Not From Concentrate

What makes a recipe work — and when is an extra step actually worth the effort?

This week, I’m joined by Laura Manzano, the recipe tester behind my forthcoming cookbook, Not From Concentrate. Laura grew up working in her dad’s restaurants, honed her skills in the Martha Stewart test kitchens, and built a freelance career helping cookbook authors make their recipes clearer, more reliable, and better suited to the pe...

What does a private chef cook when she’s tired, her family needs dinner, and nobody wants leftovers? Something simpler than you might think.

Hamptons private chef Robyn Henderson joins Catherine Smart to talk about cooking delicious food without making every meal a production. From sheet-pan dinners at home to family-style spreads for clients, Robyn shares why seasonal ingredients, simple menus, and less fuss can make for bett...

What makes dinner taste like it’s been cooking all day when you absolutely do not have all day? Chef Claudette Zepeda has a pantry full of answers—and zero shame about canned beans.

This week, Catherine welcomes the chef and author of Cooking the Borderlands for a conversation about big flavor, creative freedom, and feeding a family when you’re stretched thin. Claudette shares how growing up between San Diego, Tiju...

Feeling overwhelmed by your garden? Garden coach Jess Zander of You Can Do It Gardening joins Catherine to make the whole thing feel more manageable—and much more fun.

Jess explains how to prioritize garden projects, tackle invasive plants before they spread, choose native plants without becoming dogmatic, and make smart decisions about where and what to plant. She also shares why buying small plants can save money, how to div...

What if the best thing you could bring to family dinner wasn’t a perfectly cooked meal, but a better mood?

Chef, cookbook author, and TV host Noah Galuten joins Catherine to talk about his new cookbook, Grill Time!, and why the grill deserves a place in your weeknight cooking routine. They discuss shopping according to what’s on sale, salting chicken or steak now and figuring out dinner later, and setting up groceries so...

Back-to-School Lunches, Sheet-Pan Dinners, and Finding Joy in the Kitchen with Hillary Dixler Canavan

Hillary Dixler Canavan returns to Not From Concentrate as the show’s first repeat guest! Nearly one year after her first appearance, Hillary joins Catherine for a timely conversation about feeding our families, and ourselves, during the back-to-school rush.

They talk about letting go of picture-perfect lunchboxes, choosing food...

What does it actually take to make local food more accessible, sustainable, and financially viable for the people who produce it?

Catherine talks with Erin Baumgartner, founder of Family Dinner, a farmers market delivery service that grew from bringing groceries to seven friends out of Erin’s Somerville apartment to serving 120 Massachusetts communities. Erin explains how Family Dinner uses data and predictive analytics to hel...

What if the answer to feeling too busy isn’t making everything faster, but choosing one place to slow down?

Trinity Mouzon Wofford, founder of Golde and author of Eating at Home, joins Catherine to make the case for protecting mealtime in a culture built around convenience. They talk about taking a real lunch break, shopping at the farmers market and why it's work soaking your own beans. 

Trinity also shares what she learn...

What happens when the brain that fuels your ambition and creativity is also the one constantly pulling you in twelve directions?

Chef and restaurateur Will Gilson, whose Cambridge Street Hospitality Group now includes eight concepts, talks with Catherine about thriving under pressure, self-sabotaging deadlines, and why the chaos of a restaurant kitchen can feel strangely comfortable to an ADHD brain. He shares how seasonal depressio...

What if learning to cook could help us get better at starting tasks, managing time, working through frustration, and asking for help?

Sophie Mortner is an educator, learning designer, executive functioning coach, and the creator of Nibblings, a collection of recipes designed to help kids cook independently. She joins Catherine to explain why the kitchen is such a powerful place to build skills that extend far beyond cooking.

They tal...

In this solo episode of Not From Concentrate, Catherine Smart shares a personal essay about ADHD masking, embarrassment, and the effort of trying to seem easygoing, capable, and “normal.”

She reflects on how sensitivity, people-pleasing, and a strong social radar can be exhausting—but can also make us thoughtful friends, generous hosts, and deeply caring people.

This is a personal reflection on understanding old pat...

On this episode of Not From Concentrate, Catherine Smart talks with chef and cookbook author Ham El-Waylly about the surprising journey that led him from fine dining back to the food that first shaped him.

Raised between Egyptian, Bolivian, and Qatari cultures before building a career in New York restaurants, Ham shares how the sudden loss of his mother caused him to distance himself from the recipes he grew up with—and how re...

Courtney E. Smith joins Catherine Smart to talk about Ravenous, the new worker-owned food and culture publication founded by former Eater writers after a layoff.

Courtney shares how the team built an independent media company from scratch, why they’re choosing subscriber support over VC money and branded content, and what it means to cover food, labor, restaurants, and culture with stronger ethics and sharper opinions.

She and ...

On this episode of Not From Concentrate, Catherine Smart talks with Zachary Baum, co-owner of Bow Market in Somerville, about what it takes to build a place where small businesses can take root.

They discuss how Bow Market transformed from an old carport into a vibrant courtyard of independent food, retail, art, and service businesses; why a true sense of place cannot simply be scaled or replicated; and how small restaurants and mak...

This week on Not From Concentrate, Catherine Smart talks with freelance baker Mackenzie Innis about the artistry, logistics, and emotional weight behind her beautiful seasonal cakes.

Mackenzie shares how she moved from fine dining pastry kitchens to building Ceres, a freelance baking business rooted in local ingredients, florals, seasonality, and deeply personal celebrations. She talks about translating clients’ food memories ...

This week on Not From Concentrate, Catherine Smart talks with Alex Fuentes, Head Chef of Special Projects at SingleThread Farm–Restaurant–Inn in Healdsburg, California.

SingleThread is known for its three-Michelin-starred restaurant, five-room inn, and deeply integrated farm led by Kyle and Katina Connaughton. But this conversation goes beyond the fantasy of wine country fine dining. Catherine and Alex talk about what it...

This week on Not From Concentrate, Catherine Smart sits down with cookbook author, photographer, and artist Jerrelle Guy to talk about her beautiful new cookbook, We Fancy.

Jerrelle first burst onto the food scene with her acclaimed debut cookbook, Black Girl Baking, but success came with a cost. In this conversation, she shares how burnout, creative pressure, and the constant pursuit of “more” led her to rethink not jus...

Food writer, recipe developer, and longtime meal-planning expert Meghan Splawn joins Catherine Smart to talk about the emotional, practical, and very real work of getting a food budget under control.

After realizing her family had spent more than $32,000 in a year on groceries, dining out, coffee, Costco runs, and food in general, Meghan began publicly documenting her effort to cut that spending in half. In this conversation, she sh...

When Indian food is on the menu at Catherine Smart’s house, it usually means ordering dosa, saag paneer, and cauliflower Manchurian from a favorite local spot. But why do so many of us love eating Indian food while feeling intimidated to cook it at home?

This week on Not From Concentrate, Catherine is joined by Auyon and Jyoti Mukharji, the son-mother duo behind Heartland Masala, for a warm, funny, and practical conversation a...