Salt & Spine

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Illustrator Lindsay Gardner calls on 100+ women to answer: Why do we cook? Aug 25, 2021

Show notes

This week, we're excited to welcome Lindsay Gardner and Katianna Hong to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

In The Chef's Garden, Farmer Lee Jones offers a bounty of vegetable knowledge Aug 04, 2021

Show notes

This week, we're excited to welcome Farmer Lee Jones to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

Molly Baz wants you to have fun in the kitchen—and she's determined to teach you how Jul 15, 2021

Show notes

Episode 110

👤 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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

Claire Saffitz believes everyone is a 'Dessert Person,' and her first cookbook will prove it Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

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

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

With her fourth cookbook, Hetty McKinnon finds community, homecoming Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

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

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

Getting dinner on the table–despite it all–with lifestyle mogul Ayesha Curry May 11, 2021

Show notes

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

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

Comedy-meets-recipes in Food Network star Jeff Mauro's debut entertaining cookbook May 07, 2021

Show notes

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

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!)

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

[BONUS] Loading Dock Talks: Zoe Adjonyoh on Ancestral Roots and Queer Intelligence May 04, 2021

Show notes

HAVE A LISTEN: Loading Dock Talks is the new podcast hosted by Salt + Spine friend chef Preeti Mistry, where each week they talk with chefs, cookbook authors, and activists. Subscribe here.

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

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

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

Celebrating Black cooks with The Rise authors Marcus Samuelsson and Osayi Endolyn Apr 23, 2021

Show notes

This week, we're excited to welcome Marcus Samuelsson and Osayi Endolyn to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

Kelly Fields // The Good Book of Southern Baking Apr 07, 2021

Show notes

Episode notes coming soon.

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

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

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