Bonus: A Smidge of Smitten Kitchen Keepers
Congratulations are in order for Deb, who released the audiobook of Smitten Kitchen Keepers earlier this month. We are proud to share with you a little excerpt.
Back in 2006, when she was just starting her food journey, she encountered a lot of dud recipes on the internet. (Haven’t we all?) This book is a collection of the ones you’ll want to return to over and over again, aka the keepers.
You can purchase a hardcover version at our page on bookshop.org, and a portion of the sale will go towards supporting our network.
The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening now! Donate today.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Before we get started with this week's episode, we wanted to talk about Radiotopia, the home of The Recipe.
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<v SPEAKER_2>Thank you so much.
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<v SPEAKER_2>So Deb, you've got a new thing that's out, right?
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<v SPEAKER_2>This is our plug zone.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Thank you for the plug zone.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Right.
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<v SPEAKER_1>So I just released a special audiobook edition of Smitten Kitchen Keepers, which is my most recent cookbook.
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<v SPEAKER_2>Did you read it yourself?
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<v SPEAKER_3>I did.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It is called Smitten Kitchen Keepers, a Kitchen Counter Conversation, and I read it myself, which is weird and you probably could not have talked me into it until we started this podcast and then I was like, okay, maybe I can handle being in front of a microphone a little bit.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It's called a special audiobook edition because it is not a straight read of a cookbook.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I just don't think that would be very interesting to read a recipe out loud.
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<v SPEAKER_1>So instead, I basically cover about half the book.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I pick 44 favorites from it, and we go in a little deeper and a little more conversationally, where we go over the head note, and then I get to tell you a little bit more of the behind-the-scenes and some extra cool things you can do with it.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I basically-
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<v SPEAKER_2>This is like the DVD director's commentary.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I basically just want everybody to hang out in the kitchen with me, and I know that is so corny, but it's completely true.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I just want it to feel like we're hanging out and talking about cooking.
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<v SPEAKER_2>Even if you own the book, this is something that you're going to get a lot of value out of because it goes beyond what's in the book.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Absolutely.
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<v SPEAKER_1>If you don't own the book, don't worry, the recipes that I discuss in the audio book, you can get a downloadable PDF packet that comes with your purchase, so you're not required to buy the book just to enjoy the audio book.
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<v SPEAKER_1>But if you've enjoyed the book, it's like an extra thing and it's a great gift.
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<v SPEAKER_1>We have a little excerpt today where you can listen and maybe buy it for all of your friends and family.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Welcome to the Smitten Kitchen.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Deb, you're not going to read us recipes, are you?
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<v SPEAKER_1>My friends, family members and even my agent have said to me cautiously over the last year while trying to soften the concern furrowing across their brow as I've explained this little audio project.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It's a fair and valid concern that this could be as boring as somebody reading line for line out of a telephone book where there was still a thing.
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<v SPEAKER_1>But no, I would never.
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<v SPEAKER_1>But we are going to do something way more fun.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Pull up a chair to the kitchen counter and chat.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Like when a friend comes over and you hang out in the kitchen, catching up and cheering each other on.
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<v SPEAKER_1>My favorite way to talk about cooking, my favorite way to explain recipes to other people, and my favorite way to have recipes explained to me has never channeled anything you'd get from a culinary school textbook, a fancy chef demonstration, or even many printed recipes edited for precision and page count.
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<v SPEAKER_1>What I prefer, what I respond to, and what makes sense to me has always been a conversational tone, the one you take with a friend who's also just trying to make this dinner thing happen.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I like that you can insert questions and aspects about the recipe that cause you to panic and be reassured.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Honestly, if you've never panicked mid-recipe because a batter looked lumpy, a sauce seemed too smoky, or you are certain your best laid culinary intentions were heading for the garbage disposal, I don't believe you.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I need mid-recipe reassurance.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I need a phone-a-friend feature.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I'm calling this a kitchen counter conversation.
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<v SPEAKER_1>This is the way regular people with regular lives talk about how they're going to make breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and they've always been my North Star in the kitchen.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I want to lean into this here and add a level of chat, a little insight, and a few sidebars that would have never made the cut in a 336-page book.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Before we get started, let me tell you a little bit more about Smitten Kitchen Keepers, the cookbook.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Smitten Kitchen Keepers is the book I thought I was always meant to write, not to be melodramatic or anything.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Given that it is my third cookbook, it's a bit awkward.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It would be like declaring a new child the one you got right while your first two glare at you from across the room.
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<v SPEAKER_1>To be clear, the first two weren't practice rounds.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I'm very proud of them and I'm overjoyed that so many of you have welcomed them into your kitchens.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I hope you know I'm back to talking about the cookbooks and not my kids, but if my children do wander into your kitchen, please send them home soon.
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<v SPEAKER_1>But Smitten Kitchen Keepers took me back even more specifically to 2006, and the central energy that drove me to create Smitten Kitchen in the first place.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It was never to flex my cooking skills, which were just burgeoning at the time.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It was never just to show you things you'd never seen before.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I always bristled at innovation for the sake of newness, when as far as I tasted, the perfect pound cake didn't yet exist.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It was to create a place where I could collect all of the recipes worth repeating.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I wanted my own forever files.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I was relatively new to cooking, but I kept running into duds.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Even 18 years ago, there were already too many recipes on the internet, and this made it hard to choose.
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<v SPEAKER_1>When I tweaked a yellow cake so that it was perfectly crumbed, or found a method that ensured my chicken would never come out dry, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I settled for a URL.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I don't mean basics.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Not a cell in my body is motivated to teach you how to make compound butter.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Nor do I mean the last 100 recipes you'll ever need.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Imagine feeling that confidently clairvoyant about all of your future cooking needs.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I could never.
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<v SPEAKER_1>No, Keeper recipes accumulate everything I've learned that makes shopping easier, cooking more doable and enjoyable, and food more reliably delicious.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It's what happens when you've read every one of the 350,000 comments that have appeared with your recipes since 2006 and absorb them into your brainwaves.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I'm never not thinking about how a stranger will feel making a recipe of mine on spec in their kitchen with free time they're not sure they have just because it promised greatness.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Here's what I consider a Keeper recipe.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It's a brilliantly fuss-free molasses spice cookie.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It's my favorite way to turn limp out of seasoned snow peas into something you might inhale off the plate.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It's an epic towering zucchini and pesto lasagna.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It's a turkey meatloaf for people deeply skeptical about turkey meatloaf.
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<v SPEAKER_1>It's the last apple crisp I personally will ever make, and I hope you feel the same.
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<v SPEAKER_1>And as you might have seen coming, I now think that the perfect pound cake exists.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I nominate each of these recipes for your forever files.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I hope you know that I have tested and tested each recipe, and in every place I could moved every single hurdle possible without compromising the results.
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<v SPEAKER_1>No sifting, kneading extra bowls or rising times, separating eggs, measuring zest, or lopping off stray tablespoons of flours because I love even measurements.
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<v SPEAKER_1>When I brought a dish to the table, everyone eating it was grilled on texture, seasoning and execution.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Dinnertime has been a real hoot around here.
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<v SPEAKER_1>And that's because keepers are recipes I hope you'll keep around for good.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I want you to make them, love them, and quietly envision a future in which this dish will play a recurring role.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Because it doesn't just fit into your repertoire, it belongs there.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I've chosen to focus on a selection of recipes from Smitten Kitchen Keepers that are particularly meaningful to me.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Like the pot roast I crave every January, when we need warmth but are tired of heavy holiday flavors.
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<v SPEAKER_1>The baguette French toast that tastes like churros.
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<v SPEAKER_1>And the fritters that made me excited for a bag of frozen peas.
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<v SPEAKER_1>These are the recipes I can never stop talking about.
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<v SPEAKER_1>The recipes I want to dig a little deeper into, like we were hanging out in the kitchen together planning our next meal.
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<v SPEAKER_1>I will never get tired of conversations like this.
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<v SPEAKER_1>Wouldn't it be cool if we could always chat until we could figure out what to make for dinner?
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<v SPEAKER_1>I'm hoping this can be the next best thing.
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<v SPEAKER_4>I'm Chris Morocco, food director of Bon Appetit and Epicurious, and host of the Dinner SOS podcast.
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<v SPEAKER_4>Each week on the show, I help a listener get unstuck in the kitchen.
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<v SPEAKER_4>And this summer, we're digging into feasts large.
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<v SPEAKER_5>I kind of invited almost 30 people to stay with me for a week, and everyone said yes.
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<v SPEAKER_4>And small.
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<v SPEAKER_6>I haven't stopped dreaming about that pickle, and I have never been able to recreate the experience.
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<v SPEAKER_4>With help from food experts from the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen and beyond, I'll give listeners the advice they need to find redemption in the kitchen.
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<v SPEAKER_3>It wasn't necessarily the recipe I was looking for, but it is definitely the recipe I needed.
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<v SPEAKER_4>Join us every week on Dinner SOS, and if you have your own dinner emergency, let us help.
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<v SPEAKER_4>Email us at dinnersosatbonappetite.com.
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<v SPEAKER_4>Happy cooking!
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<v SPEAKER_5>Radio-topia from PRX.
