Making Room by Gather
Hospitality. What do you think of when you hear that word?
For some it's old school 'stuffy' entertaining for others it's something to do with the hotel industry. One thing is for sure, as a culture we're not talking about it much.
Food * Design * Relationships have seemed to have taken a back seat to what our culture focuses on and values yet...we find ourselves in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Something has to change, it's time to get back to our tables, and we're making room for it!
Making Room by Gather invites you into a new conversation on everyday hospitality. One that rewrites the way we approach opening your doors and filling your tables. Shifting the narrative from 'how does this make me look' to 'how does this make you feel' these buildable conversations aspire to inspire connection through everyday gathering.
Kayty's chic and a little quirky interview style will make you feel like you're sitting with a friend talking about how to grow in confidence as an everyday host. You can expect conversations from navigating challenging relationship dynamics to foundational cooking techniques and everything in between.
Whether you are a seasoned host or looking to develop new friendships and grow in your skills for the first time, there is a seat at the table. Join us weekly for new conversations with expert guests and with Kayty in her beloved Date with Kayt episodes. Continue the conversation @gatheritentionalliving
Making Room by Gather
Start Here: The Cookbook That Will Shift How This Generation Cooks w/ Sohla El-Waylly
Get ready to be inspired by the culinary genius Sohla, the mastermind behind the culture-shifting cookbook "Start Here." This episode promises to uncover the secrets behind transforming your home-cooked meals into restaurant-quality dishes. Journey with us as Sohla, who graced the 2021 Time 100 Next list, shares her invaluable tips and tricks, from mastering browning techniques to understanding the chemistry of baking with butter.
Join us as we explore Sohla's fascinating transition from the heat of restaurant kitchens to the spotlight of food media. Learn about her heartwarming beginnings in her mother's kitchen, her unexpected career shift, and her experiences judging cooking competitions with Dan Levy, (Yes, you read that right!). We also delve into the community-focused premise of "The Big Brunch," a show that celebrates individuals making positive impacts through their culinary talents.
Sohla opens up about the joys and challenges of parenthood while maintaining a thriving career. Discover how she manages to create a child-friendly environment amidst the chaos of daily life. Plus, enjoy some light-hearted moments and practical advice, including the best way to pick a ripe watermelon. Celebrate the release of "Start Here" and its potential to become a modern kitchen staple, enriching your culinary journey one recipe at a time.
Follow Sohla @sohlae
Buy her favorite find from the episode here!
Get your own copy of her cookbook
This Episode is Sponsored By:
Feast & Fettle get $50 off your first week of hand crafted, flavor packed meals delivered straight to your door so you can soak up summer with code GATHER at checkout
This Episode is Sponsored By:
Feast & Fettle get $25 off your first week of hand crafted, flavor packed meals delivered straight to your door so you can soak up the season with code GATHER at checkout
Watch our Youtube episodes here!
I remember a few months back, I polled my audience and I asked where do you learn about hospitality? People didn't quite know the answer because honestly, if we're all honest, culture has really changed. We're not learning the way that we used to, from our families, in the kitchen especially, and how to cook and how to bake and how to problem solve and troubleshoot and all of those things along the way. Recipes are not being passed down and we find ourselves stumped. So where do we learn how to cook if we don't want to go to culinary school? Well, of course, we can go to different certificates, programs and classes and workshops, peruse social media and save recipes on Pinterest and save recipes on Pinterest. We are on our own when it comes to this right and I was absolutely amazed and so grateful to see a new resource for the everyday chef, for the everyday cook, that starts with the basics or inspires the longtime host, and it is a book called Start here. This cooking bible essentially is everything you need to know, from browning and salting to boiling and baking and butter and everything, and I don't say any of this lightly. I mean like the deep dive, the transform your kitchen, the A to Z kind of way, and I cannot emphasize enough how this is a cookbook for the everyday household and I am so ecstatic to be covering the conversation to let you know more about it and the behind the scenes of creating it. You have all heard of the book Joy of Cooking and this, I dare to say, is going to be the next one of those. Well, our new friend, sola, is the developer and the creator and the genius I'll call her behind it, and she is a new friend to gather and our guest on the show today. If you do not follow her or do not know about her, I want to fill you in and get you up to speed. Sola published her cookbook Start here through Penguin Random House, which is such a dream for every aspiring author and cookbook author, on October 31st 2023. It is described in the foreword as the book I wish someone handed me when I began my own journey as a chef. The book serves as an information-packed guide to the fundamentals of cooking, with over 200 recipes for all types of meals.
Speaker 1:Sola has been seen starring in the third season of the History Channel series, ancient Recipes with Sola, and, oh my goodness, she has been showing up all over your TV screen, all over cable with a show that I was especially excited about called the Big Brunch, alongside Will goodness, I should know how to say his last name by now Godera, who is a leader in the hospitality industry. But what got me even more excited was this was also hosted with Dan Levy, and, if you know anything about me personally, I am the biggest Schitt's Creek fan, and so this was very exciting for me to talk to her about. This series was set up as a cooking competition that aims to celebrate the most inspiring, undiscovered culinary voices in the country and, as I said, it could be found on HBO Max. Be sure to watch it and petition with me for the show to come back for a season two. Sola can also be found on YouTube for her YouTube special, stump Sola, which sounds like a joy to watch. I've not seen it yet, but we can all head on over there and watch it together. She also was included in the 2021 Time 100 Next list, highlighted as one of the emerging leaders who are shaping our future.
Speaker 1:She currently resides in New York with her husband Ham, their cat Lucifer, two dogs, clementine and Vito, and she shares in the episode today her 10 month old as well. She is so much more than that, has done so much more than that. But that is just a little snippet into who she is. Just for a second of comic relief, though. Today during the episode, we are both in the East Coast and it was hot, hot, hot, and we were looking at each other and she was radiant and I was dripping sweat. But I remember thinking in that conversation oh my goodness, we're talking about cooking and I, frankly, don't want to cook tonight. It just you know those days when the summer is hot, the humidity is high and you just think, oh, my goodness, I need to feed myself and my family, but I just don't know what to do. Well, that is where I want to share about our friends Feast and Fettle. Feast and Fettle is the sponsor of our show and we are incredibly grateful for them and what they offer.
Speaker 1:Busy families, busy creatives and entrepreneurs and career people and everyone in between, especially on days like today and in seasons like this. They provide flavor packed, already cooked, never frozen, fresh delivered meals for you and your family. You can pick a couple's pack or a family pack. You pick the entrees and the side dishes that you want, delivered straight to you. They have incredible options to cater to special dietary needs. Everything is so fresh and the flavors are absolutely incredible. I've said this before, I stand by it and I mean it wholeheartedly. Incredible I've said this before, I stand by it and I mean it wholeheartedly Every single dish tastes like someone that the best chef in your life prepared for you and delivered to your doorstep.
Speaker 1:So, whether you are a busy family that wants to head outside a little bit more and not worry about cooking, you don't want to sweat on these hot days. You want to just embrace the season without worrying about a to-do list, I get it. I'm right there with you. Feast and Fettle is your answer. Head on over to feastandfettlecom and use code GATHER for $50 off your first week. $50 Feast and Fettle for $50 off your first week. $50 feast and fettle F-E-T-T-L-E for $50 off your first week. And, guys, I am so excited for you to find out about this and try it for yourself, because I know you'll love them as much as I did.
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Katie, a hospitality educator and the host of Making Room by Gather podcast. I am set to see our communities get back to the table through hospitality, but it wasn't always this way. My husband and I moved to Thailand and through it I experienced some loneliness and with it I was given a choice to sit back and accept it or to do something about it. And for me that meant two things that I needed the healing to learn how to accept an invitation and the confidence to know how to extend one. Through this process, I developed some of the richest and deepest relationships of my life.
Speaker 1:Through Making Room by Gather, you will hear conversations from myself and experts in the areas of food, design and relationships. You see there are countless things trying to keep us from the table, but can I tell you something? Take a seat, because you are ready, you are capable, you are a good host. Many know you from your media appearances and your cooking career, your social platforms, but I love getting to know you kind of like the full picture, and so I'd love to know, maybe, the things that people might not know from following you on socials, specifically the journey that led you here, and when I say here, I mean like 2024 cookbook TV shows. So what do you want us to know? You could start in childhood, adulthood about your journey through cooking and the kitchen and how that was all birthed well, I started cooking, like a lot of people, with my mom.
Speaker 2:My mom was is a really great cook, so I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her, but the thing that really drew me to food wasn't the food. It was like I was awkward. And food's a great way to make friends, like you go to school and you show up with a cake and you're the most popular kid at lunch and I really, like my mom threw a lot of dinner parties and being around that many people would always scare me, go in the kitchen and help, and so anytime I went to any dinner party at any auntie's house or uncle's house, I would go straight to the kitchen and stay busy and it felt like I was contributing, felt like I was helping and it felt like I was like not just hiding in a corner avoiding conversation hiding in a kitchen, avoiding conversation.
Speaker 1:So how? Okay, I love that and I'm sure a lot of us listening are nodding our heads to one, you know, relating to one part of that. How did that turn into social platform youtube channel cookbook? Because what I'm hearing from you is maybe you are. Do you consider yourself an introvert, would you say yeah, yeah, definitely um, none of that was yeah, okay, so introvert turned like behind the camera right, which is kind of surprising. So how did that transpire?
Speaker 2:well, it surprised me too. It wasn't really part of the plan. Um, I first went to work in restaurants and I really liked working in restaurants because you just you're part of a big team, you're with around around a lot of people. It's very, it's very much a team sport. So I really love the, the communal aspect of it. Um, and then eventually I got more into the actual craft of cooking.
Speaker 2:But but that's not my first draw. My first draw was I liked being a part of this team and I liked how, um, when you have a good service, you don't always have good services. A lot of them are bad, like I think people have seen the bear, so you know what a bad night looks like. But when it is good it it everyone clicks in this way. That's like so exciting, and so I love that connection. So it was never really part of the plan to do the media thing, to write or be in any videos. It just I was in restaurants for a really long time. We had a restaurant for a bit which was really tough and after that closed. I just needed a break from restaurants.
Speaker 1:So then I switched over to media and it all kind of happened very quickly. I think so many of us try to like perfectly formulate our future and careers and sometimes we just have to be pushed into it right. It sounds like that was part of your story right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got into food media right during that time where all of the magazines were trying to get into YouTube and stuff like that, so I just kind of got thrown in there, okay, wow.
Speaker 1:Well, one part of your career that I want to talk about a little bit selfishly is there was one opportunity that you're currently part of that I saw with Dan Levy, the show Big Brunch. Is that an active show or has that come to a close?
Speaker 2:No, we're not having a season two. After the whole writer's strike. It fell through, but it was really fun while it happened and I don't know, maybe if we keep talking about it, let's keep bringing it back.
Speaker 1:We could talk about it the whole hour. You want to do that? No, I'm kidding. You know how it is. Sometimes things come back. The reason I wanted to just talk about it quickly is anyone that knows me knows I'm a massive Schitt's Creek fan. It's the show that's on when I'm celebrating. It's the show that's on when I'm sad. I have bumper stickers on my car the whole tasteful bumper stickers, but still bumper stickers nonetheless. I'm just curious what was it like working with him in a culinary setting, because we're not used to seeing him us TV watchers in that scene.
Speaker 2:It was a lot of fun. We pretty much just spent 12 hours a day eating, eating and drinking and talking, so I completely forgot about the cameras and we were just hanging out. So it's. I love cooking competitions so when I got this opportunity, I couldn't have been more excited. I've been watching like cooking competitions since the original Iron Chef, you know the one that was dubbed.
Speaker 1:When was that?
Speaker 2:What year do you remember? No, but I was still in school, so this was at least 25 years ago, so a very long time ago. So it was really exciting to actually be a judge and just have like delicious food brought to you like a king and it's just fun. Dan's like a totally normal person. That's so sweet and it's just fun. Dan's like a totally normal person.
Speaker 1:That's so sweet so I loved so. Honestly, I haven't watched it yet. I would love, I'm really excited to go back and watch it, but I loved the concept behind the show and I've always known Dan to be someone you know with someone, as someone with a really big heart and as I'm learning more about you, I see you as the same. What was the premise behind the show? Because it's really heartfelt and inspiring and really refreshing, I think.
Speaker 2:Well, the idea is highlighting people who are doing interesting things in their community through food, so people who are. There was this one cook. His name was Wow, this was a long time ago, so I can barely remember Roman Roman wow, this was a long time ago, so I can barely remember roman roman, and he was really amazing because he brought the first vegan cuisine to his neighborhood. He became vegan for his own health and, like, really transformed himself and he just wanted to help the people around him. And he also had this uh, pay it forward program so you could, like, buy a meal for someone who can't afford one. So it was like, really a lot of people like that, doing really amazing things for their community.
Speaker 2:So there was another person Roman, no, antoine, the last person was Roman, sorry, antoine was another cook who. He works with people who are formerly incarcerated to help them learn how to cook, get this important skill and get work after leaving prison. So it's all people who are already amazing. So you know it's a competition show, but it's also to highlight these folks so that they can get a platform and continue to do amazing things.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll start the petition in the show notes to bring it back things.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll start the petition in the show notes to bring it back. You know they brought back the um taco bell Mexican pizza, so we can do anything.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, See if that's not a sign. Um, okay, Wow, Well, I could have you here all day. I want to switch for a second to pull from your culinary genius Um, so genius. So my husband and I would consider ourselves pretty confident in the kitchen. I'm definitely confident trying new recipes. I enjoy cooking. We cook most nights of the week.
Speaker 1:But one conversation we've been having recently is just wanting we're in our early thirties, we're wanting to up our game, feel a little bit more confident, and we've been going to restaurants and we always come home saying I wish my whatever tasted more like that Little things from like there's this burger place near us and their burgers are just incredible and it's like well, those are real people cooking those burgers, which means that we can learn how to do it too. It's not a machine or like. We'll go to breakfast and we'll say, oh, I wish my home fries tasted more like their home fries. They're so good.
Speaker 1:And I think a lot of everyday hosts, everyday cooks, kind of have this problem. There's like a gap that we're trying to fill and it seems intimidating or overwhelming to bridge that gap. So your cookbook talks a lot about this kind of general tone, and so I'd love to expand on this with you. So I know that there's a thousand factors, but what would you say are the techniques, the ingredients that you could take this any direction that the everyday host or everyday cook maybe misses to like effortlessly elevated food? How does that sound?
Speaker 2:Well, I feel like a big part of the book is teaching you techniques and helping you really understand how to do those techniques and what those techniques will accomplish, so that when you are making something and like, let's say, you're making home fries and you want them to be crispier on the outside and fluffier on the inside, the book teaches you a little bit about potatoes and brownings. You can kind of figure out on your own. Oh, maybe my potatoes aren't browning the way I want because they're too wet. I got to dry them off because I talk a lot about how you can't brown something well without it being dry first. So I think it's about getting to the like core basics.
Speaker 2:And then also, I think a thing that a lot of home cooks struggle with is just not taking something far enough, like not increasing your heat high enough, not using enough fat, not using enough salt. It can be a little scary, especially, you know, if you don salt. It can be a little scary, especially, you know, if you don't, if you've never cooked in a restaurant. When you see how much salt we put in pasta water, it will shock you. It's like a cup, you know. Just pour it right in there. So I think a lot of times you just get a little shy, you got to push yourself a little bit and what's the worst thing that'll happen?
Speaker 1:You might have a salty dinner and get takeout one night, but that and can we I know I'm like putting you on the spot here Could we maybe go through? We could take this whatever direction you want, maybe like each chapter of the book or just your favorite tips. I'd love to expand on this a little bit more. I don't know, like for the everyday host, like I love the example you gave for home fries, are there some common things that your readers are like oh, that was so useful that you want like everyone to know about? Or like your favorite tips from the book, whatever direction. You want me to have it right in front of me.
Speaker 1:You want to go through a few of the chapters and maybe give your favorite tips. Yeah, let's do it, let's do that, okay. So I don't want to give, I don't want to go through every single one, because I want some wonder so that people buy it right. But, um, okay, so this one, this one, is interesting and I think that there's a lot to say here, simple but profound. You start with taste. What do you want people to know about taste, as they're like trying to expand their cooking?
Speaker 2:Well, that's really where it begins. If you don't know what good food tastes like, you're not going to know how to make it. So this is the fun part. This is the part where you just go eat a lot of food and think about it. So if you are used to just eating your own home cooking or, like you know, maybe like your husband's cooking, I think it's important to you know, branch out, eat at different places, eat at different people's homes and make recipes by different recipe developers and actually follow the recipe, because a lot of people it's just inspiration and they do their own thing. But if you want to learn, follow the recipe and really think about how stuff is seasoned and be really thoughtful when you taste so that you can learn what something delicious is.
Speaker 2:I remember when I started out, there was this really simple artichoke dish at this Italian restaurant I was working at, and none of us working on the station could get the seasoning right and all it was was artichoke hearts that were simmered in wine with a whole bunch of olive oil, herbs, lemon and salt, and then the chef came over and he mixed it, and as he added each ingredient we would taste with him, and as he continued to add more olive oil and emulsify it into the lemon and add more salt. We were able to see how the flavor evolved and then it hit this one point when it had enough of everything, where it was just like this really simple thing with five ingredients became one of the best dishes. So I think it's really just about be really thoughtful. Think about how stuff is transformed by the things you're adding to it.
Speaker 2:One of the big comments with a lot of recipes is people always tell you to take out the salt. They're worried about blood pressure. But that's really only an issue for like 1% of the population. Like the actual statistics. I think people are very scared of salt. For 99% of us, we can season, we can go for it.
Speaker 1:It's really good. As you're saying this, a company just sent me a bottle of balsamic vinegar and I tasted it. And if you've ever tasted a good balsamic, you never want grocery store balsamic again. There is such a massive difference. And, like you're, and if you've ever tasted a good balsamic, you never want grocery store balsamic again. There is such a massive difference and, like you're saying, until you've given yourself the permission to try different products, to maybe spend a few more dollars on certain things or whatever you don't know.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the problem is just the ingredients that you're using. Like if I were to use this balsamic in a recipe, it's going to instantly taste more elevated than a cheaper. You know, like thinner balsamic in a recipe, it's going to instantly taste more elevated than a cheaper. You know, like thinner balsamic that I'm using. So that's, that's a really great reminder and, I think, something we don't give ourselves permission to do enough. So it's good. Um, okay, I'm gonna just like kind of randomly pick through these. So temperature management this is something that I'm actually not informed enough on. So school us, tell us.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, in recipes they tell you to put something at low heat, medium heat, high heat, but you don't really know what that is. Everyone's burner is different so it takes, you know, high heat on. My burner is actually very hot because I have an old New York City apartment where I think the gas is coming out at like an illegal level of BTUs, but like I love it, it's great for me. So the idea is to learn more about what those temperatures mean by making eggs.
Speaker 2:Eggs are a really easy way to learn how to cook protein and to very quickly learn how to adjust the temperature in your pan, because they cook so fast and they're so different depending on what temperature you cook them at. So you can do like a very, very high heat, fast, crispy frizzled egg and like the egg white transforms into this lacy crunchy thing, we could do a very delicate medium, low heat, sunny side and keep it the white totally tender. So you can learn a lot about your pan, your burners and how to cook a simple protein before you move on to more expensive things like steak or scallops. I think eggs are just like the best place to start, but even eggs these days are not cheap anymore.
Speaker 1:Nothing is cheap anymore. Yeah, I know it's true, that's great, that's real anymore. Yeah, I know it's true, that's great, that's really good. Yeah, I remember, um, I've always had like an electric stove and I had a gas burner a few years ago at a place that we were living and it it totally changed my cooking, like if if I was you know cause it burned things faster or whatever. So you do have to pay attention to temperature. Um, yeah, that's good, and I'm sure there's a lot more in your book that we could dive into.
Speaker 2:I'm just curious selfishly have you ever made Thai omelets?
Speaker 1:Thai omelet no the one that's deep fried in oil. It's deep fried in oil, but I can't get the seasonings right and I'm just on a hunt to figure it out. We lived there for a while. It's my husband's favorite dish. None of the restaurants will make it for us, and so you were talking about eggs and so I have to start making it at home. But anyways, that's probably the oil. Interesting, maybe. Interesting, yeah, and probably lots of MSG and yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, goodness, okay, my dog is cranky.
Speaker 1:Hold on. Oh, you are total. I honestly hardly hear it and my um, my puppy's not here today, but that's usually him come on we love puppies okay cool.
Speaker 2:They seem chill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're good um, oh goodness, okay. Um, you were talking about browning, which is interesting to me because this was never officially taught to me, I've always just kind of guessed. So what do you want us to know about browning?
Speaker 2:well, a lot of, a lot of simple cooking is just like searing a steak, searing a piece fish, searing chicken, and the key to making it really delicious is getting like really nailing, getting that really dark crusty crust while keeping it moist inside. That's like the key to any pan cooked food. Cooked food and it is something that I feel like home cooks struggle with. You know, getting a ribeye with that really crusty steak. So I talk about, you know, everything that's important to properly sear at home, and it's one of those things that the moisture we talked about browning doesn't happen until there's a certain level of dryness on the surface of whatever you're cooking. So it's always good to. Oh boy, now the cat's joining in. Hey, it's a party.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:We have a lot of animals and a baby, so it's a wild hand here. Yeah, it's always good to dry your protein really well before you brown it. It can help to dry brine it as well, which is when you sprinkle salt, which you have to sprinkle salt for and let it sit for an extended period of time. Time is the second ingredient to dry brining, so you want to let the salt sit on the protein until it gets fully drawn into the meat and it's nice and dry and then you get really good browning. And the other big thing to think about is equipment. If you have a nonstick pan people love nonstick Restaurants don't use nonstick because you'll never get brown, golden brown on a nonstick. Nonsticks aren't designed to be heated high enough for the browning to happen and also the slick surfaces itself minimizes, like, just prevents browning. You have to be a big girl and get the stainless steel pan. Put the non-sticks away.
Speaker 1:What would you say to the big girls that have gotten one and burned things and now are scared? I'm talking about myself.
Speaker 2:You can do it. It probably wasn't preheated properly, maybe there wasn't enough oil, or maybe your stainless steel skillet's not thick enough okay, gotta be really heavy okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's really good. I got a really gorgeous, like expensive one on my wedding registry years ago and the first time I used it I went in totally blind and like burnt everything and I was like just throw it away and I never went.
Speaker 2:Oh, you can't that awful. You can always bring those pans back. That's the great thing about like a heavy duty, stainless steel pan. Um, there's a. There's something called bark keeper's friend. It'll remove anything from any surface.
Speaker 1:You never have to throw out a pan again okay, I will include that in the show notes and not tell my mother, because she has been telling me for years to keep that in the house. And I'm like mom, why would I use that? And she'll be so happy to hear that you suggested that she was right.
Speaker 2:Isn't that annoying?
Speaker 1:It was one of those things I'm like mom no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good. It's funny. As you were talking about this, I'm thinking of all the recipes that say, or, at the beginning of my cooking, would say, sear, and then put it in the slow cooker, and I'm like, oh, I don't need to sear it, and you just put it in and the recipe's gross. You have to, yeah. So, like you were saying, follow the recipe. Um, and browning is key to a lot of cooking, a lot of cooking. Good, let's just do maybe one in the baking section.
Speaker 2:Do you have a favorite or you?
Speaker 1:want me to pick? Go for it, go for it. Oh, they're all so good Baking's my favorite. Okay, either butter or caramelized, you pick.
Speaker 2:Okay. So the book's actually half pastry, because I couldn't decide if I want to do a savory book or pastry book. So my agent just said to throw it together and so it's 50 50, because I really like pastry as well. I was a pastry chef for several years. Um and uh, I was really excited about the butter chapter because so much pastry starts with butter. Butter is really unique. It's not just about the flavor, the actual chemistry of butter. Butter itself is an emulsion. So I talk about what butter is specifically. It's a mixture of fat, protein and water, and that unique combo, in addition to its toffee-like flavors, is what allows for all these different textures to be possible in cookies and cakes and pastries. So we deep dive into butter and all the different techniques and kind of cakes you can make with butter. And we still don't have a great vegan butter yet, I believe, but I think we'll get there. They're close, they are close.
Speaker 1:They are close. Yeah, some of them taste very good to the palate, but they don't all bake great.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, they haven't figured out that emulsion yet. They can't beat nature.
Speaker 1:I know it's true, right? Are you comfortable talking about your favorite vegan butters? Because we actually have a lot of dairy-free special diet listeners and I'm sure they'd be curious.
Speaker 2:My favorite's that Oikos. That brand's pretty good, works really well for pie crust. I don't have a favorite one for making brown butter yet, but that one works well if you're just like creaming it or melting it.
Speaker 1:Have you tried Trader Joe's the stick one? No, it's so good. It might secretly be Oikos. Do they do that? I don't know. They're behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:Nobody knows, it might all just be Nestle. Nobody knows the secret.
Speaker 1:They're doing something right, but it is super good. I should be dairy-free most of the time and this week I just wanted a bagel and butter and it's very, it's very good. I'll have to check it out. Yeah, you should. Big Trader Joe's fan, so I want to. Well, actually, before we wrap up that section, anything else that you're like, you know what I wish everyone knew this tip, like this thing from your book that you're like everyone measuring cups are a scam and Americans need to get onto the scale.
Speaker 2:The rest of the world is using the scale. They're so far ahead of us. I don't know why people here are still using cups. When you measure in cups especially something dry like flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch it can really easily get compacted and be like the weights when you measure by hand. There's been like people who've done lots of tests. It can be like anywhere from a hundred grams for a cup of flour to 150 grams for a cup of flour. Plus, every measuring cup is a little bit wrong, Cause I had this job where I had to test measuring cups. It was really, really boring, but from that I learned that they're all lies. They're all lying to you and every recipe developer has a different measurement for a cup of flour. So just get a scale. If you have struggled with baking, it might be your measuring cups. So just 20 bucks, get that scale. Your life will change. You're going to level up immediately.
Speaker 1:That's so good. That's so good and something I've actually never heard of or thought about before. I think I had a scale for a short period of time. Someone gave me one when they were clearing out their kitchen and I think the American, like kitchen culture, thinks of scales and like weight loss, right, like way.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. And so I was like. I was like, was like oh, I don't need this, like I shouldn't have this around or whatever. Um, but that's actually, I can get one now. I can get behind that, it's good, think about it.
Speaker 2:Associate it with cake instead of weight loss.
Speaker 1:It'll change your mind so good, so good, wow. Well, this is a totally different direction, but I felt like you would be a good person to ask, so I've never asked. Yeah, I've never asked us this before. As the industry grows and content creators are working crazy long hours, teams behind things, developing content, so much goes unseen. Right, we're fighting the algorithm, developing a niche community, all of these things. I feel like we know how to cheer on and support a lot of industries, but not food creators or content creators in this space, and so it's very easy to just like press play to move forward when it comes to content, but a lot of us are very committed members of communities like your community and other communities. So I'd love to hear from you, aside from just like a view and scrolling, to move forward how can we best support culinary creators?
Speaker 2:Well, the easiest thing is to just engage, whether that's liking the post, but really the best thing is to is to save a post or comment. Best thing is to is to save a post or comment and you know it doesn't cost you anything and and it really does make it possible for creators to keep creating. Um, particularly if they're working with a brand. So, if there's a partnership and and you also love the brand, like just engage and let and let the brand know and let the creator know because, um, like I recently this, over the past year, I've worked with haagen-dazs, which was really exciting. Um, I actually got the email about this partnership when I was like walking home and I just got. I got so excited. I immediately called my husband because it's fun when you get to work with a brand that you actually love, and I've been having haagen-dazs ice cream since I was like a kid. There was a time where it was the only fancy ice cream out there.
Speaker 2:They like opened the door to this like luxury. Look at ice cream before that you had. If you wanted an ice cream like haagen-dazs, you had to make it yourself. So whenever you see a creator working with a brand like that that you also love, just like, just engage in the comments and it really does help a lot and it does make it possible for us to continue making content, to continue recipe developing. I don't think people realize how it. Everyone who's doing this is running a little business and you have your own um, you know video crew to pay and then the cost of recipe testing and there's a lot of work that goes into it, and partnering with brands like that is really what makes it possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really good. It's really good. How about, on the paid side of things, buying cookbooks, right yeah?
Speaker 2:of course that definitely helps, but I get that people don't have excess income all the time, so you can just support with your attention.
Speaker 1:That's really, really good. Did I see a video with you with Haagen-Dazs and pistachio ice cream recently? Was that one of your clips of them? Yeah, oh my gosh, that is my favorite. My husband mocks me because as a little kid so like little Katie, like five, six-year-old Katie would go to an ice cream shop in the summer. Everyone was getting like gummy bears and vanilla ice cream and I was getting pistachio and he's like what five-year-old was getting pistachio, but it's my favorite. Anything else that is going on with Haagen-Dazs right now that you wanted to share Any part of your collaboration that you wanted to share any part of your collaboration.
Speaker 2:Well, so, speaking of pistachio, first of all, you had a very sophisticated palate as a child.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I've definitely.
Speaker 2:Yeah but I I always loved pistachio because it's like very prevalent in my culture. There's so many south asian pistachio desserts and my favorite dessert as a kid is best the burfi, which is a pistachio fudge, but I couldn't really pronounce it. I still really can't pronounce it, so I would call it green sweet, cute and it's like very, very pistachio, because it's basically just pistachio butter with um like sugar. So the new this is haagen-dazs has updated their pistachio. It's not the. If you haven't had it in a few years, you got to try it now, because now they actually put pistachio butter. So for me it tastes exactly like that green sweet that I loved as a kid. So it's like super nutty um. There's some in the freezer now. We were making like spumonis with it when we had some friends over mixing it with the cherry and chocolate ice cream.
Speaker 1:Stop it. Those are like my. If I were to pick any three flavors, it would be those three.
Speaker 2:That should be the Napoleon. Yes, instead of strawberry, you are right.
Speaker 1:We should change it up. That's a. That's a. I'm always thinking business.
Speaker 1:I'm'm like there's your next business venture, no one should put it together in a carton or collaboration hog and dozzy listening. I'm kidding. Um, what was that? Uh, every christmas friend? Well, friendlies I shouldn't talk about friendlies not gonna used to come out with that role. What was that called the Jubilee role, right? Oh, I don't. I don't know, I think it was pistachio. Anyways, we can move on. We don't have to talk about friendlies, um, but that's very exciting. I'm going to share. Um is was your video on YouTube or Instagram, that pistachio video? It was very cute.
Speaker 2:It was on was on instagram and, um, we were actually in the middle of shooting my husband's cookbook. Um, okay, and we, we shoot everything in our small new york apartment, so it's like absolute chaos. We clear out the, like the living room and the kitchen, and this was our first time doing a shoot like that with a baby, so so I had her on the Bjorn with me. It was really hard. It was total chaos and we actually, on the day we were shooting the content for Hagana's, it was the worst day of the shoot. It was day three and historically for me, everything falls apart on day three, I don't know why, and then you come back afterwards. We came back, but like it was the really, really bad day. So it was kind of perfect, because after a shoot like that, you need Haagen-Dazs, so the video was very natural.
Speaker 1:That's so good man, and you know, I'm so thankful that you felt comfortable enough to share that, because I think it's so easy to look at content creators and be like, oh, they're such a natural on camera and like, yeah, the edits can be really great, right, but the behind the scenes is very hard. And how old is your baby?
Speaker 2:Well, when we shot that, I think she was six months.
Speaker 1:I'm right there with you. I have a 10 month old. She's currently 10 months. Yeah, oh, how sweet. Oh, my goodness, so I'm Are they crawling? Yes, it's chaos, it is chaos, it is. And I remember thinking like there's that tension, right, everyone talks about it, you hear about it. I'm like I want to be with him all the time. I want to still work. It's going to be great. I'm going to work at home with him and it's going to be seamless.
Speaker 2:And that was not the case, I found that it was easier to work at home with her when she was younger.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But now she requires so much more attention. She's napping less and every two seconds she's trying to kill herself Like it's. I don't. Yes, how are human? This is my first child. Is it your first? Yeah, I don't understand how humans exist.
Speaker 1:No, no, even I'm over here just like dripping sweat as we're talking. I'm like how did generations go without air conditioners and keep kids alive? It is very hot here, or like the rough wind, even just that weather alone. Yeah, and you were saying a small New York apartment. We have a very small cottage in a beach community, super small, and I have like my Peloton in my living room and all this stuff and he's constantly like I find him with the cords in the Peloton. I'm like how is this going to work? I get it. I'm right there with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have it fully baby proofed because we're kind of we weren't sure what to baby proof. So now that she's moving we're figuring it out. And the other day I was in the kitchen like doing dishes and she was trying to open a drawer and I was like she's not going to open that. I wasn't like really paying attention. And then she pulled it open a little bit, which threw her off balance and then she hit her head onto the knob and got like this welt here. She recovered quickly but then we installed all the like cabinet things.
Speaker 1:We just did too. It's so, it's so sweet. I love that we are like literally at the same phase. Yeah, are you guys thinking about moving or are you going to stay?
Speaker 2:We think about it all the time. We love this neighborhood so much.
Speaker 1:But it's not the most child-friendly. It's hard. All of life changes right.
Speaker 2:My current hobby is looking at houses in New Jersey and Brooklyn and Queens. Oh, all day, that's all I do all day. I was doing it earlier because you came on the Zoom like two minutes later, so I was like oh, let me go look at a house.
Speaker 1:And I was coming on late because I was rushing to childcare. The roads were detoured on the way back, so I am right there with you, oh goodness. Well, what's your daughter's name?
Speaker 2:Well, we're not letting people know yet. Oh, totally fine, but you can know if you don't put it in the podcast.
Speaker 1:no, no you can tell me after, okay okay that's really sweet. Oh, I respect you so much for that. There's um.
Speaker 2:It's a tough balance, right, so yeah I I like didn't tell anyone I was pregnant for a while and I felt really guilty because I feel like the online community is like my real friends, yeah, and there's this huge thing about my life that I didn't tell anybody about, but I was just really scared, yeah. Yeah, something could go wrong and I just didn't really want to put it out there until we knew everything was safe that's really real.
Speaker 1:We have a background in internet crimes against children, um, on the social work, criminal justice side, and so even all of that knowledge and background, it's it's a lot to discern, and I guess I guess that's the beauty of it, though there is permission to make changes, to share or not share, change your mind and, yes, your real life behind a platform right yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And now there's ai, which is a whole new thing, that we don't know what it's going to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I haven't even given it much thought or research yet. How does it impact your career now? Are there any impacts?
Speaker 2:Do you utilize it? Well, I don't think it's good enough yet, but I know that they're working on recipe developing AI. How? Developing AI? How? I think the goal is that you tell the AI how much time you have, what ingredients you have and they give you a recipe. But currently it's very bad. But if that gets good, none of us will have work anymore. That's horrifying, but I do think a lot of people like the personal aspect, like the trust you get when you get a recipe from someone who you've been following for a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I believe that too. I will say, the other day I had a contract to write and I didn't have a lawyer and I was like, well, it spit out a very great contract for me. Yeah, thank you, chat GBG, oh goodness. Well, you are currently celebrating a new cookbook and it is beautiful, and I think that it is very quickly and easily going to become a household staple. Are you being told that like? Is that the feedback you're getting? I'm seeing this as this generation's joy of cooking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, people have said that it's overwhelming to really think about it. I've decided to distract myself and just worry about the next one, which I started work on a few months ago.
Speaker 1:So know. So I hear you and some of my other guests say that and it makes me sad for a second because I want to make sure you're fully celebrating this, right? But then I'm like if I was in your shoes I would be doing the same exact thing. So I don't want to be hypocritical, but no, this for sure, this for sure, is going to be a generation, a staple for this generation. You know, I get a lot of cookbooks and I'm super thankful for it and I get to look through them. But when this one came, I told my husband I was like this is different. This one's it is. It's so different. I mean, first of all, it's. It is a beast. It is a beautiful beast. There is a lot in here. It is chock full of just intentionality and you know you're, you know your demographic and this is going to be copied backwards. Oh, is it mirrored?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I was like did you get a defective copy? No, it's the mirror image.
Speaker 1:I think it's mirrored, so funny.
Speaker 1:Like I got to call the publishers. No, it is. I just I can't say enough about it. I think that this is going to be one of those things that should be given at every wedding, like every, every bridal shower, I think, should get a cop. Every bride should get a copy of this. Every no, seriously, every mom that's been in the kitchen for 20 years and hasn't taken a class Like I think it just it covers all the bases and it's genius. So we're celebrating that with you. Thank you, what do you, I guess, to wrap up gushing about the book? What do you want people to know about it? What, in your eyes, makes this cookbook different?
Speaker 2:Well, I guess it's really more than recipes. Actually, I don't think you don't need any of the recipes.
Speaker 1:It's really about.
Speaker 2:It's about teaching you these techniques. The recipes are there to help expand on the techniques and and give you a way to practice the techniques, but what I want you to do is take away like a deeper understanding of how to braise, how to poach, how to fry, because when you are someone who cooks every day, like the way to make that easier is to not use a recipe To like understand that you can cook a squash, a beet, a carrot, a parsnip all the same way. So if you know one solid recipe for how to roast carrots, you can cook any of those vegetables. Because my mom cooked every day and she'd never opened a book, because she just had these techniques deeply rooted within her so she could just pull from her instincts at that point.
Speaker 1:I have a really good friend from Ghana. She moved here from Ghana recently and she came over and I have my bookshelf, like whatever, just like on display, and she was like what are all these? And I was like cookbooks, and it blew her mind how many I had. She was like why do you have these? Why do you need them? You're a cook, you know. And I guess she was saying the same thing. Back home in Ghana. They don't have have cookbooks because it's kind of like, but I guess they're taught in their families. The family culture is different. They're taught these things at home, and so I'm actually grateful that we have you, because you're filling the gap. Families are not teaching cooking like they used to, and so you're giving us those techniques.
Speaker 2:Well, it's hard too because so many people have, you know, both members of the family work, yes, yeah. So I just think that it's hard to have time to pass all these traditions down, because everybody's working so much to pay for their 14 dozen eggs. It's crazy. We just ran out of eggs, so they're on the top of my mind. Like every time we buy eggs, they're're $2 more.
Speaker 1:It's wild, Something's got to give. Well, we end each conversation with the same three questions and we're going to link to your gorgeous book in the show notes too, just to wrap up that thought. So everyone that's wanting to see it for yourselves and experience it, you can head on over to the show notes. But I want to end with these three questions what?
Speaker 2:is something you have eaten recently and loved. Sorry, I just like, I just have, like mommy brain, no, my gosh.
Speaker 1:I I was interviewed a few days ago on a podcast and he asked me a question.
Speaker 2:There wasn't even a two second pause. I was like I have no idea what you just said oh, go ahead.
Speaker 1:The best thing I've eaten recently was a very good watermelon. Does that count? Yes, okay, I'm curious. I have a trick that my grandpa taught me to buying them that I think works for me. But do you have a trick that you use when you buy them?
Speaker 2:um, well, I guess I I look for the yellow spot, yes, yeah, which is supposed to mean that it like ripened on the ground. Yes, and yeah, everyone says you want it to be heavy, but they're always heavy, so I don't find that to be like the most useful thing to look for. What's your trick? That's exactly my trick. Yeah, it is. Oh, I think it works.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my grandpa grew up on a farm and he just said that the ones that have that kind of like yellow spot that I think people think is ugly and imperfect, that just means it's been there for a while, so it's really ripe. And then he used to knock on it, but he never taught me what he was listening for. So I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've heard the knocking trick as well, but I don't. I'm not smart enough to get that bit. I just look for the yellow spot.
Speaker 1:And something about, like, I'm nursing our son and something about the watermelon is so hydrating that I've just been pounding watermelon. Oh, my goodness, so I'm with you. Yeah, okay, a gathering you attended that made you feel a strong sense of belonging and, if you can pinpoint it, what it was that made you feel that way.
Speaker 2:Well, I recently celebrated my birthday and my husband threw me a surprise party at Benihana's birthday. And my husband threw me a surprise party at benihana's oh, which was like very fun because it's dinner and a show, uh-huh, um, and it's just uh. Most of my friends are in food, but it's exciting to see everyone still geek out over like their tricks, like tossing the shrimp in their hat and making the onion volcano. Have. Have you seen that? Yes, so it's just like everyone became a little kid again. I love it. That was really fun.
Speaker 1:When was your birthday? Because I just celebrated a birthday too. It was yesterday. Mine was the 13th. Oh, wow, cancer, we have so many crossovers. Oh, my goodness. Sorry, you don't have to say all these things publicly, but I just thought it would be too ironic. Yeah, that's funny. Um, we started. Are you new york based? Yeah, okay, we started working with a company called mr hibachi and they come to your house or your apartment and do private hibachi parties. So what's? Yeah, so super similar, and we, we if you want me to connect to you, I will. They just came and we just brought 10 of our friends and we got to tell them, like food restrictions, dietary needs. It was so great and so, if you liked that, you would love them too.
Speaker 2:They bring a stove yeah, they wow.
Speaker 1:He shows up with his grill and all the food and he leaves and there's no cleanup. Wow, okay, next year, next birthday, yeah, I'll tell him, I'll tell your husband, I'll go um okay. Last but not least, something you've discovered recently that you think everyone should know about.
Speaker 2:A Netflix show, amazon purchase, anything like that. There's a lot of mosquitoes right now, so we have these thermosel stations in our backyard, but we recently got a portable one that we keep in the stroller to keep the mosquitoes off the baby, and I'm not quite sure what it is. It's this little battery operated thing that's the size of a remote control and you put these little sponges in them that has some like essential oils or something, and it heats up and it works perfectly, perfectly, and you get like a Do you know the brand, or was it just a random Amazon find?
Speaker 1:Oh, it's called Thermocell.
Speaker 2:Oh, Thermocell, okay yeah, and you get like a 15 foot mosquito free radius. We love eating outside, but there's so many mosquitoes it's perfect. There's no odor and we don't have to spray like chemicals directly on the baby which, don't know, don't really feel like. I think she's too young for offspray. So everybody needs this. If you're in a swamp like me, that's great.
Speaker 1:I love that. Ok, I'm adding that to the show notes too, OK, well, where do you want to send everyone to follow along?
Speaker 2:I guess you can find me on Instagram at Sola E. I'm also on New York Times Cooking's YouTube channel. A lot of you can watch me cook there and you can get the book wherever you buy books. It's called Start here.
Speaker 1:I love it. Oh, my goodness, I love it. So excited for you. Well, all of these things, I'm going to try to remember them. So many references to links in the show note, but I'm going to try to link everything that I said I was going to there and thank you so much for taking the time where, oh, there goes my ring light.
Speaker 2:Perfect timing.
Speaker 1:I know perfect timing. We are celebrating with you and excited to be connected.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thanks for having me on. This was a fun chat, of course.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much, guys. We will see you next week. Thank you.