Welcome to SALT PIG! How's your summer going?? Today we’re sharing a bonus episode, in which Ellie and Lukas check in from opposite sides of the northern hemisphere. Between the constraints of our short-term kitchens and lots of fun new ingredients and places to shop, we’re feeling inspired and invigorated. And getting away from home is providing plenty of healthy perspective on some of the New York/American antics that we’d otherwise barely be aware of. We’re also including a re-release of one of our earliest episodes, in which Ellie shares a chicken stock disaster and we both wax poetic about our dishwashers. Hope you're staying safe, healthy, and having a blast this summer! We can’t wait to re-connect in September, when we kick off season 2 of SALT PIG.

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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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