July 16, 2024 • 54 mins
Get ready to be inspired by the culinary genius Sohla, the mastermind behind the culture-shifting cookbook "Start Here." This episode promises to uncover the secrets behind transforming your home-cooked meals into restaurant-quality dishes. Journey with us as Sohla, who graced the 2021 Time 100 Next list, shares her invaluable tips and tricks, from mastering browning techniques to understanding the chemistry of baking with butter.
Join us as we explore Sohla's fascinating transition from the heat of restaurant kitchens to the spotlight of food media. Learn about her heartwarming beginnings in her mother's kitchen, her unexpected career shift, and her experiences judging cooking competitions with Dan Levy, (Yes, you read that right!). We also delve into the community-focused premise of "The Big Brunch," a show that celebrates individuals making positive impacts through their culinary talents.
Sohla opens up about the joys and challenges of parenthood while maintaining a thriving career. Discover how she manages to create a child-friendly environment amidst the chaos of daily life. Plus, enjoy some light-hearted moments and practical advice, including the best way to pick a ripe watermelon. Celebrate the release of "Start Here" and its potential to become a modern kitchen staple, enriching your culinary journey one recipe at a time.
Follow Sohla @sohlae
Buy her favorite find from the episode here!
Get your own copy of her cookbook
This Episode is Sponsored By:
Feast & Fettle get $50 off your first week of hand crafted, flavor packed meals delivered straight to your door so you can soak up summer with code GATHER at checkout
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I remember a few months back, I polled my
audience and I asked where doyou learn about hospitality?
People didn't quite know theanswer because honestly, if
we're all honest, culture hasreally changed.
We're not learning the way thatwe used to, from our families,
in the kitchen especially, andhow to cook and how to bake and
(00:20):
how to problem solve andtroubleshoot and all of those
things along the way.
Recipes are not being passeddown and we find ourselves
stumped.
So where do we learn how tocook if we don't want to go to
culinary school?
Well, of course, we can go todifferent certificates, programs
and classes and workshops,peruse social media and save
(00:41):
recipes on Pinterest and saverecipes on Pinterest.
We are on our own when it comesto this right and I was
absolutely amazed and sograteful to see a new resource
for the everyday chef, for theeveryday cook, that starts with
the basics or inspires thelongtime host, and it is a book
called Start here.
(01:01):
This cooking bible essentiallyis everything you need to know,
from browning and salting toboiling and baking and butter
and everything, and I don't sayany of this lightly.
I mean like the deep dive, thetransform your kitchen, the A to
Z kind of way, and I cannotemphasize enough how this is a
(01:24):
cookbook for the everydayhousehold and I am so ecstatic
to be covering the conversationto let you know more about it
and the behind the scenes ofcreating it.
You have all heard of the bookJoy of Cooking and this, I dare
to say, is going to be the nextone of those.
Well, our new friend, sola, isthe developer and the creator
(01:46):
and the genius I'll call herbehind it, and she is a new
friend to gather and our gueston the show today.
If you do not follow her or donot know about her, I want to
fill you in and get you up tospeed.
Sola published her cookbookStart here through Penguin
Random House, which is such adream for every aspiring author
(02:07):
and cookbook author, on October31st 2023.
It is described in the forewordas the book I wish someone
handed me when I began my ownjourney as a chef.
The book serves as aninformation-packed guide to the
fundamentals of cooking, withover 200 recipes for all types
of meals.
Sola has been seen starring inthe third season of the History
(02:30):
Channel series, ancient Recipeswith Sola, and, oh my goodness,
she has been showing up all overyour TV screen, all over cable
with a show that I wasespecially excited about called
the Big Brunch, alongside Willgoodness, I should know how to
say his last name by now Godera,who is a leader in the
(02:51):
hospitality industry.
But what got me even moreexcited was this was also hosted
with Dan Levy, and, if you knowanything about me personally, I
am the biggest Schitt's Creekfan, and so this was very
exciting for me to talk to herabout.
This series was set up as acooking competition that aims to
celebrate the most inspiring,undiscovered culinary voices in
(03:15):
the country and, as I said, itcould be found on HBO Max.
Be sure to watch it andpetition with me for the show to
come back for a season two.
Sola can also be found onYouTube for her YouTube special,
stump Sola, which sounds like ajoy to watch.
I've not seen it yet, but wecan all head on over there and
(03:35):
watch it together.
She also was included in the2021 Time 100 Next list,
highlighted as one of theemerging leaders who are shaping
our future.
She currently resides in NewYork with her husband Ham, their
cat Lucifer, two dogs,clementine and Vito, and she
shares in the episode today her10 month old as well.
She is so much more than that,has done so much more than that.
(03:59):
But that is just a littlesnippet into who she is.
Just for a second of comicrelief, though.
Today during the episode, weare both in the East Coast and
it was hot, hot, hot, and wewere looking at each other and
she was radiant and I wasdripping sweat.
But I remember thinking in thatconversation oh my goodness,
(04:21):
we're talking about cooking andI, frankly, don't want to cook
tonight.
It just you know those dayswhen the summer is hot, the
humidity is high and you justthink, oh, my goodness, I need
to feed myself and my family,but I just don't know what to do
.
Well, that is where I want toshare about our friends Feast
and Fettle.
Feast and Fettle is the sponsorof our show and we are
(04:42):
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(05:45):
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(06:06):
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And, guys, I am so excited foryou to find out about this and
try it for yourself, because Iknow you'll love them as much as
I did.
Hi, I'm Katie, a hospitalityeducator and the host of Making
Room by Gather podcast.
I am set to see our communitiesget back to the table through
hospitality, but it wasn'talways this way.
(06:26):
My husband and I moved toThailand and through it I
experienced some loneliness andwith it I was given a choice to
sit back and accept it or to dosomething about it.
And for me that meant twothings that I needed the healing
to learn how to accept aninvitation and the confidence to
know how to extend one.
Through this process, Ideveloped some of the richest
(06:49):
and deepest relationships of mylife.
Through Making Room by Gather,you will hear conversations from
myself and experts in the areasof food, design and
relationships.
You see there are countlessthings trying to keep us from
the table, but can I tell yousomething?
Take a seat, because you areready, you are capable, you are
(07:15):
a good host.
Many know you from your mediaappearances and your cooking
career, your social platforms,but I love getting to know you
kind of like the full picture,and so I'd love to know, maybe,
the things that people might notknow from following you on
socials, specifically thejourney that led you here, and
when I say here, I mean like2024 cookbook TV shows.
So what do you want us to know?
(07:36):
You could start in childhood,adulthood about your journey
through cooking and the kitchenand how that was all birthed
well, I started cooking, like alot of people, with my mom.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
My mom was is a really great cook, so I spent a
lot of time in the kitchen withher, but the thing that really
drew me to food wasn't the food.
It was like I was awkward.
And food's a great way to makefriends, like you go to school
and you show up with a cake andyou're the most popular kid at
lunch and I really, like my momthrew a lot of dinner parties
(08:14):
and being around that manypeople would always scare me, go
in the kitchen and help, and soanytime I went to any dinner
party at any auntie's house oruncle's house, I would go
straight to the kitchen and staybusy and it felt like I was
contributing, felt like I washelping and it felt like I was
(08:35):
like not just hiding in a corneravoiding conversation hiding in
a kitchen, avoidingconversation.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So how?
Okay, I love that and I'm surea lot of us listening are
nodding our heads to one, youknow, relating to one part of
that.
How did that turn into socialplatform youtube channel
cookbook?
Because what I'm hearing fromyou is maybe you are.
Do you consider yourself anintrovert, would you say yeah,
yeah, definitely um, none ofthat was yeah, okay, so
(09:10):
introvert turned like behind thecamera right, which is kind of
surprising.
So how did that transpire?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
well, it surprised me too.
It wasn't really part of theplan.
Um, I first went to work inrestaurants and I really liked
working in restaurants becauseyou just you're part of a big
team, you're with around arounda lot of people.
It's very, it's very much ateam sport.
So I really love the, thecommunal aspect of it.
(09:38):
Um, and then eventually I gotmore into the actual craft of
cooking.
But but that's not my first draw.
My first draw was I liked beinga part of this team and I liked
how, um, when you have a goodservice, you don't always have
good services.
A lot of them are bad, like Ithink people have seen the bear,
so you know what a bad nightlooks like.
(09:59):
But when it is good it iteveryone clicks in this way.
That's like so exciting, and soI love that connection.
So it was never really part ofthe plan to do the media thing,
to write or be in any videos.
It just I was in restaurantsfor a really long time.
(10:19):
We had a restaurant for a bitwhich was really tough and after
that closed.
I just needed a break fromrestaurants.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So then I switched over to media and it all kind of
happened very quickly.
I think so many of us try tolike perfectly formulate our
future and careers and sometimeswe just have to be pushed into
it right.
It sounds like that was part ofyour story right.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, I got into food media right during that time
where all of the magazines weretrying to get into YouTube and
stuff like that, so I just kindof got thrown in there, okay,
wow.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, one part of your career that I want to talk
about a little bit selfishly isthere was one opportunity that
you're currently part of that Isaw with Dan Levy, the show Big
Brunch.
Is that an active show or hasthat come to a close?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
No, we're not having a season two.
After the whole writer's strike.
It fell through, but it wasreally fun while it happened and
I don't know, maybe if we keeptalking about it, let's keep
bringing it back.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
We could talk about it the whole hour.
You want to do that?
No, I'm kidding.
You know how it is.
Sometimes things come back.
The reason I wanted to justtalk about it quickly is anyone
that knows me knows I'm amassive Schitt's Creek fan.
It's the show that's on whenI'm celebrating.
It's the show that's on whenI'm sad.
I have bumper stickers on mycar the whole tasteful bumper
(11:43):
stickers, but still bumperstickers nonetheless.
I'm just curious what was itlike working with him in a
culinary setting, because we'renot used to seeing him us TV
watchers in that scene.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
It was a lot of fun.
We pretty much just spent 12hours a day eating, eating and
drinking and talking, so Icompletely forgot about the
cameras and we were just hangingout.
So it's.
I love cooking competitions sowhen I got this opportunity, I
couldn't have been more excited.
I've been watching like cookingcompetitions since the original
(12:14):
Iron Chef, you know the onethat was dubbed.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
When was that?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
What year do you remember?
No, but I was still in school,so this was at least 25 years
ago, so a very long time ago.
So it was really exciting toactually be a judge and just
have like delicious food broughtto you like a king and it's
just fun.
Dan's like a totally normalperson.
(12:39):
That's so sweet and it's justfun.
Dan's like a totally normalperson.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
That's so sweet so I loved so.
Honestly, I haven't watched ityet.
I would love, I'm reallyexcited to go back and watch it,
but I loved the concept behindthe show and I've always known
Dan to be someone you know withsomeone, as someone with a
really big heart and as I'mlearning more about you, I see
you as the same.
What was the premise behind theshow?
Because it's really heartfeltand inspiring and really
(13:06):
refreshing, I think.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well, the idea is highlighting people who are
doing interesting things intheir community through food, so
people who are.
There was this one cook.
His name was Wow, this was along time ago, so I can barely
remember Roman Roman wow, thiswas a long time ago, so I can
barely remember roman roman, andhe was really amazing because
he brought the first vegancuisine to his neighborhood.
He became vegan for his ownhealth and, like, really
transformed himself and he justwanted to help the people around
(13:37):
him.
And he also had this uh, pay itforward program so you could,
like, buy a meal for someone whocan't afford one.
So it was like, really a lot ofpeople like that, doing really
amazing things for theircommunity.
So there was another personRoman, no, antoine, the last
person was Roman, sorry, antoinewas another cook who.
(14:00):
He works with people who areformerly incarcerated to help
them learn how to cook, get thisimportant skill and get work
after leaving prison.
So it's all people who arealready amazing.
So you know it's a competitionshow, but it's also to highlight
these folks so that they canget a platform and continue to
do amazing things.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Well, I'll start the petition in the show notes to
bring it back things.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, I'll start the petition in the show notes to
bring it back.
You know they brought back theum taco bell Mexican pizza, so
we can do anything.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Oh, my goodness, See if that's not a sign.
Um, okay, Wow, Well, I couldhave you here all day.
I want to switch for a secondto pull from your culinary
genius Um, so genius.
So my husband and I wouldconsider ourselves pretty
confident in the kitchen.
I'm definitely confident tryingnew recipes.
(14:52):
I enjoy cooking.
We cook most nights of the week.
But one conversation we've beenhaving recently is just wanting
we're in our early thirties,we're wanting to up our game,
feel a little bit more confident, and we've been going to
restaurants and we always comehome saying I wish my whatever
tasted more like that Littlethings from like there's this
burger place near us and theirburgers are just incredible and
(15:15):
it's like well, those are realpeople cooking those burgers,
which means that we can learnhow to do it too.
It's not a machine or like.
We'll go to breakfast and we'llsay, oh, I wish my home fries
tasted more like their homefries.
They're so good.
And I think a lot of everydayhosts, everyday cooks, kind of
have this problem.
There's like a gap that we'retrying to fill and it seems
(15:37):
intimidating or overwhelming tobridge that gap.
So your cookbook talks a lotabout this kind of general tone,
and so I'd love to expand onthis with you.
So I know that there's athousand factors, but what would
you say are the techniques, theingredients that you could take
this any direction that theeveryday host or everyday cook
(15:59):
maybe misses to likeeffortlessly elevated food?
How does that sound?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Well, I feel like a big part of the book is teaching
you techniques and helping youreally understand how to do
those techniques and what thosetechniques will accomplish, so
that when you are makingsomething and like, let's say,
you're making home fries and youwant them to be crispier on the
outside and fluffier on theinside, the book teaches you a
(16:30):
little bit about potatoes andbrownings.
You can kind of figure out onyour own.
Oh, maybe my potatoes aren'tbrowning the way I want because
they're too wet.
I got to dry them off because Italk a lot about how you can't
brown something well without itbeing dry first.
So I think it's about gettingto the like core basics.
(16:50):
And then also, I think a thingthat a lot of home cooks
struggle with is just not takingsomething far enough, like not
increasing your heat high enough, not using enough fat, not
using enough salt.
It can be a little scary,especially, you know, if you don
salt.
It can be a little scary,especially, you know, if you
(17:11):
don't, if you've never cooked ina restaurant.
When you see how much salt weput in pasta water, it will
shock you.
It's like a cup, you know.
Just pour it right in there.
So I think a lot of times youjust get a little shy, you got
to push yourself a little bitand what's the worst thing
that'll happen?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You might have a salty dinner and get takeout one
night, but that and can we Iknow I'm like putting you on the
spot here Could we maybe gothrough?
We could take this whateverdirection you want, maybe like
each chapter of the book or justyour favorite tips.
I'd love to expand on this alittle bit more.
I don't know, like for theeveryday host, like I love the
(17:44):
example you gave for home fries,are there some common things
that your readers are like oh,that was so useful that you want
like everyone to know about?
Or like your favorite tips fromthe book, whatever direction.
You want me to have it right infront of me.
You want to go through a few ofthe chapters and maybe give your
favorite tips.
Yeah, let's do it, let's dothat, okay.
So I don't want to give, Idon't want to go through every
(18:06):
single one, because I want somewonder so that people buy it
right.
But, um, okay, so this one,this one, is interesting and I
think that there's a lot to sayhere, simple but profound.
You start with taste.
What do you want people to knowabout taste, as they're like
trying to expand their cooking?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Well, that's really where it begins.
If you don't know what goodfood tastes like, you're not
going to know how to make it.
So this is the fun part.
This is the part where you justgo eat a lot of food and think
about it.
So if you are used to justeating your own home cooking or,
like you know, maybe like yourhusband's cooking, I think it's
important to you know, branchout, eat at different places,
(18:47):
eat at different people's homesand make recipes by different
recipe developers and actuallyfollow the recipe, because a lot
of people it's just inspirationand they do their own thing.
But if you want to learn,follow the recipe and really
think about how stuff isseasoned and be really
thoughtful when you taste sothat you can learn what
something delicious is.
(19:09):
I remember when I started out,there was this really simple
artichoke dish at this Italianrestaurant I was working at, and
none of us working on thestation could get the seasoning
right and all it was wasartichoke hearts that were
simmered in wine with a wholebunch of olive oil, herbs, lemon
and salt, and then the chefcame over and he mixed it, and
(19:32):
as he added each ingredient wewould taste with him, and as he
continued to add more olive oiland emulsify it into the lemon
and add more salt.
We were able to see how theflavor evolved and then it hit
this one point when it hadenough of everything, where it
was just like this really simplething with five ingredients
became one of the best dishes.
(19:52):
So I think it's really justabout be really thoughtful.
Think about how stuff istransformed by the things you're
adding to it.
One of the big comments with alot of recipes is people always
tell you to take out the salt.
They're worried about bloodpressure.
But that's really only an issuefor like 1% of the population.
(20:14):
Like the actual statistics.
I think people are very scaredof salt.
For 99% of us, we can season,we can go for it.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
It's really good.
As you're saying this, acompany just sent me a bottle of
balsamic vinegar and I tastedit.
And if you've ever tasted agood balsamic, you never want
grocery store balsamic again.
There is such a massivedifference.
And, like you're, and if you'veever tasted a good balsamic,
you never want grocery storebalsamic again.
There is such a massivedifference and, like you're
saying, until you've givenyourself the permission to try
different products, to maybespend a few more dollars on
(20:43):
certain things or whatever youdon't know.
Sometimes the problem is justthe ingredients that you're
using.
Like if I were to use thisbalsamic in a recipe, it's going
to instantly taste moreelevated than a cheaper.
You know, like thinner balsamicin a recipe, it's going to
instantly taste more elevatedthan a cheaper.
You know, like thinner balsamicthat I'm using.
So that's, that's a reallygreat reminder and, I think,
something we don't giveourselves permission to do
enough.
So it's good.
(21:03):
Um, okay, I'm gonna just likekind of randomly pick through
these.
So temperature management thisis something that I'm actually
not informed enough on.
So school us, tell us.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, you know, in recipes they tell you to put
something at low heat, mediumheat, high heat, but you don't
really know what that is.
Everyone's burner is differentso it takes, you know, high heat
on.
My burner is actually very hotbecause I have an old New York
City apartment where I think thegas is coming out at like an
illegal level of BTUs, but likeI love it, it's great for me.
(21:38):
So the idea is to learn moreabout what those temperatures
mean by making eggs.
Eggs are a really easy way tolearn how to cook protein and to
very quickly learn how toadjust the temperature in your
pan, because they cook so fastand they're so different
depending on what temperatureyou cook them at.
So you can do like a very, veryhigh heat, fast, crispy
(22:03):
frizzled egg and like the eggwhite transforms into this lacy
crunchy thing, we could do avery delicate medium, low heat,
sunny side and keep it the whitetotally tender.
So you can learn a lot aboutyour pan, your burners and how
to cook a simple protein beforeyou move on to more expensive
things like steak or scallops.
I think eggs are just like thebest place to start, but even
(22:27):
eggs these days are not cheapanymore.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Nothing is cheap anymore.
Yeah, I know it's true, that'sgreat, that's real anymore.
Yeah, I know it's true, that'sgreat, that's really good.
Yeah, I remember, um, I'vealways had like an electric
stove and I had a gas burner afew years ago at a place that we
were living and it it totallychanged my cooking, like if if I
was you know cause it burnedthings faster or whatever.
So you do have to pay attentionto temperature.
Um, yeah, that's good, and I'msure there's a lot more in your
(22:52):
book that we could dive into.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I'm just curious selfishly have you ever made
Thai omelets?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Thai omelet no the one that's deep fried in oil.
It's deep fried in oil, but Ican't get the seasonings right
and I'm just on a hunt to figureit out.
We lived there for a while.
It's my husband's favorite dish.
None of the restaurants willmake it for us, and so you were
talking about eggs and so I haveto start making it at home.
But anyways, that's probablythe oil.
Interesting, maybe.
(23:24):
Interesting, yeah, and probablylots of MSG and yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, goodness, okay, my dog is cranky.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Hold on.
Oh, you are total.
I honestly hardly hear it andmy um, my puppy's not here today
, but that's usually him come onwe love puppies okay cool.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
They seem chill.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, we're good um, oh goodness, okay.
Um, you were talking aboutbrowning, which is interesting
to me because this was neverofficially taught to me, I've
always just kind of guessed.
So what do you want us to knowabout browning?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
well, a lot of, a lot of simple cooking is just like
searing a steak, searing a piecefish, searing chicken, and the
key to making it reallydelicious is getting like really
nailing, getting that reallydark crusty crust while keeping
it moist inside.
That's like the key to any pancooked food.
(24:29):
Cooked food and it is somethingthat I feel like home cooks
struggle with.
You know, getting a ribeye withthat really crusty steak.
So I talk about, you know,everything that's important to
properly sear at home, and it'sone of those things that the
moisture we talked aboutbrowning doesn't happen until
(24:50):
there's a certain level ofdryness on the surface of
whatever you're cooking.
So it's always good to.
Oh boy, now the cat's joiningin.
Hey, it's a party.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
It is.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
We have a lot of animals and a baby, so it's a
wild hand here.
Yeah, it's always good to dryyour protein really well before
you brown it.
It can help to dry brine it aswell, which is when you sprinkle
salt, which you have tosprinkle salt for and let it sit
for an extended period of time.
Time is the second ingredientto dry brining, so you want to
(25:22):
let the salt sit on the proteinuntil it gets fully drawn into
the meat and it's nice and dryand then you get really good
browning.
And the other big thing tothink about is equipment.
If you have a nonstick panpeople love nonstick Restaurants
don't use nonstick becauseyou'll never get brown, golden
(25:43):
brown on a nonstick.
Nonsticks aren't designed to beheated high enough for the
browning to happen and also theslick surfaces itself minimizes,
like, just prevents browning.
You have to be a big girl andget the stainless steel pan.
Put the non-sticks away.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
What would you say to the big girls that have gotten
one and burned things and noware scared?
I'm talking about myself.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You can do it.
It probably wasn't preheatedproperly, maybe there wasn't
enough oil, or maybe yourstainless steel skillet's not
thick enough okay, gotta bereally heavy okay.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Okay, that's really good.
I got a really gorgeous, likeexpensive one on my wedding
registry years ago and the firsttime I used it I went in
totally blind and like burnteverything and I was like just
throw it away and I never went.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Oh, you can't that awful.
You can always bring those pansback.
That's the great thing aboutlike a heavy duty, stainless
steel pan.
Um, there's a.
There's something called barkkeeper's friend.
It'll remove anything from anysurface.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
You never have to throw out a pan again okay, I
will include that in the shownotes and not tell my mother,
because she has been telling mefor years to keep that in the
house.
And I'm like mom, why would Iuse that?
And she'll be so happy to hearthat you suggested that she was
right.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Isn't that annoying?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
It was one of those things I'm like mom no.
Yeah, that's good.
It's funny.
As you were talking about this,I'm thinking of all the recipes
that say, or, at the beginningof my cooking, would say, sear,
and then put it in the slowcooker, and I'm like, oh, I
don't need to sear it, and youjust put it in and the recipe's
gross.
You have to, yeah.
So, like you were saying,follow the recipe.
(27:24):
Um, and browning is key to alot of cooking, a lot of cooking
.
Good, let's just do maybe onein the baking section.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Do you have a favorite or you?
Speaker 1 (27:40):
want me to pick?
Go for it, go for it.
Oh, they're all so goodBaking's my favorite.
Okay, either butter orcaramelized, you pick.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Okay.
So the book's actually halfpastry, because I couldn't
decide if I want to do a savorybook or pastry book.
So my agent just said to throwit together and so it's 50 50,
because I really like pastry aswell.
I was a pastry chef for severalyears.
Um and uh, I was really excitedabout the butter chapter
(28:11):
because so much pastry startswith butter.
Butter is really unique.
It's not just about the flavor,the actual chemistry of butter.
Butter itself is an emulsion.
So I talk about what butter isspecifically.
It's a mixture of fat, proteinand water, and that unique combo
, in addition to its toffee-likeflavors, is what allows for all
(28:34):
these different textures to bepossible in cookies and cakes
and pastries.
So we deep dive into butter andall the different techniques
and kind of cakes you can makewith butter.
And we still don't have a greatvegan butter yet, I believe,
but I think we'll get there.
They're close, they are close.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
They are close.
Yeah, some of them taste verygood to the palate, but they
don't all bake great.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Exactly, yeah, they haven't figured out that
emulsion yet.
They can't beat nature.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I know it's true, right?
Are you comfortable talkingabout your favorite vegan
butters?
Because we actually have a lotof dairy-free special diet
listeners and I'm sure they'd becurious.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
My favorite's that Oikos.
That brand's pretty good, worksreally well for pie crust.
I don't have a favorite one formaking brown butter yet, but
that one works well if you'rejust like creaming it or melting
it.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Have you tried Trader Joe's the stick one?
No, it's so good.
It might secretly be Oikos.
Do they do that?
I don't know.
They're behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Nobody knows, it might all just be Nestle.
Nobody knows the secret.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
They're doing something right, but it is super
good.
I should be dairy-free most ofthe time and this week I just
wanted a bagel and butter andit's very, it's very good.
I'll have to check it out.
Yeah, you should.
Big Trader Joe's fan, so I wantto.
Well, actually, before we wrapup that section, anything else
(30:07):
that you're like, you know whatI wish everyone knew this tip,
like this thing from your bookthat you're like everyone
measuring cups are a scam andAmericans need to get onto the
scale.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
The rest of the world is using the scale.
They're so far ahead of us.
I don't know why people hereare still using cups.
When you measure in cupsespecially something dry like
flour, cocoa powder, cornstarchit can really easily get
compacted and be like theweights when you measure by hand
.
There's been like people who'vedone lots of tests.
It can be like anywhere from ahundred grams for a cup of flour
(30:47):
to 150 grams for a cup of flour.
Plus, every measuring cup is alittle bit wrong, Cause I had
this job where I had to testmeasuring cups.
It was really, really boring,but from that I learned that
they're all lies.
They're all lying to you andevery recipe developer has a
different measurement for a cupof flour.
(31:07):
So just get a scale.
If you have struggled withbaking, it might be your
measuring cups.
So just 20 bucks, get thatscale.
Your life will change.
You're going to level upimmediately.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
That's so good.
That's so good and somethingI've actually never heard of or
thought about before.
I think I had a scale for ashort period of time.
Someone gave me one when theywere clearing out their kitchen
and I think the American, likekitchen culture, thinks of
scales and like weight loss,right, like way.
You know what I mean.
And so I was like.
I was like, was like oh, Idon't need this, like I
(31:42):
shouldn't have this around orwhatever.
Um, but that's actually, I canget one now.
I can get behind that, it'sgood, think about it.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Associate it with cake instead of weight loss.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
It'll change your mind so good, so good, wow.
Well, this is a totallydifferent direction, but I felt
like you would be a good personto ask, so I've never asked.
Yeah, I've never asked us thisbefore.
As the industry grows andcontent creators are working
crazy long hours, teams behindthings, developing content, so
(32:15):
much goes unseen.
Right, we're fighting thealgorithm, developing a niche
community, all of these things.
I feel like we know how tocheer on and support a lot of
industries, but not foodcreators or content creators in
this space, and so it's veryeasy to just like press play to
move forward when it comes tocontent, but a lot of us are
(32:38):
very committed members ofcommunities like your community
and other communities.
So I'd love to hear from you,aside from just like a view and
scrolling, to move forward howcan we best support culinary
creators?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Well, the easiest thing is to just engage, whether
that's liking the post, butreally the best thing is to is
to save a post or comment.
Best thing is to is to save apost or comment and you know it
doesn't cost you anything andand it really does make it
possible for creators to keepcreating.
Um, particularly if they'reworking with a brand.
So, if there's a partnershipand and you also love the brand,
(33:14):
like just engage and let andlet the brand know and let the
creator know because, um, like Irecently this, over the past
year, I've worked withhaagen-dazs, which was really
exciting.
Um, I actually got the emailabout this partnership when I
was like walking home and I justgot.
I got so excited.
I immediately called my husbandbecause it's fun when you get
(33:35):
to work with a brand that youactually love, and I've been
having haagen-dazs ice creamsince I was like a kid.
There was a time where it wasthe only fancy ice cream out
there.
They like opened the door tothis like luxury.
Look at ice cream before thatyou had.
If you wanted an ice cream likehaagen-dazs, you had to make it
(33:56):
yourself.
So whenever you see a creatorworking with a brand like that
that you also love, just like,just engage in the comments and
it really does help a lot and itdoes make it possible for us to
continue making content, tocontinue recipe developing.
I don't think people realizehow it.
Everyone who's doing this isrunning a little business and
(34:17):
you have your own um, you knowvideo crew to pay and then the
cost of recipe testing andthere's a lot of work that goes
into it, and partnering withbrands like that is really what
makes it possible.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah, it's really good.
It's really good.
How about, on the paid side ofthings, buying cookbooks, right
yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
of course that definitely helps, but I get that
people don't have excess incomeall the time, so you can just
support with your attention.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
That's really, really good.
Did I see a video with you withHaagen-Dazs and pistachio ice
cream recently?
Was that one of your clips ofthem?
Yeah, oh my gosh, that is myfavorite.
My husband mocks me because asa little kid so like little
Katie, like five, six-year-oldKatie would go to an ice cream
shop in the summer.
Everyone was getting like gummybears and vanilla ice cream and
(35:08):
I was getting pistachio andhe's like what five-year-old was
getting pistachio, but it's myfavorite.
Anything else that is going onwith Haagen-Dazs right now that
you wanted to share Any part ofyour collaboration that you
wanted to share any part of yourcollaboration.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Well, so, speaking of pistachio, first of all, you
had a very sophisticated palateas a child.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Yeah, I, I've definitely.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah but I I always loved pistachio because it's
like very prevalent in myculture.
There's so many south asianpistachio desserts and my
favorite dessert as a kid isbest the burfi, which is a
pistachio fudge, but I couldn'treally pronounce it.
I still really can't pronounceit, so I would call it green
(35:51):
sweet, cute and it's like very,very pistachio, because it's
basically just pistachio butterwith um like sugar.
So the new this is haagen-dazshas updated their pistachio.
It's not the.
If you haven't had it in a fewyears, you got to try it now,
because now they actually putpistachio butter.
(36:11):
So for me it tastes exactlylike that green sweet that I
loved as a kid.
So it's like super nutty um.
There's some in the freezer now.
We were making like spumoniswith it when we had some friends
over mixing it with the cherryand chocolate ice cream.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Stop it.
Those are like my.
If I were to pick any threeflavors, it would be those three
.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
That should be the Napoleon.
Yes, instead of strawberry, youare right.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
We should change it up.
That's a.
That's a.
I'm always thinking business.
I'm'm like there's your nextbusiness venture, no one should
put it together in a carton orcollaboration hog and dozzy
listening.
I'm kidding.
Um, what was that?
Uh, every christmas friend?
Well, friendlies I shouldn'ttalk about friendlies not gonna
used to come out with that role.
(36:59):
What was that called theJubilee role, right?
Oh, I don't.
I don't know, I think it waspistachio.
Anyways, we can move on.
We don't have to talk aboutfriendlies, um, but that's very
exciting.
I'm going to share.
Um is was your video on YouTubeor Instagram, that pistachio
video?
It was very cute.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
It was on was on instagram and, um, we were
actually in the middle ofshooting my husband's cookbook.
Um, okay, and we, we shooteverything in our small new york
apartment, so it's likeabsolute chaos.
We clear out the, like theliving room and the kitchen, and
this was our first time doing ashoot like that with a baby, so
(37:42):
so I had her on the Bjorn withme.
It was really hard.
It was total chaos and weactually, on the day we were
shooting the content forHagana's, it was the worst day
of the shoot.
It was day three andhistorically for me, everything
falls apart on day three, Idon't know why, and then you
(38:02):
come back afterwards.
We came back, but like it wasthe really, really bad day.
So it was kind of perfect,because after a shoot like that,
you need Haagen-Dazs, so thevideo was very natural.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
That's so good man, and you know, I'm so thankful
that you felt comfortable enoughto share that, because I think
it's so easy to look at contentcreators and be like, oh,
they're such a natural on cameraand like, yeah, the edits can
be really great, right, but thebehind the scenes is very hard.
And how old is your baby?
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Well, when we shot that, I think she was six months
.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
I'm right there with you.
I have a 10 month old.
She's currently 10 months.
Yeah, oh, how sweet.
Oh, my goodness, so I'm Arethey crawling?
Yes, it's chaos, it is chaos,it is.
And I remember thinking likethere's that tension, right,
everyone talks about it, youhear about it.
I'm like I want to be with himall the time.
I want to still work.
It's going to be great.
(38:56):
I'm going to work at home withhim and it's going to be
seamless.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
And that was not the case, I found that it was easier
to work at home with her whenshe was younger.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
But now she requires so much more attention.
She's napping less and everytwo seconds she's trying to kill
herself Like it's.
I don't.
Yes, how are human?
This is my first child.
Is it your first?
Yeah, I don't understand howhumans exist.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
No, no, even I'm over here just like dripping sweat
as we're talking.
I'm like how did generations gowithout air conditioners and
keep kids alive?
It is very hot here, or likethe rough wind, even just that
weather alone.
Yeah, and you were saying asmall New York apartment.
We have a very small cottage ina beach community, super small,
and I have like my Peloton inmy living room and all this
(39:48):
stuff and he's constantly like Ifind him with the cords in the
Peloton.
I'm like how is this going towork?
I get it.
I'm right there with you.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, we have it fully baby proofed because we're
kind of we weren't sure what tobaby proof.
So now that she's moving we'refiguring it out.
And the other day I was in thekitchen like doing dishes and
she was trying to open a drawerand I was like she's not going
to open that.
I wasn't like really payingattention.
And then she pulled it open alittle bit, which threw her off
(40:18):
balance and then she hit herhead onto the knob and got like
this welt here.
She recovered quickly but thenwe installed all the like
cabinet things.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
We just did too.
It's so, it's so sweet.
I love that we are likeliterally at the same phase.
Yeah, are you guys thinkingabout moving or are you going to
stay?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
We think about it all the time.
We love this neighborhood somuch.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
But it's not the most child-friendly.
It's hard.
All of life changes right.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
My current hobby is looking at houses in New Jersey
and Brooklyn and Queens.
Oh, all day, that's all I doall day.
I was doing it earlier becauseyou came on the Zoom like two
minutes later, so I was like oh,let me go look at a house.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
And I was coming on late because I was rushing to
childcare.
The roads were detoured on theway back, so I am right there
with you, oh goodness.
Well, what's your daughter'sname?
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Well, we're not letting people know yet.
Oh, totally fine, but you canknow if you don't put it in the
podcast.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
no, no you can tell me after, okay okay that's
really sweet.
Oh, I respect you so much forthat.
There's um.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
It's a tough balance, right, so yeah I I like didn't
tell anyone I was pregnant for awhile and I felt really guilty
because I feel like the onlinecommunity is like my real
friends, yeah, and there's thishuge thing about my life that I
didn't tell anybody about, but Iwas just really scared, yeah.
Yeah, something could go wrongand I just didn't really want to
(41:50):
put it out there until we kneweverything was safe that's
really real.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
We have a background in internet crimes against
children, um, on the social work, criminal justice side, and so
even all of that knowledge andbackground, it's it's a lot to
discern, and I guess I guessthat's the beauty of it, though
there is permission to makechanges, to share or not share,
change your mind and, yes, yourreal life behind a platform
right yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
And now there's ai, which is a whole new thing, that
we don't know what it's goingto do.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Yeah, I haven't even given it much thought or
research yet.
How does it impact your careernow?
Are there any impacts?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Do you utilize it?
Well, I don't think it's goodenough yet, but I know that
they're working on recipedeveloping AI.
How?
Developing AI?
How?
I think the goal is that youtell the AI how much time you
have, what ingredients you haveand they give you a recipe.
But currently it's very bad.
But if that gets good, none ofus will have work anymore.
(42:52):
That's horrifying, but I dothink a lot of people like the
personal aspect, like the trustyou get when you get a recipe
from someone who you've beenfollowing for a long time.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Yeah, I, I believe that too.
I will say, the other day I hada contract to write and I
didn't have a lawyer and I waslike, well, it spit out a very
great contract for me.
Yeah, thank you, chat GBG, ohgoodness.
(43:28):
Well, you are currentlycelebrating a new cookbook and
it is beautiful, and I thinkthat it is very quickly and
easily going to become ahousehold staple.
Are you being told that like?
Is that the feedback you'regetting?
I'm seeing this as thisgeneration's joy of cooking.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Yeah, I mean, people have said that it's overwhelming
to really think about it.
I've decided to distract myselfand just worry about the next
one, which I started work on afew months ago.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
So know.
So I hear you and some of myother guests say that and it
makes me sad for a secondbecause I want to make sure
you're fully celebrating this,right?
But then I'm like if I was inyour shoes I would be doing the
same exact thing.
So I don't want to behypocritical, but no, this for
sure, this for sure, is going tobe a generation, a staple for
(44:22):
this generation.
You know, I get a lot ofcookbooks and I'm super thankful
for it and I get to lookthrough them.
But when this one came, I toldmy husband I was like this is
different.
This one's it is.
It's so different.
I mean, first of all, it's.
It is a beast.
It is a beautiful beast.
There is a lot in here.
It is chock full of justintentionality and you know
(44:46):
you're, you know yourdemographic and this is going to
be copied backwards.
Oh, is it mirrored?
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Oh gosh, I was like did you get a defective copy?
No, it's the mirror image.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
I think it's mirrored , so funny.
Like I got to call thepublishers.
No, it is.
I just I can't say enough aboutit.
I think that this is going tobe one of those things that
should be given at every wedding, like every, every bridal
shower, I think, should get acop.
Every bride should get a copyof this.
Every no, seriously, every momthat's been in the kitchen for
20 years and hasn't taken aclass Like I think it just it
(45:23):
covers all the bases and it'sgenius.
So we're celebrating that withyou.
Thank you, what do you, I guess, to wrap up gushing about the
book?
What do you want people to knowabout it?
What, in your eyes, makes thiscookbook different?
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Well, I guess it's really more than recipes.
Actually, I don't think youdon't need any of the recipes.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
It's really about.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
It's about teaching you these techniques.
The recipes are there to helpexpand on the techniques and and
give you a way to practice thetechniques, but what I want you
to do is take away like a deeperunderstanding of how to braise,
how to poach, how to fry,because when you are someone who
cooks every day, like the wayto make that easier is to not
(46:10):
use a recipe To like understandthat you can cook a squash, a
beet, a carrot, a parsnip allthe same way.
So if you know one solid recipefor how to roast carrots, you
can cook any of those vegetables.
Because my mom cooked every dayand she'd never opened a book,
because she just had thesetechniques deeply rooted within
(46:32):
her so she could just pull fromher instincts at that point.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
I have a really good friend from Ghana.
She moved here from Ghanarecently and she came over and I
have my bookshelf, likewhatever, just like on display,
and she was like what are allthese?
And I was like cookbooks, andit blew her mind how many I had.
She was like why do you havethese?
Why do you need them?
You're a cook, you know.
And I guess she was saying thesame thing.
Back home in Ghana.
They don't have have cookbooksbecause it's kind of like, but I
(47:03):
guess they're taught in theirfamilies.
The family culture is different.
They're taught these things athome, and so I'm actually
grateful that we have you,because you're filling the gap.
Families are not teachingcooking like they used to, and
so you're giving us thosetechniques.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Well, it's hard too because so many people have, you
know, both members of thefamily work, yes, yeah.
So I just think that it's hardto have time to pass all these
traditions down, becauseeverybody's working so much to
pay for their 14 dozen eggs.
It's crazy.
We just ran out of eggs, sothey're on the top of my mind.
(47:37):
Like every time we buy eggs,they're're $2 more.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
It's wild, Something's got to give.
Well, we end each conversationwith the same three questions
and we're going to link to yourgorgeous book in the show notes
too, just to wrap up thatthought.
So everyone that's wanting tosee it for yourselves and
experience it, you can head onover to the show notes.
But I want to end with thesethree questions what?
Speaker 2 (48:08):
is something you have eaten recently and loved.
Sorry, I just like, I just have, like mommy brain, no, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
I I was interviewed a few days ago on a podcast and
he asked me a question.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
There wasn't even a two second pause.
I was like I have no idea whatyou just said oh, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
The best thing I've eaten recently was a very good
watermelon.
Does that count?
Yes, okay, I'm curious.
I have a trick that my grandpataught me to buying them that I
think works for me.
But do you have a trick thatyou use when you buy them?
Speaker 2 (48:43):
um, well, I guess I I look for the yellow spot, yes,
yeah, which is supposed to meanthat it like ripened on the
ground.
Yes, and yeah, everyone saysyou want it to be heavy, but
they're always heavy, so I don'tfind that to be like the most
useful thing to look for.
What's your trick?
That's exactly my trick.
Yeah, it is.
Oh, I think it works.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Yeah, my grandpa grew up on a farm and he just said
that the ones that have thatkind of like yellow spot that I
think people think is ugly andimperfect, that just means it's
been there for a while, so it'sreally ripe.
And then he used to knock on it, but he never taught me what he
was listening for.
So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Yeah, I've heard the knocking trick as well, but I
don't.
I'm not smart enough to getthat bit.
I just look for the yellow spot.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
And something about, like, I'm nursing our son and
something about the watermelonis so hydrating that I've just
been pounding watermelon.
Oh, my goodness, so I'm withyou.
Yeah, okay, a gathering youattended that made you feel a
strong sense of belonging and,if you can pinpoint it, what it
was that made you feel that way.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
Well, I recently celebrated my birthday and my
husband threw me a surpriseparty at Benihana's birthday.
And my husband threw me asurprise party at benihana's oh,
which was like very fun becauseit's dinner and a show, uh-huh,
um, and it's just uh.
Most of my friends are in food,but it's exciting to see
(50:15):
everyone still geek out overlike their tricks, like tossing
the shrimp in their hat andmaking the onion volcano.
Have.
Have you seen that?
Yes, so it's just like everyonebecame a little kid again.
I love it.
That was really fun.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
When was your birthday?
Because I just celebrated abirthday too.
It was yesterday.
Mine was the 13th.
Oh, wow, cancer, we have somany crossovers.
Oh, my goodness.
Sorry, you don't have to sayall these things publicly, but I
just thought it would be tooironic.
Yeah, that's funny.
Um, we started.
Are you new york based?
(50:49):
Yeah, okay, we started workingwith a company called mr hibachi
and they come to your house oryour apartment and do private
hibachi parties.
So what's?
Yeah, so super similar, and we,we if you want me to connect to
you, I will.
They just came and we justbrought 10 of our friends and we
(51:10):
got to tell them, like foodrestrictions, dietary needs.
It was so great and so, if youliked that, you would love them
too.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
They bring a stove yeah, they wow.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
He shows up with his grill and all the food and he
leaves and there's no cleanup.
Wow, okay, next year, nextbirthday, yeah, I'll tell him,
I'll tell your husband, I'll goum okay.
Last but not least, somethingyou've discovered recently that
you think everyone should knowabout.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
A Netflix show, amazon purchase, anything like
that.
There's a lot of mosquitoesright now, so we have these
thermosel stations in ourbackyard, but we recently got a
portable one that we keep in thestroller to keep the mosquitoes
off the baby, and I'm not quitesure what it is.
(52:12):
It's this little batteryoperated thing that's the size
of a remote control and you putthese little sponges in them
that has some like essentialoils or something, and it heats
up and it works perfectly,perfectly, and you get like a Do
you know the brand, or was itjust a random Amazon find?
Speaker 1 (52:26):
Oh, it's called Thermocell.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Oh, Thermocell, okay yeah, and you get like a 15 foot
mosquito free radius.
We love eating outside, butthere's so many mosquitoes it's
perfect.
There's no odor and we don'thave to spray like chemicals
directly on the baby which,don't know, don't really feel
like.
I think she's too young foroffspray.
So everybody needs this.
If you're in a swamp like me,that's great.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
I love that.
Ok, I'm adding that to the shownotes too, OK, well, where do
you want to send everyone tofollow along?
Speaker 2 (53:00):
I guess you can find me on Instagram at Sola E.
I'm also on New York TimesCooking's YouTube channel.
A lot of you can watch me cookthere and you can get the book
wherever you buy books.
It's called Start here.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
I love it.
Oh, my goodness, I love it.
So excited for you.
Well, all of these things, I'mgoing to try to remember them.
So many references to links inthe show note, but I'm going to
try to link everything that Isaid I was going to there and
thank you so much for taking thetime where, oh, there goes my
ring light.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
Perfect timing.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
I know perfect timing .
We are celebrating with you andexcited to be connected.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
Thank you, thanks for having me on.
This was a fun chat, of course.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
Thanks so much, guys.
We will see you next week.
Thank you.
I remember a few months back, I polled my
audience and I asked where doyou learn about hospitality?
People didn't quite know theanswer because honestly, if
we're all honest, culture hasreally changed.
We're not learning the way thatwe used to, from our families,
in the kitchen especially, andhow to cook and how to bake and
(00:20):
how to problem solve andtroubleshoot and all of those
things along the way.
Recipes are not being passeddown and we find ourselves
stumped.
So where do we learn how tocook if we don't want to go to
culinary school?
Well, of course, we can go todifferent certificates, programs
and classes and workshops,peruse social media and save
(00:41):
recipes on Pinterest and saverecipes on Pinterest.
We are on our own when it comesto this right and I was
absolutely amazed and sograteful to see a new resource
for the everyday chef, for theeveryday cook, that starts with
the basics or inspires thelongtime host, and it is a book
called Start here.
(01:01):
This cooking bible essentiallyis everything you need to know,
from browning and salting toboiling and baking and butter
and everything, and I don't sayany of this lightly.
I mean like the deep dive, thetransform your kitchen, the A to
Z kind of way, and I cannotemphasize enough how this is a
(01:24):
cookbook for the everydayhousehold and I am so ecstatic
to be covering the conversationto let you know more about it
and the behind the scenes ofcreating it.
You have all heard of the bookJoy of Cooking and this, I dare
to say, is going to be the nextone of those.
Well, our new friend, sola, isthe developer and the creator
(01:46):
and the genius I'll call herbehind it, and she is a new
friend to gather and our gueston the show today.
If you do not follow her or donot know about her, I want to
fill you in and get you up tospeed.
Sola published her cookbookStart here through Penguin
Random House, which is such adream for every aspiring author
(02:07):
and cookbook author, on October31st 2023.
It is described in the forewordas the book I wish someone
handed me when I began my ownjourney as a chef.
The book serves as aninformation-packed guide to the
fundamentals of cooking, withover 200 recipes for all types
of meals.
Sola has been seen starring inthe third season of the History
(02:30):
Channel series, ancient Recipeswith Sola, and, oh my goodness,
she has been showing up all overyour TV screen, all over cable
with a show that I wasespecially excited about called
the Big Brunch, alongside Willgoodness, I should know how to
say his last name by now Godera,who is a leader in the
(02:51):
hospitality industry.
But what got me even moreexcited was this was also hosted
with Dan Levy, and, if you knowanything about me personally, I
am the biggest Schitt's Creekfan, and so this was very
exciting for me to talk to herabout.
This series was set up as acooking competition that aims to
celebrate the most inspiring,undiscovered culinary voices in
(03:15):
the country and, as I said, itcould be found on HBO Max.
Be sure to watch it andpetition with me for the show to
come back for a season two.
Sola can also be found onYouTube for her YouTube special,
stump Sola, which sounds like ajoy to watch.
I've not seen it yet, but wecan all head on over there and
(03:35):
watch it together.
She also was included in the2021 Time 100 Next list,
highlighted as one of theemerging leaders who are shaping
our future.
She currently resides in NewYork with her husband Ham, their
cat Lucifer, two dogs,clementine and Vito, and she
shares in the episode today her10 month old as well.
She is so much more than that,has done so much more than that.
(03:59):
But that is just a littlesnippet into who she is.
Just for a second of comicrelief, though.
Today during the episode, weare both in the East Coast and
it was hot, hot, hot, and wewere looking at each other and
she was radiant and I wasdripping sweat.
But I remember thinking in thatconversation oh my goodness,
(04:21):
we're talking about cooking andI, frankly, don't want to cook
tonight.
It just you know those dayswhen the summer is hot, the
humidity is high and you justthink, oh, my goodness, I need
to feed myself and my family,but I just don't know what to do
.
Well, that is where I want toshare about our friends Feast
and Fettle.
Feast and Fettle is the sponsorof our show and we are
(04:42):
incredibly grateful for them andwhat they offer.
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So, whether you are a busyfamily that wants to head
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You want to just embrace theseason without worrying about a
(05:45):
to-do list, I get it.
I'm right there with you.
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(06:06):
first week.
And, guys, I am so excited foryou to find out about this and
try it for yourself, because Iknow you'll love them as much as
I did.
Hi, I'm Katie, a hospitalityeducator and the host of Making
Room by Gather podcast.
I am set to see our communitiesget back to the table through
hospitality, but it wasn'talways this way.
(06:26):
My husband and I moved toThailand and through it I
experienced some loneliness andwith it I was given a choice to
sit back and accept it or to dosomething about it.
And for me that meant twothings that I needed the healing
to learn how to accept aninvitation and the confidence to
know how to extend one.
Through this process, Ideveloped some of the richest
(06:49):
and deepest relationships of mylife.
Through Making Room by Gather,you will hear conversations from
myself and experts in the areasof food, design and
relationships.
You see there are countlessthings trying to keep us from
the table, but can I tell yousomething?
Take a seat, because you areready, you are capable, you are
(07:15):
a good host.
Many know you from your mediaappearances and your cooking
career, your social platforms,but I love getting to know you
kind of like the full picture,and so I'd love to know, maybe,
the things that people might notknow from following you on
socials, specifically thejourney that led you here, and
when I say here, I mean like2024 cookbook TV shows.
So what do you want us to know?
(07:36):
You could start in childhood,adulthood about your journey
through cooking and the kitchenand how that was all birthed
well, I started cooking, like alot of people, with my mom.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
My mom was is a really great cook, so I spent a
lot of time in the kitchen withher, but the thing that really
drew me to food wasn't the food.
It was like I was awkward.
And food's a great way to makefriends, like you go to school
and you show up with a cake andyou're the most popular kid at
lunch and I really, like my momthrew a lot of dinner parties
(08:14):
and being around that manypeople would always scare me, go
in the kitchen and help, and soanytime I went to any dinner
party at any auntie's house oruncle's house, I would go
straight to the kitchen and staybusy and it felt like I was
contributing, felt like I washelping and it felt like I was
(08:35):
like not just hiding in a corneravoiding conversation hiding in
a kitchen, avoidingconversation.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So how?
Okay, I love that and I'm surea lot of us listening are
nodding our heads to one, youknow, relating to one part of
that.
How did that turn into socialplatform youtube channel
cookbook?
Because what I'm hearing fromyou is maybe you are.
Do you consider yourself anintrovert, would you say yeah,
yeah, definitely um, none ofthat was yeah, okay, so
(09:10):
introvert turned like behind thecamera right, which is kind of
surprising.
So how did that transpire?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
well, it surprised me too.
It wasn't really part of theplan.
Um, I first went to work inrestaurants and I really liked
working in restaurants becauseyou just you're part of a big
team, you're with around arounda lot of people.
It's very, it's very much ateam sport.
So I really love the, thecommunal aspect of it.
(09:38):
Um, and then eventually I gotmore into the actual craft of
cooking.
But but that's not my first draw.
My first draw was I liked beinga part of this team and I liked
how, um, when you have a goodservice, you don't always have
good services.
A lot of them are bad, like Ithink people have seen the bear,
so you know what a bad nightlooks like.
(09:59):
But when it is good it iteveryone clicks in this way.
That's like so exciting, and soI love that connection.
So it was never really part ofthe plan to do the media thing,
to write or be in any videos.
It just I was in restaurantsfor a really long time.
(10:19):
We had a restaurant for a bitwhich was really tough and after
that closed.
I just needed a break fromrestaurants.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So then I switched over to media and it all kind of
happened very quickly.
I think so many of us try tolike perfectly formulate our
future and careers and sometimeswe just have to be pushed into
it right.
It sounds like that was part ofyour story right.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, I got into food media right during that time
where all of the magazines weretrying to get into YouTube and
stuff like that, so I just kindof got thrown in there, okay,
wow.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, one part of your career that I want to talk
about a little bit selfishly isthere was one opportunity that
you're currently part of that Isaw with Dan Levy, the show Big
Brunch.
Is that an active show or hasthat come to a close?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
No, we're not having a season two.
After the whole writer's strike.
It fell through, but it wasreally fun while it happened and
I don't know, maybe if we keeptalking about it, let's keep
bringing it back.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
We could talk about it the whole hour.
You want to do that?
No, I'm kidding.
You know how it is.
Sometimes things come back.
The reason I wanted to justtalk about it quickly is anyone
that knows me knows I'm amassive Schitt's Creek fan.
It's the show that's on whenI'm celebrating.
It's the show that's on whenI'm sad.
I have bumper stickers on mycar the whole tasteful bumper
(11:43):
stickers, but still bumperstickers nonetheless.
I'm just curious what was itlike working with him in a
culinary setting, because we'renot used to seeing him us TV
watchers in that scene.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
It was a lot of fun.
We pretty much just spent 12hours a day eating, eating and
drinking and talking, so Icompletely forgot about the
cameras and we were just hangingout.
So it's.
I love cooking competitions sowhen I got this opportunity, I
couldn't have been more excited.
I've been watching like cookingcompetitions since the original
(12:14):
Iron Chef, you know the onethat was dubbed.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
When was that?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
What year do you remember?
No, but I was still in school,so this was at least 25 years
ago, so a very long time ago.
So it was really exciting toactually be a judge and just
have like delicious food broughtto you like a king and it's
just fun.
Dan's like a totally normalperson.
(12:39):
That's so sweet and it's justfun.
Dan's like a totally normalperson.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
That's so sweet so I loved so.
Honestly, I haven't watched ityet.
I would love, I'm reallyexcited to go back and watch it,
but I loved the concept behindthe show and I've always known
Dan to be someone you know withsomeone, as someone with a
really big heart and as I'mlearning more about you, I see
you as the same.
What was the premise behind theshow?
Because it's really heartfeltand inspiring and really
(13:06):
refreshing, I think.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well, the idea is highlighting people who are
doing interesting things intheir community through food, so
people who are.
There was this one cook.
His name was Wow, this was along time ago, so I can barely
remember Roman Roman wow, thiswas a long time ago, so I can
barely remember roman roman, andhe was really amazing because
he brought the first vegancuisine to his neighborhood.
He became vegan for his ownhealth and, like, really
transformed himself and he justwanted to help the people around
(13:37):
him.
And he also had this uh, pay itforward program so you could,
like, buy a meal for someone whocan't afford one.
So it was like, really a lot ofpeople like that, doing really
amazing things for theircommunity.
So there was another personRoman, no, antoine, the last
person was Roman, sorry, antoinewas another cook who.
(14:00):
He works with people who areformerly incarcerated to help
them learn how to cook, get thisimportant skill and get work
after leaving prison.
So it's all people who arealready amazing.
So you know it's a competitionshow, but it's also to highlight
these folks so that they canget a platform and continue to
do amazing things.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Well, I'll start the petition in the show notes to
bring it back things.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, I'll start the petition in the show notes to
bring it back.
You know they brought back theum taco bell Mexican pizza, so
we can do anything.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Oh, my goodness, See if that's not a sign.
Um, okay, Wow, Well, I couldhave you here all day.
I want to switch for a secondto pull from your culinary
genius Um, so genius.
So my husband and I wouldconsider ourselves pretty
confident in the kitchen.
I'm definitely confident tryingnew recipes.
(14:52):
I enjoy cooking.
We cook most nights of the week.
But one conversation we've beenhaving recently is just wanting
we're in our early thirties,we're wanting to up our game,
feel a little bit more confident, and we've been going to
restaurants and we always comehome saying I wish my whatever
tasted more like that Littlethings from like there's this
burger place near us and theirburgers are just incredible and
(15:15):
it's like well, those are realpeople cooking those burgers,
which means that we can learnhow to do it too.
It's not a machine or like.
We'll go to breakfast and we'llsay, oh, I wish my home fries
tasted more like their homefries.
They're so good.
And I think a lot of everydayhosts, everyday cooks, kind of
have this problem.
There's like a gap that we'retrying to fill and it seems
(15:37):
intimidating or overwhelming tobridge that gap.
So your cookbook talks a lotabout this kind of general tone,
and so I'd love to expand onthis with you.
So I know that there's athousand factors, but what would
you say are the techniques, theingredients that you could take
this any direction that theeveryday host or everyday cook
(15:59):
maybe misses to likeeffortlessly elevated food?
How does that sound?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Well, I feel like a big part of the book is teaching
you techniques and helping youreally understand how to do
those techniques and what thosetechniques will accomplish, so
that when you are makingsomething and like, let's say,
you're making home fries and youwant them to be crispier on the
outside and fluffier on theinside, the book teaches you a
(16:30):
little bit about potatoes andbrownings.
You can kind of figure out onyour own.
Oh, maybe my potatoes aren'tbrowning the way I want because
they're too wet.
I got to dry them off because Italk a lot about how you can't
brown something well without itbeing dry first.
So I think it's about gettingto the like core basics.
(16:50):
And then also, I think a thingthat a lot of home cooks
struggle with is just not takingsomething far enough, like not
increasing your heat high enough, not using enough fat, not
using enough salt.
It can be a little scary,especially, you know, if you don
salt.
It can be a little scary,especially, you know, if you
(17:11):
don't, if you've never cooked ina restaurant.
When you see how much salt weput in pasta water, it will
shock you.
It's like a cup, you know.
Just pour it right in there.
So I think a lot of times youjust get a little shy, you got
to push yourself a little bitand what's the worst thing
that'll happen?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You might have a salty dinner and get takeout one
night, but that and can we Iknow I'm like putting you on the
spot here Could we maybe gothrough?
We could take this whateverdirection you want, maybe like
each chapter of the book or justyour favorite tips.
I'd love to expand on this alittle bit more.
I don't know, like for theeveryday host, like I love the
(17:44):
example you gave for home fries,are there some common things
that your readers are like oh,that was so useful that you want
like everyone to know about?
Or like your favorite tips fromthe book, whatever direction.
You want me to have it right infront of me.
You want to go through a few ofthe chapters and maybe give your
favorite tips.
Yeah, let's do it, let's dothat, okay.
So I don't want to give, Idon't want to go through every
(18:06):
single one, because I want somewonder so that people buy it
right.
But, um, okay, so this one,this one, is interesting and I
think that there's a lot to sayhere, simple but profound.
You start with taste.
What do you want people to knowabout taste, as they're like
trying to expand their cooking?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Well, that's really where it begins.
If you don't know what goodfood tastes like, you're not
going to know how to make it.
So this is the fun part.
This is the part where you justgo eat a lot of food and think
about it.
So if you are used to justeating your own home cooking or,
like you know, maybe like yourhusband's cooking, I think it's
important to you know, branchout, eat at different places,
(18:47):
eat at different people's homesand make recipes by different
recipe developers and actuallyfollow the recipe, because a lot
of people it's just inspirationand they do their own thing.
But if you want to learn,follow the recipe and really
think about how stuff isseasoned and be really
thoughtful when you taste sothat you can learn what
something delicious is.
(19:09):
I remember when I started out,there was this really simple
artichoke dish at this Italianrestaurant I was working at, and
none of us working on thestation could get the seasoning
right and all it was wasartichoke hearts that were
simmered in wine with a wholebunch of olive oil, herbs, lemon
and salt, and then the chefcame over and he mixed it, and
(19:32):
as he added each ingredient wewould taste with him, and as he
continued to add more olive oiland emulsify it into the lemon
and add more salt.
We were able to see how theflavor evolved and then it hit
this one point when it hadenough of everything, where it
was just like this really simplething with five ingredients
became one of the best dishes.
(19:52):
So I think it's really justabout be really thoughtful.
Think about how stuff istransformed by the things you're
adding to it.
One of the big comments with alot of recipes is people always
tell you to take out the salt.
They're worried about bloodpressure.
But that's really only an issuefor like 1% of the population.
(20:14):
Like the actual statistics.
I think people are very scaredof salt.
For 99% of us, we can season,we can go for it.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
It's really good.
As you're saying this, acompany just sent me a bottle of
balsamic vinegar and I tastedit.
And if you've ever tasted agood balsamic, you never want
grocery store balsamic again.
There is such a massivedifference.
And, like you're, and if you'veever tasted a good balsamic,
you never want grocery storebalsamic again.
There is such a massivedifference and, like you're
saying, until you've givenyourself the permission to try
different products, to maybespend a few more dollars on
(20:43):
certain things or whatever youdon't know.
Sometimes the problem is justthe ingredients that you're
using.
Like if I were to use thisbalsamic in a recipe, it's going
to instantly taste moreelevated than a cheaper.
You know, like thinner balsamicin a recipe, it's going to
instantly taste more elevatedthan a cheaper.
You know, like thinner balsamicthat I'm using.
So that's, that's a reallygreat reminder and, I think,
something we don't giveourselves permission to do
enough.
So it's good.
(21:03):
Um, okay, I'm gonna just likekind of randomly pick through
these.
So temperature management thisis something that I'm actually
not informed enough on.
So school us, tell us.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, you know, in recipes they tell you to put
something at low heat, mediumheat, high heat, but you don't
really know what that is.
Everyone's burner is differentso it takes, you know, high heat
on.
My burner is actually very hotbecause I have an old New York
City apartment where I think thegas is coming out at like an
illegal level of BTUs, but likeI love it, it's great for me.
(21:38):
So the idea is to learn moreabout what those temperatures
mean by making eggs.
Eggs are a really easy way tolearn how to cook protein and to
very quickly learn how toadjust the temperature in your
pan, because they cook so fastand they're so different
depending on what temperatureyou cook them at.
So you can do like a very, veryhigh heat, fast, crispy
(22:03):
frizzled egg and like the eggwhite transforms into this lacy
crunchy thing, we could do avery delicate medium, low heat,
sunny side and keep it the whitetotally tender.
So you can learn a lot aboutyour pan, your burners and how
to cook a simple protein beforeyou move on to more expensive
things like steak or scallops.
I think eggs are just like thebest place to start, but even
(22:27):
eggs these days are not cheapanymore.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Nothing is cheap anymore.
Yeah, I know it's true, that'sgreat, that's real anymore.
Yeah, I know it's true, that'sgreat, that's really good.
Yeah, I remember, um, I'vealways had like an electric
stove and I had a gas burner afew years ago at a place that we
were living and it it totallychanged my cooking, like if if I
was you know cause it burnedthings faster or whatever.
So you do have to pay attentionto temperature.
Um, yeah, that's good, and I'msure there's a lot more in your
(22:52):
book that we could dive into.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I'm just curious selfishly have you ever made
Thai omelets?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Thai omelet no the one that's deep fried in oil.
It's deep fried in oil, but Ican't get the seasonings right
and I'm just on a hunt to figureit out.
We lived there for a while.
It's my husband's favorite dish.
None of the restaurants willmake it for us, and so you were
talking about eggs and so I haveto start making it at home.
But anyways, that's probablythe oil.
Interesting, maybe.
(23:24):
Interesting, yeah, and probablylots of MSG and yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah, goodness, okay, my dog is cranky.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Hold on.
Oh, you are total.
I honestly hardly hear it andmy um, my puppy's not here today
, but that's usually him come onwe love puppies okay cool.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
They seem chill.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah, we're good um, oh goodness, okay.
Um, you were talking aboutbrowning, which is interesting
to me because this was neverofficially taught to me, I've
always just kind of guessed.
So what do you want us to knowabout browning?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
well, a lot of, a lot of simple cooking is just like
searing a steak, searing a piecefish, searing chicken, and the
key to making it reallydelicious is getting like really
nailing, getting that reallydark crusty crust while keeping
it moist inside.
That's like the key to any pancooked food.
(24:29):
Cooked food and it is somethingthat I feel like home cooks
struggle with.
You know, getting a ribeye withthat really crusty steak.
So I talk about, you know,everything that's important to
properly sear at home, and it'sone of those things that the
moisture we talked aboutbrowning doesn't happen until
(24:50):
there's a certain level ofdryness on the surface of
whatever you're cooking.
So it's always good to.
Oh boy, now the cat's joiningin.
Hey, it's a party.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
It is.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
We have a lot of animals and a baby, so it's a
wild hand here.
Yeah, it's always good to dryyour protein really well before
you brown it.
It can help to dry brine it aswell, which is when you sprinkle
salt, which you have tosprinkle salt for and let it sit
for an extended period of time.
Time is the second ingredientto dry brining, so you want to
(25:22):
let the salt sit on the proteinuntil it gets fully drawn into
the meat and it's nice and dryand then you get really good
browning.
And the other big thing tothink about is equipment.
If you have a nonstick panpeople love nonstick Restaurants
don't use nonstick becauseyou'll never get brown, golden
(25:43):
brown on a nonstick.
Nonsticks aren't designed to beheated high enough for the
browning to happen and also theslick surfaces itself minimizes,
like, just prevents browning.
You have to be a big girl andget the stainless steel pan.
Put the non-sticks away.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
What would you say to the big girls that have gotten
one and burned things and noware scared?
I'm talking about myself.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You can do it.
It probably wasn't preheatedproperly, maybe there wasn't
enough oil, or maybe yourstainless steel skillet's not
thick enough okay, gotta bereally heavy okay.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Okay, that's really good.
I got a really gorgeous, likeexpensive one on my wedding
registry years ago and the firsttime I used it I went in
totally blind and like burnteverything and I was like just
throw it away and I never went.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Oh, you can't that awful.
You can always bring those pansback.
That's the great thing aboutlike a heavy duty, stainless
steel pan.
Um, there's a.
There's something called barkkeeper's friend.
It'll remove anything from anysurface.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
You never have to throw out a pan again okay, I
will include that in the shownotes and not tell my mother,
because she has been telling mefor years to keep that in the
house.
And I'm like mom, why would Iuse that?
And she'll be so happy to hearthat you suggested that she was
right.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Isn't that annoying?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
It was one of those things I'm like mom no.
Yeah, that's good.
It's funny.
As you were talking about this,I'm thinking of all the recipes
that say, or, at the beginningof my cooking, would say, sear,
and then put it in the slowcooker, and I'm like, oh, I
don't need to sear it, and youjust put it in and the recipe's
gross.
You have to, yeah.
So, like you were saying,follow the recipe.
(27:24):
Um, and browning is key to alot of cooking, a lot of cooking
.
Good, let's just do maybe onein the baking section.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Do you have a favorite or you?
Speaker 1 (27:40):
want me to pick?
Go for it, go for it.
Oh, they're all so goodBaking's my favorite.
Okay, either butter orcaramelized, you pick.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Okay.
So the book's actually halfpastry, because I couldn't
decide if I want to do a savorybook or pastry book.
So my agent just said to throwit together and so it's 50 50,
because I really like pastry aswell.
I was a pastry chef for severalyears.
Um and uh, I was really excitedabout the butter chapter
(28:11):
because so much pastry startswith butter.
Butter is really unique.
It's not just about the flavor,the actual chemistry of butter.
Butter itself is an emulsion.
So I talk about what butter isspecifically.
It's a mixture of fat, proteinand water, and that unique combo
, in addition to its toffee-likeflavors, is what allows for all
(28:34):
these different textures to bepossible in cookies and cakes
and pastries.
So we deep dive into butter andall the different techniques
and kind of cakes you can makewith butter.
And we still don't have a greatvegan butter yet, I believe,
but I think we'll get there.
They're close, they are close.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
They are close.
Yeah, some of them taste verygood to the palate, but they
don't all bake great.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Exactly, yeah, they haven't figured out that
emulsion yet.
They can't beat nature.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I know it's true, right?
Are you comfortable talkingabout your favorite vegan
butters?
Because we actually have a lotof dairy-free special diet
listeners and I'm sure they'd becurious.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
My favorite's that Oikos.
That brand's pretty good, worksreally well for pie crust.
I don't have a favorite one formaking brown butter yet, but
that one works well if you'rejust like creaming it or melting
it.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Have you tried Trader Joe's the stick one?
No, it's so good.
It might secretly be Oikos.
Do they do that?
I don't know.
They're behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Nobody knows, it might all just be Nestle.
Nobody knows the secret.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
They're doing something right, but it is super
good.
I should be dairy-free most ofthe time and this week I just
wanted a bagel and butter andit's very, it's very good.
I'll have to check it out.
Yeah, you should.
Big Trader Joe's fan, so I wantto.
Well, actually, before we wrapup that section, anything else
(30:07):
that you're like, you know whatI wish everyone knew this tip,
like this thing from your bookthat you're like everyone
measuring cups are a scam andAmericans need to get onto the
scale.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
The rest of the world is using the scale.
They're so far ahead of us.
I don't know why people hereare still using cups.
When you measure in cupsespecially something dry like
flour, cocoa powder, cornstarchit can really easily get
compacted and be like theweights when you measure by hand
.
There's been like people who'vedone lots of tests.
It can be like anywhere from ahundred grams for a cup of flour
(30:47):
to 150 grams for a cup of flour.
Plus, every measuring cup is alittle bit wrong, Cause I had
this job where I had to testmeasuring cups.
It was really, really boring,but from that I learned that
they're all lies.
They're all lying to you andevery recipe developer has a
different measurement for a cupof flour.
(31:07):
So just get a scale.
If you have struggled withbaking, it might be your
measuring cups.
So just 20 bucks, get thatscale.
Your life will change.
You're going to level upimmediately.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
That's so good.
That's so good and somethingI've actually never heard of or
thought about before.
I think I had a scale for ashort period of time.
Someone gave me one when theywere clearing out their kitchen
and I think the American, likekitchen culture, thinks of
scales and like weight loss,right, like way.
You know what I mean.
And so I was like.
I was like, was like oh, Idon't need this, like I
(31:42):
shouldn't have this around orwhatever.
Um, but that's actually, I canget one now.
I can get behind that, it'sgood, think about it.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Associate it with cake instead of weight loss.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
It'll change your mind so good, so good, wow.
Well, this is a totallydifferent direction, but I felt
like you would be a good personto ask, so I've never asked.
Yeah, I've never asked us thisbefore.
As the industry grows andcontent creators are working
crazy long hours, teams behindthings, developing content, so
(32:15):
much goes unseen.
Right, we're fighting thealgorithm, developing a niche
community, all of these things.
I feel like we know how tocheer on and support a lot of
industries, but not foodcreators or content creators in
this space, and so it's veryeasy to just like press play to
move forward when it comes tocontent, but a lot of us are
(32:38):
very committed members ofcommunities like your community
and other communities.
So I'd love to hear from you,aside from just like a view and
scrolling, to move forward howcan we best support culinary
creators?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Well, the easiest thing is to just engage, whether
that's liking the post, butreally the best thing is to is
to save a post or comment.
Best thing is to is to save apost or comment and you know it
doesn't cost you anything andand it really does make it
possible for creators to keepcreating.
Um, particularly if they'reworking with a brand.
So, if there's a partnershipand and you also love the brand,
(33:14):
like just engage and let andlet the brand know and let the
creator know because, um, like Irecently this, over the past
year, I've worked withhaagen-dazs, which was really
exciting.
Um, I actually got the emailabout this partnership when I
was like walking home and I justgot.
I got so excited.
I immediately called my husbandbecause it's fun when you get
(33:35):
to work with a brand that youactually love, and I've been
having haagen-dazs ice creamsince I was like a kid.
There was a time where it wasthe only fancy ice cream out
there.
They like opened the door tothis like luxury.
Look at ice cream before thatyou had.
If you wanted an ice cream likehaagen-dazs, you had to make it
(33:56):
yourself.
So whenever you see a creatorworking with a brand like that
that you also love, just like,just engage in the comments and
it really does help a lot and itdoes make it possible for us to
continue making content, tocontinue recipe developing.
I don't think people realizehow it.
Everyone who's doing this isrunning a little business and
(34:17):
you have your own um, you knowvideo crew to pay and then the
cost of recipe testing andthere's a lot of work that goes
into it, and partnering withbrands like that is really what
makes it possible.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah, it's really good.
It's really good.
How about, on the paid side ofthings, buying cookbooks, right
yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
of course that definitely helps, but I get that
people don't have excess incomeall the time, so you can just
support with your attention.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
That's really, really good.
Did I see a video with you withHaagen-Dazs and pistachio ice
cream recently?
Was that one of your clips ofthem?
Yeah, oh my gosh, that is myfavorite.
My husband mocks me because asa little kid so like little
Katie, like five, six-year-oldKatie would go to an ice cream
shop in the summer.
Everyone was getting like gummybears and vanilla ice cream and
(35:08):
I was getting pistachio andhe's like what five-year-old was
getting pistachio, but it's myfavorite.
Anything else that is going onwith Haagen-Dazs right now that
you wanted to share Any part ofyour collaboration that you
wanted to share any part of yourcollaboration.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Well, so, speaking of pistachio, first of all, you
had a very sophisticated palateas a child.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Yeah, I, I've definitely.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yeah but I I always loved pistachio because it's
like very prevalent in myculture.
There's so many south asianpistachio desserts and my
favorite dessert as a kid isbest the burfi, which is a
pistachio fudge, but I couldn'treally pronounce it.
I still really can't pronounceit, so I would call it green
(35:51):
sweet, cute and it's like very,very pistachio, because it's
basically just pistachio butterwith um like sugar.
So the new this is haagen-dazshas updated their pistachio.
It's not the.
If you haven't had it in a fewyears, you got to try it now,
because now they actually putpistachio butter.
(36:11):
So for me it tastes exactlylike that green sweet that I
loved as a kid.
So it's like super nutty um.
There's some in the freezer now.
We were making like spumoniswith it when we had some friends
over mixing it with the cherryand chocolate ice cream.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Stop it.
Those are like my.
If I were to pick any threeflavors, it would be those three
.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
That should be the Napoleon.
Yes, instead of strawberry, youare right.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
We should change it up.
That's a.
That's a.
I'm always thinking business.
I'm'm like there's your nextbusiness venture, no one should
put it together in a carton orcollaboration hog and dozzy
listening.
I'm kidding.
Um, what was that?
Uh, every christmas friend?
Well, friendlies I shouldn'ttalk about friendlies not gonna
used to come out with that role.
(36:59):
What was that called theJubilee role, right?
Oh, I don't.
I don't know, I think it waspistachio.
Anyways, we can move on.
We don't have to talk aboutfriendlies, um, but that's very
exciting.
I'm going to share.
Um is was your video on YouTubeor Instagram, that pistachio
video?
It was very cute.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
It was on was on instagram and, um, we were
actually in the middle ofshooting my husband's cookbook.
Um, okay, and we, we shooteverything in our small new york
apartment, so it's likeabsolute chaos.
We clear out the, like theliving room and the kitchen, and
this was our first time doing ashoot like that with a baby, so
(37:42):
so I had her on the Bjorn withme.
It was really hard.
It was total chaos and weactually, on the day we were
shooting the content forHagana's, it was the worst day
of the shoot.
It was day three andhistorically for me, everything
falls apart on day three, Idon't know why, and then you
(38:02):
come back afterwards.
We came back, but like it wasthe really, really bad day.
So it was kind of perfect,because after a shoot like that,
you need Haagen-Dazs, so thevideo was very natural.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
That's so good man, and you know, I'm so thankful
that you felt comfortable enoughto share that, because I think
it's so easy to look at contentcreators and be like, oh,
they're such a natural on cameraand like, yeah, the edits can
be really great, right, but thebehind the scenes is very hard.
And how old is your baby?
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Well, when we shot that, I think she was six months
.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
I'm right there with you.
I have a 10 month old.
She's currently 10 months.
Yeah, oh, how sweet.
Oh, my goodness, so I'm Arethey crawling?
Yes, it's chaos, it is chaos,it is.
And I remember thinking likethere's that tension, right,
everyone talks about it, youhear about it.
I'm like I want to be with himall the time.
I want to still work.
It's going to be great.
(38:56):
I'm going to work at home withhim and it's going to be
seamless.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
And that was not the case, I found that it was easier
to work at home with her whenshe was younger.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
But now she requires so much more attention.
She's napping less and everytwo seconds she's trying to kill
herself Like it's.
I don't.
Yes, how are human?
This is my first child.
Is it your first?
Yeah, I don't understand howhumans exist.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
No, no, even I'm over here just like dripping sweat
as we're talking.
I'm like how did generations gowithout air conditioners and
keep kids alive?
It is very hot here, or likethe rough wind, even just that
weather alone.
Yeah, and you were saying asmall New York apartment.
We have a very small cottage ina beach community, super small,
and I have like my Peloton inmy living room and all this
(39:48):
stuff and he's constantly like Ifind him with the cords in the
Peloton.
I'm like how is this going towork?
I get it.
I'm right there with you.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, we have it fully baby proofed because we're
kind of we weren't sure what tobaby proof.
So now that she's moving we'refiguring it out.
And the other day I was in thekitchen like doing dishes and
she was trying to open a drawerand I was like she's not going
to open that.
I wasn't like really payingattention.
And then she pulled it open alittle bit, which threw her off
(40:18):
balance and then she hit herhead onto the knob and got like
this welt here.
She recovered quickly but thenwe installed all the like
cabinet things.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
We just did too.
It's so, it's so sweet.
I love that we are likeliterally at the same phase.
Yeah, are you guys thinkingabout moving or are you going to
stay?
Speaker 2 (40:38):
We think about it all the time.
We love this neighborhood somuch.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
But it's not the most child-friendly.
It's hard.
All of life changes right.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
My current hobby is looking at houses in New Jersey
and Brooklyn and Queens.
Oh, all day, that's all I doall day.
I was doing it earlier becauseyou came on the Zoom like two
minutes later, so I was like oh,let me go look at a house.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
And I was coming on late because I was rushing to
childcare.
The roads were detoured on theway back, so I am right there
with you, oh goodness.
Well, what's your daughter'sname?
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Well, we're not letting people know yet.
Oh, totally fine, but you canknow if you don't put it in the
podcast.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
no, no you can tell me after, okay okay that's
really sweet.
Oh, I respect you so much forthat.
There's um.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
It's a tough balance, right, so yeah I I like didn't
tell anyone I was pregnant for awhile and I felt really guilty
because I feel like the onlinecommunity is like my real
friends, yeah, and there's thishuge thing about my life that I
didn't tell anybody about, but Iwas just really scared, yeah.
Yeah, something could go wrongand I just didn't really want to
(41:50):
put it out there until we kneweverything was safe that's
really real.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
We have a background in internet crimes against
children, um, on the social work, criminal justice side, and so
even all of that knowledge andbackground, it's it's a lot to
discern, and I guess I guessthat's the beauty of it, though
there is permission to makechanges, to share or not share,
change your mind and, yes, yourreal life behind a platform
right yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
And now there's ai, which is a whole new thing, that
we don't know what it's goingto do.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Yeah, I haven't even given it much thought or
research yet.
How does it impact your careernow?
Are there any impacts?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Do you utilize it?
Well, I don't think it's goodenough yet, but I know that
they're working on recipedeveloping AI.
How?
Developing AI?
How?
I think the goal is that youtell the AI how much time you
have, what ingredients you haveand they give you a recipe.
But currently it's very bad.
But if that gets good, none ofus will have work anymore.
(42:52):
That's horrifying, but I dothink a lot of people like the
personal aspect, like the trustyou get when you get a recipe
from someone who you've beenfollowing for a long time.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Yeah, I, I believe that too.
I will say, the other day I hada contract to write and I
didn't have a lawyer and I waslike, well, it spit out a very
great contract for me.
Yeah, thank you, chat GBG, ohgoodness.
(43:28):
Well, you are currentlycelebrating a new cookbook and
it is beautiful, and I thinkthat it is very quickly and
easily going to become ahousehold staple.
Are you being told that like?
Is that the feedback you'regetting?
I'm seeing this as thisgeneration's joy of cooking.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Yeah, I mean, people have said that it's overwhelming
to really think about it.
I've decided to distract myselfand just worry about the next
one, which I started work on afew months ago.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
So know.
So I hear you and some of myother guests say that and it
makes me sad for a secondbecause I want to make sure
you're fully celebrating this,right?
But then I'm like if I was inyour shoes I would be doing the
same exact thing.
So I don't want to behypocritical, but no, this for
sure, this for sure, is going tobe a generation, a staple for
(44:22):
this generation.
You know, I get a lot ofcookbooks and I'm super thankful
for it and I get to lookthrough them.
But when this one came, I toldmy husband I was like this is
different.
This one's it is.
It's so different.
I mean, first of all, it's.
It is a beast.
It is a beautiful beast.
There is a lot in here.
It is chock full of justintentionality and you know
(44:46):
you're, you know yourdemographic and this is going to
be copied backwards.
Oh, is it mirrored?
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Oh gosh, I was like did you get a defective copy?
No, it's the mirror image.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
I think it's mirrored , so funny.
Like I got to call thepublishers.
No, it is.
I just I can't say enough aboutit.
I think that this is going tobe one of those things that
should be given at every wedding, like every, every bridal
shower, I think, should get acop.
Every bride should get a copyof this.
Every no, seriously, every momthat's been in the kitchen for
20 years and hasn't taken aclass Like I think it just it
(45:23):
covers all the bases and it'sgenius.
So we're celebrating that withyou.
Thank you, what do you, I guess, to wrap up gushing about the
book?
What do you want people to knowabout it?
What, in your eyes, makes thiscookbook different?
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Well, I guess it's really more than recipes.
Actually, I don't think youdon't need any of the recipes.
Speaker 1 (45:48):
It's really about.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
It's about teaching you these techniques.
The recipes are there to helpexpand on the techniques and and
give you a way to practice thetechniques, but what I want you
to do is take away like a deeperunderstanding of how to braise,
how to poach, how to fry,because when you are someone who
cooks every day, like the wayto make that easier is to not
(46:10):
use a recipe To like understandthat you can cook a squash, a
beet, a carrot, a parsnip allthe same way.
So if you know one solid recipefor how to roast carrots, you
can cook any of those vegetables.
Because my mom cooked every dayand she'd never opened a book,
because she just had thesetechniques deeply rooted within
(46:32):
her so she could just pull fromher instincts at that point.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
I have a really good friend from Ghana.
She moved here from Ghanarecently and she came over and I
have my bookshelf, likewhatever, just like on display,
and she was like what are allthese?
And I was like cookbooks, andit blew her mind how many I had.
She was like why do you havethese?
Why do you need them?
You're a cook, you know.
And I guess she was saying thesame thing.
Back home in Ghana.
They don't have have cookbooksbecause it's kind of like, but I
(47:03):
guess they're taught in theirfamilies.
The family culture is different.
They're taught these things athome, and so I'm actually
grateful that we have you,because you're filling the gap.
Families are not teachingcooking like they used to, and
so you're giving us thosetechniques.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Well, it's hard too because so many people have, you
know, both members of thefamily work, yes, yeah.
So I just think that it's hardto have time to pass all these
traditions down, becauseeverybody's working so much to
pay for their 14 dozen eggs.
It's crazy.
We just ran out of eggs, sothey're on the top of my mind.
(47:37):
Like every time we buy eggs,they're're $2 more.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
It's wild, Something's got to give.
Well, we end each conversationwith the same three questions
and we're going to link to yourgorgeous book in the show notes
too, just to wrap up thatthought.
So everyone that's wanting tosee it for yourselves and
experience it, you can head onover to the show notes.
But I want to end with thesethree questions what?
Speaker 2 (48:08):
is something you have eaten recently and loved.
Sorry, I just like, I just have, like mommy brain, no, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
I I was interviewed a few days ago on a podcast and
he asked me a question.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
There wasn't even a two second pause.
I was like I have no idea whatyou just said oh, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
The best thing I've eaten recently was a very good
watermelon.
Does that count?
Yes, okay, I'm curious.
I have a trick that my grandpataught me to buying them that I
think works for me.
But do you have a trick thatyou use when you buy them?
Speaker 2 (48:43):
um, well, I guess I I look for the yellow spot, yes,
yeah, which is supposed to meanthat it like ripened on the
ground.
Yes, and yeah, everyone saysyou want it to be heavy, but
they're always heavy, so I don'tfind that to be like the most
useful thing to look for.
What's your trick?
That's exactly my trick.
Yeah, it is.
Oh, I think it works.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Yeah, my grandpa grew up on a farm and he just said
that the ones that have thatkind of like yellow spot that I
think people think is ugly andimperfect, that just means it's
been there for a while, so it'sreally ripe.
And then he used to knock on it, but he never taught me what he
was listening for.
So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Yeah, I've heard the knocking trick as well, but I
don't.
I'm not smart enough to getthat bit.
I just look for the yellow spot.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
And something about, like, I'm nursing our son and
something about the watermelonis so hydrating that I've just
been pounding watermelon.
Oh, my goodness, so I'm withyou.
Yeah, okay, a gathering youattended that made you feel a
strong sense of belonging and,if you can pinpoint it, what it
was that made you feel that way.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
Well, I recently celebrated my birthday and my
husband threw me a surpriseparty at Benihana's birthday.
And my husband threw me asurprise party at benihana's oh,
which was like very fun becauseit's dinner and a show, uh-huh,
um, and it's just uh.
Most of my friends are in food,but it's exciting to see
(50:15):
everyone still geek out overlike their tricks, like tossing
the shrimp in their hat andmaking the onion volcano.
Have.
Have you seen that?
Yes, so it's just like everyonebecame a little kid again.
I love it.
That was really fun.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
When was your birthday?
Because I just celebrated abirthday too.
It was yesterday.
Mine was the 13th.
Oh, wow, cancer, we have somany crossovers.
Oh, my goodness.
Sorry, you don't have to sayall these things publicly, but I
just thought it would be tooironic.
Yeah, that's funny.
Um, we started.
Are you new york based?
(50:49):
Yeah, okay, we started workingwith a company called mr hibachi
and they come to your house oryour apartment and do private
hibachi parties.
So what's?
Yeah, so super similar, and we,we if you want me to connect to
you, I will.
They just came and we justbrought 10 of our friends and we
(51:10):
got to tell them, like foodrestrictions, dietary needs.
It was so great and so, if youliked that, you would love them
too.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
They bring a stove yeah, they wow.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
He shows up with his grill and all the food and he
leaves and there's no cleanup.
Wow, okay, next year, nextbirthday, yeah, I'll tell him,
I'll tell your husband, I'll goum okay.
Last but not least, somethingyou've discovered recently that
you think everyone should knowabout.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
A Netflix show, amazon purchase, anything like
that.
There's a lot of mosquitoesright now, so we have these
thermosel stations in ourbackyard, but we recently got a
portable one that we keep in thestroller to keep the mosquitoes
off the baby, and I'm not quitesure what it is.
(52:12):
It's this little batteryoperated thing that's the size
of a remote control and you putthese little sponges in them
that has some like essentialoils or something, and it heats
up and it works perfectly,perfectly, and you get like a Do
you know the brand, or was itjust a random Amazon find?
Speaker 1 (52:26):
Oh, it's called Thermocell.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Oh, Thermocell, okay yeah, and you get like a 15 foot
mosquito free radius.
We love eating outside, butthere's so many mosquitoes it's
perfect.
There's no odor and we don'thave to spray like chemicals
directly on the baby which,don't know, don't really feel
like.
I think she's too young foroffspray.
So everybody needs this.
If you're in a swamp like me,that's great.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
I love that.
Ok, I'm adding that to the shownotes too, OK, well, where do
you want to send everyone tofollow along?
Speaker 2 (53:00):
I guess you can find me on Instagram at Sola E.
I'm also on New York TimesCooking's YouTube channel.
A lot of you can watch me cookthere and you can get the book
wherever you buy books.
It's called Start here.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
I love it.
Oh, my goodness, I love it.
So excited for you.
Well, all of these things, I'mgoing to try to remember them.
So many references to links inthe show note, but I'm going to
try to link everything that Isaid I was going to there and
thank you so much for taking thetime where, oh, there goes my
ring light.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
Perfect timing.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
I know perfect timing .
We are celebrating with you andexcited to be connected.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
Thank you, thanks for having me on.
This was a fun chat, of course.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
Thanks so much, guys.
We will see you next week.
Thank you.
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