“Nothing is ever truly new in the food world… So it’s about kind of putting your own spin on something. Bringing your own personality, your own flavors, your own creativity to a recipe.”
Nothing brings people together quite like a good meal. This makes today’s guest somewhat of an important person. You could say that Emma is a food writer and that she comes up with amazing recipes for a living. You could, in a more indirect way, say that Emma is a happiness dealer that knocks over the first domino en route to good times and lasting memories. I mean, without people like Emma over the years we’d all probably just be eating the same damn thing every day, and there’d be nothing happy about that. Today she tells us how she comes up with her wonderful recipes and gives us a behind the scenes look at the food writing world.
“That’s not my style of cooking really…my bread and butter is just plain home cooking. Whatever equipment you have, whatever type of kitchen you’re working in, whatever skill level you have, I just want you to be able to make a good meal.”
“So they usually take my recipe and go into their test kitchen, and sometimes it’s fine and I don’t hear anything back and I see it appear in the magazine a couple months later. Sometimes the editor will come back to me and be like “you know…I think there might be just a little too much smoked paprika in this recipe.””
Interview Contents
3:15 - Getting inspired to come up with new recipes.
10:45 - The mad scientist kitchen.
12:45 - Testing a recipe.
16:00 - Has making cooking your job taken any of the joy out of it?
20:40 - Emma’s writing and the strategy behind it.
32:30 - The editing process.
35:30 - Freelance. Salary. Pay.
40:00 - Emma’s favorite magazines, cookbooks, and sites.
41:45 - Emma’s favorite part of the job.
42:45 - Advice.
Links
Emma's recipes on Simply Recipes
Emma's awesome curried vegetable and chickpea stew
Emma's suggested links:
MAGAZINES:
Fine Cooking - finecooking.com
Sunset Magazine - sunsetmagazine.com
Lucky Peach - luckypeach.com
Edible Communities - ediblecommunities.com
BOOKS (These are ones that I use and reference regularly):
How to Cook Everything - Mark Bittman: http://amzn.to/2fJCTWD
King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion - http://amzn.to/2g3WZiO
The Kitchn Cookbook - http://amzn.to/2f1dCHx
Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi - http://amzn.to/2fsqwyZ
Eat by Nigel Slater - http://amzn.to/2g3URHJ (lots of good weeknight meal inspiration)
Joy of Cooking - http://amzn.to/2eLzsOp
The New Family Book from America's Test Kitchen - http://amzn.to/2eQLclV
Saveur: The New Classics - http://amzn.to/2eLD7vA
Tartine No. 3 by Chad Robertson - http://amzn.to/2fYBDnz
Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge by Grace Young - http://amzn.to/2fJCMu7
WEBSITES:
Serious Eats - seriouseats.com (especially anything and everything by Stella Parks. She is a genius.)
Nom Nom Paleo - nomnompaleo.com
Team Yogurt - http://www.teamyogurt.com/
A Sweet Spoonful - http://asweetspoonful.com/
Minimalist Baker - http://minimalistbaker.com/
My New Roots - https://www.mynewroots.org
Naturally Ella - http://naturallyella.com/
Pinch of Yum - http://pinchofyum.com/
Top with Cinnamon - http://www.topwithcinnamon.com/
THIS EPISODE WAS MADE WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Roxanna
Michelle & Jim Wortner
Janelle Swanson
Jimmy Seymour
