Cookbook Club

This vibrant, colorful cookbook is a lot of things — a chef-written cookbook, a very personal collection of recipes and a celebration of Israeli food. Sara and Renee break down some great recipes and share their wins and misses from this book. Resources mentioned in this episode: Zahav Zahav Restaurant Michael Solomonov 9 pounds of tahini , from Azure Standard Recipes mentioned in this episode: Hu...

When berries are in season, there’s no higher calling for them than  baking them into a cake. The cookbook club has tried a lot of these, and  we’re smitten. Come along for the roundup, and prepare for your mouth  to water. Recipes mentioned in this episode: Summer strawberry cake (Smitten Kitchen) + sheet cake Whole grain strawberry cake ( Snacking Cakes ) Raspberry rye cookies ( 1...

We sit down with Kirsten Collins to chat about this gorgeous anthology of vegetarian recipes, from Australian-Chinese author Hetty McKinnon. From "soupy salads" to desserts, we dig into the recipes, how they worked for us, and whether this is a cookbook we want to own. Resources mentioned in this episode: Family Prestel Publishing Hetty McKinnon Recipes mentioned in this episode: Salt-oil rice wit...

What do you cook when it’s time to relax? Renee and Sara dig in to  their favorite recipes, hacks and tips for keeping all those mouths fed  without needing a vacation from your vacation. Resources mentioned in this episode: Rhodes cinnamon rolls Didn’t I Just Feed You? podcast: Vacation Meals Knife roll Rao’s marinara sauce Recipes mentioned in this episode: Pressure cooker carnitas ( A...

Cooking…in the woods? Join us, along with our pal Rebecca Ringquist, for a deep dive into The Campout Cookbook, which our Cookbook Club tested out last summer on an actual camping trip. It’s a lot fancier than hot dogs over an open fire — is it worth it? Resources mentioned in this episode: The Campout Cookbook Camp Chef camp oven Camp Chef stove with 5-gallon propane Camp cookery k...

Some cookbooks are just a collection of recipes. That’s great, but how about cookbooks that take you to the next level as a cook, imparting techniques and strategies to make you better at your craft? That’s what we’re talking about. Renee and Sara round up some of  our favorites that taught us, and can teach you, some new tricks in the kitchen. Note: For more links, visit this...

Chef and teacher Samin Nosrat brings us heaps of advice through her four building blocks of flavor: Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat. Sara and Renee have learned a lot from this cookbook and we break it down to our favorites recipes and techniques. Resources mentioned in this episode: Samin Nosrat Salt Fat Acid Heat Home Cooking Waffles & Mochi Wendy McNaughton Japanese Cookbook for Beginners Snacking...

Meat-free meals are the bread and (vegan) butter of this episode. Both Sara and Renee have lots of experience cooking vegan and vegetarian recipes, and in this episode we break down our favorite recipes, books, tips and tricks. (NOTE: For show notes with links, visit our website !) Resources from this episode: Cook for Love — free account required to view recipes Eat to Live , by Joel Fuhrman (Yes...

Do we really need a recipe for avocado toast? Not really. This book is an easy weeknight cookbook (mostly!) but we aren’t sure about GP’s no-recipe recipes (should they even be in a cookbook?!) and general diet culture and cultural appropriation. Sara finds some gems anyway, and Renee is rushing it back to the library! Resources mentioned in this episode: Gwyneth Paltrow Thea Bauman It’s All Easy...

As Renee puts it, meal planning is annoying because you have to to it  every day for the rest of your life. Join us as we share our systems for planning meals, grocery management and keeping track of recipes we love. Resources from this episode: Evernote Sara’s meal plan Meal matrix (The Lazy Genius) Renee’s Warm Season Meal Matrix Renee’s Warm Season Meal Queue Renee’s Cool Season Meal Matri...

Join us for a deep dive into Melissa Clark’s first pressure-cooker  cookbook. Renee and Sara don’t see eye to eye on this one — is it the  perfect weeknight cookbook, or too complicated for pressure cooking? Resources mentioned in this episode: Dinner in an Instant Melissa Clark Recipes mentioned in this episode: Garlic rice (page 85) Garlicky cuban pork (page 35) Moroccan chickpeas with...

Is it really worth it to make pizza at home? We weigh in and tell you how we do it — including our favorite recipes for crust and sauce, best  toppings, gear and techniques to make it happen. We’re having ice cream for dinner, kids! Resources from this episode: Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish Ken’s Artisan Pizza Tastebud Dove Vivi Pizza peel Fancy pizza ovens ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) Recipes and i...

Yossy Arefi’s book hits a high note — casual but delicious, the  perfect afternoon pick-me-up. In this episode, we talk about our  favorite cakes (and a few flops) from this fun baking book. This book is  for everyone — if you love weight lifting, and show tunes. Resources mentioned in this episode: Yossy Arefi’s Apt 2B baking blog Sweeter off the Vine (also by Yossy Arefi) Recipes...

Meal Trains are a great way to use your cooking skill to care about people in your world going through a life change or a tough time. Eliz Roser joins us to chat about our best strategies for providing meals to others! Resources from this episode: The First Forty Days Extra Helping Recipes/ideas from this episode: Tuna noodle casserole Thai salad with cashews Picnic with salami, crackers etc. Home...

After the holidays, we are very excited to eat something a little lighter. Andrea Nguyen's Vietnamese Food Any Day is full of delicious, accessible recipes with big, bright flavors. Join us, along with Melissa Chan, to discuss MSG, awesome recipes and how to pronounce "star anise." Resources mentioned in this episode: Andrea Nguyen's Viet World Kitchen How to pronounce "star anise" Dave Chang and...

Pull out your fish spatulas, your timers, your whisks. Joined by Rebecca Ringquist, we round up our favorite tools that make cooking more satisfying and effective. Pick one up for a cook in your life before the holidays! Our favorite kitchen tools: Fish spatula Rosle whisk/balloon whisk/silicone whisk/flat whisk Edlund kitchen tongs Kuhn Rikon peeler Peanut butter spreader ( similar here ) Tovolo...

In this episode, we don our aprons and start our holiday baking season with Sarah Kieffer's 100 Cookies. We love the innovative cookie recipes in this book and we go over our hits and misses. Resources mentioned in this podcast: 100 Cookies Baking for the Holidays Recipes mentioned in this podcast: Soft chocolate chip cookies (page 29) Brown butter chocolate chip cookies (page 30) Thin and crispy...

In this episode, we share our favorite Thanksgiving traditions and favorite recipes. We hope this episode inspires your holiday table this year. Recipes mentioned in this podcast: Alison Roman dry-brined turkey (NYT) Simple roast turkey ( Thanksgiving: How to Cook it Well ) Stuffing ( Smitten Kitchen cookbook ) Marbled pumpkin gingersnap tart (Smitten Kitchen) Pecan pie ( Hoosier Mama Pies ) Honey...

Welcome to Cookbook Club! Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we are gearing up for this ultimate cooking holiday. Kirsten Collins joins us to chat about Sam Sifton's many opinions about what Thanksgiving should (and shouldn't) be. Resources shared in this episode: Thanksgiving: How to Cook it Well The United States of Thanksgiving (NYT, 2014) Recipes we talked about from this cookbook: Ma...

In this episode, we dive into meatballs! How we make them, how we eat them and our favorite tips and tricks for making great ones.  Recipes mentioned in this podcast: Rao's Meatballs Braised ginger meatballs in coconut broth ( Smitten Kitchen ) Meatballs marsala with wide egg noodles ( Smitten Kitchen Every Day ) Sesame-spiced turkey meatballs ( The Smitten Kitchen cookbook ) Turkey ricotta m...

Welcome to Cookbook Club! This time we are joined by Kirsten Collins, and talking about The Indian Instant Pot Cookbook, by Urvashi Pitre. We love this book and its easy, full-of-flavor Indian recipes.  Resources shared in this episode: The Indian Instant Pot Cookbook Urvashi Pitre's website, Two Sleevers Recipes we talked about in this episode: Punjabi lobia, black eyed peas with spinach (pa...

In this episode, we talk about cooking for our kids. We share some of our favorite tips for keeping kids fed, things our picky kids like to eat and how we make home cooking and parenthood work together at home. Resources shared in this episode: Ellyn Satter & the Division of Responsibility The Lazy Genius & the meal formula Lunchbots lunchboxes Didn’t I just feed you? podcast Recipes menti...

Welcome to Cookbook Club! We are diving in to Six Seasons, a huge tome of recipes from “the vegetable whisperer,” chef Joshua McFadden, with Martha Holmberg. We talk about our favorite go-tos from the book, whether a chef-written cookbook is harder to cook from and we touch on the controversy surrounding McFadden. Resources shared in this episode: Six Seasons Joshua McFadden Community supported ag...

In our second episode, we talk with Kirsten Collins, co-founder of our in-person Cookbook Club, about helpful tips to start your own club.  Trust us, it'll be your favorite meal of the month. Resources shared in this episode: Why Cookbook Clubs Should Be the New Way We Entertain , by Tara Austen Weaver in Serious Eats The Buy Nothing project Marco Polo Kirsten's 5 steps to start a Cookbook Cl...

Welcome to Cookbook Club! In our first episode, we introduce ourselves and the podcast. Then we talk about a favorite cookbook -- Small Victories, by Julia Turshen.  Resources shared in this episode: Small Victories by Julia Turshen Julia Turshen on Instagram , @turshen Slow roasted salmon from Salt Fat Acid Heat, by Samin Nosrat Julia Turshen's second book, Now & Again Recipes we talked...