Fresh Air: Samin Nosrat Is Embracing 'Good Things'

Podcast: Fresh Air (NPR)
Host/Interviewer: Sam Brigger
Date: September 23, 2025
Guest: Samin Nosrat
Topic: Samin Nosrat discusses her new cookbook "Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love," her changing relationship with recipes, the vulnerability of creativity, finding meaning and community, and her personal journey including her family history and coping with loss.

Episode Overview

This episode welcomes acclaimed food writer Samin Nosrat back to Fresh Air to discuss her much-anticipated new cookbook "Good Things." Unlike her previous, paradigm-shifting "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat," this book is filled with accessible recipes and thoughtful rituals for gathering, marking a more personal and vulnerable approach to food and life. Samin and Sam Brigger explore her evolving philosophy of cooking, the search for meaning beyond achievement, and her intimate connection to community, ritual, and ancestry.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Paradox of Recipes

Timestamp: 02:26 – 07:12

• Samin's Ambivalence: Samin admits she "hates" recipes, seeing them as both helpful and potentially stifling:

  "I feel like they trap us... people can get trapped in a recipe and feel so bound to the written letter... they feel really constraining. And that ... hurts my heart." (02:42 - Samin Nosrat)

• She explains that cooking globally boils down to just a handful of fundamental techniques, all interconnected. Recipes can both liberate and inhibit; her goal is to empower cooks with confidence, not dependence.

• Act of Service: Samin ultimately sees sharing recipes as a form of service—a means to meet home cooks where they are, even as she dreams of teaching people to "zoom out" and see the big culinary picture.

2. Cooking as a Connection to Infinity

Timestamp: 04:31 – 07:12

• Samin references Yo-Yo Ma’s interview about touching infinity through the repetition and depth of practice, applying the same idea to cooking:

  "If we can sort of view things like that, then we can actually touch infinity. We can be part of some greater whole." (05:01 - Samin Nosrat)

• Cooking spans the sacred and the mundane; sometimes it’s just a utilitarian act, other times a means to find beauty in the everyday.

3. The Epiphany: Recipes as a Means to Share Joy

Timestamp: 07:12 – 08:36

• Samin reluctantly embraced writing a recipe book after a simple, delicious coleslaw made her wish she could easily share it:

  "If only I had like an easy way to share this with people. And then I was like, oh, I guess that's a recipe." (08:32 - Samin Nosrat)

4. Embracing "Useless" Joys & The Wonders of Aquafaba

Timestamp: 08:36 – 13:31

• Samin delights in culinary oddities others might overlook—like saving and using aquafaba, the cooking liquid from beans (especially canned chickpeas):

  "Please do not throw it away because it's an incredible substitute for egg whites... you can even whip it like a meringue." (09:13 - Samin Nosrat)

• Aquafaba has become a staple in her experimentation, especially since she’s sought lighter, less dairy-heavy dressings and recipes as she ages.

• Practical Tips:

  • Never throw away canned chickpea liquid; store it for about a week in the fridge, or even freeze it (12:01–12:31).
  • Fresh Air Exclusive: Whipped aquafaba folded into hummus yields a mousse-like texture (12:51–13:31).

5. Good Things Take Time (The Focaccia Recipe)

Timestamp: 13:35 – 17:34

• Sam notes how Samin’s "sky-high focaccia" is a 24-hour, slow process.
• Samin justifies the effort:

  "There’s only so much that quick and easy will get you... In a way, it is a much lazier recipe—just a longer one, time-wise... time saves labor." (14:25–14:50 - Samin Nosrat)

• Samin's goal is a balance between big-picture looseness and precise guidance, freely admitting the limitations and contradictions in written recipes:

  "I both want it to be loose enough to allow for flexibility and precise enough to guide you to the result that you're after." (16:32 - Samin Nosrat)

  • She wryly acknowledges the futility of obsessing over measurements:

  "I've spent more time thinking about and discussing the weight of a cup of all-purpose flour than anyone ever should..." (16:18 - Samin Nosrat)

6. On Spatchcocking a Chicken & The Lost Art of Butchery

Timestamp: 17:34 – 20:45

• Samin walks Sam (and listeners) through the technique of spatchcocking a chicken, an unfamiliar and physically demanding process for many:

  "I think... the fact that this is something so foreign for you and so many other people is reflective of the fact that ... our food is so processed ... But maybe I could have been or should have been more clear about that. But... you are cutting through an animal’s bones." (18:09–19:19 - Samin Nosrat)

• Spatchcocking flattens the chicken for faster, more even cooking and better browning; Samin always saves the backbone for stock.

7. The Hidden Loneliness Behind Success

Timestamp: 21:15 – 24:26

• At the height of her career (post-"Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat"), Samin was exhausted and lonely, despite her achievements:

  "I had earned everything that I thought I ever wanted... But I also was just so lonely... my oldest friend is this loneliness. And I thought maybe I could address this loneliness by succeeding. But then I succeeded and the loneliness was still there." (21:37–24:26 - Samin Nosrat)

• The pandemic, by forcing stillness, amplified her need to seek meaning beyond output and public validation.

8. Letting Go of Perfectionism & Embracing Imperfection

Timestamp: 24:26 – 28:11

• Samin reflects on shifting from the pressure to create “The Thing” to being satisfied with simply “making a thing.”

  "A mantra for me... was 'just make a thing.' ... there is value in just making something. It doesn't have to be the best thing I've ever made in the world." (24:47–25:53 - Samin Nosrat)

• She now bakes imperfection into her book and life—advocating for gentleness and realism in home cooking:

  "I hope that in some ways, modeling me trying to be nicer to myself is a gift to people at home that, like, hey, if she's a professional and sometimes she can't do more than just make rice... and eat some boiled broccoli with it and maybe some hot sauce. Like, maybe it's okay for us to consider that dinner too." (27:23 - Samin Nosrat)

9. Family, Secrecy, and Reclaiming Identity

Timestamp: 29:45 – 40:00

• Samin opens up more about her family history, describing her father—a complex, sometimes threatening figure with whom she was largely estranged:

  "I was estranged from him basically my entire adult life, which also felt very shameful to acknowledge and talk about... he was often sort of stalking me and sending people to spy on me and stuff. And it was scary." (30:56 - Samin Nosrat)

• Sharing the story of her father’s decline and death, she reflects on legacy, the dangers of living a lonely life, and her own desire to “make a life filled with beauty and friendship and joy and love and nature and goodness.” (31:49–32:56)

• She recounts family upheavals, including the discovery of her father's secret second marriage and hints of Jewish ancestry; she and her siblings used humor (referring to their father's wife as “New Mommy”) to cope.

• Samin finds resonance in Jewish rituals, particularly Abraham Joshua Heschel’s book on the Sabbath, drawing inspiration for her practice of Monday dinners—ritualized gatherings that anchor her life in community and love:

  "Trying to understand how it is that a ritualized meal can feel like such an anchor for life." (37:23 - Samin Nosrat)

10. The Life-changing Power of Ritual and Community

Timestamp: 38:25 – 40:00

• Samin dedicates her book to her found family—friends and her dog Fava—particularly those who participate in the weekly Monday dinners:

  "I have something to ground me. I have Fava, I have these friends. I have my girlfriend. I have my home. I have this ritual ... somewhere where I belong. And I don't know that I've really ever had that before. And it feels really good." (39:08–40:00 - Samin Nosrat)

Notable Quotes

• On Recipes and Flexibility:

  "There's only seven recipes in the world... If you can sort of zoom way out and see how all the things are connected, you can understand how ... all around the world people are doing the same thing." (02:52 - Samin Nosrat)

• On Perfectionism vs. Home Cooking:

  "There is a really sort of toxic and destructive message ... the idea that we are supposed to somehow produce professional results at home... I hope that in some ways, modeling me trying to be nicer to myself is a gift..." (27:23 - Samin Nosrat)

• On Rituals and Community:

  "It'll be different this time. I've got something to ground me ... I have a place that I'm expected to be every Monday. And I have somewhere where I belong." (39:08–40:00 - Samin Nosrat)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:26 – 07:12: Samin's conflicted feelings about recipes
• 07:12 – 08:36: The coleslaw epiphany: why she decided to write a recipe book
• 08:44 – 13:31: The uses and joys of aquafaba
• 13:35 – 17:34: Why her focaccia is worth the wait (and other 'good things that take time')
• 17:34 – 20:45: Spatchcocking a chicken and home butchery
• 21:15 – 24:26: The loneliness behind success
• 24:26 – 28:11: Letting go of perfectionism and embracing imperfection
• 29:45 – 40:00: Family history, coping with loss, finding identity, community, and ritual

Tone & Style

The conversation is open, warmly candid, and sprinkled with humor and vivid anecdotes. Samin’s signature enthusiasm, vulnerability, and generosity shine, while Sam Brigger's friendly, inquisitive style keeps the dialogue accessible and grounded. The tone is non-judgmental and inviting, encouraging listeners to treat themselves with the same kindness in and out of the kitchen.

Summary

This episode is a rich, heartfelt conversation with Samin Nosrat about the wisdom gained from creativity, grief, and time spent with loved ones. Her new cookbook, "Good Things," emerges as a celebration of imperfection, ritual, and the power of ordinary joys. Through stories of culinary experimentation, personal loss, and the strength of chosen family, Samin urges us to embrace what’s truly nourishing—food, connection, and compassionate self-acceptance.