Hi there, happy Thursday!

Recording this week’s episode with John Bersani reminded me why I started Salt + Spine in the first place: to sit down with a cookbook author and glimpse their world. We’re often recording in studio—or more often these days, virtually—and it’s easy to miss the small details that make these conversations so alive.

But there’s something grounding about being welcomed into someone’s home kitchen, hearing their stories as the dog runs past or a family member checks in to ask when we’re leaving for lunch. It was a real treat to join John and his family for an afternoon in Chianti. And while recording al fresco may not have produced the crispest audio, it offered something you can’t replicate in a studio: an honest glimpse into a life built around food, friendship, and place.

I hope you enjoy our chat:

The first thing I notice at John Bersani’s home in Gaiole in Chianti is the view. I’m so enamored by the rolling hills dotted with vines and olive trees that I miss the driveway. Finally, I find the right entryway, am greeted by John, and we settle next to the pool to record our conversation.

A lifelong cook and host, John built a career in business before turning toward what truly grounded him: food and community. His cookbook—20 Amici 40 Ricette: Twenty Friends, Forty Recipes—is not a chef’s manifesto or a guide to Tuscan cuisine, but a love letter to the community he and his family have made there. Each chapter introduces a friend who’s shaped his life in Italy, paired with one or two recipes that carry the imprint of that relationship.

In our conversation, John talks about growing up in an Italian-American family in Syracuse, New York, where Sundays smelled like simmering sauce. He recalls his grandparents’ small-town kitchens and the rituals that endured even after they left their old neighborhood for the suburbs. And he reflects on the years spent straddling two identities—American and Italian—and learning to see his adopted home from both sides of the table.

We talk, too, about the rules of Italian cooking and how to bend them. About why Tuscan bread is famously unsalted. About the importance of shopping well. About how the right techniques transform a simple pasta into something magical.

🎙️ | We’ve got a great chat with John—and of course, we put him to the test in our culinary game, asking him to create impromptu Tuscan dishes from surprise ingredients! Find this episode here on Substack and anywhere you get your podcasts.

20 Amici, 40 Ricette: Friends and Food from the Heart of Chianti by John Bersani

Experience what it’s like to not only eat in Tuscany, but also how it feels to live there. With traditional Tuscan recipes, heartwarming stories, and insider’s tips from local chefs and family cooks in 20 Amici – 40 Ricette you’ll learn—and taste—why that translates to 20 Friends, 40 Great Recipes.

Feel like you’re wandering the streets of Gaiole, a Tuscan village named “One of Europe’s Most Idyllic Places to Live” by Forbes, as you meet local chefs who share their stories and recipes, from a creamy Risotto Semplice (basic risotto) to a tantalizing Branzino al Forno (whole roasted Mediterranean sea bass). Bring a taste of authentic Italian cooking to your kitchen and a touch of Tuscany to your home with the tales from locals who will feel like friends.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of 20 Amici, 40 Ricette here:

Bookshop // Omnivore Books

This week, paid Substack subscribers will receive these two featured recipes from 20 Amici, 40 Ricette—subscribe today to get cooking!

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you! For this week’s recipes—plus exclusive content and access to hundreds of other featured recipes from your favorite cookbook authors—become a paid subscriber today.

Hi there, happy Thursday!

What I’m Reading…

* Food photographer extraordinaire Eva Kolenko (who’s shot more than 50 cookbooks) has a new Substack and she’s pulling back the curtain on her work. (Eva joined us in our Behind the Spine series back in 2022.)

* Cookbook author Marian Burros died at 92 this week. NYT obit. While she authored a dozen-plus cookbooks in her career, the strongest remembrances are around her iconic plum torte, which she published in the Times in 1983 and has remained one of the paper’s most-popular recipes. You can read Pete Wells paying tribute here—or, better yet, bake one yourself.

* We’re right in the heart of fall cookbook season, and this year’s lineup is especially rich—stunning, memorable works that I’ve been lucky to dive into (nearly 100 new books have already crossed my desk!). For a taste of the top titles, check out new roundups from Eater, Epicurious, and Saveur. I’ll be chatting with some of the authors on Salt + Spine and can’t wait to share those conversations with you.

Episode 173: Deuki Hong & Matt Rodbard

This week, chef Deuki Hong and journalist Matt Rodbard join us to #TalkCookbooks! Deuki’s latest restaurant SŌHN is an “all-day cafe and multi-use gathering space” in San Francisco. Matt is a writer who also hosts the prolific TASTE podcast (required listening for food lovers).

When their first collaborative book, Koreatown, came out in 2016, it captivated food publishing. For many readers, it was the first time Korean American food culture was presented with such energy, personality, and depth. Eight years later, Deuki and Matt returned with a new, wider-lens look.

The authors are quick to note that the new book, Koreaworld, isn’t a sequel. It’s a dispatch from a moment when Korean food and culture are everywhere: K-pop topping the charts, Parasite winning the Oscars, Seoul cafes setting global coffee trends, and a Korean tasting menu taking the top U.S. spot on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list this year. As Deuki and Matt write in the opening to Korea World: “You are about to read the story of a culinary revolution.”

In our conversation, Deuki and Matt take us behind the scenes of the ambitious project—from their travels through locations like Jeju and Seoul during the pandemic, to profiling the chefs and artisans who make up what they call “Korea World.”

🎙️ | We’ve got a great chat with Deuki and Matt—and of course, we put them both to the test in our signature culinary game! Find this episode here on Substack and anywhere you get your podcasts.

Koreaworld: A Cookbook by Deuki Hong & Matt Rodbard

A vibrant exploration of Korean cuisine, both in Korea and in Koreatowns around the globe, with more than 75 bold, flavor-packed recipes and stunning photography from the New York Times bestselling authors of Koreatown.

“The wide range of modern Korean food is on display in this fascinating book that is as electric, sumptuous, and diverse as the cuisine it portrays.”—Edward Lee, chef and author of Bourbon Land

Join chef Deuki Hong and journalist Matt Rodbard as they take an insider’s look at the exciting evolution of Korean food through stories of chefs and home cooks, as well as recipes that are shaping modern Korean cuisine, including sweet-spicy barbecue, creative rice and seafood dishes, flavor-bombed stews, and KPOP-fueled street food.

In Koreatown, Deuki and Matt explored the foods of Korean American communities across the United States. Now with Koreaworld, they show how Korean cuisine today is nothing less than an international culinary revolution, from the ancient plant-based cooking of famed Buddhist monk-chefs to modern charred-greens rice rolls and pork-stuffed fried peppers.

Koreaworld takes readers into the bustling metropolis of Seoul, where the modern-day barbecue scene is pushing into new territory with recipes like Smoked Giant Short Ribs cooked over hay and where the city’s third-wave coffee culture is exploding. Deuki and Matt also visit Jeju Island, where seafood dishes like Jeju Whole Fried Smashed Rock Fish rule supreme, and they explore the plant-based temple cuisine found in the rural province of Jeolla-do, with dishes such as Cold Broccoli Salad with Ssamjang Mayo. The tour continues with late-night food adventures in Los Angeles and stops in the kitchens of innovative chefs from New York City to Portland who are putting modern spins on Korean classics with dishes like Rice and Ginseng–Stuffed Roast Chicken, Grilled Kimchi Wedge Salad, Kkaennip Pesto, and Pineapple Kimchi Fried Rice. Filled with recipes, stories, and conversations of Korean food’s global evolution, Koreaworld is essential reading for anyone curious about the future of food.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Koreaworld here:

This week, Substack subscribers can access two featured recipes from Koreaworld:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you! For this week’s recipes—plus exclusive content and access to hundreds of other featured recipes from your favorite cookbook authors—become a paid subscriber today.

Elizabeth Poett reads from 'The Ranch Table' about cattle herding and the rhythm of ranch life.

It’s been over a year since I traded my life in California for one in Italy. And while I’ve easily fallen into daily life here, I still crave the way California marked the seasons—not always with weather (hello, San Francisco), but with food. For the eight years I lived in the Bay Area, food was always the signal of change: Early Girl tomatoes in the summer; Dungeness crab and citrus brightening the winter.

This week’s guest brings us a taste of that California seasonality. Elizabeth Poett is a seventh-generation rancher, living and working on her family’s 14,000-acre property outside of Santa Barbara. In her first cookbook, The Ranch Table, she invites us along for a year on the ranch: from Branding Day feast in the spring to summer beach cookouts, fall garden harvest, and winter holiday gatherings.

Episode 172: Elizabeth Poett

Elizabeth joined me last year in San Francisco, at our studio in The Civic Kitchen cooking school, and shared her approach to cooking. Much of her inspiration comes from her family heritage, as with the handwritten recipe cards passed down from her grandfather.

In our conversation, Elizabeth shares:

* How her cookbook The Ranch Table tells the story of a year on her family’s California ranch through seasonal recipes and gatherings.

* Why community and abundance are at the heart of her cooking.

* How recipes serve as heirlooms, connecting generations across time.

Plus, we put Elizabeth to the test in our signature culinary game.

The Ranch Table: Recipes from a Year of Harvests, Celebrations, and Family Dinners on a Historic California Ranch by Elizabeth Poett

From the star of Magnolia Network’s popular show Ranch to Table—a stunningly beautiful cookbook celebrating a year on a ranch on the California coast, featuring simple yet festive recipes, inspiring menus, and fascinating culture and history.

Elizabeth Poett was raised on Rancho San Julian, a 14,000-acre ranch on Santa Barbara’s Central Coast that her family has been working since 1837. Her years are structured around the land’s natural rhythms and annual events: celebrations big and small, harvests, and work days that bring her family and community together—and always end with large meals for everyone to share. Elizabeth feeds her friends and family with seasonal ingredients—including vegetables and meat grown and raised on the ranch and fish from California’s Central Coast—barbecuing tri-tips, turning local cod into tacos, and using heirloom tomatoes and summery eggplant into delicious, family friendly pastas.

Much like Elizabeth’s life, The Ranch Table is also organized around the work and celebrations that take place on the San Julian throughout the year, giving readers and cooks a chance to dive into the ranch’s most important workdays, family traditions big and small, and annual celebrations. Each chapter begins with a description of an event or a special day—the work of a branding, the joys of the annual family reunion, the fun of a fall cider press, the quiet beauty of a winter evening spent at the kitchen table—and invites you to join in on the day with both beautiful photos of the ranch today and archival images of its past. In each chapter, Elizabeth also shares the recipes for the dishes she makes for these occasions.

We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of The Ranch Table here:

For paid Substack subscribers, we’re sharing two of Elizabeth’s recipes from The Ranch Table: her Butternut Squash Soup with Sage and Cast-Iron Corn Bread. Together, they’re a cozy, seasonal meal that’s ready as we transition into autumn:

Salt + Spine is supported by listeners like you. For this week’s recipes—plus exclusive content and access to hundreds of other featured recipes from your favorite cookbook authors—become a paid subscriber today!

Makenna Held reads from 'Mostly French' about a life-changing purchase and personal discovery.

Mostly French with Makenna Held

Host Brian Hogan Stewart is joined by his guest, Makenna Held, on the latest episode of Salt + Spine' now part of the Heritage Radio Network. McKenna shares her journey from a background in consulting to becoming a culinary educator after buying Julia Child's former summer home in France. She discusses her bold pivot into the world of food and explains her cooking philosophy, which focuses on improvisational and seasonal cooking rather than strict reliance on recipes. She also touches on her global culinary influences and the challenges of writing her first cookbook.

00:00 Makenna Held Introduction

03:52 Early Life and Career Beginnings

06:07 The Pull Towards Food and Hospitality

07:58 The Julia Child House Adventure

12:14 Starting a New Life in France

15:45 Balancing History and Innovation

20:16 Courageous Cooking Philosophy

26:49 Global Influences and Cookbook Development

31:41 Salt Collection Obsession

32:27 First Cookbook Journey

33:14 Recipe Development Process

35:44 Balancing Perfection and Practicality

36:42 Personal Stories Behind Recipes

38:41 Cooking for Kids

41:01 Influences and Inspirations

46:37 Culinary Game

52:09 Conclusion

Live from Cookbook Fest with Tyler Florence

In this episode of Salt and Spine, host Brian Hogan Stewart interviews acclaimed chef Tyler Florence live from Cookbook Fest in Napa. Tyler shares his inspirational journey from a childhood filled with severe food allergies to becoming a renowned chef and television personality. Growing up in South Carolina and cultivating a deep love for Southern cuisine, Tyler's path led him to culinary school and eventually to New York City's culinary scene. He discusses his passion for live fire cooking, his newest cookbook 'American Grill,' and the importance of sustainable beef production. The episode also features a fun culinary game where Tyler demonstrates his creativity in crafting a dish using randomly drawn ingredients.

00:00 The Ceremony of Cooking

00:24 Introduction to the Live Episode

01:05 Tyler Florence's Early Life and Food Allergies

04:11 Discovering a Passion for Cooking

08:35 Culinary School and Early Career

13:34 Moving to New York and Early TV Appearances

15:56 The Journey to Fame and Success

23:24 Sustainable Beef and Regenerative Agriculture

30:33 Mastering Live Fire: The New Cookbook

31:11 The Comet and Its Tail: A Metaphor for Career Decisions

31:53 Launching a Steak Restaurant: The Comet Moment

32:33 From Comfort Food to Grilling: A Culinary Pivot

33:08 The Art of Grilling: Personal Insights and Techniques

34:27 Celebrating Culinary Achievements and Collaborations

36:44 Alice Waters: A Friendship and Culinary Inspiration

37:16 The Essence of California Cuisine

42:38 Cookbook Inspirations and Southern Cooking Techniques

45:49 Fun with Grilling: A Culinary Game

54:17 Conclusion and Farewell

Enjoy this excerpt as Viola Buitoni reads from Italy by Ingredient.

As Viola recounts, one vivid memory stands out from her childhood. It was a late September day when her mother took her to a fishmonger in Orbitel, nestled by the southern Tuscan coast. The experience, accentuated by the salty breeze of the lagoon and the familial presence, introduced her to bottarga—a cured fish roe delicacy—that has lingered in her kitchen and heart for fifty years.

Viola fondly recalls stepping into the courtyard, her mother’s gentle guidance leading her to bottarga, an ingredient as much about tradition as it is about taste. She vividly describes their ritual of shaving it over buttered toast with lemon upon returning home, which later graced their spaghetti—a testament to Bottarga’s sea-like essence that mirrors the salt, wind, and shells.

Exploring Italy by Ingredient with Viola Butoni

In this episode of Salt and Spine, host Brian Hogan Stewart welcomes Viola Butoni to discuss her first cookbook, "Italy by Ingredient." Viola delves into her rich Italian culinary lineage, tracing back to the Butoni pasta and bocce chocolate. Growing up surrounded by fresh, homegrown produce and moving to New York, she transitioned from restaurant kitchens to owning a food shop, and eventually becoming a beloved cooking teacher. Viola's cookbook integrates her Italian roots with California's agricultural bounty, aiming to guide home cooks in exploring authentic Italian flavors with pantry staples. Throughout the episode, they discuss Viola's cooking tips, her unique recipes, and the creative process behind combining traditional and innovative Italian cuisine. The show also features a culinary game and an excerpted recipe narrated by Viola.

00:00 Welcome Viola Buitoni03:08 Family Legacy and Food Heritage05:17 Childhood and Early Food Experiences08:22 Moving to New York and Culinary Beginnings11:20 Starting a Catering Business13:43 Transition to Teaching and Italy by Ingredient 15:42 The Concept of Italy by Ingredient 29:07 Choosing the Best Meat for Stew 29:41 Creative Rice Recipes 32:44 Pork Tenderloin in Bread Crust 34:43 Anchovy Enthusiasm 37:40 Chicken and Rabbit Recipes 40:24 Cookbook Inspirations 44:45 Italy by Secret Ingredient Game 49:08 Conclusion and Farewell