For Julia Turshen, A Lifelong Habit Becomes A Cookbook
Her love of lists led to What Goes With What
Hello, and welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter! I’m so happy to see our new subscribers and it’s great to have our returning subscribers back.
CulinaryWoman brings you trends and interesting people in the food world. Fall is always a time when we are overwhelmed by new cookbooks. Today, I’m writing about one that takes a common organizing technique and turns it into delicious meals.
From A Pandemic Idea To Bookstores
The pandemic is largely starting to fade from daily conciousness, as the food world returns to business as usual. But a number of projects that began during those gloomy days are starting to reach bookshelves.
That’s the case for What Goes With What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities, from Julia Turshen. Stuck at home, like so many people, Julia began to experiment with ways people could use what they had on hand to come up with delicious meals.
She’s given plenty of guidance on that score. You may own her books such as Simply Julia, published in 2021, or Small Victories, which came out in 2016.
Julia is one of the clearest and most relatable writers in the food world. Her technique is simple: she crafted charts and filled in boxes. They started on her social media and became the inspiration for her cookbook.
Julia was kind enough to answer some questions from me about her book.
1) I remember your lists from the pandemic! As a visual learner, they made tons of sense. But for people who were not following you then, can you talk about how your lists came to life? Oh, I'm so glad to hear that as I'm also a visual learner. I have been making charts and lists for my entire life as a way to make sense of things (my high school notebooks are proof!). I started offering charts in my Keep Calm And Cook On newsletter a little while ago for various things to cook (soups, salads, etc.) and they just took off. I found out that I'm not the only one who thinks this way and/or benefits from seeing ideas organized this way.
2) What convinced you that your jottings might turn into a cookbook? Was it a lightbulb moment, reader reaction, a smart editor? It was the readers' reaction. When I started hearing from so many people that the charts really helped them understand cooking, I knew there was a book in them.
3) As a food writer, I'm always surprised when people ask me for basic instructions. I just assume people know how to do things, but there are always new cooks coming on board or people intimidated by cooking. Why do you think your concept works for so many people? I think a lot of people are intimidated so I never assume to know about anyone's experience level. I try to meet people where they. If where they are is overwhelmed, I think the charts help show that most things in the kitchen have a basic formula to them.
Once you see that, it all becomes less overwhelming. For example, it's not that there are infinite salad dressings each with a different ratio of fat and acid and seasonings. There's a basic ratio of those things so you can mix-and-match and still come out with something that tastes good.
4) I love the way your book pairs ideas upon each other. For instance, the springtime chicken meatballs served with a platter of chickpea spinach and rice. Was this something that was deliberate or did it come about organically? I love that you picked up on that! It came about organically but I think it works because the recipes are all so simple and most simple things go well with other simple things. Complicated things often have so much going on that it can be hard to figure out what to serve them with.
5) There are so many sections in the book that are down to earth. Sandwiches. Meatballs, Quick pastas. One bowl batters. It makes you feel like you can do it! In choosing what went into the book, were you looking for simplicity? Yes, I am always looking for simplicity!
7) The photography (by Julia!) is great and helps us get to know you, your family and your outlook on life. Did you have a plan for how you would use photos when you set out? It was important to me that every single recipe had an accompanying photograph. The best way for me to accomplish that was to take the photos myself, so that ended up being another way for me to share the the way I see things...literally.
You can order Julia’s book here. Subscribe to her newsletter and follow her on social media. She teaches classes and she’s touring for her book in October and November.
Stanley Tucci’s Latest Book Arrives
The pandemic also turned Stanley Tucci into a media machine. Already one of Hollywood’s most popular actors, he starred on CNN, made videos, and generated a series of food related books. His latest, What I Ate In One Year, was published last week.
The book, his second in three years, is meant to be a diary of what Stanley ate in 2023, at home, on movie sets, and out with his friends, including those of the bold-faced variety.
Given how universally Stanley is admired, I’m surprised that the reaction has been mixed.
The Guardian says the book “starts well enough but quickly descends into bland anecdote, leaving his endearing charm and wit to season an empty plate.”
Although he writes about dining with Isabella Rossellini and Ralph Fiennes, as well as family time with his brother-in-law John Krasinski, he also shuts the reader out of a meal he had with Colin Firth and Tom Ford. “What we talked about is none of your business,” he writes, to which the Guardian took offense — it’s a diary, after all.
However, the Times of London says Tucci has “a lovely writing style: never flowery, frequently funny.” The cancer survivor worries “that he is ‘too far along in years to ever grow old with the lanky, beautiful, brilliant woman who I love and help look after her when she is old.’”
If you are a Stanley fan, by all means, check out the book.
A New Option For Zero Alcohol Imbibers
Thanksgiving marks my fifth anniversary of living sober, and I’m delighted that so many zero alcohol products are reaching the market. When I lived in New Orleans, I discovered the Phony Negroni from St. Agrestis, a spirit free version of the popular cocktail.
Now, one of Detroit’s best known craft beverage companies has come out with a challenger. Casamara Club, known for its botanical sodas, has introduced Superclasico. (Soccer fans will get the reference.) It’s Casamara’s first effort at marketing a cocktail, and it’s delicious.
Casamara describes it as a bittersweet, Italian apertivo, meant to be sipped before a meal or on its own. “The flavor journey starts with a big, bittersweet punch from Italian chinotto and brightness from juniper berries,” it says on its website. “Tannins from red currant, kola nuts, and allspice develop on the mid palate. It ends with a pleasant, lingering bittersweet finish as the chinotto returns with orris root, all softened by Madagascar vanilla.”
After I heard about it on the Daily Detroit podcast, I bought some at Carosello Pasta in Dexter, Mich. Casamara was nice enough to send me a four-pack, which I’ve been enjoying as I watch Major League Baseball games.
It’s 48 calories for the entire eight ounce can, and 12 grams of carbohydrates. You can drink it straight, but I put it over ice. And if you like alcohol, you can always pep it up with a shot of whiskey.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
While we’re on the topic of podcasts, I appeared on not one, but two last week. The Incomparable Network is celebrating aviation-related movies, some of which are better than others.
On the Incomparable Movie Club, I was a guest panelist to discuss 1939’s Only Angels Have Wings and Zero Hour from 1957. The latest was the shot by shot inspiration for Airplane, although it surely was meant to be serious.
My regular home, Lions, Towers & Shields, looked at Airport 1975. I can’t really recommend the movie, but we had a lot of fun trashing it.
Here are some ways you can get in touch with me.
Website: www.michelinemaynard.com
Email: culinarywoman (@) gmail dot com
LinkedIn: Micheline Maynard
Threads and Instagram: (@) michelinemaynard
Etsy shop: City Tips Vintage (use the code CULTURESTUDY for 25% off)
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On Monday, I’ll be back for paid subscribers with a look at the latest episodes of The Great British Bake Off, where it was caramel week, and The Great Canadian Baking Show, with savory (or savoury) week.
