Kitchen Tape

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with Dorie Greenspan, one of the most beloved and trusted voices in baking. We talk about the decades-spanning body of work that has made Dorie such a constant presence in home kitchens, from her collaborations with icons like Pierre Hermé and Julia Child to the warmth, clarity, and curiosity that define her own books. The conversation invites u...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Helen Goh , internationally acclaimed pastry chef, longtime Ottolenghi collaborator, columnist for the  Sydney Morning Herald  and  The Guardian , and author of  Baking and the Meaning of Life  and  Sweet . Featuring 100 recipes that weave together Helen’s Malaysian and Australian heritage with Western and Middle Eastern influences,  Bakin...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Ella Quittner , author of  Obsessed with the Best , to talk about what happens when curiosity meets obsessive recipe testing. Built around dozens of head-to-head comparisons, Ella’s book asks not just what tastes best, but how we arrive there — through repetition, methodology, instinct, and the strange culture of mass food discourse. We di...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Lisa Donovan , James Beard Award–winning author of  Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger , now widely regarded as one of the definitive food memoirs of our time. We talk about hunger as both subject and structure — emotional, creative, intellectual, and literal — and dig into the discipline of memoir, writing food as personal narrative, and claimi...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with Tanya Bush, author of  Will This Make You Happy , to talk about baking as a way of moving through a year — emotionally, creatively, and practically. We discuss what it means to write from inside your own life, how recipes can hold both structure and feeling, and how Tanya expands the cookbook form through narrative, gently pushing against i...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with Maria Zizka to talk about the art of collaboration in cookbook publishing. We dig into Maria’s own canon alongside the many influential books she’s helped bring into the world as a co-author, ghostwriter, and translator — working closely with some of the industry’s most respected voices. From shaping tone and structure to translating vision...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Carrie Bachman , a renowned publicist and longtime champion of cookbook authors, to talk about advocacy, trust, and the quiet power behind a book’s success. From shaping long-term author careers to navigating launches, festivals, and press cycles, Carrie shares how taste, timing, and deep belief in a project help books find their readers —...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Claire Gilhuly  to talk about the editor’s role in shaping a cookbook from idea to finished pages. We dig into how Claire works with authors to refine voice, structure recipes, and build books that feel cohesive, usable, and distinct. The conversation moves through what makes a proposal stand out, how editorial vision develops across a lis...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Aran Goyoaga , the James Beard Award–winning creator of Cannelle et Vanille and author of multiple groundbreaking gluten-free baking books, including  The Art of Gluten-Free Bread . We talk about building technical authority in a space once dismissed as niche, how Aran’s work has reshaped expectations around gluten-free bread and pastry, a...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Jennifer Chong , cookbook and commercial photographer and host of the  Photo Dump  podcast, to talk about the role images play in how a cookbook is understood, used, and remembered. From shaping first impressions to guiding how a recipe is cooked, we dig into why photography is not secondary to the text, but integral to a book’s success. W...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with Maxine McCrann to talk about her work on  By Heart  — including the now-iconic cover — and what it’s like to build visual language for a cookbook versus other forms of commercial work. We dig into the slower, more intimate rhythm of cookbook making, how trust and authorship shape creative decisions, and what changes when an image is meant t...

In Part 2 of our cookbook deep dive, we zoom out from the writing and into the ecosystem that actually gets a book into the world. Photography. Editing. Design. Illustration. Marketing. Pub Day and Book tours. Translation. Ghostwriting. We talk about when you move from the lonely writing to working with the essential teams! How to work with each team, keep your voice focused and stay organized. We...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose sits down with  Yossy Arefi   while Crystal takes a break— New York Times bestselling author, NYT contributor, and creator of the Substack  Have a Little Something  — to talk about what it means to fully author a baking book from the inside out. We dig into Yossy’s unique practice of writing, styling, and photographing her own work, how that continuity shapes voice...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Alyse Whitney , author of  Big Dip Energy , to talk about humor as a creative tool, the joy of snack-forward cooking, and making work that doesn’t take itself too seriously — but still takes craft seriously. We talk about party food as emotional infrastructure, pop culture as inspiration, and how Alyse balances freelance life, television,...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Natasha Feldman , author of  The Dinner Party Project , to talk about what it actually takes to host well without burning out. We discuss Natasha’s approach to dinner parties as a creative practice, how her workflow shifts when she’s authoring her own book versus styling for others, and what changes when responsibility moves from supportin...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose steps out and Crystal sits down with  Tara Punzone , co-author of  Vegana Italiana , to talk about writing plant-based cookbooks for specific audiences and finding your niche— and getting the message across without losing warmth, culture, or credibility. We discuss how tradition can be translated rather than erased, what it means to serve a niche reader thoughtfully...

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with Alana Kysar, author of  Aloha Kitchen  and  Aloha Veggies , to talk about her food education from bakes to salad scores, home cooking as cultural record, the evolution of vegetable-forward food, and moving through recipe failures. We also dive into Alana’s dual role as both author and photographer on her books (and others!)— unpacking what...

In this episode, Crystal turns interviewer again — this time diving into Rose’s creative process for developing and testing recipes. From the first spark of an idea to the final polished bake, they explore how intuition, precision, and feedback shape every dish. Rose shares how she works with professional testers, crowdsources testing across regions, and why the voices of home cooks and amateurs a...

In this episode, Crystal turns the mic toward Rose for a deep dive into the creative process behind her recipes and writing. They talk about rhythm, ritual, and how words find their way through flour-dusted kitchens and late-night edits. From  Bird by Bird  and  Will Write for Food  to  Daily Rituals  and  Ratio , Rose shares the tools, books, and mindset shifts that shaped her approach — plus a f...

This week, Rose and Crystal talk with  Bonnie Ohara , founder of  Alchemy Bread Co.  and author of  Bread Baking for Beginners  and  Let’s Bake Bread! , a new family cookbook about baking with kids. From her microbakery beginnings to her mission of teaching the art of bread to home bakers of all ages, Bonnie shares the beauty and grounding rhythm of working with dough. The conversation drifts thro...

This week, Rose and Crystal sit down with  Samantha Seneviratne  — cookbook author, food stylist, and NYT recipe superstar — to talk about craft, curiosity, and the quiet joy of sweets that meet you where you are. From  The Joys of Baking  and  The New Sugar and Spice  to  Simply Cake  and  Bake Smart , Sam shares what she’s learned about writing recipes that last and why her 2024 hit  Microwave C...

This week, Rose and Crystal talk with chef, creator, and  Make It Japanese  author  Rie McClenny  about bridging cultures through food — and what it means to make “simple recipes for everyone” without losing the soul of home cooking. From her viral  BuzzFeed Tasty  days and the beloved  Make It Fancy  series to her new life as a cookbook author, Rie shares how she found her voice in the crowded wo...

This week, Rose and Crystal welcome baker, author, and  She’s My Cherry Pie  host  Jessie Sheehan  for a conversation about joy, nostalgia, and the new golden age of home baking. Jessie shares the story behind her hit cookbooks —  Snackable Bakes  (one of  The New York Times’  Best Cookbooks of 2022),  The Vintage Baker ,  Icebox Cakes , and her newest,  Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bake...

This week, it’s just Rose and Crystal — and the tables are turned. Before we grill more guests about their cookbook journeys, we put each other in the hot seat. The conversation runs from Ben Mims’  Crumbs  to Caroline Eden’s  Black Sea , from Ina Garten and Cedric Grolet to  NOMA  and  Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play.  It’s part love letter, part confession, and all obsession — about the cookbook...

In this episode, Rose and Crystal talk with  Amanda Faber  author of cult beloved Cake Portfolio, about taking the road less traveled — publishing a cookbook completely on her own. From skipping agents and traditional houses to handling editing, printing, and promotion herself, Amanda shares what she learned (and what she’d never do again). It’s a conversation about creative control, community, an...