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

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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!

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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

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