Episode 22: 2 Babka 2 Furious
This episode was recorded live in San Francisco at the Sydney Goldstein Theater, as part of Samin’s Good Things book tour! It was hosted by City Arts & Lectures, and recorded by KQED. There’s a real spirit of togetherness and gathering in Good Things, so getting together in person with 1,700 people felt like a great way to talk about Samin’s food ideas in the cookbook—and answer listener questions that came from folks in the Bay Area!
Food ideas discussed in this episode:
The best thing Hrishi has eaten lately: Chocolate babka, an entire loaf, from Loquat Bakery, that Samin gave him and which he did not share.
This is not only the best thing Samin has eaten lately, but is maybe one of the TOP 5 BEST IN HER LIFE things she’s eaten: While on vacation in Sicily, Samin visited the town of Noto, with the famous Cafe Sicillia. There, she did have for breakfast an espresso granita on top of a piece of brioche with whipped cream. Because it is so hot in Sicily, this is what they do in lieu of hot espresso. She also had almond milk with the incredible almonds from Avola.
Now on to the show, in which we are coming to you LIVE from City Arts & Lectures at the Sydney Goldstein Theater to kick off the Good Things tour!!
Two very important folks created the images for SFAH and Good Things and have been very influential collaborators of Samin’s. Huge shout out to Wendy MacNaughton and Aya Brackett! Check out the rest of their work. They are both brilliant artists!
This Raymond Carver short story A Small, Good Thing, is a real building block of Good Things.
Lexie from Oakland wants to know: what kinds of things are just better when you make them from scratch? Low skill/high delicious especially!
Chile Crisp (whoops, it’s high effort)
The winner of lowest effort/highest pleasure yield: House Dressing
Remember: Immersion blender for everything!!
When you next visit Via Carota in New York, Hrishi recommends a lunch of Insalata Verde and their French fries eaten at an average rate of 400 fries per bite.
We got a group of questions about cooking for groups:
Thing #1: Just know that there will be too many dietary restrictions to list.
Thing #2: We always try to accommodate our friends and make sure everyone has a good meal–we’re not monsters!
Hrishi requested a cohesive menu for this kind of group hosting, so here we go:
Forever Popcorn (as influenced by BjornQorn)
Hearty Bean Salad with House Dressing (for instance!)
Side of slow roasted salmon
A big green salad
Many Condiments, such as:
Green sauce
Chile crisp
Herb labne
A warm loaf of bread
And what about dessert?
Always cookies, if Hrishi is coming to dinner!
Otherwise, a made-in-advance dessert like Flan or Burnt Honey Icebox Cake adapted from Michelle Polzine of the now closed 20th Century Cafe and her Russian Honey Cake
We all have to remind ourselves that the simple things are still worth writing about, making, and/or sharing–like Kid Crudités, which is just cut up vegetables drizzled with seasoned rice vinegar and flaky salt.
A note on substitutions: Samin earnestly endeavored to write a book of recipes and matrices flexible and thoughtful enough that substitutions become easier to see; however, please don’t @ her if you’ve changed 90% of the recipe and it didn’t work out.
You’re welcome to go commiserate with the like-minded in the NYT Cooking Comments section until you’ve figured out where responsibility actually rests if you have taken so many liberties. (Hint: It is no longer with the writer!)
Aparna had a question about what recipe Samin couldn’t put in the cookbook and she also had a (ahem) surprise question for Hrishi about what he would call his cookbook were he to write one.
Hold on to your hats because he only had the whole day to think on it (and on chocolate babkas) and it’s a doozy: “Only Burgers in the Building. “
Sorry. We’re really sorry about that.
The answer (or part of it) to Aparna’s question is that Samin couldn’t include her many ugly foods that she felt would not photograph well. For instance, her accidental plagiarism of Yotam Ottolenghi's iconic turkey and zucchini meatballs. She did demote it to the Substack tho.
Another poem about food that Samin really loves–besides Refrigerator, 1957 by Thomas Lux, which is her all-time favorite–is Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy Harjo. And that is how we ended the show.
If you would like to attend more stops on Samin’s tour (several with Hrishi) here’s a link to tickets.
If you would like some Home Cooking swag, here’s the store, and as ever you are welcome to visit us through shrimpjenga.com
And lastly, as if you needed a reminder, here is where you can purchase Samin’s new book!
Illustration by Mamie Rheingold