For Samin Nosrat, the James Beard Award-winning author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, the majority of great meals spring from a combination of those four foundational elements. We talked to Samin about too-mami (cooking with too much umami), angry letters, and the differences in brands of kosher salt. That is, not all kosher salt is the same.

Also, Smitten Kitchen creator Deb Perelman answers a reader question about the art of lasagna.

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