SALT PIG

A Summer Drop-In and Re-Release: We ❤️ Dishwashers

Welcome to SALT PIG! How's your summer going?? Today we’re sharing a bonus episode, in which Ellie and Lukas check in from opposite sides of the northern hemisphere. Between the constraints of our short-term kitchens and lots of fun new ingredients and places to shop, we’re feeling inspired and invigorated. And getting away from home is providing plenty of healthy perspective on some of the New York/American antics that we’d otherwise barely be aware of. We’re also including a re-release of one of our earliest episodes, in which Ellie shares a chicken stock disaster and we both wax poetic about our dishwashers. Hope you're staying safe, healthy, and having a blast this summer! We can’t wait to re-connect in September, when we kick off season 2 of SALT PIG. Instagram | Substack

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Intentionality in the Kitchen

Welcome to SALT PIG! After analyzing all sorts of home-cooking topics over these last 22 episodes (!), we marvel at how often we neglect certain basics and niceties when cooking day in and day out. As cookbook professionals, we are devoted to the details of our clients and our work; but when left to own devices, we can really phone it in and forget/refuse to make cooking as pleasant and fulfilling as it can be. So for our SALT PIG season finale, we explore if there's a way to make putting dinner on the table more of a practice than a task. What tiny, easy acts make a nicer experience for ourselves? Do we have the brainspace and time to prioritize joy and ease in the kitchen? Is there a price to “treating” ourselves to the right piece of equipment or a little extra care and attention? Being intentional just may be the secret (ingredient) to everything. Happy summer, pals! We are taking a break until September. Write us and let us know what you’re up to. We’ll be back for season 2! Discussed in this episode: Chicken cutlets dredged in Preserved Lemon Paste Jenna Helwig’s interview with Greta Podleski Lukas’ Snacks For Dinner The SALT PIG Lentil Salad Matrix Alice Medrich’s melted butter tart crust Full circle to our first SALT PIG episode: Food Waste vs Recipes Instagram | Substack

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Beans at Home, with Steve Sando!

Bean tribe, unite! This week, we have a very special guest joining us: Steve Sando, founder of everyone’s favorite heirloom bean company Rancho Gordo and author (or publisher) of nearly a dozen books on the topic. We get philosophical: What is actual simplicity in cooking (and can it exist in cookbook publishing)? We get genre-bendy: Is there a connection between making fashion choices and eating beans? And of course we get very deep on the specifics of bean cookery: pre-soaking, brining, blending, and what to do with the liquid gold that is bean broth. Plus, Steve’s ultimate no-fuss dinner-party finale: Pockys and Amaro? Yes, please! Discussed in this episode: Caballero Beans Pineapple Vinegar Lukas’ Smoky Confit’d Beans with Olives, which is one of the most popular Rancho Gordo Bean Club recipes OF ALL TIME The Rancho Gordo Bean Club (sorry, there’s a waiting list!!) The Rancho Gordo Cooking with Clay Facebook Group The movie The Taste of Things, on our to-watch list now Rancho Gordo Gift Boxes Also, Steve is on Substack! Instagram | Substack

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Striving for No-Stress Dinner Hangs

Sometimes having people over can be kind of stressful. But as they say, you have to make the community you want, right? And we want dinner parties. We share the successes, the mishaps, the too-small chicken pot pie, the desserts to remember. We debate if it’s better to apologize for your own shortcomings or just zip it and hope no one notices. What can be done to make an evening no-fuss, tasty, and, most of all, fun for you, too? We have thoughts! Plus more strategies to get your spouse to bring leftovers for lunch. Discussed in this episode: Lots of people eat chive blossoms Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi Nora Efron on Lee Bailey and the “Rule of Four” Julia Child’s My Life in France Amiel Stanek’s Homemade Onion Dip Instagram | Substack

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Is Costco Worth It?

Welcome to SALT PIG! There comes a time every year when we wonder: is paying for a membership at Costco worth it? Especially given the spectacle of the almost-fistfights in the parking lot, the morality of buying the world’s most giant chicken breasts, the longest lines, the tallest soft serves, the lifetime supply of Zyrtec that might expire before you can take it all, the physical grappling to fit it all in your freezer when you get home…it is truly savage. But then, after the food is all ziplock-portioned and decanted and the millions of boxes are tied up and dragged to recycling, there is a deep contentment, knowing that you might never, ever, EVER need to go shopping again. Is this just the price one pays to wild-out at one of the few clubs middle-aged people still go to? Discussed in this episode: Ellie’s Old-Fashioned Rice Gratin Can the Golden Age of Costco Last? from The New Yorker The olive oil we both buy: Terra Delyssa organic extra virgin olive oil Lukas’ favorite Costco treat: Whisps Instagram | Substack

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Homegrown Food Highs & Lows

Welcome to SALT PIG! This week, we are pushing back against the enshittification of Big Food and talking about what veggies are growing on Lukas’ roof and in Ellie’s backyard. Turns out homegrown food has a wide range of highs and lows: mistakenly planting the proliferative yet dull-as-rocks banana pepper, the verdant joy of clipping your own herbs and lettuces, the diverse findings of chili pepper experiments, and the horrifying, nightmare-inducing girth of a lost cucumber from 2012. Plus, can a ferment get too fermented, or is Ellie just a ninny? Discussed in this episode: Pale in Comparison: What to Know about US Butter (via Radio New Zealand) The Enshittification of Big Food (via Mike Lee) Lukas’ fermented hot sauce Lukas’ soupy orzo Instagram | Substack

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Outside Food

Welcome to SALT PIG! This week we are talking about eating food outside of home: from the beach to the park, from a car trip to just about every social interaction during COVID. Lukas extolls the virtues of slab sandwiches wrapped in parchment and individual half-pint containers. Ellie makes orzo salad with giardiniera-brine dressing. And we dissect the difference in appeal between a communal trough and a curated sharable spread. (Do you want to share long noodles with anyone??) Plus, hear the genesis story of Lukas’ love affair with oatmeal and one way to get extremely crispy salmon skin. Discussed in this episode: Goodbye Caputo’s…I guess we’ll be making our lard bread at home now. Ellie’s Marinated Beans Lukas’ Spicy Marinated Butternut Squash Lukas’ Beach Linguine Snacks For Dinner Instagram | Substack

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Does Lukas Hate Lentils?

Welcome to SALT PIG! Buckle your seatbelts everyone, because we are about to break the biggest scandal this side of the East River. Or at least in SALT PIG history, in all three months of its existence. Lukas—cookbook writer extraordinaire, vegetable whisperer, bean club acolyte—has a thing AGAINST lentils. WHaaat? But don’t despair! We break down many ways these sometimes-chalky pulses can be prepared and we dissect the root of his ambivalence. Will he find a lentil dish he truly craves? Will Ellie recover from her shock? Listen and find out! Discussed in this episode: Table Manners episode featuring Kristin Scott Thomas Mujaddara/mujadra/mujadarah/mejadra recipes from Ottolenghi, from Hot Date! by Rawan Alkhatib, from Naz Derivian Fagioli: The Bean Cuisine of Italy by Judith Barrett, and recipe for Pasta con Lenticchi Deb Perelman’s My Favorite Lentil Salad Catherine Newman’s Red Lentil Falafel Instagram | Substack

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Life Beyond Tupperware

Welcome to SALT PIG! This week, we go beyond the Tupperware drawer of yore to discuss the food storage realities of our kitchens: what containers are best for freezing our ever-present broth, what jars and packaging we wouldn’t dream of recycling, the appeal versus futility of beeswax wraps, and the best receptacles for pawning off leftovers for our husbands’ lunches. It opens up some big life questions, like, why is decanting rice so satisfying? Can gallon-sized ziplocks ever be properly washed, and are they a vice worth keeping? Plus, find out the root of one of Ellie’s romantic fantasies—all we will say here is that it involves a “sugar drawer.” Spicy! Discussed in this episode: We’re not the only ones obsessed with Talenti Gelato containers Weck Jar Lids Cambro Containers Souper Cubes Soy Sauce Marinated Eggs Instagram | Substack

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Living Through Our Salad Days

Welcome to SALT PIG! From a nostalgic walk through of Lukas’ family’s Costco paint can of blue cheese dressing, to the maybe French/maybe made-up habit of Ellie’s family eating salad after the main dish, we break down our early childhood salad experiences. Present day, we love it so: raw, cooked, “signature,” with leaves, with no leaves. Lukas tries to convince Ellie to revisit broccoli salads, Ellie tries to convince her husband that her vinaigrette isn’t “too sour” (though maybe it is), and no one will convince either of us that salad plates are worth the space in the dishwasher. Discussed in this episode: A pretty good rundown of some of the cultural forces behind when salad appears during a meal Hetty Lui McKinnon, queen of fun and filling salads Broccoli salads galore: Lukas’ Picnic Broccoli Salad, a classic Southern Broccoli Salad, Melissa Clark’s Broccoli Salad with Garlic and Sesame Maggie Hoffman’s interview with Fermín Núñez, in which Mexican cuisine makes us “authors of our own bite” Veggie Craft, the protein pasta that Lukas mentions Instagram | Substack

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Food for Resetting

Welcome to Salt Pig! Given our perpetual professional exposure to wellness culture, this week we discuss what healthier cooking means in our kitchens on a day-to-day basis. Topics range from food hangovers in your 40s and the power of data from wearables, to the pleasures of raw vegetables and the previously scorned superfoods we now consider everyday ingredients. Even when you are enthusiastic about healthier eating, making it stick can be challenging. It comes back to the question we ask ourselves after every vacation: how can we feel nourished but still enjoy every bite? Discussed in this episode: Nine Vegetables that are Healthier for You When Cooked Jeanine Donofrio’s Pressure Cooker Brown Rice Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food Lukas’ Charred Scallion Tofu Meatballs Ellie’s Green Sauce Everyone is extremely into sleep scores Instagram | Substack

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Food Gifting with Jenny Rosenstrach

To mark a dozen episodes(!), this week we have cookbook writer Jenny Rosenstrach joining us as our first ever SALT PIG guest. We discuss all the food we give our friends and family when they have had a baby, are going through something, hosting us, or just because: practical dinners, surprising treats, weird concoctions that need a home, and more. It turns out packaging has a major impact too: Jenny buys cellophane bags and shops from her designated gift closet (we knew she was a pro), Lukas keeps it classy (most of the time) with parchment and twine, and Ellie finds out that upcycling cottage cheese containers, while environmentally noble, really ruins the vibe. Discussed in this episode: Salt Lick Nationwide Delivery via Goldbelly Kari Kari Chili Crisp Jenny’s I’ll-Miss-You Granola Homemade Vanilla Extract Zingermans Coffee Cake Trio Tasteful Biodegradable Containers Batched Cocktail Details from Brooks Reitz Lukas’ Blueberry-Almond Smoothie The I Hate to Cook Cookbook by Peg Bracken Jenny’s Three-Bean Chili Instagram | Substack

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The Kitchen Cleanliness Spectrum

Welcome to SALT PIG! Where are we on the kitchen cleanliness spectrum? And what actually matters when it comes to keeping the germs at bay? We discuss gloves in the kitchen, festering sponges, dishes in the sink, the folly of designating dishtowels for different purposes, and more. We get deep into Ellie’s scarcity mindset and Lukas’ performative cleaning. Plus when you love a cutting board, (how to) treat it well. Discussed in this episode: How Black Gloves Took Over Cooking Videos (via Eater) Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler Ikea kitchen towels Submerging wood cutting boards in mineral oil (via Reddit) The Garlic Powder Bias (via Ellie) Instagram | Substack

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Mildly Desperate Dinners

Welcome to Salt Pig! Dinner must be made most nights, but sometimes you have no plan or ingredients lined up. We’re there often! This week, Lukas and Ellie describe some of their solutions to last-minute meals—both the odd and the obvious—and some surprise ingredients that get us over the line. Plus, is it gross or just wildly efficient to squeeze citrus with your bare hands? Asking for a friend. Discussed in this episode: Lotus Foods Brown Rice and Millet Ramen Lukas’ House Slaw and One-Pan Pasta & Beans with Asparagus Catherine Newman’s 2-Ingredient Slaw The Caramelized Fish Sauce Tuna that Lukas has mentioned before Instagram | Substack

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Water Is the Best Ingredient

Welcome to Salt Pig! This week, we're celebrating the glory of tap water. Ellie and Lukas break down the numerous ways that water is one of the most useful ingredients in our cooking and helpful tool in the kitchen—from controlling temperature in a pan and dispersing flavor, to making the purest-tasting soups, risottos, and more. Plus, catch Ellie’s quick lemon spaghetti and Lukas’ hot take on leftover pasta. Join us, and if you enjoy — please like and subscribe! Discussed in this episode: Via Carota's Insalata Verde Does Pasta Water Thicken the Sauce? by Nik Sharma Gabrielle Hamilton's Endive Salad in the Puntarelle Style Instagram | Substack

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What Recipes Get Wrong

Welcome to Salt Pig! Does our society’s penchant for using recipes broaden the horizons of home cooks, or constrain them? This week, Lukas and Ellie discuss who recipes are written for, what a successful recipe is, and what to do when a finished recipe needs something beyond the page. Plus a hand’s-off technique that is balm to one’s often-overcooked sockeye salmon. Join us, and if you enjoy — please like and subscribe! Discussed in this episode: Calabrian Chili Peppers, the BIG jar Samin Nosrat’s Scallion Pancake and Scrambled Egg Tacos The New York Times No-Recipe Recipes When Did Following Recipes Become a Personal Failure? by Laura Shapiro Instagram | Substack

Cast Iron's Mystique

Welcome to Salt Pig! What do Alice Waters, Ellie’s ex-boyfriend, and everybody’s militant neighbor have in common? They all clean their cast iron pans differently than Lukas and Ellie do. We discuss the ways this versatile pan works for us, from searing and baking, to grilling and camping, and how to get and keep that satiny patina. Also covered: ambitious vacation packing, re-using bacon fat, and how Lonesome Dove may have scooped all of our food topics. Join us! Mentioned in this week's episode: Sourdough Biscuits from Lonesome Dove War and Peace Cafe Vienna Casa de Mozzarella Instagram | Substack

The Hot Drinks We Can and Can't Live Without

Welcome to Salt Pig! This week, we are talking about coffee culture, tea rituals, and all the surprising hot concoctions we drink now as people in our forties. Tune in for Lukas’ gleeful goodbye to his fancy burr grinder and Ellie’s awkward intro to the Seattle Freeze. Pop quiz: Which enthusiastic teen in a big scarf was the first person in line at the first ever Starbucks in Boise, Idaho?? Join us! Mentioned in this episode: Oxo Coffee Grinder Dandy Blend Coffee Alternative Stash Earl Grey Double Bergamot Tea Heidi Swanson's Turmeric Tea CCF Tea (via Sapna Punjab's Dal Chawal) And here's Lukas's Ginger-Lime Tonic: Grate a bunch of fresh ginger into a pitcher, squeeze the juice of several limes over it. Cover with boiling water and steep for a few minutes, then drink (straining out the solids as you pour) all day. Sweeten it with honey if you like. Instagram | Substack

Convenience Food Snobs

Welcome to Salt Pig! This week Ellie and Lukas discuss the convenience foods that we love and the ones we snub. Indian jarred sauces and Trader Joe’s frozen treats are in, but Italian jarred sauces and pre-chopped produce is out. Turns out we are full of contradictions and biased as hell. Plus, are tech companies behind everything? Join us! A Very Good Tomato Sauce (by Alison Roman) Brooklyn Delhi (maker of Tomato Achaar and Cashew Korma) Trader Joe’s Thai Vegetable Gyoza and Orange Chicken Freedom with a Side of Guilt: How Food Delivery Is Reshaping Mealtime (New York Times) Instagram | Substack

Unfussy Sourdough, for Better or for Worse

Welcome to Salt Pig! This week Ellie and Lukas discuss our sourdough bread baking journeys and all the practical and existential questions it provokes: How many starters has Ellie killed? Can you bake sourdough without being consumed with fussiness? How far is too far when experimenting with sourdough discard? What is a “real” baker anyhow?? Join us! Discussed in this episode: Il Buco: Stories and Recipes by Donna Lennard with Joshua David Stein Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson The Perfect Loaf by Maurizio Leo King Arthur Baking's Sourdough Discard Crackers King Arthur Baking's Sourdough Granola (and Lukas' adaptation) Alexandra Stafford's website Alexandra Cooks Lukas' Bread Machine Cookbook Instagram | Substack