Salt & Spine

Episode 142: Jorge GaviriaThis 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 Mex

Episode #141: Sophie MinchilliThis 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

Episode 140: Erin GleesonThis week, Erin Gleeson joins us to #TalkCookbooks.What a fun episode! I packed up our recorder and microphones and headed south from San Francisco and into the woody, serene drive to Erin Gleeson’s charming cabin-esque home in the South Bay. Just look at this enviable set-up—I wish we could record every episode here!And Erin even prepped us a plate of lavender shortbread, which is featured in her latest cookbook, and a warm pot of coffee:Anyway — we were at Erin’s house to talk about her latest cookbook, The Forest Feast Road Trip.A California native, Erin spent her early career pursuing art and photography. But she was always drawn to food, and it quickly became the subject of much of her work. When a cross-country move brought her from bustling New York to a serene cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains, she set her focus on working on cookbooks. Before long, her content was finding an audience online, and her signature aesthetic (hybrid watercolor-photography) was born. Soon after came

Episode 139: Eitan BernathThis week, Eitan Benath joins us to #TalkCookbooks!Eitan is one of the most visible people in food media today. At just 20 years old, he’s amassed a remarkable 8+ million social media followers. Odds are, if you have a social media account, you’ve seen Eitan. Whether on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or even Snapchat, where he’s hosted three cooking shows. Last year, his original content reached more than 350 million people with 3 billion views.It all started with Food Network. Building on his childhood love for cooking, 11-year-old Eitan appeared on the first kids’ episode of “Chopped.” And there was no stopping him after that; he started a blog and social media accounts, becoming a near-overnight success thanks to his charismatic personality and his engaging content. (Case in point: Oprah Magazine called him “the internet’s most delightful chef.”) Today, he’s president of his own culinary production studio, the Principal Culinary Contributor for CBS’ “The Drew Barrymore Show,” and ju

Hi there, happy Tuesday! This week, Nicole Taylor joins us in studio to talk Watermelon & Red Birds. Plus: We chat with Carla Lalli-Music later in the week—and bring you featured recipes and highlight new release cookbooks. Read on!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 TaylorNicole 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

Episode 137: Ali SlagleThis week’s episode is a fun one — our first live event since pre-pandemic! Ali Slagle joined me in front of a live audience at Omnivore Books in San Francisco recently. A Los Angeles native and UC-Berkeley grad, Ali started her career at Ten Speed Press, where she worked on several cookbooks as an editorial assistant. She joined the Food52 team after working on their Genius Recipes cookbooks (featured here in our 2018 chat with Kristen Miglore!) and later went solo with a freelance career.A prolific contributor to the New York Times Food section, in which she’s published over 250 recipes, Ali’s work has also been featured in Bon Appetit, the Washington Post, Saveur, and more. Ali’s first cookbook, I Dream of Dinner… (So You Don’t Have To), offers 150+ recipes for getting quick, crave-able meals on the table every day. From her mom’s chilli recipe to bacon-jalapeno smashburgers, Ali’s recipes come to her via a “dinner matrix” process that we discuss in the show. We’ve got a great chat w

Episode 136: Kristina ChoThis week, we’re joined by Kristina Cho to discuss her debut cookbook, Mooncakes and Milk Bread: Sweet and Savory Recipes Inspired by Chinese Bakeries. Kristina is a Bay Area-based recipe developer and writer who grew up in a restaurant family in Cleveland, Ohio. After a degree in architecture left her longing for something more, she turned to food blogging and launched Eat Cho Food. As her recipes grew in popularity, she realized some of the hits were items you’d find at Chinese bakeries (one of the first to resonate: the hot dog flower buns). Before long, Kristina had made another realization: the cookbook world was missing a book dedicated to Chinese bakery-style recipes. So Kristina set out to write up.Mooncakes & Milk Bread is the result of that effort, and it landed Kristina two coveted James Beard Awards earlier this year (in both the Baking & Desserts and Emerging Voice cookbook categories.) The book is packed with classic and inventive recipes, from pineapple buns to

Hi there — happy Tuesday! We’ve got a great conversation for you today with author Adrienne Cheatham on her first cookbook, Sunday Best. Check out the episode and more—featured recipes!—below. But first, a few announcements: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 CheathamThis 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 t

Hey there, 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 & CleaEpisode 134: Andy BaraghaniThis week, we’re joined by chef and author Andy Baraghani

Hi there,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 SheehanPeeps! 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

Hi there,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.–BrianEpisode 132: Kwame OnwuachiIt 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

Hi there — 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 SimeonThis 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.

Hi there,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 SingerWe’ve got a fun episode for you today: Fanny Singer, the author of Always Home: A Daughter’s Recipes & Stories, is here to #TalkCookbooks wi

Hi there,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 EricksonI 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 flocke

Hi there,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 HoffmanPeter 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 fo

"People ask me, 'What's something that's changed a lot in publishing, or what's the most important or hopeful part about publishing?' And my answer is that authors have more control now than they ever have had, but that also means they also have more work to do than they've ever had before." —Monika Woods, literary agentThis 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 an

"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 directorThis 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 typograph

"I put myself in there so people of color can imagine themselves in the kitchen, making those dishes—because food is for everyone to cook. It's not restricted to a certain class of the population. I want everybody who wants to cook to be able to see themselves making things, enjoying them, and trying new things." –Nik Sharma, cookbook author and photographerToday'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 ma

"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 & developerToday'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

This week, we're excited to welcome Zoe Adjonyoh to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.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 | IndieBoundZoe’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. I