Salt & Spine

This week, we're excited to welcome Abra Berens to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Abra is the chef at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, Michigan, and the author of two cookbooks: Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables and Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes.

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books | Bookshop | Hardcover Cook. | IndieBound

Growing up in Michigan on a pickle farm, Abra took an interest in food early on. She worked at the beloved Zingerman's Deli in college and, before long, moved to Ireland to attend the farm-centered Ballymaloe Cooking School. Coming back to the states, she ran her own farm—called Bare Knuckle—for awhile, before landing at Granor Farm, where she hosts regular farm dinners to showcase their farming practices and produce. (Michigan is the second-most agriculturally diverse state in the country, second to California.)

Abra joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks. We've got a great chat, including our signature culinary game.

This week, we're excited to welcome Abra Berens to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Abra is the chef at Granor Farm in Three Oaks, Michigan, and the author of two cookbooks: Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables and Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes.

Growing up in Michigan on a pickle farm, Abra took an interest in food early on. She worked at the beloved Zingerman's Deli in college and, before long, moved to Ireland to attend the farm-centered Ballymaloe Cooking School. Coming back to the states, she ran her own farm—called Bare Knuckle—for awhile, before landing at Granor Farm, where she hosts regular farm dinners to showcase their farming practices and produce. (Michigan is the second-most agriculturally diverse state in the country, second to California.)

Abra joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks. We've got a great chat, including our signature culinary game.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

**Today's episode is brought to you by Chronicle Books. Salt + Spine listeners can use the code SALT25 to get 25% off orders—with free ground shipping on orders over $25—through the end of 2021.**

This week, we're excited to welcome Rodney Scott to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Rodney is the owner of Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston, South Carolina (and a new location in Birmingham, Alabama, and a forthcoming spot in Atlanta). His debut cookbook, Rodney Scott's World of BBQ, tells the story of Rodney's life starting with his childhood in South Carolina through his James Beard Best Chef Award and features classic barbecue recipes.

START COOKING TODAY: Omnivore Books (signed) | Bookshop | IndieBound | Amazon

Growing up in Hemingway, South Carolina, Rodney's family ran several businesses, from a gas station to a barbecue spot. His parents opened Scott's Variety Store and Bar-B-Q in 1972.

In 2017, Rodney moved to Charleston and opened the first Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in 2017. A year later, he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Southeast. ‍

Rodney joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks. We've got a great chat, including our signature culinary game.

**Today's episode is brought to you by Chronicle Books. Salt + Spine listeners can use the code SALT25 to get 25% off orders—with free ground shipping on orders over $25—through the end of 2021.**

This week, we're excited to welcome Rodney Scott to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Rodney is the owner of Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston, South Carolina (and a new location in Birmingham, Alabama and a forthcoming spot in Atlanta). His debut cookbook, Rodney Scott's World of BBQ, tells the story of Rodney's life starting with his childhood in South Carolina through his James Beard Best Chef Award and features classic barbecue recipes.

Growing up in Hemingway, South Carolina, Rodney's family ran several businesses, from a gas station to a barbecue spot. His parents opened Scott's Variety Store and Bar-B-Q in 1972.

In 2017, Rodney moved to Charleston and opened the first Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in 2017. A year later, he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Southeast. ‍

Rodney joined us remotely for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks. We've got a great chat, including our signature culinary game.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

**Today's episode is brought to you by Chronicle Books. Salt + Spine listeners can use the code SALT25 to get 25% off orders—with free ground shipping on orders over $25—through the end of 2021.**

This week, we're excited to welcome Chef Matthew Raiford to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Matthew is a self-titled "CheFarmer"—that is Chef and Farmer—and the author of Bress ‘n’ Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth-Generation Farmer.

Matthew was raised in Brunswick, Georgia, where his formerly enslaved great-great-grandfather, Jupiter Gilliard, had amassed more than 450 acres of land by 1874. Today, about 40 acres remain—where Matthew grew up farming alongside his grandmother, his father, and his sister, who now helps run Gilliard Farms with Matthew. Growing up, Matthew spent a lot of time in the kitchen, too, where he learned from his family how to prepare many of the dishes he still loves today.

But before Matthew became a chef, he left the South to join the military and at the time claimed he would never go back. During his three tours, he spent time in Germany, Korea, and the Middle East.

And then at age 28, Matthew returned to the States to pursue an education in physiology at Howard University. He quickly realized that becoming a physical therapist would take eight years and gave it up when a close friend told him he ought to go to culinary school instead.

After completing a year of culinary school in Virginia, he decided to continue his culinary education at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and later attended the University of California–Santa Cruz where he received a degree in ecological horticulture.

Since 2010, when Matthew’s grandmother handed over the deed to the family’s land, Matthew has worked with his sister as the sixth generation to farm their family’s land. For several years, he also ran a restaurant called the Farmer and the Larder in downtown Brunswick, which led to a nomination for a James Beard Best Chef Award.

Matthew's debut cookbook, titled Bress ‘n’ Nyam—a Gullah phrase that means “Bless and Eat”—is filled with both recipes and stories passed down through generations. The recipes honor the land and the food that it provides and are cataloged into sections based on the elements: Eart (Earth), De Wata (Water), Fiah (Fire), Win’ (Wind), Sweet’n (Nectar), and De Spirits (Spirits). It opens with an ancestral tree and the story of Matthew’s great-great-grandfather.

START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | IndieBound

And the recipes within range from a whole hog, roasted over a pit, to plenty of accessible, humble recipes like Reezy Peezy, a rice and bean dish often called Hoppin John whose roots are with the Gullah Geechee. As Salt + Spine friend chef Todd Richards writes, Bress 'n' Nyam “more than gives people a great appreciation of Black Culture, it further shows the diversity of Black Culture through different shades and hues, with Gullah Geechee cuisine as the Matriarch of the Black Food Family.”‍

CheFarmer Matthew Raiford joined us remotely from Gillard Farm for this week’s show to #TalkCookbooks. We've got a great chat, including our signature culinary game.

NOTE: This is a two-part conversation. We suggest starting with the episode featuring our conversation with Jesse (one earlier in your podcast feed) and continuing with this chat with Julie.

This week, we're excited to welcome actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and chef/food writer Julie Tanous to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Jesse and Julie are the co-authors of Food Between Friends, their debut cookbook that features recipes inspired by both of their upbringings and favorite dishes they like to cook together.

After a serendipitous meeting at a dinner party, Jesse and Julie formed a quick friendship. Before long, they were cooking together regularly and friends began asking for recipes. A food blog was born. And then, Clarkson Potter took notice and the duo had a cookbook deal.

The book is heavy on dishes inspired by the authors' childhoods: Julie's Alabama roots (think a fried green tomato salad or an ode to buttermilk biscuits with three recipes) as well as Jesse's New Mexico upbringing (green chiles pop up in a chicken enchilada pie and a chutney served with pork loin, plus the actor's takes on both sweet and savory sopaipillas).

Jesse and Julie also feature a number of jointly developed recipes—a grilled skirt steak paired with pineapple salsa or the ground beef & pickle tacos inspired by LA's now-shuttered Malo.

In this week's two episodes, we talk with Julie about her culinary background (graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education, worked in Saveur's test kitchen) and hear from Jesse on lifelong love for cooking and cookbooks. We learn how their friendship formed, how they approached the unique format of their double-billed cookbook, and put them both to the test in our culinary game.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

NOTE: This is a two-part conversation. We suggest starting with this episode featuring our conversation with Jesse and continuing with our conversation with Julie (next in your feed).

This week, we're excited to welcome actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and chef/food writer Julie Tanous to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Jesse and Julie are the co-authors of Food Between Friends, their debut cookbook that features recipes inspired by both of their upbringings and favorite dishes they like to cook together.

After a serendipitous meeting at a dinner party, Jesse and Julie formed a quick friendship. Before long, they were cooking together regularly and friends began asking for recipes. A food blog was born. And then, Clarkson Potter took notice and the duo had a cookbook deal.

The book is heavy on dishes inspired by the authors' childhoods: Julie's Alabama roots (think a fried green tomato salad or an ode to buttermilk biscuits with three recipes) as well as Jesse's New Mexico upbringing (green chiles pop up in a chicken enchilada pie and a chutney served with pork loin, plus the actor's takes on both sweet and savory sopaipillas).

Jesse and Julie also feature a number of jointly developed recipes—a grilled skirt steak paired with pineapple salsa or the ground beef & pickle tacos inspired by LA's now-shuttered Malo.

In this week's two episodes, we talk with Julie about her culinary background (graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education, worked in Saveur's test kitchen) and hear from Jesse on lifelong love for cooking and cookbooks. We learn how their friendship formed, how they approached the unique format of their double-billed cookbook, and put them both to the test in our culinary game.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we're excited to welcome Reem Kassis to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Born in Jerusalem, Reem moved to the United States at 17 to attend university—and she was determined not to end up in the kitchen. After receiving an MBA from Wharton Business School and an Master's in cultural psychology from the London School of Economics, Reem spent time working at major corporations from McKinsey to The World Economic Forum.

But when Reem had her first daughter, Yasneem, she took the opportunity to slow down and reflect on the legacy that she would leave her children. And that’s when Reem pivoted. In 2017, Reem published her first, incredibly successful cookbook, The Palestinian Table,‍

Despite her first book’s success, Reem didn’t expect to write a second cookbook—but her passion for sharing the complicated history of Arab cuisine pushed her to begin researching her latest book, The Arabesque Table. The Arabesque Table is a rich history of Arab food. Reem brings her cultural knowledge and the tireless research she’s done to bear on the recipes within the book, bridging the past and present with classic recipes and contemporary interpretations of favorites.

Reem joined us remotely for this week’s episode to #TalkCookbooks. Stick around to hear some of Reem’s thoughts on how to thoughtfully credit and research a recipe, her path to cookbook authorship, and how she thinks food media could improve.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we're excited to welcome Reem Kassis to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Born in Jerusalem, Reem moved to the United States at 17 to attend university—and she was determined not to end up in the kitchen. After receiving an MBA from Wharton Business School and a Master's in cultural psychology from the London School of Economics, Reem spent time working at major corporations from McKinsey to The World Economic Forum.

But when Reem had her first daughter, Yasneem, she took the opportunity to slow down and reflect on the legacy that she would leave her children. And that’s when Reem pivoted. In 2017, Reem published her first, incredibly successful cookbook, The Palestinian Table.‍

Despite her first book’s success, Reem didn’t expect to write a second cookbook—but her passion for sharing the complicated history of Arab cuisine pushed her to begin researching her latest book, The Arabesque Table. The Arabesque Table is a rich history of Arab food. Reem brings her cultural knowledge and the tireless research she’s done to bear on the recipes within the book, bridging the past and present with classic recipes and contemporary interpretations of favorites.

START COOKING TODAY: Bookshop | IndieBound

Reem joined us remotely for this week’s episode to #TalkCookbooks. Stick around to hear some of Reem’s thoughts on how to thoughtfully credit and research a recipe, her path to cookbook authorship, and how she thinks food media could improve.