

During a career in art direction at major media outlets in Washington, DC, Brian began spending his weekends baking pies and other goods. Before long, he’d purchased an old red pickup truck (from Tommy Hilfiger, no less) and was selling out of his sweet treats. Two locations and two cookbooks later, Red Truck Bakery continues—and Brian’s latest cookbook, The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook is out now and goes beyond sweets to include rustic, savory fare.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers have access to two recipes from Brian’s book: Orange Pecan Rolls and Virginia Peanut Pie as well as other bonus Baking Month content:

Find the Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook recipes here:

* Orange Pecan Rolls

* Virginia Peanut Pie

More Salt + Spine Baking Month!

Stay tuned to our Substack through the end of the month for exclusive recipes and more featured conversations with baking authors.

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 150: Laurel Kratochvila

Next in our Baking Month series, Laurel Kratochvila joins us to #TalkCookbooks!

Born in Boston, Laurel left her hometown for Katmandu after graduating with a degree in Physics from Tufts. She wound up in Prague, working in a bookstore and café, where she also met her husband.

It wasn’t until the duo decided to open up a bookstore in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg that Laurel started baking professionally—and her delicious bagels and baked goods were a hit. But Germany loves its paperwork, so Laurel decided to head to France to get a formal education in pastry.

The long-standing traditions of baking in Europe inspired her first cookbook: New European Baking: 99 Recipes for Breads, Brioches, and Pastries. The book features not only classic pastry recipes and step-by-step instructions for complicated breads and pastry, but it also profiles a dozen bakers across Europe who represent what Laurel sees as the “new” baking that’s taking off in Europe. Working off a basis of strong tradition, female bakers are leading the way to a thoughtful approach to baking.

Now, Laurel’s café, Fine Bagels, and her husband’s bookstore, Shakespeare & Sons, are both running smoothly, and Laurel reports that Berliners have come to love the English-language bookshop and New York-style bagels.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers have access to two recipes from Laurel’s book: Halva Flan and Potato, Thyme, and Gruyère Hand Pies as well as other bonus Baking Month content:

Find the New European Baking recipes here:

* Halva Flan

* Potato, Thyme, and Gruyère Hand Pies

More Salt + Spine Baking Month!

Stay tuned to our Substack over the next two weeks for exclusive recipes and more featured conversations with baking authors.

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 149: Erin Jeanne McDowell

Next in our Baking Month series, Erin Jeanne McDowell joins us to #TalkCookbooks!

A Midwest native, Erin learned to bake like so many of us: alongside her grandmothers. While studying Baking & Pastry Arts at the Culinary Institute of America, Erin was drawn to a career in food media.

After years of working alongside other cookbook authors and for food media outlets, Erin published her first solo cookbook, The Fearless Baker, in 2017, to high praise. Her pie book, aptly titled The Book on Pie, soon followed.

And now we’re treated to her latest cookbook—the one she tells us she’s been mulling on for years: Savory Baking: Recipes for Breakfast, Dinner, and Everything in Between. From breads to hearty tarts and other savory bakes (yes, that includes pizza!), Savory Baking brings the joy of baking to those of us with a “salt tooth” more than a sweet tooth. (Don’t worry — there are some sweet spins, too.)

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

Paid subscribers have access to two featured recipes from Savory Baking: Enchilada Pie and the Flakiest Cheese Biscuits.

Find the Savory Baking recipes here:

* Enchilada Pie

* Flakiest Cheese Biscuits

More Salt + Spine Baking Month!

Stay tuned to our Substack over the next two weeks for exclusive recipes from Benjamina Ebuehi’s The New Way to Cake and more featured conversations with baking authors.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 148: Brian Levy

Next in our Baking Month series, Brian Levy joins us to #TalkCookbooks!

Brian’s interest in cooking and gastronomy began in high school when he went on a month-long trip to France. He discovered Gourmet magazine and started watching Martha Stewart, The Two Fat Ladies, and more food TV.

Before he began his career in pastry, Brian studied journalism and was determined to work for Gourmet. To build up his resume, he thought some experience in the kitchen might help—so he went back to France where he interned in a bistro outside of Paris. Eventually, he made his way to New York where he interned at Michelin-starred Babbo before later studying architecture at Yale.

Brian’s first cookbook, Good and Sweet: A New Way to Bake with Naturally Sweet Ingredients, has been called a “game-changing collection of desserts” by celebrated author and baker Alice Medrich.

In the book, Brian eschews processed sugar and common substitutes like maple syrup, opting instead to let pure fruits and other whole ingredients naturally sweeten and enliven his recipes.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers will receive three featured recipes from Good & Sweet: Rosemary-Lemon Shortbread, a Pistachio-Studded Peach Galette, and the Perfect Currant Scone.

Find the recipes here:

* Rosemary-Lemon Shortbread

* Pistachio-Studded Peach Galette

* Perfect Currant Scone

More Salt + Spine Baking Month!

ICYMI, yesterday we featured recipes from Chetna's Easy Baking: Simple Cakes with a Twist of Spice by Chetna Makan:

* Spicy Coriander Chicken Bake

* Banoffee Chocolate Pavlova

And stay tuned to our Substack this week for exclusive recipes from Benjamina Ebuehi’s The New Way to Cake and a featured conversation with Erin Jeanne McDowell.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Episode 147: Rose Levy Beranbaum

Rose likely needs no introduction to those in the cookbook world. But here’s what you need to know:

* She published the ground-breaking The Cake Bible in 1988, changing how many home and professional bakers approached the craft. (In particular, Rose helped lead the charge to include the more accurate weight measurements in her recipes instead of just volume.)

* The Cake Bible is now in its 60th printing (!!!), and Rose shares some news on what’s next for the classic work.

* In that time, Rose has penned a dozen other cookbooks, from The Baking Bible to The Bread Bible—and other non-bible titles on ice cream, cakes, Christmas cookies, and more.

* Rose’s latest cookbook, The Cookie Bible, completes her “quartet of bibles” on cake, pie, bread, and, now, cookies. The book includes every type of cookie you could imagine—from macarons to rolled-and-cut holiday cookies, to sandwich cookies and cookie bars.

In this first episode of Baking Month, Rose and Woody join us to discuss the book-making process, their newly minted marriage, and play a cookie-themed game.

Two Recipes from The Cookie Bible

To celebrate the launch of Baking Month, today’s first recipe for Lemon Lumpies is available to all Substack subscribers for a limited time!

A second recipe from The Cookie Bible for Chocolate Truffle Cookies is available for paid subscribers.

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love it if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Still to Come in Baking Month

Our Baking Month line-up is packed with all-star authors from this year’s top baking books. Hear new podcast interviews with guests like Claire Saffitz and Maya-Camille Broussard. Become a paid subscriber to Salt + Spine today to get access to dozens of featured Baking Month recipes.

Here’s a peek at our full line-up:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Stay tuned to our Substack tomorrow for exclusive recipes from Chetna's Easy Baking: Simple Cakes with a Twist of Spice by Chetna Makan.

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 146: Melissa Clark

This week, Melissa Clark joins us to #TalkCookbooks!

When we launched Salt + Spine, I wrote a short list of our dream guests — the cookbook authors who, at the time, I felt were pushing the industry in new directions or had a wealth of experience to learn from. We’ve been lucky to sit down with many folks from that list (from Samin Nosrat to Julia Turshen to Vivian Howard…). Today, we’re marking one more off that list as Melissa joins us in-studio to discuss her latest cookbook, Dinner in One.

Dubbed the “gold standard for Internet recipe writing” by Eater, Melissa Clark has been developing recipes for over a decade at The New York Times, where she started with a short sidebar on home cooking questions before joining as a columnist and reporter. (A recent search on NYT Cooking showed her byline attached to some 1,391 results!)

That early NYT series Melissa authored, called “Food Chain,” offered helpful tips and answers to cooking challenges in the era before such information was one keystroke away. Today, her NYT column, “A Good Appetite,” features everything from a reinvented crab dip to her best Instant Pot recipes.

And all the while, Melissa’s written 45 cookbooks! She’s collaborated on books with chefs like Daniel Boulud, David Bouley, and Claudia Fleming. Her 2017 home-cooking tome, Dinner: Changing the Game, features more than 200 recipes for inventive, interesting meals. She’s following it up with her latest work, Dinner in One, which features recipes that use just “one” vessel—one sauté pan, one sheet tray, one pot, etc.

In this week’s show, we’re talking with Melissa about growing up with food-loving parents who immersed her in French food and culture at an early age … how she landed at the NYT, even though she turned down their first job offer … and how dining out is critical to her recipe development process. And, of course, we’re putting her to the test in our signature culinary game.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers will receive two featured recipes from Melissa's Dinner in One: the Roasted Cauliflower and Potatoes with Harissa, Yogurt, and Toasted Almonds and her Ricotta Olive Oil Pound Cake.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Coming Up…

* Attention Bay Area fans: Our fifth-annual Cookie Swap is coming up on Sunday, Dec. 11 featuring oodles of cookies and demos from yours truly, Kristina Cho, and more! The cookie swap is sold out, but you can join the waitlist here!

* This week’s episode with Melissa Clark is the last “regular” episode of the year—but we’ve got something really exciting in store for December. Stay tuned for more details!

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 145: Odette Williams

This week, Odette Williams joins us on Salt + Spine to #TalkCookbooks!

Odette was an actor long before she started calling herself a cook (or an author). She called Sydney home until 2006 and credits the unpretentious, adventurous attitude of Australia for her own approach to cooking.

Leaving Sydney for love, Odette joined her now-husband in New York and started a family. As she was spending more time cooking with her children, she was inspired to design high-quality aprons just for kids. (The aprons were a hit and sold by goop, J. Crew, and Anthropologie; Odette jokes that she quickly became the “apron lady.”)

While Odette’s career as a food writer grew (her new Wall Street Journal column, Party Trick, makes entertaining easy), those aprons also ended up in the hands of a couple of editors at the cookbook publishing house Ten Speed Press—and, well, the cookbook cards fell into place.

Heavily influenced by the food writing of prolific cookbook author Donna Hay and the recipes she found in the monthly Australian Women's Weekly magazine, Odette’s recipes are clear, concise, and simply delicious.

Odette’s first cookbook, Simple Cake, featured recipes for basic cakes that could be customized and combined in a number of different ways.

And now, Odette’s back with her second cookbook: Simple Pasta. In a similar vein to Simple Cake, this book provides some building blocks—dough recipes, and a few sauces—that can be customized to your mood. But the book explodes with dozens of creative recipes from cocktails to starters to salads. And of course, lots of pasta.

There are classics—cacio e pepe and carbonara and so on. But the seasonally divided book also offers recipes like Peppery Pappardelle, Pancetta & Mushrooms … Sweet Corn & Jalapeno Ravioli … to a Luxe Mac & Cheese that Odette says is “bordering on hedonistic.” The emphasis here is fresh pasta—which Odette says you can and should make!—though notes indicate where store-bought dried pasta can stand in.

We’ve got a great episode for you today: In today’s show, we’re talking with Odette about how she settled into this career, about the success of her “Simple” books, and why pasta is sometimes better for serving 2 than 20. And of course, we’re putting her to the test in our signature culinary game.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers will receive:

* Two recipes from Simple Pasta: the Garganelli with Vodka Sauce and the Winter Chicories with Date and Anchovy Dressing. Yum:

* An exclusive author-read except: Hear Odette read her love letter to pasta from Simple Pasta!

* The next installment of our bookseller Q&A: This week, Bonnie Slotnick joins us. (Fun fact: She started by selling books at Kitchen Arts & Letters!)

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

Here are a few of the new cookbooks on shelves this week:

* Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files by Deb Perelman

* Tasty Total Comfort: Cozy Recipes with a Modern Touch: An Official Tasty Cookbook

* Baking Bread with Kids: Trusty Recipes for Magical Homemade Bread by Jennifer Latham

* Avocadomania: Everything about Avocados from Aztec Delicacy to Superfood: Recipes, Skincare, Lore, & More by Déborah Holtz & Juan Carlos Mena

* The Anchor Brewing Story: America's First Craft Brewery & San Francisco's Original Anchor Steam Beer by David Burkhart

* Cocktail Time!: The Ultimate Guide to Grown-Up Fun by Paul Feig

* The Pastry Chef Handbook: La Patisserie de Reference by Pierre Paul Zeiher and Jean Michel Truchelut

* Steve the Bartender's Cocktail Guide by Steven Roennfeldt

* Eat Plants, B*tch: 91 Vegan Recipes That Will Blow Your Meat-Loving Mind by Pinky Cole

* Seattle Cocktails: An Elegant Collection of Over 100 Recipes Inspired by the Emerald City by Neil Ratliff

🍪 COOKIE SWAP WITH US!

Attention Bay Area fans: Our fifth-annual Cookie Swap is coming up on Sunday, Dec. 11 — and we can’t wait to see you there! Reserve your spot here and find more details below.

Join us for a fun-packed event featuring loads of cookies to admire and sample (some made by you!, if you like), baking and decorating demos, and glasses of sparkling wine or warm apple cider.

You’re invited to wander about our kitchen, tasting cookies made by The Civic Kitchen team and cookbook authors featured on Salt+Spine. Learn baking tips from our live demos, including by Salt+Spine host Brian Hogan Stewart, a surprise Cookbook Author (or 2), and a bevy of Civic Kitchen teachers.

Throughout it all, we’ll swap cookies with new and old friends. Bring one dozen (or more) homemade cookies and trade them for another mixed dozen to take home. No time to bake? You can still take away cookies for $10 per dozen.

We will have some exciting giveaways, including baking books, Salt+Spine t-shirts and more! Proceeds from the event benefit La Cocina, supporting their talented Bay Area food entrepreneurs.

If you love cookies or cookbooks (or both), you do not want to miss this event!

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 144: Becca Rea-Tucker

This week, Becca Rea-Tucker joins us to #TalkCookbooks.

Becca is the creator of the popular Instagram, @thesweetfeminist, where she became known for creating visually striking cakes and other baked goods with political and empowering messages. Check out a few:

After living in Washington, DC, and working at the beloved Baked & Wired bakery, Becca decided to merge the frustration and anger she was feeling living in the capital during the previous administration with something she was great at: writing on cakes.

The book deal came next, and Becca decided to focus on a new aspect of baking: the therapeutic benefits. Baking by Feel brings together 65 recipes with related emotions—if you’re feeling awkward, she suggests the Kitchen Sink Cookies; in optimistic moments, turn to her Cardamom Caramel Poke Cake. There are recipes in all five major mood groups, from happy to sad to angry (pounding out graham crackers for a crust, anyone?).

We’ve got a great episode today — Becca joins us to talk about baking as an act of resistance, of self-care, and of tapping into whatever you’re feeling today (or tomorrow).

This Week’s Recipes

Paid subscribers this week will get access to two of Becca’s recipes from Baking by Feel: the Black Pepper Snowballs (if you’re feeling vengeful) and the Chocolate Espresso Shortbread (if you’re feeling bitter). Yum!

Get all our bonus content—and our full archive of hundreds of exclusive recipes—by becoming a paid subscriber today:

Listeners like you support Salt + Spine. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

Here are a few of the new cookbooks on shelves this week:

* What's for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People by Claire Saffitz

* The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More by Maurizio Leo

* Noma 2.0: Vegetable, Forest, Ocean by René Redzepi

* The Big Texas Cookbook: Food That Defines the Lone Star State by Texas Monthly Editors

* Cook As You Are: Recipes for Real Life, Hungry Cooks, and Messy Kitchens by Ruby Tandoh

* Conversations Behind the Kitchen Door: 50 American Chefs Chart Tomorrow's Food Culture by Emmanuel Laroche

* Eat, Drink, and Be Murray: A Feast of Family Fun and Favorites by Andy Murray

* Where the River Narrows: Classic French & Nostalgic Québécois Recipes from St. Lawrence Restaurant by J-C Poirier

* Chinese-ish: Home Cooking Not Quite Authentic, 100% Delicious by Rosheen Kaul and Joanna Hu

* Big Has HOME: Recipes from North London to North Cyprus by Hasan Semay

And we were off last week, so here’s last week’s new releases, too:

* Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking: Traditional Family Recipes From Italy’s Best Home Cooks by Vicky Bennison

* The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family by Bill, Kaitlin, Judy & Sarah Leung

* (Serious) New Cook: Recipes, Tips, and Techniques by Leah Su Quiroga and Cammie Kim Lin

* Chicano Bakes: Recipes for Mexican Pan Dulce, Tamales, and My Favorite Desserts by Esteban Castillo

* Very Good Salads: Middle-Eastern Salads and Plates for Sharing by Shuki Rosenboim and Louisa Allan

* All About Cookies: A Milk Bar Baking Book by Christina Tosi

* Baking Imperfect by Lottie Bedlow

* Free Spirit Cocktails: 40 Nonalcoholic Drink Recipes by Camille Wilson

* Midcentury Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America's Atomic Age by Cecelia Tichi

* The Best American Food Writing 2022 by Sohla El-Waylly

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 143: Kristen Miglore

This week, Kristen Miglore returns to Salt + Spine to #TalkCookbooks!

As the first hire and Founding Editor at Food52, Kristen went on to become Creative Director for the brand before shifting her focus solely to the Genius vertical, for which she writes a Genius Recipes column and has now produced three Genius cookbooks. (We first welcomed Kristen to our studio back in 2018 to discuss her book, Genius Desserts.) For more than a decade, Kristen has been unearthing the best Genius tips and tricks from chefs, cookbook authors, and home cooks.

After studying economics in college, she reset her sights on food media. And throughout her career, she’s been drawn back to this desire that’s at the heart of Genius: helping home cooks tackle dinner (and the rest of the day).

So it only makes sense that her latest cookbook takes that idea to its simplest form yet. Titled Simply Genius: Recipes for Beginners, Busy Cooks & Curious People, it brings together 100+ of the simplest, most Genius recipes yet.

And you’re tuning in for a special one: Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at Omnivore Books in San Francisco. We’ve got a great chat with Kristen about home cooking, what she learned during the pandemic (and becoming a parent), and our course putting her to the test in our signature culinary game.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers will receive two featured recipes from Kristen Miglore’s Simply Genius—Jenné Claiborne’s Tahini Pistachio Granola and a Chickpea Soccata with Tomatoes & Kale from Ria Dolly Barbosa. How good do these look:

Also coming shortly to subscribers’ inboxes: the next installment of our Q&As with cookbook shops—and this week, our producer Clea Wurster is chatting with our dear friend Celia Sack from Omnivore Books in San Francisco.

Get all our bonus content—and our full archive of hundreds of exclusive recipes—by becoming a paid subscriber today:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

Holy buckets it’s a big week of new cookbook and food book releases! Here are a few (a lot) of the new cookbooks we’re eyeing on shelves this week:

* Go-To Dinners by Ina Garten

* Tanya Holland’s California Soul: Recipes from a Culinary Journey West by Tanya Holland

* Delectable: Sweet & Savory Baking by Claudia Fleming with Catherine Young

* Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao & Lester Walker with Osayi Endolyn

* First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home by Frankie Gaw

* The Way Home: A Celebration of Sea Islands Food and Family with over 100 Recipes by Kardea Brown

* Baking by Feel: Recipes to Sort Out Your Emotions (Whatever They Are Today!) by Becca Rea-Tucker

* Milk Street: Cook What You Have: Make a Meal Out of Almost Anything by Christopher Kimball

* Listen To Your Vegetables: Italian-Inspired Recipes for Every Season by Sarah Grueneberg

* Oren: A Personal Collection of Recipes and Stories from Tel Aviv by Oded Oren

* The Miracle of Salt: Recipes and Techniques to Preserve, Ferment, and Transform Your Food by Naomi Duguid

* Love to Eat: 75 Easy, Craveworthy Recipes for Healthy, Intuitive Eating by Nicole Keshishian Modic

* Bigger Bolder Baking Every Day: Easy Recipes to Bake Through a Busy Week by Gemma Stafford

* Ballymaloe Desserts, Iconic Recipes and Stories from Ireland: Featuring Home-Baked Cakes, Cookies, Pastries, Puddings, and Other Sensational Sweets by Jr. Ryall

* The Hachland Hill Cookbook by Carter Hach

* The Whole Duck: Inspired Recipes from Chefs, Butchers, and the Family at Liberty Ducks by Jennifer Reichardt

* The Apricot Lane Farms Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from the Biggest Little Farm by Molly Chester and Sarah Owens

* Dynamite Kids Cooking School: Delicious Recipes That Teach All the Skills You Need by Dana Bowen and Sara Kate Gillingham

* The Instant Kitchen Cookbook: Fast and Easy Family Meals Using Your Instant Pot and Air Fryer by Coco Morante

* Cooking with Whey: A Cheesemaker's Guide to Using Whey in Probiotic Drinks, Savory Dishes, Sweet Treats, and More by Claudia Lucero

* Cure: New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ’Em from the Award-Winning Bar by Neal Bodenheimer and Emily Timberlake

* Cheers to Today: 365 Cocktails Because Every Day is a Holiday by Chris Vola

* The Cocktail Edit: Everything You Need to Know about How to Make All the Drinks That Matter by Alice Lascelles

* A Bartender's Guide to the World: Cocktails and Stories from 75 Places by Lauren Mote and James O. Fraioli

* Sweet Land of Liberty: A History of America in 11 Pies by Rossi Anastopoulo

This week, we’re thrilled to welcome Masienda founder Jorge Gaviria to #TalkCookbooks with us.

Jorge’s first cookbook, Masa: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple, explores the deep history and significance of masa—the dough made of nixtamalized corn that goes on to become tortillas, tamales, sopes, and many more Mexican and global staples. 

It all started with a realization while apprenticing at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Jorge started to dream of opening the “tortilla equivalent of Tartine Bakery, the San Francisco–based high temple of sourdough.” That idea led to sourcing heirloom corn and masa harina (the dried version of masa) from local farmers in Oaxaca and supplying some of New York City’s top chefs. Jorge’s company, Masienda, was born.

Eight years later, Masienda is on a quest to revolutionize how we think about corn—and therefore, masa, masa harina, and other products. Today he’s sourcing heirloom corn from a network of 2,000 farmers across six states in Mexico. And yet, he realized something else was missing: a text.

And so, he created Masa the book. It’s a quite comprehensive tome (nearly 300 pages) on the history of corn and masa and a guide that’s as useful for a home cook as it is for a scientist. (Want to nixtamalize your own corn at home? Jorge walks you through it! And offers practical lessons on how to make high-quality masa at home.) Somewhat shockingly, this is the first major cookbook to focus on masa.

Of course, there are recipes, too. Masa offers 50 base recipes for tortillas, tamales, pozole, and more to build on, as well as inventive recipes from top chefs across the world. (Get two of them this week by becoming a paid subscriber to Salt + Spine!)

Jorge writes that “like sourdough before it, craft masa is on the brink of a global culinary movement.”

In today’s show, we’re talking with Jorge about what led him to focus on masa and launching his company Masienda, about how we’re now in a “third wave” of masa, and we’re putting him to the test in our signature game.

[[EPISODE DETAILS GO HERE. INCLUDE BOOKSHOP LINK.]] ALSO INCLUDE AN IMAGE OF THE BOOK COVER WITH THE CAPTION "GET COOKING: BOOKSHOP OR OMNIVORE BOOKS" with links to both referral URLs.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers will receive three recipes from Jorge Gaviria’s Masa: Blue Masa Sourdough Bread (from Philippine-born chef turned cottage baker Karlo Evaristo) and Masa Tempura Batter (from chef Alex Stupak of New York City’s Empellón). We also have the Table Tortilla Masa.

And later this week, producer Clea Wurster kicks off a new series featuring beloved cookbook stores. First up, she’s chatting with Matt Sartwell of New York City’s Kitchen Arts and Letters.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

A big week of new cookbooks hitting the shelves this week! Here’s a few:

* Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook by Illyanna Maisonet

* The Cookie Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum and Woody Wolston

* Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad

* Cooking with Mushrooms: A Fungi Lover's Guide to the World's Most Versatile, Flavorful, Health-Boosting Ingredients by Andrea Gentl

* Justice of the Pies: Sweet and Savory Pies, Quiches, and Tarts plus Inspirational Stories from Exceptional People by Maya-Camille Broussard

* The Siete Table: Nourishing Mexican-American Recipes from Our Kitchen by The Garza Family

* Somebody Feed Phil: The People, Stories, and Recipes by Phil Rosenthal

* Make Every Dish Delicious: Modern Classics and Essential Tips for Total Kitchen Confidence by Lesley Chesterman

* Spice: A Cook's Companion by Mark Diacono

* Feed These People: Slam-Dunk Recipes for Your Crew by Jen Hatmaker

* Evergreen Kitchen: Weeknight Vegetarian Dinners for Everyone by Bri Beaudoin

* Mamacita: Recipes Celebrating Life as a Mexican Immigrant in America by Andrea Pons

* Kolkata: Recipes from the Heart of Bengal by Rinku Dutt

* Cooking with Nonna: Sunday Dinners with La Famiglia by Rosella Rago OCT 25

* The Delmonico Way: Sublime Entertaining and Legendary Recipes from the Restaurant That Made New York by Max Tucci (NOV 1)

* 60-Second Cocktails: Amazing Drinks to Make at Home in a Minute by Joe Harrison & Neil Ridley

* Bar Menu: 100+ Drinking Food Recipes for Cocktail Hours at Home by André Darlington

* The Little Book of Aperitifs: 50 Classic Cocktails and Delightful Drinks by Kate Hawkings

* The Complete Book of Pasta Sauces: The Best Italian Pestos, Marinaras, Ragùs, and Other Cooked and Fresh Sauces for Every Type of Pasta Imaginable by Allan Bay Wildcrafted

* Vinegars: Making and Using Unique Acetic Acid Ferments for Quick Pickles, Hot Sauces, Soups, Salad Dressings, Pastes, Mustards, and More by Pascal Baudar

This week, Sophie Minchilli joins us to #TalkCookbooks.

Sophie leads food tours around Italy with her mother, cookbook author and previous Salt + Spine guest Elizabeth Minchilli. The two lead food lovers through Rome, Umbria, Puglia, and other destinations.

Growing up in Italy with a cookbook author as a mother, Sophie’s life has always revolved around food. She left briefly for university in London, before moving back home to Rome to devote her career to food.

Now, Sophie’s out with her first book—The Sweetness of Doing Noting: Live Life the Italian Way with Dolce Far Niente. It’s part cookbook, with a few recipes, but mostly it’s a guide to the southern Italian philosophy of “dolce far niente” and finding pleasure in the everyday.

As Sophie writes, “How often do you focus on being in the moment, doing nothing? Whether it’s sitting outside at a cafe watching the world go by, whiling away the hours with your loved ones sipping a glass of wine or being immersed in nature at the beach taking in the sun, these seemingly ordinary moments are the ones that bring happiness in the long run and highlight the joy in living.”

In today’s show, we’re talking with Sophie about growing up in Rome and Umbria, her career in food tourism and writing, and putting her to the test in our culinary game.

I hope you enjoy my chat with Sophie.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

This week, paid subscribers will receive three featured recipes from Sophie’s The Sweetness of Doing Nothing: her Carbonara and Amatriciana as well as Insalata Di Finocchi E Arance, which marries fennel, orange, and black olive.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

Episode 138: Nicole Taylor

Nicole Taylor—author of Watermelon & Red Birds—joins us this week to #TalkCookbooks.

A Georgia native, Nicole pivoted to a career in food media when she relocated to Brooklyn with her husband in 2008. Her Heritage Radio Network podcast, Hot Grease, brought 162 episodes with an emphasis on highlighting Black food personalities and “reclaiming culinary traditions & celebrations, cooking at home and eating as a political act.”

That led to a couple of cookbooks: first, writing The Last O.G. Cookbook (yes, the cookbook-companion to the Tracy Morgan TBS comedy), and Nicole’s first solo project, The Up South Cookbook: Chasing Dixie in a Brooklyn Kitchen, which pairs her Georgia culinary roots with New York influences.

After a stint at a major media company, Nicole embarked on her latest cookbook, Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations.

In the book, Nicole explores the history of Juneteenth—a history full of complexity, difficulty, and sorrow. Federal recognition of a holiday long recognized by Black communities in America only came in June 2021, amidst the pandemic, a national focus on long-standing racial inequality, and the unjust deaths of Black folks at the hands of police. As Nicole writes in her introduction, “Black joy often emanates from Black sorrow, and so it has been with that small Texas tendril of freedom, which has continued to spread and strengthen.” 

This cookbook is not just a historical text; it’s quite modern, and Nicole hopes it will be part of the ongoing conversation around Black food in America. Not only as a chronicle of the ways that Black ingenuity and cooking have shaped America’s food scene, but also how it will shape the 21st Century. 

In today’s episode, Nicole tells about growing up in Georgia, making the leap into food writing professionally, working with past S+S guest George McCalman to design a book that “breaks all the rules,” and the importance of finding joy where it has not always been afforded.

I hope you enjoy my chat with Nicole.

Bonus Content + Recipes This Week

RECIPES!!!

This week, paid subscribers will receive. two featured recipes from Nicole Taylor’s Watermelon & Red Birds: the Southern-ish Potato Salad and a Sweet Potato Spritz inspired by Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. A sneak peek:

THE FRIDAY NOTE!!!

Carla Lalli Music joins us this week for “The Friday Note” with Salt + Spine producer Clea Wurster, in which Carla shares some insights into how she approaches recipe development and what she’s been cooking lately.

Get all our exclusive subscriber-only content today:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This Week’s New Cookbook Releases

Here are a few of the new cookbooks on shelves this week:

* Fresh Midwest: Modern Recipes from the Heartland by Maren Ellingboe King

* Homage: Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen by Chris Scott

* Evolutions in Bread: Artisan Pan Breads and Dutch-Oven Loaves at Home by Ken Forkish

* How To Cook Everything Fast Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

* Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, 30th Anniversary Edition by Marcella Hazan

* More Mandy's: More Recipes We Love by Mandy & Rebecca Wolfe

* Don't Worry, Just Cook: Delicious, Timeless Recipes for Comfort and Connection by Bonnie Stern & Anna Rupert

* Chinese Homestyle: Everyday Plant-Based Recipes for Takeout, Dim Sum, Noodles, and More by Maggie Zhu

* Northern Soul: Southern-Inspired Home Cooking from a Northern Kitchen by Justin Sutherland

* World Cocktail Adventures: 40 Destination-Inspired Drinks by Loni Carr & Brett Gramse

Coming Soon!

Don’t miss our next live podcast recording!

Food52’s Kristen Miglore joins us on Oct. 1 at Omnivore Books in San Francisco to discuss her latest book, Simply Genius. Come hear Kristen and Brian record an episode of the show, get your book signed, and support local bookstores. Details are below—hope to see you there!

* Our Summer Cookbook Club is in full swing and we’re baking our way through Jessie Sheehan’s Snackable Bakes. Next Tuesday, we’ll come together on Zoom with Jessie to make a cherry clafoutis (if you’d like) and to discuss cookbooks, sweets, and more. Reserve your seat now!

* Do you love Salt + Spine? We’d love if you shared this email with a friend who might want to #TalkCookbooks with us, too:

And now, here’s Adrienne:

Episode 135: Adrienne Cheatham

This week, we’re joined by Adrienne Cheatham to discuss her debut cookbook, Sunday Best: Cooking Up the Weekend Spirit Every Day: A Cookbook (with Sarah Zorn).

Adrienne is a Chicago native who grew up spending a lot of time in the restaurants that her mother managed. She was drawn to the kitchen and, before long, it became a safe place for her to thrive.

After college, Adrienne dove into the back of the house, working in kitchens and enrolling at the Institute of Culinary Education. From there, she landed at Le Bernardin under Chef Eric Ripert, where she spent eight years and worked up from a commis to the Executive Sous Chef of the 3-Michelin star restaurant. She went on to work as the Chef de Cuisine of the Marcus Samuelsson Group, where she helped open new concepts and served as executive chef of the flagship Red Rooster.

And of course, through it all were cookbooks. As Adrienne tells us, she worked with both Eric Ripert and Marcus Samuelsson on their books before she landed a deal of her own. And that debut book, Sunday Best, builds on the longstanding family tradition of gathering for a Sunday meal. The roots of the name actually run back to the days of segregation, when enslaved Black people would wear their “Sunday best” in order to “demand respect from those who didn’t accept them as equal.”

Today, Adrienne — who also came in second place on season 15 of “Top Chef” — also hosts virtual Sunday Best conversations on her Instagram, an extension of the Sunday Best pop-up dinners she planned pre-pandemic. And now her first cookbook, she brings the “weekend spirit” to everyday cooking with 100 recipes ranging from grilled skirt steak with mustard-green chimichurri to green tomato chili to yuzu banana pudding. 

Bonus Content This Week

PAID SUBSCRIBERS (you can become one!) this week will get two featured recipes excerpted from Sunday Best: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Bacon and Grilled Green Tomato Salad with Buttermilk Vinaigrette and Pepitas.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We’ve got a great show for you today. Check out my conversation with Adrienne, and thanks for joining us to #TalkCookbooks.

–Brian, Clea, and the Salt + Spine team

We’re back with a very special episode for you: Today’s episode was the first we’ve been able to record in-person in 899 days! We met Bay-Area native Andy Baraghani at The Civic Kitchen (our studio home in San Francisco) to hear about his first cookbook, The Cook You Want To Be.

We’d almost forgotten how magical in-person interviews are. While we’re grateful to have been able to bring you great conversations, recorded remotely, during the pandemic, there’s something special about how the conversation flows naturally, how an author’s personality fills the space and the interview with ease, and, of course, the way the colorful spines of hundreds of cookbooks brighten the wall behind us.

Here’s a shot of us at The Civic Kitchen after our chat:

It felt so great to be back in the studio and it feels so great to share that conversation with all of you!

-Brian & Clea

Episode 134: Andy Baraghani

This week, we’re joined by chef and author Andy Baraghani to discuss his debut cookbook, The Cook You Want To Be.

Andy is a California native who grew up in the East Bay and was influenced by shopping trips at the awe-inspiring produce paradise that is Monterey Market. As a young person, he took note of the powerful culinary culture all around him.

He tells us that his interest in food started when he was very young: He grew up watching Martin Yan and Julia Child and experimenting with flavors from the moment he had the motor skills to do so. When he was in high school, at just 15, someone suggested that he learn a little about Chez Panisse, the infamous restaurant near him in Berkeley, CA. So he went in and asked for work. Soon, Andy spent all his extra time there, learning from chefs like Cal Peternell and Beth Wells. 

Andy talks with us today about how he struggled to find pride in his Iranian heritage, the process of finding his voice as a recipe writer and chef, and how it feels to find excitement, nourishment, and pride in his cooking.

The Cook You Want To Be is Andy’s debut cookbook and is a beautiful compilation of recipes that aims to teach the home cook his gentle, effortless style of California cooking, influenced by the flavors of the herb-heavy Iranian cuisine.

Bonus Content This Week

PAID SUBSCRIBERS (you can become one!) this week will hear Andy read an excerpt from his book about learning to make and perfecting his own recipe for Kuku Sabzi—and get two featured recipes excerpted from the book for Chickpea Cacio e Pepe with Caramelized Lemon and Pork Chops with Toasted Garlic and Spicy Capers.

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We’ve got a great show for you today. Check out my conversation with Andy and thanks for joining us to #TalkCookbooks.

–Brian, Clea, and the Salt + Spine team

Thrilled to share this week’s conversation with you—we’ve got Jessie Sheehan in the virtual studio! And stay tuned: we’ve got an exciting Cookbook Club announcement coming your way shortly.

Episode 133: Jessie Sheehan

Peeps!

We’ve got the easy-peasy baking star Jessie Sheehan on the show this week. You may know her from her beloved previous cookbook, The Vintage Baker, or from the recipes she’s developed for numerous media outlets. Or, perhaps you too were sucked into TikTok at the start of the pandemic, where Jessie became an overnight standout for her viral, engaging videos.

Well, we’re talking about all of it—from how she got into baking and then cookbook writing to what lessons she learned from those active days on TikTok—in today’s episode.

Jessie’s latest cookbook, Snackable Bakes, features 100 of those “easy, peasy" recipes” for which she’s become known. Think snacking cakes, fruit crisps, cookies, and bars—all of which come together quickly and require only a few dishes and no special tools. Easy. Peasy.

Recipe This Week:

Paid subscribers this week will get a featured recipe for Strawberry Sheet Cake from Jessie Sheean’s Snackable Bakes:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We’ve got a great show for you today. Check out my conversation with Jessie and thanks for joining us to #TalkCookbooks.

–Brian, Clea, and the Salt + Spine team

Apologies for the silence last week! The COVID fairy finally pulled my card, and it knocked me (and my family) down for a number of days. We’re all recovering over here, and I’m excited to share this week’s conversation with you now! I hope you’ll forgive the delay. Read on for more on my recent chat with Kwame Onwuachi—and make sure you’re subscribed to our Substack to access exclusive recipes from Kwame’s My America later this week.

–Brian

Episode 132: Kwame Onwuachi

It really does feel like we’re living in Kwame Onwuachi’s America.

Industry folks run into him around every turn—he’s fresh off the high-profile hosting gig at Monday’s James Beard Awards, for one—and his voice and influence are becoming undeniably one of the most impactful.

After opening five restaurants before turning 30, Kwame has earned accolades from nearly every major media outlet (James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef, Food & Wine Best New Chef, Esquire Chef of the Year, Forbes 30 Under 30, the “most important chef in America” by the San Francisco Chronicle, and so on).

Now, Kwame is an executive producer for Food & Wine magazine and is responsible for convening the upcoming 2nd Annual Family Reunion, a multi-day event that celebrates racial and ethnic diversity in hospitality.

In Kwame’s first book, 2019’s Notes From A Young Black Chef written with Joshua David Stein, he chronicles his life from growing up in New York City, with extended stints in Louisiana and Nigeria, to the path that led him to his first restaurant, the Shaw Bijou. (And that memoir is now being made into a feature film by A24!)

He’s followed it up with a new book—this time a cookbook, titled My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef, and also co-authored by Stein.

Part memoir, part cookbook, My America features recipes from Kwame’s culinary journey—from Suya (Nigerian BBQ) to Egusi Stew, a Nigerian recipe he grew up eating that’s thickened with egusi (melon seed).

Recipes This Week:

Paid subscribers will get access to two recipes from Kwame’s My America this week: Jamaican Beef Patties and Suya (“the grandfather of American BBQ”):

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

We’ve got a great show for you today: Kwame joined us to discuss his culinary career, his books, and of course, to play our signature culinary game.

Thanks for joining us to #TalkCookbooks!

–Brian, Clea, and the Salt + Spine team

Happy June! This always feels like the best month to me (spoiler alert: it’s my birthday month! 🦀). It’s probably still a holdout, many many years later, of the school’s-out-and-summer-is-here bliss, but the days feel long, the dinners feel relaxed and homey, and I feel energized.

How are you feeling this June?

Whatever you’re feeling, we’ve got a great show for you this week:

Episode 131: Sheldon Simeon

This week, we’re joined by chef and author Sheldon Simeon to discuss his debut cookbook, Cook Real Hawai’i.

Sheldon is a native of Hilo, on the Big Island, and grew up with a love for food. He learned how to cook (and how to cook for others) from his family, parlaying his interest in the craft into an impressive restaurant career.

After graduating from the Maui Culinary Academy and an internship at World Disney World, he rose up the ranks of Hawaiian restaurants, serving as executive chef for the opening of Maui’s much anticipated Star Noodle. (He earned his first James Beard nod that year, with a 2011 Rising Star Chef of the Year nomination, and helped Star Noodle secure a Best New Restaurant nomination from the Beard Foundation.)

The accolades kept rolling in (Food & Wine People’s Choice Best New Chef of the Pacific & Northwest, for one), and before long, “Top Chef” producers had recruited him to join the show’s 10th season in Seattle. He quickly won audience support and was one of the final three finalists. (Sheldon returned for Season 14 of the Bravo show in Charleston; he won the Fan Favorite award in both seasons.) More restaurants followed, including the beloved Tin Roof, Sheldon’s first solo restaurant which opened in Maui in 2016.

And now, a cookbook: We're treated to Cook Real Hawai’i, Sheldon's collection of 100 recipes that he says “embody the beautiful cross-cultural exchange of islands.” From Hawaiian traditions to influences from around the globe—Asia, Portugal, the Philippines—Sheldon offers recipes for everything from wok-fried poke to crispy cauliflower katsu to chocolate birthday cake butter mochi.

Get Cooking Today: Buy Cook Real Hawai’i from Bookshop or Omnivore Books

Recipes This Week:

Paid subscribers will get access to these three featured recipes from Cook Real Hawai’i this week—Chicken Hekka, Chocolate Birthday Cake Butter Mochi, and Li Hing Mui Palomas. Subscribe today so you never miss a recipe!

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. To get full access to our exclusive content and featured recipes, and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

We've got a great show for you today: Sheldon joins us to talk about his career and his debut cookbook. Of course, we also put him to the test in our signature culinary game.

Thanks for joining us to #TalkCookbooks!

–Brian & the Salt + Spine team

P.S. This week, I recommend reading the latest from Soleil Ho: The limits of comfort food in a time of national horror

Memorial Day is this weekend and if, like me, you’re just getting around to thinking about food, we can help. We dug into our Salt + Spine archives for some grill-tastic options:

* How about some Smoked Chicken or Pork T-Bones (two prime mains from pitmaster Rodney Scott)?

* Stacey Adimando’s got a side dish covered with her Blackened Summer Squash with Buttermilk Cream Sauce, Rosemary, and Chives.

* And wash it down with Grilled Margaritas from Maggie Hoffman!

And to ring in summer, we’re offering a special Memorial Day promotion! Become a paid subscriber before the end of the month and you’ll get 20% off your first year! Remember, paid subscribers get access to our full archive of 200+ recipes from featured cookbooks, as well as other exclusive content.

Happy grilling! And now, onto this week’s show:

Episode 130: Fanny Singer

We’ve got a fun episode for you today: Fanny Singer, the author of Always Home: A Daughter’s Recipes & Stories, is here to #TalkCookbooks with us.

Fanny, of course, is the daughter of legendary restauranteur Alice Waters (who opened Berkeley’s Chez Panisse 50 years ago). Fanny is a writer, editor, art critic, and the founder of Permanent Collection, a clothing and household goods line.

As Fanny set out to write Always Home—part memoir, part cookbook, and partially neither of those things—she began negotiating an inheritance that her mother passed down: her relationship to and appreciation for food.

Unsurprisingly, food was a central theme in Fanny’s childhood home, though she tells us she mostly learned from her mother via “sort of a process of osmosis.” Always Home is, of course, filled with stories and memories from Fanny’s life, and it’s loaded with vivid descriptions of sensory experiences related to food: meals she’s enjoyed at home and around the world.

She writes about her mother’s practice of burning sage or rosemary when they returned home from a trip, and how as a child she once tried fish cooked in a fig leaf—despite first being opposed to the idea—because her mother was able to describe the flavor and scent of the coconut-y leaf.

Get Reading Today: Order via Bookshop or Omnivore Books (signed!)

This Week’s Recipe

Paid subscribers this week will get access to an excerpted recipe from Fanny’s Always Home for Coming Home Pasta. Subscribe today to get full access!

Salt + Spine is a reader-supported publication. To get full access, including featured recipes, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

We’ve got a great chat with Fanny — plus our signature culinary game and a featured recipe later this week.

Thanks for joining us to #TalkCookbooks!

—Brian & the Salt + Spine Team

Hope you are doing well — I am finally (I hope) recovering from a little non-COVID infection that took my voice fully away for a good 24 hours. Every podcast host’s nightmare! But it’s back-ish (bear with me) in time to tee up this week’s conversation, which I’m thrilled to share with all of you.

My long-overdue conversation with chef and author Renee Erickson is hitting the podcast waves today. We recorded our chat quite some time ago and, sadly, the world got in the way and it’s been sitting in our queue.

Episode 129: Renee Erickson

I think you’ll love hearing from Renee about her growing up near Seattle and how she took a job at the Boat Street restaurant that parlayed itself into ownership of the whole place.

At just 25, Renee took the helm and never looked back, growing her restaurant empire to include a good handful of establishments today. Along the way, her fame grew, and locals became enamored with her vision and values, while the culinary world flocked to the PNW to enjoy her French-inspired and Puget Sound-sourced menus.

Renee’s first cookbook, A Boat, A Whale, and a Walrus: Menus and Stories, quickly became a classic. (I’ll admit, it’s one of the few that I rotate regularly through my in-kitchen cookbook stand.)

And now, Renee’s second cookbook—Getaway: Food & Drink to Transport You—couldn’t come at a better time. As the world keeps reopening, Getaway is Renee’s culinary guide to the places she travels to again and again, and how to eat like you’re there. From Rome to Baja California to, of course, Seattle, Renee showcases her way of travel and dining for us to emulate.

Get Cooking Today: Order via Bookshop or Omnivore Books

This Week’s Recipes

Paid subscribers this week will get access to four excerpted recipes from Renee’s Getaway! Subscribe today to get full access!

See a peek here:

We’ve got a great chat with Renee — plus our signature culinary game and featured recipes.

Thanks for joining us to #TalkCookbooks!

—The Salt + Spine Team

I’m excited to share today’s episode with you: We’re joined by chef Peter Hoffman—of the legendary New York City restaurant Savoy, and then of others—to discuss his career and first book.

Today’s Guest: Peter Hoffman

Peter Hoffman was the chef-owner of Savoy, the farm-to-table eatery in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood he opened in 1990 and that upended ideas about fine dining at the time.

Savoy ran for two decades before Peter shut the doors in 2011. (His other restaurants closed in subsequent years, with the final one shuttering in 2016.) During its tenure, Savoy was one of the first U.S. restaurants to champion seasonal, local cuisine; dishes typically relied heavily on and were inspired by the produce Peter would find at the Union Square Greenmarket, where he became a fixture. (A typical greeting between farmer & chef at the greenmarket: “What’s good?”)

As a child growing up in New Jersey, Peter was introduced to an array of diverse foods. Both of his parents were home cooks—his mother more so than his father—and they inspired him to get comfortable in the kitchen. His mom taught him to read and follow recipes with the Joy of Cooking. And his housekeeper, Hortence, taught him the beauty of butter, an ingredient that gets a whole chapter in his new book. 

Peter got his start working in kitchens at a Vermont resort after his construction job there ended. As he got more and more excited about a path in food, he trained under several renowned cooks, including Richard Olney. He traveled to Japan to learn and, one summer, even ran a small fish market. Peter says that learning from these chefs and experiences taught him the beauty of local geographies and the ingredients they provide.

His first book, What’s Good: A Memoir in 14 Ingredients, is expressive of this type of thinking. It’s part memoir, part cookbook, and features 14 chapters each named after an ingredient that fueled the forward-thinking menus at Savoy. Filled with anecdotes and stories about running a restaurant and his slow-food philosophy, Peter says the book is not just a tribute to the many relationships he formed with farmers, cooks, and the broader community, but it is also a tribute to his journey to discover what seasonality means.

Get Cooking: Bookshop | Omnivore Books (signed)!

We’ve got a great episode for you today—Peter shares some stories like those that fill the pages of his book with us, stresses the importance of simplicity and sustainability, and reflects on what the past two years have meant for the restaurant industry. And, as always, we put him to the test in our signature culinary game!

Featured Recipes This Week

Paid subscribers get access to two featured recipes from What’s Good this week: Susan’s Peach Raspberry Pie (that’s Peter’s wife, Susan), and Peter’s Zhoug.

Each week, paid subscribers to Salt + Spine get exclusive recipes from our featured cookbooks. To get full access (including our archive of 200+ recipes) and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber today.

Of the zhoug, Peter writes:

I love it with fish either accompanying a piece of grilled fish or drizzled into a fish broth brimming with spring vegetables and gently poached fish but it is great just with bread or over tomatoes. Not bad on a steak too.

Here’s a peek at the zhoug atop a lovely piece of sea bass:

Thanks for joining us to #TalkCookbooks,

Brian

This is the final episode in our four-part series, Behind the Spine. Over the last four weeks, we've shifted our focus away from the authors to learn more about some of the other talented folks who work behind the scenes on the cookbooks we all love.

You’ve already heard from the recipe testers, the photographers, and the designers—in today’s episode, we’ll talk to the people who make cookbooks possible: the agents and the experts. 

Today, you’ll hear from food writing coach Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Reviews, Articles, Memoir, Fiction and More, and two literary agents, Rica Allannic and Monika Woods. 

Each of our guests sat down with our producer, Clea Wurster, for a one-on-one interview to get to the bottom of our question: How exactly does a cookbook get published? From proposal to negotiations over the cover design, these experts break it down for us. We’ll learn about the process of actually writing the book and pitching it to an agent or publisher, and our experts will share with us what they think makes for a successful proposal.

Dianne Jacob shared with us the ins and outs of actually sitting down and writing, from breaking up the workload to making the initial decision to writing the cookbook. She says it isn’t for the faint of heart: it’s a lot of work. But, like us, she’s a cookbook lover and has devoted her professional career to helping cookbooks get agents and publishers. Dianne will break down the process of getting published, give advice to authors, and share insights into how the publishing industry has been shifting over the last few years.

Monika Woods is a food writing lover and the founder of Triangle House literary magazine who also works as a literary agent. She shared with us how she views herself in relation to the projects she’s working on, how the agent’s role has shifted with the rise of social media, and the role it’s played in diversifying the publishing landscape. 

Rica Allannic, who has also spent time in professional kitchens, worked as an editor at Clarkson Potter until five years ago when she made the decision to become a literary agent. As an agent, Rica says she has more of an influence on the types of cookbooks that get published. Rica talks with us about the three things a good cookbook pitch needs, advocating for her clients, and the financial realities of publishing deals.

We’ve got a wonderful episode for you today packed with information all about publishing a cookbook, so whether you’re a passionate reader and home cook like us or you’d someday like to publish your own cookbook, this episode has something for you. 

Let’s #TalkCookbooks.

"And so you're asking a lot of somebody who's reading a cookbook. You're kind of engaging them, you know, head, heart, and hands, really. It's this very different way of relating to a book than you are to an art book. And that's why I love designing cookbooks because there's a creative aspect to it, but there's also a very practical aspect, too. And you have to kind of keep that balance in mind whenever you're designing." —Frances Baca, book designer and creative director

This is the third episode in our four-part series, Behind the Spine. In this series, we've shifted focus away from the authors to hear from some of the talented folks who work behind the scenes to create the beautiful cookbooks that we all love.  

You’ve already heard from the recipe testers and photographers, and today we’ll hear from the folks who bring that content together into one book: the graphic designers. 

We’ll start with a peek into the mind of Frances Baca. She’ll teach us about typographic details that can set a book apart from the rest, how she begins a new design project, and the characteristics that make cookbook design special. Frances designed her first cookbook at 7 years old: “Snacks,” the homemade cookbook, featured a green construction paper cover with a yarn binding. Frances has always known that she wanted to design books—and not just cookbooks, though that’s what we’ll focus on today. She studied design at Rhode Island School of Design, where she learned to pay close attention to the minuscule details that can make books so special. She talks about sticking up for her readers and the unique challenge of designing a cookbook, which she says ought to be a multi-sensory experience. Because cookbooks are also practical books that we use in our day-to-day lives, Frances stresses the importance of accessibility in her work: everything from making the font large enough to read to ensuring the spine lays flat on the countertop.

You’ll also hear from San Francisco-based artist and graphic designer, George McCalman whose work spans different industries, though he focuses mostly on clients in food media and the art world. He opened the doors to his own design studio, McCalman Co. in 2011, where he works on branding for clients and does projects like cookbook design. Prior to starting his own business, he worked for award-winning magazines including ReadyMade, Mother Jones, and Entertainment Weekly. Today, we zoom in on his design process for Black Food, the first publication for author Bryant Terry’s imprint, 4 Color Books. George talks to us about flipping the traditional design model upside down, facilitating collaboration between all the folks on the creative team, and how he sees himself as a graphic designer: as a steward of information.

Today's episode, part two in our Behind the Spine series, is all about the mouthwatering photography that draws us to our favorite cookbooks.

Our guests today are cookbook photographer Eva Kolenko and Nik Sharma, a cookbook author and photographer.

Eva Kolenko studied advertising photography and worked in editorial photography until eight years ago when she decided to transition into food photography. After shooting a couple of William Sonoma cookbooks, she moved full-time into doing food-centric photography work. Now, she’s shot more than 30 cookbooks, including East Bay Cooks and Food Between Friends. Her work has also been featured in many advertising campaigns and magazines. Eva joined our interview from her new studio in Petaluma, California, and shared with us how exactly she moved into food photography, what happens when she hits a creative block, and she breaks down the process of photographing a cookbook from brainstorming to wrap day.

‍Nik Sharma is a cookbook author, food blogger, writer, and photographer of his own cookbooks, Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, and The Flavor Equation: The Science of Great Cooking Explained in More Than 100 Essential Recipes. Nik began food blogging while he was still working full-time as a molecular biologist. He had always taken photos for his blog, but he started to realize that he wanted to improve his photography skills and bought an instructional book published by Kodak. When Nik got his first cookbook deal, he knew he wanted to photograph and style the book, but had no idea how to get started. So, he reached out to photographers until one agreed to let him shadow a project—and that photographer happened to be Eva Kolenko. Now, Nik has successfully shot all the photos for his blog and his two cookbooks, as well as many photos for his recipes that have appeared in numerous food publications from the New York Times to Serious Eats.

We've got a great episode for you today! Eva and Nik will talk about the trends they’re seeing in the industry, what types of things they’re thinking about when they’re shooting a recipe, and how the process unfolds, from mood board to publication.

"No matter how perfectly the recipes are written, no matter how accurate you are with all the measurements—it's a different person, in a different place, using different ingredients so that they end up with something slightly different. And I used to think that that was a problem, that that was something I was trying to account for and correct in the testing and in the recipe writing. But I actually now see it as a really beautiful thing ." —Maria Zizka, recipe tester & developer

Today's episode is the first in our four-part series Behind the Spine where we're stepping away from a focus on authors to hear from some of the other talented folks who help create the cookbooks that we all love. Our series will start where most cookbooks begin: with the recipes and the people who perfect them. Our guests today are two incredible recipe testers and developers, Maria Zizka and Lidey Heuck.

Maria Zizka is the author of three solo cookbooks and the co-author of numerous award-winning cookbooks like Yotam Ottolenghi's Flavor and Tartine: A Classic Revisited. You'll hear from Maria and what it's like to adapt a restaurant's complex recipes for the home kitchen and where she got her start testing recipes –with a letter to chef Suzanne Goin.

Lidey Heuck started working as a recipe tester by writing a letter. Just out of college, she started as Ina Garten's assistant, where she tested and helped develop many of the Barefoot Contessa's recipes. Lidey talked to us about her work with Ina Garten as well as her own process as a cook and a recipe writer for the New York Times and for her blog lideylikes.com. She's currently writing her debut cookbook.

Lidey and Maria will get into the nitty-gritty details of recipe writing, how to know when a recipe is finished, and give us some tips on finding the best recipes out there.

Zoe Adjonyoh is the chef and founder of Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, a pop-up restaurant/supper club that’s taken place in various places around the world—from London, where Zoe lives, to Berlin and New York. Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen has grown into a distributor of African ingredients and spices.

In 2014, Zoe gathered her work as a writer and chef together, bringing recipes from her experiences in Ghana and running her supper club together in her debut cookbook, Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen. The book was recently re-issued and adapted for an American audience.

START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | Hardcover Cook | IndieBound

Zoe’s well-received pop-up first started out as a way to fund her masters in writing from Goldsmiths, University of London, but the supper club took of and ultimately helped inspire her to find more exciting recipes and to learn more about Ghanaian cuisine that she was cooking. In 2014, Zoe visited Ghana where she set out to learn more about the local cuisine and the ingredients that inspire it. While there, she found the recipes and stories that later came to make up her cookbook and deepened her knowledge of Ghanaian food and culinary traditions.

Zoe includes soundtracks with her recipes to invoke a sense of place and flesh out the experience of Ghanaian cuisine. The book includes an extensive guide to ingredients, educating readers about the spices and flavors that are central to Ghanaian food. From cover to cover, the cookbook is filled with colorful pictures of mouthwatering dishes and insightful tips scrawled on each recipe. The book, as Zoe says, is an invitation to learn more about Ghanaian food and to bring the ingredients of West Africa into our day-to-day cooking.

Zoe joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks, including our signature culinary game.

This week, we're excited to welcome Vivian Howard to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Vivian wears many hats: mom, chef, storyteller, television personality—all of which you’ll hear more about it in our conversation. Most recently, Vivian is the author of her second cookbook, This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking.‍

Vivian was born in a rural town in North Carolina called Deep Run, which was the inspiration for her first cookbook: Deep Run Roots. She describes the first book as a love letter to a place—different from her latest book, which is focused on simple home cooking and easy tricks and ingredients to brighten up tried and true recipes. 

As a kid, Vivian says she couldn’t wait to leave Deep Run and dreamt of living in the city. She moved to New York after college to work in restaurants as a server and later a cook. Though Vivian moved to New York to become a writer, she ended up opening a soup delivery business with her now-husband. And even though she was offered investment to open a brick-and-mortar soup shop, Vivian returned to North Carolina to help her sister open a deli. It wasn’t long before Vivian switched gears: the town needed a restaurant with seasonal ingredients, an innovative menu, and one that paid homage to the beauty of Southern cooking. So, Vivian opened her restaurant, Chef and the Farmer. 

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | Hardcover Cook | IndieBound | Amazon

Vivian hosted five seasons of "A Chef’s Life" on PBS and launched a new show, "Somewhere South," in 2020, which dives deep into the culinary culture and tradition of the American South.

Today, Vivian runs multiple restaurants: Chef and the Farmer is still running in Kinston, serving food inspired by the culinary traditions of the South; Benny’s Big Time, a pizzeria, in Wilmington that serves up pies, pasta, and risottos; her latest venture in Charleston, called Lenoir, focuses on bringing Southern food into the future, evolving the food of the agricultural, rural south. 

Vivian joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks, including our signature culinary game. Plus, Kitchen Correspondent Sarah Varney cooks from Vivian's latest book with a friend across the globe.

This week, we're excited to welcome Vallery Lomas to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Vallery grew up in Southern Louisiana, learning to cook from her mother and grandmothers—her signature dish as a child was her Grandmother Leona’s Strawberry Delight—but she didn’t always plan to be a baker. Vallery went to USC to study pre-med, and it was only because of a requirement to study foreign languages that she stumbled into learning French and eventually abandoned the pre-med track for French and Psychology. Vallery graduated into the recession of 2008 and finding a job was difficult. The job she landed wasn’t the best fit, so she turned to blogging about baking after seeing "Julie & Julia."

The blogging led to more opportunities and stars aligned when she was cast for "The Great American Baking Show," which she won. The season, however, was never aired in response to sexual harassment allegations against one of the hosts—and Valley's victory was essentially swept under the rug. Vallery writes in her book: “My victory, like so many accomplishments of Black women who came before me, had been effectively erased. … I couldn’t help but think I was seen as a cheap victim. If I weren’t a woman—a Black woman—would I have been treated differently?”

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | IndieBound | Amazon

But Vallery didn’t let this stop her. Instead, she pivoted full time into food media and recently published her first cookbook, Life is What You Bake It. In today’s conversation, we discuss making the switch from practicing law to full-time food writer and baker, what it was like to find out that her biggest accomplishment to date would never air on television, and some practical and encouraging advice from one home baker to others.

Vallery joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks, including our signature culinary game.

Abra is the chef at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, Michigan, and the author of two cookbooks: Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables and Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes.

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | Hardcover Cook. | IndieBound

Growing up in Michigan on a pickle farm, Abra took an interest in food early on. She worked at the beloved Zingerman's Deli in college and, before long, moved to Ireland to attend the farm-centered Ballymaloe Cooking School. Coming back to the states, she ran her own farm—called Bare Knuckle—for awhile, before landing at Granor Farm, where she hosts regular farm dinners to showcase their farming practices and produce. (Michigan is the second-most agriculturally diverse state in the country, second to California.)

Abra joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks. We've got a great chat, including our signature culinary game.

This week, we're excited to welcome Rodney Scott to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Rodney is the owner of Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston, South Carolina (and a new location in Birmingham, Alabama, and a forthcoming spot in Atlanta). His debut cookbook, Rodney Scott's World of BBQ, tells the story of Rodney's life starting with his childhood in South Carolina through his James Beard Best Chef Award and features classic barbecue recipes.

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books (signed) | Bookshop | IndieBound | Amazon

Growing up in Hemingway, South Carolina, Rodney's family ran several businesses, from a gas station to a barbecue spot. His parents opened Scott's Variety Store and Bar-B-Q in 1972.

In 2017, Rodney moved to Charleston and opened the first Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in 2017. A year later, he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Southeast. ‍

Rodney joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks. We've got a great chat, including our signature culinary game.

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This week, we're excited to welcome Chef Matthew Raiford to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Matthew is a self-titled "CheFarmer"—that is Chef and Farmer—and the author of Bress ‘n’ Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth-Generation Farmer.

Matthew was raised in Brunswick, Georgia, where his formerly enslaved great-great-grandfather, Jupiter Gilliard, had amassed more than 450 acres of land by 1874. Today, about 40 acres remain—where Matthew grew up farming alongside his grandmother, his father, and his sister, who now helps run Gilliard Farms with Matthew. Growing up, Matthew spent a lot of time in the kitchen, too, where he learned from his family how to prepare many of the dishes he still loves today.

But before Matthew became a chef, he left the South to join the military and at the time claimed he would never go back. During his three tours, he spent time in Germany, Korea, and the Middle East.

And then at age 28, Matthew returned to the States to pursue an education in physiology at Howard University. He quickly realized that becoming a physical therapist would take eight years and gave it up when a close friend told him he ought to go to culinary school instead.

After completing a year of culinary school in Virginia, he decided to continue his culinary education at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and later attended the University of California–Santa Cruz where he received a degree in ecological horticulture.

Since 2010, when Matthew’s grandmother handed over the deed to the family’s land, Matthew has worked with his sister as the sixth generation to farm their family’s land. For several years, he also ran a restaurant called the Farmer and the Larder in downtown Brunswick, which led to a nomination for a James Beard Best Chef Award.

Matthew's debut cookbook, titled Bress ‘n’ Nyam—a Gullah phrase that means “Bless and Eat”—is filled with both recipes and stories passed down through generations. The recipes honor the land and the food that it provides and are cataloged into sections based on the elements: Eart (Earth), De Wata (Water), Fiah (Fire), Win’ (Wind), Sweet’n (Nectar), and De Spirits (Spirits). It opens with an ancestral tree and the story of Matthew’s great-great-grandfather.

START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | IndieBound

And the recipes within range from a whole hog, roasted over a pit, to plenty of accessible, humble recipes like Reezy Peezy, a rice and bean dish often called Hoppin John whose roots are with the Gullah Geechee. As Salt + Spine friend chef Todd Richards writes, Bress 'n' Nyam “more than gives people a great appreciation of Black Culture, it further shows the diversity of Black Culture through different shades and hues, with Gullah Geechee cuisine as the Matriarch of the Black Food Family.”‍

CheFarmer Matthew Raiford joined us remotely from Gillard Farm for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks. We've got a great chat, including our signature culinary game.

This week, we're excited to welcome actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and chef/food writer Julie Tanous to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Jesse and Julie are the co-authors of Food Between Friends, their debut cookbook that features recipes inspired by both of their upbringings and favorite dishes they like to cook together.

After a serendipitous meeting at a dinner party, Jesse and Julie formed a quick friendship. Before long, they were cooking together regularly and friends began asking for recipes. A food blog was born. And then, Clarkson Potter took notice and the duo had a cookbook deal.

The book is heavy on dishes inspired by the authors' childhoods: Julie's Alabama roots (think a fried green tomato salad or an ode to buttermilk biscuits with three recipes) as well as Jesse's New Mexico upbringing (green chiles pop up in a chicken enchilada pie and a chutney served with pork loin, plus the actor's takes on both sweet and savory sopaipillas).

Jesse and Julie also feature a number of jointly developed recipes—a grilled skirt steak paired with pineapple salsa or the ground beef & pickle tacos inspired by LA's now-shuttered Malo.

In this week's two episodes, we talk with Julie about her culinary background (graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education, worked in Saveur's test kitchen) and hear from Jesse on lifelong love for cooking and cookbooks. We learn how their friendship formed, how they approached the unique format of their double-billed cookbook, and put them both to the test in our culinary game.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we're excited to welcome actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and chef/food writer Julie Tanous to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Jesse and Julie are the co-authors of Food Between Friends, their debut cookbook that features recipes inspired by both of their upbringings and favorite dishes they like to cook together.

After a serendipitous meeting at a dinner party, Jesse and Julie formed a quick friendship. Before long, they were cooking together regularly and friends began asking for recipes. A food blog was born. And then, Clarkson Potter took notice and the duo had a cookbook deal.

The book is heavy on dishes inspired by the authors' childhoods: Julie's Alabama roots (think a fried green tomato salad or an ode to buttermilk biscuits with three recipes) as well as Jesse's New Mexico upbringing (green chiles pop up in a chicken enchilada pie and a chutney served with pork loin, plus the actor's takes on both sweet and savory sopaipillas).

Jesse and Julie also feature a number of jointly developed recipes—a grilled skirt steak paired with pineapple salsa or the ground beef & pickle tacos inspired by LA's now-shuttered Malo.

In this week's two episodes, we talk with Julie about her culinary background (graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education, worked in Saveur's test kitchen) and hear from Jesse on lifelong love for cooking and cookbooks. We learn how their friendship formed, how they approached the unique format of their double-billed cookbook, and put them both to the test in our culinary game.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Born in Jerusalem, Reem moved to the United States at 17 to attend university—and she was determined not to end up in the kitchen. After receiving an MBA from Wharton Business School and a Master's in cultural psychology from the London School of Economics, Reem spent time working at major corporations from McKinsey to The World Economic Forum.

But when Reem had her first daughter, Yasneem, she took the opportunity to slow down and reflect on the legacy that she would leave her children. And that’s when Reem pivoted. In 2017, Reem published her first, incredibly successful cookbook, The Palestinian Table.‍

Despite her first book’s success, Reem didn’t expect to write a second cookbook—but her passion for sharing the complicated history of Arab cuisine pushed her to begin researching her latest book, The Arabesque Table. The Arabesque Table is a rich history of Arab food. Reem brings her cultural knowledge and the tireless research she’s done to bear on the recipes within the book, bridging the past and present with classic recipes and contemporary interpretations of favorites.

START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | IndieBound

Reem joined us remotely for this week’s episode to #TalkCookbooks. Stick around to hear some of Reem’s thoughts on how to thoughtfully credit and research a recipe, her path to cookbook authorship, and how she thinks food media could improve.

Brandon Jew and co-author, Tienlon Ho, joined us to talk about their recent cookbook: Mister Jiu's in Chinatown: Recipes and Stories from the Birthplace of Chinese American Food.

PURCHASE THE COOKBOOK: Bookshop | IndieBound

Mister Jiu's—the restaurant on which the book is based—sits in San Francisco's Chinatown on Waverley Place. In 2013, when the famed restaurant Four Seas closed down, Brandon decided to open his own place. But before Mister Jiu's, Brandon was cooking in some of the best kitchens in the Bay; a student of Judy Rogers at Zuni Cafe and Michael Tusk at Quince, Brandon started his cooking career with California cuisine, riffing on French and Italian classics and always, always honoring the ingredients.

But when Brandon's paternal grandmother passed away from cancer, he realized that her culinary knowledge and skill could be lost, too. In the book, he describes his grandmother (his Ying-Ying) as the family cook, reminiscing on the incredible food she cooked for the family. After she passed, Brandon says he hit a turning point. He began to look away from Mediterranean cuisine, leaving Quince and flying to Shanghai where he learned more about the complex and diverse culinary history of China.

His debut cookbook, written with Ho, tells both the story of Mister Jiu's the restaurant as well as the story of San Francisco's Chinatown—one full of hardships and struggle, but also joy and celebration. Brandon and Tienlon put this tradition and history at the forefront of their work, just as Brandon does in the kitchen at Mister Jiu's.

The cookbook features countless recipes, with an entire section devoted to the Chinese American pantry and fermentation. But the recipes are honest and as complex as the food you'll find in Mister Jiu's. For instance, some of the recipes take multiple days to prepare, and one asks for over two dozen ingredients and specialty tools you might not have at the ready in your home kitchens. But many remain very accessible for home cooks.

Stick around to hear why it is that Brandon and Tienlon were uncompromising when it came to the recipes, about growing up Chinese American, and about the Mister Jiu's kitchen that—like Zuni Cafe and Chez Panisse before it—is teaching a new generation of cooks how to carry a rich culinary tradition into the future. Plus, as always, we're closing today's episode with a culinary game, and you'll find meticulous and beautiful recipes from Mister Jiu's in Chinatown here on our website.

Lindsay's debut book, Why We Cook: Women on Food, Identity, and Connection, features interviews, recipes, and essays from more than 100 women in food.

PURCHASE THE COOKBOOK: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | IndieBound | Amazon

An artist whose illustrations and watercolor works have appeared in numerous media, Lindsay is an avid home cook herself and began to take a greater interest in cooking after having kids—a milestone that shaped how she began to think about the connections between food and her identity as a woman. Those connections often came back to this question: “We do we cook?” As Lindsay talked with more and more women in food media, restaurants, and the broader industry, she found both similar and totally unique responses to that question.

Which led to the concept for her first book. The volume is beautifully illustrated throughout with Lindsay’s work—watercolors of the interviewees and contributors, paintings of memorable meals or stories brought to life. It’s a diverse volume both in format and in contributors, ranging from cookbook authors to professional chefs to fellow home cooks. It’s both a who’s who of women in food—and shines a light on new voices.

We’re joined in this episode by Lindsay and one of the book’s contributors, Katianna Hong. Katianna graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and quickly rose in the ranks at Michelin-starred spots like The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley, where she became the first female chef de cuisine at a three-star Michelin restaurant in the U.S. She then led the kitchen at Charter Oak, where she earned numerous accolades.

But she stepped away in 2019, for both maternity leave and to reset and come back to the industry in a new way. This year, she’s slated to open Yangban Society—a Korean American-owned deli and market—with her husband John in Los Angeles’s Arts District.

Lindsay and Kat joined us remotely to talk about the Why We Cook book, about gender equity in the food industry, and their relationship to cooking.

Lee grew up in Ohio, where his family has farmed for about six generations. Fresh into college at just 19 years old, Lee saw everything his family owned gone in a day—their farm, their house, their car—after a hail storm devastated their crops, and interest rates were sky-high. At that moment, the family pivoted to smaller-scale farming, catering to farmers’ markets.

And it was at a farmers market in Cleveland, Ohio, that a chef approached them. asking where she could buy the type of vegetables she was used to cooking with in Europe, meaning organic, heirloom, chemical-free produce. Lee was in his early 20s, and the family took a vote—and decided to transition to growing only quality ingredients for chefs to use in their restaurants. And that paved the path forward.

Today, Lee’s family farm has become The Chef’s Garden, which focuses on regenerative farming and supplies some of the world’s greatest chefs with the quality ingredients they rely on. There is also a major focus on research and innovation, with the Culinary Vegetable Institute, a research and training center on the farm that brings chefs and farmers around the globe together to learn about and innovate on vegetables.

And now that wealth of generational knowledge is coming together in Lee’s first cookbook, also titled The Chef’s Garden. It’s both a guide (to more than 500 types of produce and herbs, both common and less-known) and a cookbook, with a collection of more than 100 recipes, including many developed by Jamie Simpson, head chef at the Culinary Vegetable Institute.

START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | IndieBound |Amazon

If you thought you knew vegetables, wait until you see recipes for things like a Seared Rack of Brussels Sprouts, or Cornbread-Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms—or even sweets like Onion Caramel and Beet Marshmallows.

Lee joined us remotely for this week’s episode to #TalkCookbooks, calling in from the farm and wearing, of course, his signature overalls-and-red-bow-tie getup. Stick around—it’s a great conversation and we’re closing today’s episode with a vegetable game in addition to some great recipes from The Chef’s Garden for you to make at home.

👤 THE GUEST: Molly Baz

📗 THE BOOK: Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach & Recipes to Repeat

🍴 THE RECIPES (for paid subscribers): Strip Steaks au Poivre

This week, we're excited to welcome Molly Baz to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Molly became well-known as an editor in the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen, where she hosted videos on the magazine’s Youtube page. You may know herfrom the time she butchered an entire pig or when she learned to cook ostrich eggs.

Molly grew up in upstate New York, near the Culinary Institute of America, but it wasn’t until later as a college student that Molly learned to love food while on a study-abroad program in Italy. When Molly graduated from Skidmore College, she took a job at Beacon Hill Bistro, where she says she really got her chops.

Now, Molly has published her first cookbook, Cook This Book: Techniques that Teach and Recipes to Repeat. In Cook This Book, Molly tests the bounds of cookbook writing, including QR codes that link to videos teaching you simple skills like dicing onions and seasoning cuts of meat. She believes that we should all be eating delicious food at home and that we ought to be using a lot more salt.

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | Hardcover Cook | IndieBound | Amazon

Molly joined us remotely for this week’s episode. Stick around—we’re closing today’s show with our secret ingredient game. So let's head now to our virtual studio where Molly Baz joined us to #TalkCookbooks.

Claire became a household name during her time at the Bon Appetit test kitchen, where she starred in many of the channels’ videos, including her own series: Gourmet Makes. In that show, she reversed engineered popular processed treats, ranging from Sour Patch Kids to Doritos. 

After growing up in the Midwest, Claire landed at Harvard where she studied History and Literature before moving to Paris where she studied French cuisine and pastry. And that's not the end of her academic career, but before long, she found her way into food media. Today, Claire has her own YouTube channel. In addition to contributing to the New York Times food section, Claire joined us this week to discuss her debut cookbook, titled Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence, which became an instant New York Times bestseller when it was published last fall.

 START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | IndieBound | Amazon

Claire believes everyone can be a dessert person, something we'll discuss in today's show. Now Claire joined us remotely for this week's show. Stick around, it's a really great chat. Of course, we're playing a culinary game to close the episode. 

So let's head now to our virtual studio where Claire Saffitz joined us to #TalkCookbooks. 

Hetty’s entry to cookbooks began back in 2011, when she started a salad business, delivering lunch via bicycle around her neighborhood in Sydney, Australia. Before long, she found herself writing her first cookbook to catalog her creations and satisfy her customers, who had begun asking for her recipes. That early salad business built a community — the ritual of delivering a salad would lead to, as Hetty writes, “lively conversation, exuberant laughter and a constantly evolving hunting and gathering of stories and histories.”

That first cookbook — titled Community: Salad Recipes from Arthur Street Kitchen — quickly became quite popular, leading to a second cookbook aptly titled Neighborhood: Hearty Salads and Plant-Based Recipes from Home and Abroad. (And then her third: Family: New Vegetarian Comfort Food to Nourish Every Day.) And Hetty's publishing path continued, bringing Hetty and her family to Brooklyn, where she now lives and where she wrote (and photographed) her fourth cookbook, To Asia, With Love: Everyday Asian Recipes And Stories From The Heart. It’s a warm, inviting book — and her most personal book yet, which Hetty describes as a “homecoming … a joyous return to all the humble yet deeply nourishing flavors and meals of my childhood.”

START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | Hardcover Cook | IndieBound

Like all of Hetty’s books, the recipes are vegetarian and plant-based — a fact that’s easily glossed over, as we’ll discuss — and you’ll find everything from homemade kimchi to Cacio e Pepe Udon Noodles to Asian-inspired salads like a Smashed Cucumber Salad with Tahini and Spicy Oil.

And Hetty’s bringing food stories to life beyond cookbooks: She launched a bi-annual food magazine, Peddler Journal, in 2017, and hosts the publication’s sister podcast, The House Specials.

Hetty joined us remotely from her home in Brooklyn for this week’s show. Stick around — it’s a great chat, and we’re playing, of course, a salad-themed game to close the episode. So let’s head now to our virtual studio where Hetty McKinnon joined us to #TalkCookbooks.

Ayesha is the modern food & lifestyle mogul. Growing up obsessed with cooking, Ayesha always had her eyes set on acting — but her foray into food blogging has launched a massive career.

Her first cookbook, The Seasoned Life, cemented her status on the culinary landscape. Soon followed restaurants, television shows, a new lifestyle magazine, a new in-person store, and more! And of course, philanthropy: Ayesha and her husband, Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry, launched Eat. Learn. Play., their charity dedicated to ending childhood hunger, encouraging healthy lifestyles, and improving access to quality education. In fact, since the start of the COVID pandemic, they’ve served more than 16 million meals, partnering with locally-owned restaurants to keep workers employed. 

Ayesha’s built an empire, and it was fueled by that first cookbook. And now, Ayesha’s published her second cookbook: The Full Plate: Flavor Filled Recipes for Families with No Time and A Lot to Do. It's loaded with the recipes Ayesha makes today as a busy mom of three—fast and delicious recipes from Ayesha’s version of an In-N-Out burger (subbing in turkey) to sheet pan meals ranging from salmon to pork. And a well-tested cocktail section, too, for the parents. 

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | IndieBound

Ayesha joined us remotely from her home in the Bay Area to #TalkCookbooks for this week’s show—and at the end of the show, we’re putting Ayesha to the test in our culinary game.

A Chicago native, Jeff has been beaming into your home TVs via Food Network since 2011, when he was crowned the winner of season seven of "Food Network Star" (and then, later that year, under another crown as the host of "Sandwich King.") And then more shows followed: Food Network’s "The Kitchen," which he’s co-hosted since 2014, and most recently his new show, "Kitchen Crash".

A born performer who grew up in a big family, Jeff’s always had a knack for entertaining — both the putting-on-a-show definition and the having-people-over-to-eat definition. That’s translated well into his career and, now, into his first cookbook. It’s titled Come On Over: 111 Fantastic Recipes for the Family That Cooks, Eats, and Laughs Together. And it’s loaded with recipes from Jeff’s childhood — from Chicago classics to smoking & grilling favorites to, of course, sandwiches, to two “boil” recipes.

START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | IndieBound

Jeff joined us remotely in the Salt + Spine Virtual Studio for today’s show—and of course, we’re closing with a culinary game (hint: comedy-themed!)

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

Preeti talks with Zoe Adjonyoh - chef, activist, and author - about connecting to her ancestral Ghanaian roots and building community through food, being a queer black woman in the industry, and about some of her favorite West African spices and ingredients.

For more from Zoe:

Her website

Her spices (and other fun things)

Her cookbook

Twitter: @ZoeAdjonyoh

Instagram: @zoeadjonyoh @ghanakitchen

Black Book: Website  |  Instagram

You can find Preeti:

Twitter |   Instagram  | Website

Produced by 

Copper & Heat

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Chef Marcus Samuelsson has become a household culinary name, building his restaurant empire from Red Rooster in Harlem to now more than a dozen eateries around the globe. He's won multiple James Beard Awards and is a regular on food TV, from winning both "Top Chef Mastersæ and "Chopped All-Stars" to hosting No Passport Required," his show with Vox Media's Eater. And he's written several cookbooks and a New York Times-bestselling memoir, Yes, Chef.

For his latest book, The Rise, Marcus teamed up with James Beard-winning food writer Osayi Endolyn whose wide reaching-work includes writings in The Washington Post, TIME, and Food & Wine. She's also working on a forthcoming book, focused on systemic racism in American restaurants and dining culture.

PURCHASE THE COOKBOOK: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | IndieBound

In The Rise, Marcus and Osayi bring together dozens of Black people from across the food industry—chefs, historians, activists—to help tell the story of Black cooks and the story of American cuisine. In these pages, we hear from folks like authors Michael Twitty, Jessica B. Harris, and Toni Tipton-Martin, chefs like JJ Johnson, Mashama Bailey, and the late Leah Chase—to activists, home cooks, farmers, publishers, and more. It's a celebration of Black cooking, a rising class of new Black chefs and voices, and an effort to reclaim and recognize the contributions and talents of generations of Black cooks.

NOTE: Marcus and Osayi joined us separately to talk about The Rise and we've edited the interviews together for a better flow, but note that we're not all in conversation together on today's show.

Also in this episode: Salt + Spine Kitchen Correspondent Sarah Varney takes The Rise for a ride by making a big pot of crab curry with yams and mustard greens, plus we've got two featured recipes from The Rise for you to make at home.

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You might recognize Jake from any number of social media platforms, where he regularly creates viral recipes and food content. A native New Yorker, Jake started his career post-culinary school at some of Manhattan’s most revered restaurants — Daniel and ABC Kitchen — before he made the jump to food media. Traversing his way through the offices of outlets like Saveur and Tasting Table, Jake rose in the ranks and became known for his inventive recipes.

And now he’s here with his first cookbook — his debut — titled Jew-ish, Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch. It’s an exploration of Jewish food, often with innovative twists, ranging from a recipe for the Perfect Challah to dishes like Matzo Tiramisu.

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | IndieBound

Jake joined us remotely in the Salt + Spine Virtual Studio for today’s show to #TalkCookbooks.

About this episode:

Host Peter J. Kim looks at Korean-American food culture—with chef Roy Choi, comedian Margaret Cho, and his mom (!)—in all its stinky, fermented, fishy beauty.

Referenced in this episode:

• Peter's Instant Ramyun “Carbonara”
• Follow Counterjam on Spotify for more tracks from CLARA, DANakaDAN, Omega60, and so many other wonderful Korean-American artists that we couldn't squeeze into this episode.

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Mashama is the executive chef and partner of The Grey, which she runs with her business partner, John O. Morisano. The Savannah, Georgia restaurant is set inside a once-segregated, former Greyhound bus station and has been dubbed Restaurant of the Year by Eater and named one of TIME magazine’s "greatest places." The Grey serves up Mashama’s menu, which draws influences from all over and in particular the South, Italy, and Africa. In 2019, the James Beard Foundation awarded Mashama its Best Chef: Southeast award. Together, Mashama and John built The Grey — and now, they’re taking a unique approach with their memoir-cookbook by telling the story together, too.

Their book — titled Black, White, and The Grey: The Story of an Unexpected Friendship and a Beloved Restaurant — chronicles how the pair came together, relocated to Savannah, and opened a celebrated restaurant. But it’s more than the story of The Grey — it’s also a conversation about race, class, gender, and American culture. And interlaced throughout are recipes to accompany the chapters.

Mashama and John joined us remotely in our virtual studio for this week’s show.

BUY THE BOOK: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | IndieBound

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Episode info coming soon.

Named one of Time magazine’s “most innovative women in food and drink," and included on Cherry Bombe magazine's "100 List" of influential women in the industry, Angela has been leading the conversation on dietary-sensitive baking and female empowerment for years. And while Perfectly Golden will bring those stellar baked goods into your kitchen, it’s also a book rooted in family and female empowerment, as Angela shares stories of baking with her grandmother, turns the pen over to her mother, and celebrates the women who run her shop.

Angela joined us remotely from her bakery early in the pandemic to #TalkCookbooks— if you hear some bustling in the background, her team was hard at work adapting to the new normal. And stick around as we’re closing today’s show by playing a baking game with Angela.

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Julia is returning to Salt + Spine today to talk about her latest cookbook, Simply Julia. Julia is the well-known author of other cookbooks, including two highly praised solo books: Small Victories and Now & Again.

And she’s a prolific writer in the industry, bringing together a range of voices and recipes for 2017’s Feed the Resistance cookbook as well as authoring The Interview, a Food & Wine magazine column that features compelling people in food. And the list goes on: cofounder of Equity at the Table, host of the podcast Keep Calm and Cook On, and so on.

Called one of the 100 “Greatest Home Cooks of All Time” by Epicurious, Julia brings the simplicity and crave-ability she’s known for to the recipes in her latest, Simply Julia. With a focus on healthy comfort food, you’ll find weeknight go-tos like Tex-Mex Turkey Meatballs, soups and stews like a Smoked Trout Chowder, morning starters like Breakfast Nachos, and memorable sweets like a Cornmeal Cobbler that employs whatever frozen fruit is on hand. 

Julia joined us remotely from her home in the Hudson Valley for this week’s episode. Stick around — we’re closing today’s by playing a secret ingredient game with Julia. So let’s head now to our virtual studio where Julia Turshen joined us to #TalkCookbooks.

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This week, we're excited to welcome Petra Paredez to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks, for our Spring 2021 Pie Week!

Petra’s life story is looped around pie from the very beginning. Before she was even born, her parents opened Mom’s Apple Pie Company in Leesburg, Virginia, and Petra and her family’s lives revolved around pie ever since. Be it the right fat-to-flour ratio for dough (hers is different than her dad’s) or the produce grown on the family farm and destined for scrumptious fillings. But as you’ll hear, Petra wasn’t certain that pie would be her career path. She took a detour—but before long, she was opening her own pie shop in New York City: Petee’s Pie Company.

And now in her first cookbook, Pie for Everyone, she’s pulling together the last seven years of professional knowledge from running her now-two locations of Petee's—the name, by the way, is a ode to her childhood nickname—as well as her life-long, family-instilled intuition for what makes great pie. With more than 80 recipes for both sweet and savory, plus short essays on Petra’s life and some of her trusted produce purveyors, Pie for Everyone is a deep dive into the story of pie and how to make it a staple in your home.

Petra joined us remotely for this week’s show. And, of course, we’re playing a pie game at the end of the episode, plus we’ve got featured recipes from Pie for Everyone for you.

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Called a “pie guru” by Sunset magazine and the “pie-making queen” by Chowhound, Kate’s name has become synonymous with the practice of home-baking pies infused with care and confidence. Thousands of people have joined her workshops, including her 3-day Pie Camp, in Washington State and around the world.

Her first cookbook — Art of the Pie — was nominated for a James Beard award. She followed it up with Home Cooking, breaking from pie just long enough to offer fans delectable recipes for some of her best comfort foods.

And now she’s back with her third cookbook, Pie Camp. With a greater focus on technique, Pie Camp brings many of the most-sought pie lessons to your home. Recipes range from Buttermilk Bourbon Pumpkin to Raspberry-Peach Sunset Chiffon to Double Chocolate Banana…

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Hawa is the founder and CEO of Basbaas Sauce, a selection of condiments that are inspired by Somalia, the country where she was born. Hawa left Somalia with her family in the midst of the country’s civil war: first to a refugee camp and then to the U.S. She built a life in America, including a modeling career, and 15 years later, she reunited with her family for the first time. Through it all was food — the family foods she remembers from her childhood, the 7/11 snacks she’d pick up in Seattle, the dinner parties she’d host in New York City.

And now, her first cookbook. Hawa joined us to talk about her first cookbook, In Bibi’s Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries that Touch the Indian Ocean. Co-authored with Salt + Spine friend Julia Turshen, the book introduces us to bibis (grandmother in Swahili) up and down the East African coast — from Somalia to Kenya to Mozambique to Madagascar. You’ll find heartwarming interviews with bibis from these eight countries and learn about the culinary histories of their families and their countries. And of course, recipes: 75 dishes that are both enticing and full of meaning. Hawa writes, “This isn’t just any old book with fun ideas of what to make for dinner (though you should make the recipes—they’re great!). It’s also a collection of stories about war, loss, migration, refuge, and sanctuary. It’s a book about families and their connections to home.”

There are few cookbooks by major publishers today that focus on African cuisine — a glaring hole in the industry we discuss in this episode — and it’s powerful and inspiring to see these stories and recipes captured in In Bibi’s Kitchen. Hawa joined us remotely to talk about her life and career, creating this new book, and more. And of course, we’re playing a culinary game with Hawa — and we have featured recipes from In Bibi’s Kitchen for you to try at home. 

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In the second episode of our Food Media Awakening series, we're taking a closer look at the cookbook industry. What issues around representation exist in cookbook publishing? How have authors and others working in the field navigated these challenges? What needs to change – and what would a more equitable cookbook industry look like?

We called up several guests to discuss these topics: cookbook author and photographer Kristina Gill (co-author of Tasting Rome), literary agents Rica Allannic and Sally Ekus, cookbook editor Cristina Garces of Chronicle Books, and food writers Osayi Endolyn and Illyanna Maisonet.

Additional Reading and Resources:

• How Food Media Fails BIPOC, by Leah Bhabha [Grub Street]
• A (food media) resignation letter, by Osayi Endolyn [Twitter]
• Between Friends: Your Stories About Race and Friendship, Podcast [NPR Code Switch / Death, Sex & Money]
• To Change Racial Disparity in Food, Let’s Start With Cookbooks, by Julia Turshen [Eater]‍

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In today's episode, we're starting by taking a look at the reckoning that's taking place at Bon Appetit and other food media outlets. We're joined by food writer Tammie Teclemariam, Bon Appetit's research director Joey Hernandez, and podcast host Cathy Erway.

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We talk with Jesse about growing up in the Midwest, what it was like to work in restaurant kitchens and food media as a young, gay man, and the process of putting together this cookbook. 

Jesse dedicates the book to "All the queer cooks who have longed to see themselves represented in mainstream food media." He writes: "We are in every restaurant, test kitchen, hotel, catering company, studio, and publication. This book and the stories within in prove that there is a seat at the table for all of us."

In addition to Jesse, we're joined by other contributors to Tasty Pride, including food writers John Birdsall, Aaron Hutcherson, and Eric Kim — and we hear from some of our past conversations with queer authors Lazarus Lynch and Julia Turshen. 

And of course we're featuring recipes from Tasty Pride -- find Von Diaz's Puerto Rican–Style Pimento Cheese and Ben Mims' Dry-Rub BBQ Chicken on our website.

***

Salt + Spine is produced by Brian Hogan Stewart and Madeleine Forbes. Our Kitchen Correspondent is Sarah Varney. Our original theme song was created by Brunch for Lunch. Additional music in today's show is "Spend My Life With You" by The Tall Pines (Free Music Archive). Thanks to Jen Nurse, Chris Bonomo, and The Civic Kitchen team and to Celia Sack at Omnivore Books.

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Food writer Alicia Kennedy joins us for a special bonus episode.

Following cookbook author Alison Roman's interview with The New Consumer, there's renewed discussion on a number of ongoing issues in the food industry—in particular, disparities in whose voices are heard, who gets access to audiences and platforms. Of course, these challenges and conversations are not new; but the high-profile drama Alison Roman ignited when calling out fellow cookbook author Chrissy Teigen brought the issues to the forefront among a wider, more mainstream audience.

Instead of focusing too much on the specifics of what transpired following Roman's interview, Salt + Spine producer Madeleine Forbes dialed up San Juan-based food writer Alicia Kennedy (author of the weekly newsletter From The Desk of Alicia Kennedy host of the podcast Meatless, which is on hiatus) to discuss some of the problems plaguing food media.

If you missed the whole drama, Stained Page News editor Paula Forbes (subscribe to her weekly newsletter here) has a summary:

In the interview, Roman criticized two Asian women (Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo) for having product lines before mentioning she was launching her own collection. (There were other criticisms, but I’m trying to be brief.) Over a series of tweets, Chrissy Teigen expressed her disappointment in Roman’s words…and also revealed she’s a producer on the show Roman mentioned in the interview. Roman tweeted her first apology. Teigen made her Twitter private. Roman issued a second, longer apology (click through IG above). Teigen made her Twitter public again and responds to the...

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