Critics at Large | The New Yorker What's Cooking?
Helen Rosner, a food writer and New Yorker staff writer, dives into the evolving landscape of home cooking and cookbooks. She discusses Samin Nosrat's new book, 'Good Things,' highlighting its blend of narrative and practical cooking advice. Rosner explores the impact of culinary influencers, the intimacy of food knowledge, and pandemic cooking fatigue. She also reflects on modern cookbook authors, the dinner party as a cultural milestone for millennials, and how cooking shapes personal identity and intellectual life.
48:24
Cooking As A Lifestyle Movement
- Home cooking has become a visible lifestyle shaped by online personalities and cookbooks like Samin Nosrat's.
- This shift blends practical recipes with aspirational presentation, changing how people learn to cook.
Perfecting One Dish Over Years
- Vinson described honing single signature dishes over years, like broiled carrots with garlic labneh and nut topping.
- He treats these perfected dishes as his party contributions and personal culinary projects.
Use Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat As Grammar
- Learn the building blocks—salt, fat, acid, heat—to improvise in the kitchen without strict recipes.
- Use those elements as a grammar to create and adjust dishes by taste rather than exact measures.
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Intro
00:00 • 1min
Describing the Modern Home-Cooking Aesthetic
01:09 • 53sec
Why Home Cooking Feels Different Now
02:02 • 4min
Why Are We So Obsessed with Home Cooking?
06:24 • 18sec
Who Is Samin Nosrat and Her Impact
06:43 • 8min
How Good Things Differs from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
14:50 • 2min
Hosts Try Recipes from Good Things
16:44 • 7min
How Are Recipes Written and Shared Today?
23:31 • 56sec
Why Everyone Is a Kitchen Expert
24:27 • 2min
Cooking Burnout and Pandemic Cooking Realities
26:40 • 2min
Key Contemporary Cookbook Figures and Styles
28:51 • 4min
Millennial Cooking Milestones and Influences
32:54 • 2min
Why Dinner Parties Became the Millennial Touchstone
34:52 • 6min
The Scale of Recipe Content Today
40:35 • 2min
Managing Choice: Trusting Recipes and Building a Cooking Uniform
42:20 • 4min
Cooking as Part of a Life and a Life of the Mind
45:58 • 4min
Outro
50:28 • 1min
#68924
Serial Monogamy
My cookbook crushes.
Nora Ephron
'Serial Monogamy: My Cookbook Crushes' is an essay where Nora Ephron explores her life through the lens of the cookbooks she has loved and cooked from over the years.
Ephron humorously recounts her culinary adventures, from mastering Julia Child's French cuisine to experimenting with various food trends.
The essay reflects on how cookbooks can represent aspiration, nostalgia, and the pursuit of self-discovery.
Through witty anecdotes and personal reflections, Ephron celebrates the power of food to connect us to our memories, our relationships, and our own evolving identities.
'Serial Monogamy' offers a charming and insightful look at the intersection of food and life.
#52343
All-Consuming
Why We Eat the Way We Do
Ruby Tandoh
Ruby Tandoh's 'All-Consuming' is a collection of essays that delves into various aspects of food culture.
The book explores topics such as the commodification of food, the politics of eating, and the role of food in shaping identity.
Tandoh offers insightful commentary on food trends, marketing strategies, and the ways in which we relate to food on a personal and societal level.
'All-Consuming' combines personal anecdotes with cultural criticism, inviting readers to reconsider their relationship with food and its broader implications.
Through engaging prose and thoughtful analysis, Tandoh provides a fresh perspective on the complex world of food and eating.
#48167
Ottolenghi simple
Yotam Ottolenghi
'Ottolenghi Simple' is a cookbook that aims to make Ottolenghi's signature style of cooking more accessible for home cooks.
The book features recipes that require minimal ingredients, preparation time, and effort.
Ottolenghi provides clear instructions and helpful tips to guide readers through the cooking process.
The recipes showcase a variety of flavors and cuisines, with a focus on fresh produce and vibrant spices.
'Ottolenghi Simple' empowers cooks of all levels to create impressive and delicious meals with ease.
It proves that simple cooking doesn't have to sacrifice flavor or creativity.
#39495
Tender at the bone
growing up at the table
Ruth Reichl
'Tender at the Bone' is a memoir that chronicles Ruth Reichl's life through the lens of food.
It recounts her childhood, marked by a mother who was a terrible cook but whose eccentricities shaped Reichl's culinary curiosity.
The book explores how food became a source of comfort, adventure, and self-discovery for Reichl.
From her early experiments in the kitchen to her experiences traveling the world, 'Tender at the Bone' illustrates how food can connect us to our past, our relationships, and ourselves.
Through vivid descriptions and engaging anecdotes, Reichl creates a compelling narrative that celebrates the power of food to evoke memories and emotions.
#13240
• Mentioned in 3 episodes
Nothing Fancy
Alison Roman
In 'Nothing Fancy', Alison Roman emphasizes the importance of authenticity and connection when cooking for and hosting friends or guests.
The book categorizes recipes into snacks, salads, sides, mains, and 'after dinner' and includes essays on food-related subjects.
It stresses the value of using store-cupboard ingredients and provides tips for successfully hosting casual gatherings and more formal events.
Roman aims to present an 'attainable' life rather than an 'aspirational' one through her recipes and advice.
#880
• Mentioned in 30 episodes
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
Samin Nosrat
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is a culinary guide that focuses on mastering the four essential elements of good cooking: salt, which enhances flavor; fat, which delivers flavor and generates texture; acid, which balances flavor; and heat, which determines the texture of food.
Written by Samin Nosrat, this book bridges the gap between home and professional kitchens with its simple yet revolutionary philosophy.
It includes 100 essential recipes, dozens of variations, and vibrant illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton.
The book is designed to empower readers to become more confident and creative in the kitchen, regardless of their skill level.
#12128
• Mentioned in 3 episodes
Dining in
Alison Roman
Dining In by Alison Roman is a cookbook that emphasizes practical and approachable recipes for home cooks.
It features 125 recipes that are vegetable-forward but also include dishes with steak and fresh fish.
Roman's recipes are known for their quick-trick techniques, such as roasting citrus to enhance flavor and using anchovy butter for roast chicken.
The book is praised for its fun and approachable tone, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced cooks.
It has been recognized as one of the best cookbooks of the year by several publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, and Epicurious.
#18787
• Mentioned in 2 episodes
Let's Party
None
Dan Pelosi
#21025
• Mentioned in 2 episodes
How to Cook Everything Kids
Mark Bittman
Mark Bittman’s 'How to Cook Everything Kids' is a cookbook aimed at children aged 8 to 12, teaching them essential kitchen skills and encouraging them to be more adventurous eaters.
The book includes flexible recipes, detailed directions, and fun features for key ingredients and techniques.
It covers various meal categories such as breakfast, sauces, sandwiches, soups, vegetables, pasta, grains, and sweets.
The cookbook is designed to help kids develop confidence and independence in the kitchen, with visual guides and chapters that familiarize them with kitchen equipment and ingredients.
#4467
• Mentioned in 8 episodes
Good Things
Samin Nosrat
Aya Brackett
Good Things is an essential guide to cooking and living, offering more than 125 of Samin Nosrat's favorite recipes that she loves to cook for herself and friends.
The book includes recipes like comforting tomato soup, ricotta custard pancakes, and a showstopping roast chicken, along with tips and techniques to enhance cooking experiences.
It captures the warmth and creativity that makes cooking a source of delight and comfort.
#7206
• Mentioned in 5 episodes
Heartburn
Nora Ephron
Heartburn is an autobiographical novel by Nora Ephron, inspired by her marriage to and divorce from Carl Bernstein.
The story follows Rachel Samstat, a food writer, who at seven months pregnant discovers her husband Mark Feldman's affair with Thelma Rice.
The novel vividly depicts the breakdown of their marriage, interspersed with recipes and anecdotes that humanize the characters.
It explores themes of love, betrayal, and revenge, all presented with Ephron's characteristic wit and humor.
#3614
• Mentioned in 9 episodes
JERUSALEM
The Biography
Simon Sebag Montefiore
This book chronicles the 3,000-year history of Jerusalem, from King David's establishment of the city as his capital to the modern-day conflicts.
Montefiore brings to life the city's many incarnations through the stories of its rulers, conquerors, prophets, and ordinary inhabitants.
The narrative spans various epochs, including the periods of Jewish kings, Persian, Macedonian, Roman, Arab, Crusader, and Ottoman rule.
The book draws on extensive research, including new archives, current scholarship, and the author's own family history, to provide a balanced and detailed account of Jerusalem's complex and often tumultuous history.
In contemporary cookbooks—and in the burgeoning realm of online cooking content—there’s often a life style on display alongside the recipes. Samin Nosrat is a fixture of this landscape, and her new book, “Good Things,” aims to pick up where her mega-best-seller “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” left off, giving people a new framework for feeding themselves and loved ones. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz share their personal experiences making dishes from “Good Things.” Then, New Yorker staff writer Helen Rosner joins them to explain the state of home cooking today, from the rise of culinary influencers and the New York Times Cooking app to the aspirational dimension of what’s on offer. “Not only is cooking supposed to be part of a life, but, specifically, it can be a part of the life of the mind,” Cunningham says. “Your choices in the kitchen can be deeply connected to your desires outside of the kitchen.”
Read, watch, and cook with the critics:
“Tender at the Bone,” by Ruth Reichl
“Heartburn,” by Nora Ephron
“Good Things,” by Samin Nosrat
“Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat,” by Samin Nosrat
“The Joylessness of Cooking,” by Helen Rosner (The New Yorker)
“All-Consuming,” by Ruby Tandoh
@wishbonekitchen
“Jerusalem,” by Yotam Ottolenghi
“Ottolenghi Simple,” by Yotam Ottolenghi
“Dining In,” by Alison Roman
“Nothing Fancy,” by Alison Roman
“Alison Roman Cooks Thanksgiving in a (Very) Small Kitchen” (The New York Times)
“Let’s Party,” by Dan Pelosi
“How to Cook Everything,” by Mark Bittman
“Serial Monogamy,” by Nora Ephron (The New Yorker)
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Critics at Large is a weekly discussion from The New Yorker that explores the latest trends in books, television, film, and more. Join us every Thursday as we make unexpected connections between classic texts and po… Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices