Maureen Abood: A Casual Culinary Chat About Homemade Yogurt

Summary

The Joy of Cooking Podcast

Episode: Maureen Abood — A Casual Culinary Chat About Homemade Yogurt

Date: September 24, 2025
Host: The Joy of Creation Production House
With: Jon Becker, Megan Scott, Shannon Larson, special guest Maureen Abood

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Episode Overview

This week's episode is both a celebration of culinary tradition and creative home cooking. The hosts welcome acclaimed Lebanese-American author and baker Maureen Abood for a warm, wide-ranging conversation touching on the art of Lebanese baking, the importance of recipes in connecting generations, and accessible tips for making yogurt at home. Sprinkled throughout: personal stories, practical kitchen wisdom, and plenty of laughter.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. What’s Cooking This Week? (00:57–06:04)

• The hosts chat about the seasonal bounty—green chilies, cold soba bowls, and camping meals.
• Megan admits to "cheating" on a camping meal by using precooked rice packs, while Shannon extols the versatility of cold soba mixes with whatever fresh produce is on hand.
• “You don’t really want to cook rice when you’re backpacking.” — Megan Scott (04:46)

2. Meet Maureen Abood: A Baking Journey (06:43–14:24)

• Maureen shares her love for baking and the inspiration behind her latest book, Lebanese Baking.
• She was motivated by both a lack of existing resources and a desire to make the traditions she learned from her family accessible to others.
• “[Older cookbooks] assumed that you kind of already knew what you were doing…they baked for sustenance and we bake out of pleasure and desire and the need to connect.” — Maureen Abood (09:31)
• Her process included deep research and a focus on clear instructional guidance, especially for beginners. Process photos were a major feature.

3. Recipe Generosity & Innovation (11:56–17:14)

• Discussion about writing empathetic recipes that meet readers where they are.

• Maureen describes working with her photographer on process shots to de-mystify Lebanese baked goods like Burma (“scrunched baklava”).

• Insights on adapting traditional methods to work with American ingredients—like hydrating commercial phyllo for easier handling.

  “With a light misting, very light misting of water, you now you’ve hydrated this just enough to create this really nice accordion pleat.” — Maureen Abood (14:21)

4. Tradition and Legacy in Baking (21:12–24:33)

• Megan reads a moving passage from Maureen’s new book reflecting on her mother’s legacy.
• The group agrees: Baking is more than food—it’s a vessel for memory, grief, community, and love.
• “It’s the personification of a hug…You can really address the loss in a special way by gifting someone with your loaf of bread, your Lebanese tillami bread, the honey buns wrapped in a towel and warm… It’s like a sigh. We understand.” — Maureen Abood (23:01)

5. Lebanese Baking for Beginners (25:21–27:07)

• Maureen recommends new bakers start with her recipe for bit lewa (Lebanese baklava):

  “If you take it and break it down…it’s just an assembly process...there’s really very few things that compare to that bite of biting into your own homemade piece of bit Lewa.” (25:28)

6. The Joy of Cooking: Personal Memories (27:10–31:25)

• Maureen shares how her mother gave her The Joy of Cooking for her 24th birthday, inscribed as “joy to give, a joy to use, the joie de vie.”

• She loves the Cloverleaf Rolls recipe (“been making every Thanksgiving for a million years”) and the pound cake—a truly unparalleled version in her view.

  “The Joy pound cake. There’s no comparison to any other pound cake recipe I’ve ever tried…It’s just the perfect balance of moistness and density, and it’s beautiful and golden.” — Maureen Abood (30:11)

7. Accessibility & Modern Lebanese Baking (31:46–36:32)

• The hosts and Maureen highlight some of her more innovative creations—like the Za’atar Cheese Dome and Baklava Cheesecake.
• Maureen describes the intensive research (including trips to Dearborn, MI bakeries in freezing weather) she undertook to perfect recipes such as fitaya (savory Lebanese hand pies).

8. Homemade Yogurt: Tips & Traditions (38:05–45:10)

Caller Question: “The yogurt at my local store has a bunch of added ingredients. I want to make it at home. Do you have an easy guide or recipe?” (38:05)

• Maureen and the hosts share an approachable method for homemade yogurt:
  • Heat milk to 180°F–210°F, then cool to ~115°F (40:21)
  • Mix in a bit of “starter” yogurt (from a previous batch or plain store-bought)
  • Maintain gentle warmth for several hours—Maureen wraps her pot in towels and puts it in a warm, turned-off oven overnight (41:13)
  • If it hasn’t set, just give it more time
• “It’s such a wise thing to do because it’s so economical and so simple and so satisfying. It’s almost like a sourdough practice.” — Maureen Abood (38:25)
• Tips on using powdered starter, troubleshooting failed batches, and favorite brands of commercial yogurt and labneh.

9. What’s Everyone Making Next? (48:59–52:59)

• Jon’s deep in a strawberry ice cream experiment—a riff on a favorite from Portland’s 50 Licks, using freeze-dried strawberries and (corrected by Megan) corn syrup.

• Shannon seeks creative uses for abundant okra and melons.

• Megan wants ideas for city hams after receiving two in a pig share.

• Maureen is savoring Michigan’s late summer produce—making BLTs with Lebanese flatbread, a tomato galette with phyllo and labneh, and plenty of stone fruit.

  “It’s a happy time for eating in Michigan.” — Maureen Abood (52:39)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Baking and Memory:
  • “Baking offers beauty and solitude. And in community, we continue the conversations with those who baked for us in the past…baking enacts a rich, braided conversation that never ends.” — Maureen Abood (21:12, quoting her book)
• On Tradition vs. Convenience:
  • “Baking isn’t necessary…when we cook, we need to eat to live, but we don’t necessarily need to bake, but we do it anyway.” — Megan Scott (24:14)
• On Recipe Writing:
  • “There’s definitely a more generous way of writing recipes that is going to be friendlier for beginners.” — Jon Becker (11:56)
• On Creativity and Perseverance:
  • “I’ll try it, I’ll try it and then I’ll fail and then I’ll try again and we’ll be good.” — Jon Becker, on homemade phyllo (19:09)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:57 – Megan and Jon’s green chili stash; recipes for busy weeks
• 06:43 – Maureen Abood introduction and background
• 09:31 – The loss of culinary knowledge and importance of detailed recipes
• 14:13 – Scrunched baklava technique and adapting traditional methods
• 21:12 – Baking, memory, and loss (passage from Maureen’s book)
• 25:28 – Beginner-friendly Lebanese recipes
• 27:10 – Maureen’s personal Joy of Cooking memories
• 38:05 – Homemade yogurt: methods, troubleshooting, and why to make it
• 48:59 – Upcoming cooking experiments and harvest highlights

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Listener Participation & Weekly Recipe

• This week’s “Joy Scouts” recipe: French Yogurt Cake (pg. 734)
• Call in with questions or stories: 503-395-8858
• Next week: “Ride or Die” Joy of Cooking recipes

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Follow & Connect

• Maureen Abood: maureenabood.com | @maureenabood on social
• Joy of Cooking Podcast: joyofcooking.substack.com | @thejoyofcooking

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Summary by The Joy of Cooking Podcast Summarizer — Enjoy tradition, innovation, and everyday joy at the table!

Transcript

[Carly]

Sam.

[Shannon Larson]

Welcome to the Joy of Cooking podcast. Each week we set the table for a discussion about recipes and stories from the authors of the Joy of Cooking, kitchen victories and misadventures, and what we're cooking and eating right now. We're glad you joined us at the table today. I'm Shannon Larson, home cook, Joy of Cooking user and fan, and Arnold Palmer enthusiastic.

[Megan Scott]

I'm Megan Scott, co Author of the 2019 edition of the Joy of Cooking. I'm a food editor by day and avoider of dish duty by night. And sometimes you just need pie and ice cream for lunch.

[Jon Becker]

I'm Jon Becker, 4th Generation Co author and steward of the Joy of Cooking, America's oldest family run cookbook, and I am trying to remain laser focused on green chilies. This week we have a bunch that we have, we put away last year, bags in the freezer. Perfect way to store them and got to use them up so that I can overstock. Once again, it is September Rich at this point.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, it's time. It's time for Chili's. They're back at the farmer's market. Oh, really? Yeah, they. There are these folks who. What is their farm name?

[Jon Becker]

I think it's Westwind Gardens, but they go by Peppered Earth. That's their chili roasting business. But yeah, they have a bunch of varieties. It's fun to explore.

[Megan Scott]

And they smell so good at the market too, because they've got the big drum roaster and you can hear the sound of the fire. And then you get closer and you smell it, you start to smell the charred chilies. Oh, they're so good. It's exciting. We freeze a bunch every fall and then we kind of hoard them so we forget we don't use them because it's like, oh, it's got to be special. We've got to use it in a special way. And then now we still have like six bags of homemade. Maybe not six.

[Jon Becker]

Well, at least I feel like last year we just had a bunch of the spiciest variety that they sell left over. And lumbres is what they're called. This year we don't have to go through a bunch of the super duper spicy ones. So that's, that's at least an improvement.

[Megan Scott]

Sounds so good, though. Yeah. What have you been eating and cooking this week, Shannon?

[Shannon Larson]

Let's see. Well, all summer it's been an Arnold Palmer and popsicle summer in our house. So with the end of summer, we're going to overdose on both of those things. And then I've been in a big, cold soba noodle bowl phase right now, which I guess it's not really a.

[Megan Scott]

Phase for me currently.

[Shannon Larson]

It's always a phase. But it's just really useful because when you have, like, a lot of produce and stuff, you can just make different flavor varieties so easily with soba noodles. And I just. Sometimes I prefer cold food.

[Megan Scott]

It's been so hot lately too. You just want to cool down.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, Like, I lose my appetite a lot in the heat. And soba noodles are delicious.

[Megan Scott]

So do you have a favorite. Any favorite toppings or sauce, like, combinations?

[Shannon Larson]

No, I mix. I try to mix it up a lot. I mean, I just. I like tofu and greens. I did do, like, collards and some charred peppers and, like, that kind of a flavor profile last week, and that was really good. Oh, and some, like, grilled chicken thigh on it.

[Megan Scott]

It was delicious.

[Carly]

Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

Did you, like, shred the collards or.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, I shredded them. We got a big bunch of. It wasn't collards. I'm sorry. It was chard from our CSA box. And I just, like, cut those up and just sauteed them in some sesame oil and fish sauce and threw them on top, and it was really good.

[Megan Scott]

Delicious.

[Maureen Abboud]

Yeah.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

What about you two? What have you been up to?

[Megan Scott]

Well, we went camping this weekend, which was really lovely. It was, like, the best beach camping experience I've had because I feel like beach camping is very. The idea of it is attractive, but sometimes it can be very wet and sandy.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, it can be a little sandy out there.

[Megan Scott]

It can be a little sandy at the beach. Didn't you know? But it was great. The weather was amazing, and we ate really good food. I feel like everything just tastes good outside. Everything tastes good outside when it's really simple. Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah. You. You cheated.

[Megan Scott]

What do you mean? No, it's not cheating.

[Jon Becker]

It is. Okay.

[Megan Scott]

I bought. So I bought the packages of already cooked rice. So, like, flavored chicken. Flavored cooked rice, and then some pouch chicken and then broccoli florets. And I steamed the broccoli florets in a little water, added the rice, added the chicken and some, like, cubed cheddar cheese, and let it.

[Shannon Larson]

That sounds so good.

[Megan Scott]

Up. So it's just like chicken rice bowls.

[Jon Becker]

I mean, it was a good kind of cheating. Cheating isn't necessarily. I mean, I guess it does have a pejorative ring to it, but I. I mean, it was good cheating.

[Megan Scott]

Okay, you got it. Like, not cooking all that from scratch.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, you don't really want to cook Rice when you're backpacking.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. With the little camp stove that only has one. Yeah. Real high setting when you burn everything. Yeah. No, but that was. It was really good. And then our friend made biscuits and gravy the next morning. Oh, my gosh. She was kind of overachieving.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, that's a little fancy.

[Jon Becker]

She did not bake the biscuits there.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. She had already baked them, so that.

[Jon Becker]

Would be really overachieving.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, that'd be impressive.

[Megan Scott]

And we also did today, John made the Joy Scouts recipe of the week, which was Rachel's Kale and Lentil salad on page 130. It's just a really good fall salad. I think of it kind of as a fall salad.

[Jon Becker]

Sure. Yeah. I mean, I feel like you can.

[Megan Scott]

You can make it whenever you want.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah. It's pretty versatile. It's not just fall, but use some escarole instead of. I'm slapping my hand instead of the radicchio. It turned out well. The lentils, like, really pick up the dressing well. And the leaves and the. The lentils, they kind of are harmonious together. They kind of. You know, it's.

[Megan Scott]

The lentils stick to the greens. They don't just all fall to the bottom.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah. I mean, to a certain extent.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

And you can kind of do whatever you want with that recipe, too. Kind of like those soba noodle bowls.

[Megan Scott]

You just add.

[Shannon Larson]

Add things to them as you have.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

On hand.

[Jon Becker]

You can't do just anything.

[Megan Scott]

Yes. You can't change the recipe.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, yeah. We have to follow the recipe.

[Jon Becker]

There are rules.

[Megan Scott]

So if you made that recipe or make it this week, just post it on Instagram and tag us and let us know how you like it. We'd love to see what you make. We would like to welcome our guest, Maureen Abboud to the table. Maureen is the author of Lebanese Baking. Her first book, Rose Water and Orange Blossoms, was a Michigan Notable Book and IACP Award finalist. Her recipes have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Saveur, the Wall Street Journal, and npr. She teaches Lebanese cooking and taps into all that makes cooking and baking meaningful through her popular website and social media channels. She lives in East Lansing and Harbor Springs, Michigan. Maureen, welcome to the table.

[Maureen Abboud]

Thanks for having me. It's so nice to be here.

[Megan Scott]

It's so nice to finally meet you and see you. It's. It's lovely. We've enjoyed your cookbooks.

[Maureen Abboud]

Thank you. I've enjoyed yours for a long, long time.

[Jon Becker]

Oh, it's great to hear.

[Megan Scott]

So tell us about your latest book, Lebanese Baking. What made you want to write a baking cookbook?

[Maureen Abboud]

I'm a baker at heart. I've always loved baking from a very young age. It's like one of the things that I think my mom had five kids and I think that part of keeping us busy, or at least some of us was we were in the kitchen, we had kitchen projects and I always loved baking. The baking and desserts in my first book, that chapter just kept stretching and stretching and I thought, okay, I know that, that I really wanted, I really want to go deep on, on the baking aspect of Lebanese cuisine. And my thinking and my bookshelf, it, it hadn't been done before. And I found myself always going to my shelf into these old books, which I love, both the community sort of church books and also just the, the classics that everyone turns to for Lebanese cuisine. And I wasn't finding quite what I wanted in terms of instruction, understanding what exactly what was the roadmap because there are many baked goods that I had never experienced before. I am a second generation Lebanese American and while exposed to much, certainly not everything. And I just wanted more. I wanted more and I wanted to contribute that so that first I wanted it for myself and I wanted it for everyone else too. Lebanese baking, I love that as the.

[Megan Scott]

Impetus for writing a book, the book that you want to see in the world, just do it yourself.

[Maureen Abboud]

I'll go ahead and do it since it's not here. And also I love a good project, I love a good baking project on a recipe by recipe level. And I also really enjoyed diving into all these different areas of Lebanese baking and the, the discovery that went on there and getting into the classics, but also bringing my own innovation where, where appropriate and of course streamlining and trying to make these recipes accessible.

[Megan Scott]

Did you find that when you were researching the recipes that a lot of maybe the older books you were using didn't have the clearest instructions or they assumed that you kind of already knew what you were doing?

[Maureen Abboud]

Yes, it's just hilarious really to look to read these. And some of them have photos, which is kind of neat. And they're so old school and they'll show the city the grandma throwing the flatbreads. And you know, that's pretty neat to see but from an instructional standpoint, yeah, it's just very, very little and whole aspects of how to do things would be left out and you just realize how much they assumed and really how much bakers probably did know. And we've lost some of that, a lot of that. It just isn't part of our day to day, you know, they were baking for sustenance and we bake out of pleasure and desire and the need to connect and not necessarily the way they baked.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, exactly. I remember watching my great grandmother baking. She was making fried apple pies, teaching me how to make fried apple pies and she just knew how to make them and she didn't have a recipe and she just showed me. She was like, this is what the dough needs to look like. Add water until it looks like this. It was just like, okay, I'm going to test this later and write it down because I don't have it. I didn't have it down like she did. But to see her bake, it was such a, such a gift.

[Maureen Abboud]

And what a treasure that you have that and you realize watching someone with that kind of mastery, you realize how wonderful it is to be able to learn that way. And so many of us are missing that we aren't spending time in the kitchen with our elders or even our peers to learn and absorb and watch someone who is a true master of their craft. You can learn so much that way and sometimes you don't necessarily need all of the detail level. But yes, as people who write recipes, we have empathy for our bakers, we have empathy for the cooks in the kitchen and we want to place ourselves in their shoes and make the recipe make sense to them and understand that it can be done with pleasure.

[Jon Becker]

There's definitely a more generous way of writing recipes that is going to be friendlier for beginners, that's for sure. And of course, like some of the beautiful photography in your book is going to be help, helping helping out a lot of those people that don't have as much experience. Is there anything else that you tried to work into the Lebanese baking book to kind of help, you know, first time bakers or people that don't feel confident in the kitchen quite yet?

[Maureen Abboud]

Yes, the instructional aspect of the book was really, really important to me and to my editors and in some ways, you know, when I turned the book in, it was twice the length of what, what they were expecting, I suppose what we all were expecting. But I am a storyteller and you know, we had to, we had to sacrifice some of that, some of the storytelling though it, I think it does come through really nicely in the book, but for the instruction. And I knew that we had to have space for these instructional process photos because like we were saying, there's so much everything comes to life that's written when you can see a hand Making the twist. And suddenly I understand that. I know I'm reading this, but now that I'm reading and seeing what you're doing, I understand what I need to do. And so we dedicated a lot of our photo shoot to these process photos. And it was. It was really a lot of fun. We had a great time creating the photos for the book. And everyone was just in love with the food, I think. And it's so aromatic. The doughs are such a pleasure to work with. That I think that shows through in the process photos and in the finished shots of everything. Kristen Teague is a master. Kristen, the photographer, she's wonderful. And our whole team, really, we went to town.

[Megan Scott]

I do love looking at those photos because it makes it feel attainable. I think sometimes when you read the recipe, you think, oh, this is so complicated. But then you see it and it's like, that makes sense. I can almost feel the motion of making that. Like the. The one recipe that I can't remember the name of, but it was a type of, like, kind of scrunched baklava.

[Maureen Abboud]

The Burma.

[Megan Scott]

Yes. Where you use the dowel. Looking at that, I was like, oh, that makes. That totally makes sense to me now. I would. And I actually really. That's on my list to try. That's one of the ones I wrote down to try from your book.

[Maureen Abboud]

Oh, Megan, I'm so glad. I'm so glad you're gonna make that. It is the lightest, crispest bite of blewa. It's sort of hollow, in a sense, and so there's room for shattering of the phyllo that's been baked with the butter. And there's. The nuts are scattered throughout where often we have sort of more of a. A density of nuts, the baklava and the pitleua filo pastries. So that one. And that was really. I was jumping around the kitchen when I finally realized how we were going to be able to scrunch this commercial filo without it falling apart. It was. It. It came dry out. You know, I watched so many videos of this being done, and their filo was far more pliable than ours. And I realized then, okay, this is not American commercial phyllo dough. So I've got. This is. It's not working the same way. So with a light misting, very light misting of water, you now you've hydrated this just enough to be able to create this really nice accordion pleat. And they're wonderful.

[Megan Scott]

Do you think most bakeries in Lebanon are making their own filo or is it widely commercially available and used?

[Maureen Abboud]

Widely commercially available and used would be my, you know, I, I, that's what I think the filo is just a part of. You know, they, they churn out so much pastry that I don't know. You know, some of these bakeries, there are many of them throughout Lebanon, and I would think that maybe they have, maybe they do have their own manufacturing system for making their filo. But I think, you know, and in Dearborn here in Michigan, where you have, it's like, you know, yet another version of the Middle east, because there's so many of us here, and I've got to believe they start with purchased filo. And, you know, it is a much different mouth feel and workability than a homemade phyllo dough, which, that recipe's also in the book. The homemade phyllo dough is an amazing process and something that was very important to me to learn and to share and exciting because I know that my, the early bakers in our family had to make it. That's the only way they could make their bit. Lewa. So I wanted to understand that and what they went through. But it results in a much different history than the commercially purchased phyllo. Just no matter what you do to get this thin phyllo dough, it's not going to be as crisp or as shattering as the commercial filo.

[Jon Becker]

That sounds like it has its own appeal, depending on what you're using it for.

[Maureen Abboud]

But, yeah, it does.

[Jon Becker]

I would love to try that sometime. It's, it seems so intimidating. I mean, of course, the pictures in the book make it seem much more attainable, but, yeah, it kind of looks.

[Megan Scott]

Looking at the photos of it making the homemade phyllo dough almost reminded me of making the process for making apple strudel, because you make a dough and then you, you stretch it out basically on a, to be the, the size of a table. And it's just thin, thin, thin. Like, you can read the newspaper through it. And it's a very slow, methodical process, and you're gradually stretching it from all sides. But it's, it's really meditative and kind of nice.

[Maureen Abboud]

Yes, it really is nice to do, and it's a wonder. It's really to be able to unlock this mystery and you dive into it and, and you're going, oh, okay, all right, I see. There are two ways to make homemade phyllo. You can, there's a dry method and a wet method. Both ways are, are really fun, and it is like making a strudel and what you realize too is that there's a sort of forgiveness in that strudel dough in that, in that wet stretched where even in my photos there are some tears there. And I thought just leave that.

[Megan Scott]

I noticed that. I loved that you showed that there were just a few little holes in the dough because that's the reality of probably what's going to happen if you make it.

[Maureen Abboud]

That's the reality. And it's just fine. We go ahead and roll it up and you don't see that that's not going to be a problem. So I hope people will try it. It's really a lot of fun and maybe you will.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, I mean, I think we will. John has expressed that he wants to try it.

[Jon Becker]

I am definitely not the baker of the Joy of Cooking team or whatever.

[Megan Scott]

So yeah, you can be my baking assistant.

[Jon Becker]

I'll try it, I'll try it and then I'll fail and then I'll try again and we'll be good. But I like that you also have some pretty beginner friendly recipes in here too, including the kanafa with the shredded wheat biscuit. That, that looks amazing.

[Maureen Abboud]

It's so interesting how the family that came over from Lebanon, my grandmother, she and many others, and it's in their cookbooks, would make the kanafi out of shredded wheat biscuits. And when you open the biscuit, you're like, yeah, this really does look like ki dough. Which now so many people are familiar with because of the viral DIY bars. You'll sometimes hear it called shredded or cut filo pieces. But it's not really. It's. It's got a different process to it the way that it's made. But to think that they were able to finesse making knife by buying the shredded wheat biscuit. I had to include that recipe in the book because just struck me as sort of ingenious of them to do that. And they're fun and they're very nice. And that whole world of kanafi made at home is something exciting because once you've had it and you've tasted it at a bakery and it often has cheese or nut fillings, you want to have it again and absolutely, you've had it.

[Jon Becker]

So good, so good, so good.

[Maureen Abboud]

It's an obsession. It can become a total obsession. And in that chapter in particular, I was realizing that, hey, wait a minute, there are all these different styles of ganafi and what it really is about is different types of crusts and different types of filling. So why don't we Have a choose your own adventure type of chapter and choose your own crust. Pick the crust, pick the filling, and then you drizzle your syrup on top, and you can have it different ways. So whether you have kitaifi dough available or not, you can still have really good ganafi.

[Megan Scott]

Earlier, you said, you know, you were talking about how you partially created this cookbook because there wasn't one like it, and you wanted a book like this. But I was also reading the introduction to the book, and you wrote something really beautiful in there, and you said that when your mother passed away, someone said to you, plates shift when a mother dies. And then you wrote, recipes give us access to memories, wisdom, connection. Baking offers beauty and solitude. And in community, we continue the conversations with those who baked for us in the past. By continuing to bake and by sharing those conversations and traditions with future generations, baking enacts a rich, braided conversation that never ends. And I just loved that. And I feel like that is so particular to baking. I. I don't. I know that cooking can be similar. You might have recipes passed down from your mother or your grandmother, but I. For some reason, baking hits that nerve more than cooking. Do you. Do you feel that way?

[Maureen Abboud]

I do. It's the personification of a hug in. It's a hug made even more meaningful because it's a way of experiencing the sense of love on so many different levels. The aromatic factor alone of baking, there's something to that that just will get into the heart of even the Grinch. And I do think that baking is that way for many people and not just the experience of baking. Me as baker, making something that, whether I learned it from my mother or the scent of orange blossom water pastry is just. It's. I feel my mother in the room, but also when I want to make for someone. I had a lot of losses over this summer. Friends losing mothers, and my mother's sisters passed this summer. And you can really address the loss in a special way by gifting someone with your loaf of bread, your Lebanese tillami bread, the honey buns wrapped in a towel and warm, and you hand that off and it's kind of like a sigh. We understand.

[Megan Scott]

I love that so much. And I think also baking isn't, you know, baking isn't necessary. Usually baking is something that, you know, when we cook, we need to eat to live, but we don't necessarily need to bake, but we do it anyway. And I think that it's that connection with our community, with our family, with tradition and memory that makes Us want to keep baking, at least those of us who are bakers. Not everyone has. Has that feeling about baking, the warm fuzzies about baking.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, I wish I could relate.

[Maureen Abboud]

But you do. You feel like you're tapping into creativity in a way that allows you to be the maker that you are and also to. To do something extraordinary.

[Shannon Larson]

I also feel like baking for me, I'm not a baker either, but it, it's like the connotation of time. Like you have to spend your time and your energy in a different way than cooking because cooking can also be very quick and easy and fast. But you can't rush baking. And so if you're going to be baking for someone, there's like the added. I'm spending this time doing this thing for you because I care about you.

[Jon Becker]

It's like there's contemplation time that's built in and maybe even like some of the techniques, like rolling out filo, there's a certain struggle there that you're able to share with those who've come before or something.

[Maureen Abboud]

That's really beautiful. It is, it's. The time is a gift. And I think that it's understood that you did something more by baking.

[Megan Scott]

Is there a recipe in your book that you would recommend to someone who has never made a Lebanese baked good before?

[Maureen Abboud]

Absolutely. Make a pan of Lebanese bit lewa right now and know that that can become a part of your repertoire. Of course, there are many really simple cookies and cakes in the book that are so approachable and will become fast favorites. But I'm saying that Laywa because if you take it and break it down, you make your orange blossom, your flower water syrup, have your clarified butter, your phyllo dough is thawed, your nuts are toasted and ground and have the sugar on them. Then when you're ready to bake, it's just an assembly process. And I use this method that comes from my Aunt Rita, where you do assemble, you cut, you pour the butter over instead of buttering each layer of phyllo, which is kind of where the finessing had come in before, because phyllo dries out so quickly that you just. You'd be working quickly. And that can be fun too, and meditative and wonderful. But you can make a pan of bit Lewa in no time and experience that incredible aroma while it's baking and the sensory. And when you pour the cold syrup over the hot pastry when it comes out of the oven and it's like sounds like applause when you pour it, it's Just it. And there's really very few things that compare to that bite of biting into your own homemade piece of bit. Lewa.

[Jon Becker]

Well, definitely marking that. That sounds amazing.

[Megan Scott]

Could you tell us a little bit about your relationship with the Joy of Cooking?

[Maureen Abboud]

I'm so glad you asked, and I'm so glad you invited me on, because the Joy of Cooking has been a special book for me, as for so many people. My mother gave me the Joy of Cooking when I was 24, and I was just blossoming into, wow. I want to learn more. I want to do more. I was spending a lot more time with her and my grandmother in the kitchen and starting to think about writing about food, all of that. And she gave me my copy, which I keep handy. And I still have the birthday card that she put in it. She gave it to me for my birthday. It says, you are one of a kind, and it says, maureen, you're the joy of our lives. And then she inscribed in the book, happy birthday. A joy to give, a joy to use, the joie de vie. Love, Mom.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, that's so sweet. I love that.

[Jon Becker]

Wow.

[Maureen Abboud]

And I love the book. And I have a thing for these red page markers, the ribbons. And I'm so thrilled that you put the ribbon in your new book, which, of course you would, because that's such an important part of the Joy of Cooking.

[Jon Becker]

We keep on trying to get the publisher to add two.

[Shannon Larson]

I really want two ribbons.

[Maureen Abboud]

Yes.

[Jon Becker]

Maybe even three. That would be. That's our stretch goal for the next. Yeah, for this. For the centennial edition. Maybe we can get them to agree to two. At least.

[Maureen Abboud]

A book that size deserves at least two.

[Megan Scott]

Yes.

[Maureen Abboud]

Maybe three. And I always like to open to where the. The ribbon marker is to see what I was making last time. And that's always fun. It's like, oh, yes. And I always got one at the Cloverleaf Rolls page because that I've been making every Thanksgiving for a million years. The first Thanksgiving that I made those rolls, the Thanksgiving prior, I had made this. Speaking of making without a recipe, my grandmother grew up on a farm, and she always talked about custard pie. Sugar cream pie, she called it. And I thought, I'm going to make this sugar cream pie for Thanksgiving. And it was terrible. And I forgot to put the sugar in, and it was just like eating quiche. We didn't eat it. But the next year, my mom pulled out the Joy of Cooking, and she said, why don't you bake some dinner rolls? And we chose the clover leaf rolls. And I make Made them ever since.

[Megan Scott]

That's a really fun recipe for listeners who don't know what that is. You take the pieces of dough, and so for each roll, you have three little rounds of dough, and you put them in, like, a muffin tin, and then as it bakes, they kind of fuse together and make a sweet little clover leaf shape. But that's a really fun recipe. Do you have any other favorite recipes from Joy that you make regularly?

[Maureen Abboud]

Yes, the pound cake. The Joy pound cake. There's no comparison to any other pound cake recipe I've ever tried, and there are many that I've tried. It's just the perfect balance of moistness and density, and it's beautiful and golden. I remember the first time I made it, I had been trying different pound cake recipes, and again, my mom's like, try the one. Enjoy. So that one I absolutely love. And just in general, I've been influenced by the way your recipes are written. It's. Talk about empathetic recipe writing. It's just so helpful and useful, and there's a trust involved when you're presented a recipe in this way where each ingredient is integrated into the instruction.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, I wish we were more trendsetters on that, on that front, because I feel like it's a great format, having the ingredients appear where they're used. But it does make making a grocery list a little harder.

[Megan Scott]

But you should be reading the recipe through before you make it anyway.

[Maureen Abboud]

Yes, that's such a good point. That's such a helpful thing that many, many of us gloss over that element of cooking and baking when it's just probably the. A number one thing next to having the right equipment. It's essential to our success.

[Jon Becker]

I was definitely excited about the Za' Atar cheese dome that you have a recipe for.

[Megan Scott]

It does look good. I flagged that one, too.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah.

[Megan Scott]

What else smells so good?

[Jon Becker]

The baklava cheesecake. Some of the ones that are not, you know, quote unquote traditional, they look really great. But yeah, that was.

[Maureen Abboud]

Oh, thank you.

[Jon Becker]

That's not a question. So I guess I can't.

[Maureen Abboud]

Well, that's a very fun recipe to bake. The cheese dome. And you get the best of all worlds because you have these layers of golden, flaky dough with the cheese in the middle, and it's encased in the dough so it remains nice and soft and melty. And then the zaata spice on top, which is one of our favorite Lebanese spices, which is a combination of wild thyme and sumac and sesame seeds. Very earthy. And it just goes so well with the cheese and the. And the bread. And this can be a meal. You can cut it into wedges like pizza and have it with a salad. And it's. It's also a beautiful presentation. You pull it out. And what happens with these layers when you bake it is it puffs up like a pita almost, and it becomes this dome. And it's. It's a lot of flair to pull that out of the oven and serve it.

[Megan Scott]

We've got a lot of baking to do.

[Maureen Abboud]

I just wanted to mention, too, how neat it was to see the fattoush salad and the fetaya in the new book.

[Megan Scott]

We love Fitaya. That was one of the first recipes, I think, that we made together.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, for sure. There's a restaurant, Nicola's restaurant, they would just make these great spinach fattayas that are just fantastic and definitely knew we needed to add that.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, that's a really good recipe.

[Maureen Abboud]

That's fun that you decided you'd go home and make those.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, I think I remember we made the spinach ones, but we also. We were making them for a road trip to New Orleans and we had some leftovers that. I don't even remember what the leftovers were, but we used. We made all kinds of different fatala based on whatever the leftovers were. We just put them inside, very handy format.

[Jon Becker]

We had extra dough and we had leftovers.

[Maureen Abboud]

That was very versatile of you to do that. It's one of the chapters of the book that was really labor intensive, even though I had been making Fitaya for a long, long time on both my blog and in my first book, and they're in every book. But getting those right to look beautiful and tastes great, that was a feat. And you can ask my husband, Dan, what he thinks of it, because I dragged him to Dearborn on the coldest night of the year in January.

[Megan Scott]

And that means something in Michigan.

[Maureen Abboud]

Yeah, it was way below, way below zero. And we had to be at the bakery, this lovely bakery. They welcomed me into their kitchen. I've sampled many, many Fitaya all over. And these are just. They're so perfect and beautiful and they look so good and taste so great. I just really wanted to see how they did it. And so I went in in the very early wee hours and had a lesson watching, just watching how it was done. And what I'm excited about is that the recipes, they result in a fattai, that these are little savory pies made with yeasted dough that are pinched closed at the top in different shapes. And that pinching of yeasted dough together can be a challenge because it wants to open up when it bakes and become a little distorted. And for many people that's all right. But most people who make these, they really want them to look great when they're done because as you're saying time, you've spent all this time and you, you know, your effort and you want them to look great. So I'm excited at how great these do look.

[Jon Becker]

Well, and, and one of the recipes that you included in that chapter, the XL Fitaya, that, that seems like it would be like you slack off a.

[Megan Scott]

Little bit, you know.

[Maureen Abboud]

Totally. And good point. I think that that's a great starting recipe for someone entering into Lebanese baking to make the Fitaya xl. The cheese Fitaya xl. You of pinching, it's not as nuanced. It's not going to necessarily open up. It's almost like an oblong galette with cheese and quite delicious.

[Megan Scott]

Beautiful.

[Sarah Marshall]

Oh, hello. I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about an easy way to enhance your meals. Whether they are a healthy vegan grain bowl or that late night snack we'll pretend didn't happen the next day. And that easy way is Marshall's haute sauce. For 15 years, chef and cookbook author Sarah Marshall has been hand making and bottling these delicious sauces. She works directly with local farmers and highlights the lovely flavors of fresh seasonal produce. They're gluten free. There are no additives, dyes, waxes or binders. And they have mouth watering combinations like serrano ginger, lemongrass or habanero carrot curry or even whiskey Smoked ghost which was featured on Hot Ones. So head on over to marshallshot sauce.com that's Marshall's H A U T E S a u c e.com and see all the available sauces and spice blends. Oh, that's right. Sarah's created spice packets by dehydrating and freeze drying actual produce so you can impart flavor to your food with more vegetables. But that's a story for another day. Find all of these delicious [e-mail] and entertainment. Haute joy. That's one word. Capital H A U T E capital J.J. o Y one word at checkout for 20% off. That's haute joy at checkout for 20% off. And now back to the show.

[Megan Scott]

Each week we answer a caller question. This week we're talking about yogurt making. I'm very excited you're here, Maureen, for this question. Sarah, can you read the question?

[Patreon Announcer]

The yogurt at my local store has a bunch of added ingredients. I want to make it at home. Do you have an easy guide or recipe?

[Megan Scott]

Recipe. All right, we have some notes, Maureen, but I feel like you should take the lead on this because you have a recipe for making yogurt in your book. Rose water and orange blossoms. And also how to make Lebna.

[Maureen Abboud]

Yes, it's one of the. One of the most visited recipes on my website, too. And I love that because it means people are wanting to make yogurt at home. And it's such a wise thing to do because it's so economical and it's so simple and so satisfying. It's almost like a sourdough practice because your work, working with your last batch, you're taking a little bit of a starter out of your last batch, which can just be commercially purchased yogurt, plain yogurt, and you're inoculating hot milk with this starter, and then it basically ferments overnight and turns into yogurt. And you do not need a yogurt maker.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, it's a pretty straightforward process. Joy has a recipe for making yogurt on page 1034. Getting into the thousands with that yogurt.

[Shannon Larson]

When you say that out loud, I know that's wild.

[Jon Becker]

I was doing a little perusing through old editions and yeah, we. We've had it in the book since 1951.

[Megan Scott]

That's pretty good. Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah. Irma was really, I don't know, I feel like the head note to it was a little bit tongue in cheek, but, yeah, definitely playing up the health benefits or at least saying that it was kind of part of this health fad that I guess was going on at the time.

[Megan Scott]

But, yeah, she kind of referenced. It's so funny. You can tell when Irma wrote something, but she kind of references like retirees in Florida eating yogurt and hoping that it wins or the bad bacteria or something. But so, like, Irma was snarky about it. But then you can tell when Marian took over in the 60s because Marian was very into foods like yogurt and whole grains and things like that. And so she had a more, I think she personally probably really liked it and a more flattering image of yogurt in the 60s. But our recipe is really simple. You just, you take the milk up to, I think, 180. Maureen, I believe your recipe takes it up to. To 10, right? Like a little higher.

[Maureen Abboud]

I do go a little higher, but I've been schooled by many that it doesn't need to go that high. So it's fine either way.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. Basically you take it up to like a simmer and then bring it down to. What is it, around 1 18, 110, 15. 115, yeah. And you can just let it come to that temperature or. I usually am impatient. So I will fill the sink with cold water and then put my pot in the sink and kind of stir it occasionally until it comes back down. Because you don't want to kill the yogurt culture that you're going to add. If you, if you keep it too hot, it will kill the bacteria. So you want to cool it down, but not too much because it has to stay warm during the incubation process in order to set and become yogurt. And I feel like the biggest hurdle for people with yogurt making is keeping it warm enough for a long enough period of time. What, what do you use to keep your yogurt warm?

[Maureen Abboud]

I go old school. I keep it in the pot that I boiled the milk in and added the, the starter to put the lid on. Put a towel over that, couple of kitchen towels, and I've had the oven on like 100 degrees or so for just a couple of minutes. And turn it off and make sure you turn it off. And then I put the pot in there overnight. But sometimes if you open it and you jiggle your pot and you're looking at your milk and it's still a little too wet, I've just let it keep going. Keep it in the warmth for another 12 hours or something. And it usually just, it works great.

[Megan Scott]

So just patience. If it's not set yet, just wait a little longer. Yes.

[Maureen Abboud]

Now, have I had failed batches? Yes, I have had them. I think we all have had them. And I don't think that there's a clear cut answer as to why there may be a time when your yogurt doesn't take. There are so many environmental factors involved in making yogurt, and I don't know if you've come up with a reason why. Maybe you have, but I haven't.

[Megan Scott]

I mean, my, my suspicion is always that the, the starter yogurt, it doesn't have enough bacteria or something. Maybe something happened and it's just not as viable. I don't make yogurt regularly anymore, which I probably should because I love making it.

[Jon Becker]

We have that yogotherm thing just waiting.

[Megan Scott]

Well, I was using. I was actually buying a powdered culture. You can get yogurt Cultures I was using cheesemaking.com they have like a selection of yogurt cultures and you can get them to kind of yield different flavors. Like if you like a tangier yogurt, you can get one that makes it tangy. If you like a sweeter, milder one, you can get one that lets it be sweeter and milder. The powdered culture is nice because you're pretty much always going to be successful if you use the powder. And I kind of came to that because I'd been working in cheese making and we used all these powdered cultures. So I was really comfortable with that. It's very easy to use though. And then I have this little. It's called a yogo therm. It's not like a yogurt maker but it's a little insulated container. It's basically just like a quart container that is insulated with styrofoam and has a lid. There's no power involved. You don't need to plug it in or anything. But it, it holds the temperature really well. It's really compact and I always had success using that thing. I still have it.

[Shannon Larson]

You know, I've never made yogurt but now I really, really want to make yogurt.

[Megan Scott]

It's fun. Yeah, yeah, it's fun.

[Maureen Abboud]

It's really fun.

[Shannon Larson]

Sounds so sciency.

[Maureen Abboud]

I want to try the powdered culture and so you don't use any other starter when you use that.

[Megan Scott]

Right. And you only use a tiny amount. I mean I think it's like a quarter teaspoon for maybe even half gallon. It's very small amount and you can store it in your freezer and then it's ready whenever you need it. But yeah, it's worth trying.

[Jon Becker]

It doesn't quite have the same poetic sourdoughy perpetual.

[Shannon Larson]

But yeah, but it sets.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, exactly. Do you have a favorite brand of store bought yogurt when you haven't been able to make it yourself?

[Maureen Abboud]

Luckily where I live we have all of these Lebanese restaurants where you can buy homemade yogurt that has the certain tang that we're looking for. In the Lebanese sort of way that we eat yogurt, it's usually savory and then strained for the labne, which is the thickened yogurt. It's. It's pretty tangy. But if I'm going to buy it in the grocery store, which it can be, you don't always see plain whole milk yogurt in a, like a smaller container. Sometimes you can get a big, I Like Stonyfield Organic a lot. It's just a really creamy and rich.

[Megan Scott]

Nice.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah. For Labneh, we're Biblos all the way. So good.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, there's a little Lebanese grocery. You go there all the time. Shannon too.

[Shannon Larson]

You were there yesterday.

[Megan Scott]

Labu Fried. They're great. And they have, they'll have a couple brands of the Labne. But yeah, we always get the Biblos, the blue container.

[Jon Becker]

I think we're just creatures of habit.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Maureen Abboud]

Yeah, it's delicious. You can buy such great Lubne now, prepared Lubny. It's. It's really kind of stealing our practice away from our kitchens because it's so easy and delicious to purchase.

[Megan Scott]

Well, whether or not you're making your own yogurt or buying it, this week's Joy Scouts recipe is the French yogurt cake on page 734. This is a really great anytime cake recipe. Like if you just want a little something sweet, but you don't want to go through the hassle of making really, like impressive cake, it's just mixed together in a bowl. So it's like a one bowl cake. And kind of the story or the lore behind it is that, you know, in, in France, most home cooks don't bake a lot because why would you if you lived in France? There's bakeries everywhere and they're amazing. This is one of those recipes that you might know how to make by heart because you buy a little container of yogurt, plain yogurt, and then you use the yogurt cup to measure the other ingredients. So like your flour and your sugar and your oil. So it's an oil based cake. We do have actual measurements in our recipe, but that's kind of the story behind it. And it's really great with fruit or kind of however you want to serve it, but it's very simple and just has a great flavor. I think there's a little lemon zest in there. That, that's really nice. So if you make that, please tag us on Instagram. It's French yogurt cake on page 734. And if you have a topic, ingredient or joy story to share, call our hotline at 503-395-8858. Leave us a message or send us a text. We would love to hear from you. Next week's topic comes from our caller.

[Carly]

Hi, my name is Carly. I am from Kansas. I just wanted to say thank you for this podcast. It's brought a lot of reinvigoration to My love for cooking. I've become a mom in the past four years. I've had three kids in the past four years. So cooking has been good but hard in lots of different ways. But my question, if you had to pick a recipe from the book to. To be your Ride or die, what would it be? So, like, this is the recipe you're definitely making to take to the potluck, or this is the recipe you want to share, I don't know, with your mom or your friends or your other foodie lovers, or this is the thing you're definitely making for the family next door that just had a baby and you want to bring them a meal or just something from the book. I think for me currently my ride or die recipe out of the book is the banana bread cockney. I love the banana bread recipe. It is so good. And I've shared it with probably about 10 people because I'm like, you gotta make this banana bread. It is so delicious and easy and simple and my kids love it and my husband loves it and I love it. So I was wondering if there are other recipes that you guys would recommend to be a ride or die or, you know, just something different. But I just wanted to thank you and that I really enjoyed the podcast.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, I love that. Thank you so much for listening to the show and thank you for the question. And we'll definitely tackle that question next week. Our Ride or die joy response.

[Shannon Larson]

That's fun.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, that's really fun. What is everybody making this week?

[Jon Becker]

Well, I think I'm going to continue strawberry ice cream experiments.

[Megan Scott]

Oh no, not the strawberry ice cream experiment.

[Shannon Larson]

So sorry.

[Jon Becker]

Right up there with soft pillows.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

We went to an ice Cream Parlor, 50 Licks, and their Strawberry ice cream was great. I just got me in the mood to experiment and I already did do one batch where I took our basic recipe and added a bunch of freeze dried strawberries to the base. You know, blended it up in a blender for quite a while to make sure they all got really atomized. And then a little cornstarch to keep everything like really soft, even at freezer temperatures.

[Megan Scott]

You mean corn syrup?

[Jon Becker]

Did I say that?

[Megan Scott]

You said cornstarch. It's fine.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, the syrup one. I want to do like a sour cream, brown sugar ice cream with strawberry ripple next time because one of Marian's favorite things to eat, even though she was allergic to strawberries, she would, she loved dipping them in sour cream and then dipping in my brown sugar. So I was thinking that would be a fun one to try I'm looking.

[Megan Scott]

Forward to this experiment.

[Shannon Larson]

And don't forget to use your green chilies this week.

[Maureen Abboud]

Just.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, in the ice cream?

[Shannon Larson]

No, not in the ice cream. Just in general.

[Jon Becker]

It's too far.

[Megan Scott]

Shannon.

[Shannon Larson]

I was gifted some okra last night, a bag of okra. So I'm excited to use that this week. I've started to use my, like, refrigerator whiteboard to write down the things that I need to use, because you inspired me to start doing that, and it's been really helpful. So okra is on the menu. I don't know exactly what I'm going.

[Megan Scott]

To do with it yet.

[Shannon Larson]

I also have a problem buying melons right now.

[Megan Scott]

Just because you have a problem.

[Shannon Larson]

I have been buying too many melons, and I'm like, I can't just eat. I mean, I can. I've been freezing chunks and then just having them in the refrigerator, so I make little mini popsicles.

[Megan Scott]

That sounds really good.

[Shannon Larson]

I love doing it like that. But I also kind of want to incorporate it into, like, dinner sometime or our lunch sometime. So I'm trying to come up with more ways to use it instead of just, like, freezing pieces and eating them all day long.

[Megan Scott]

I mean, that sounds fine. I know. We just got a pig share, so we. We bought a quarter pig from someone we know who raises pigs. So we just stocked our freezer with a bunch of pork, and we were given two hams. And I will be honest with you. Oh, you're not a. I am not a ham. I am not a city ham person. I like country ham, but not city ham so much. I mean, it's fine. So if any listeners have any favorite ways of using up lots and lots of ham, I would love to hear it.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, we need to be proactive this time.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, we need to not wait until a year from now to try to eat the ham. Maureen, what about you? What are you cooking this week?

[Maureen Abboud]

We are at the height of the harvest season here in Michigan, So it's tomatoes, corn. The corn is just beyond sweet and crisp and plums and peaches, and they're all just. None of them need to be touched. You just. Just accept to put them in your mouth. But of course, we have to. We have to work with them. So I have this. This savory tomato galette that I make using filo dough and lopni and roasted tomatoes and chopped green, like Castelvetrano olives. And I'm really looking forward to making that. And I've been making BLTs using Lebanese flatbread instead of toast and the chew there of the bread. It's, it's a happy time for eating in Michigan.

[Shannon Larson]

We just bought Lebanese flatbread last night from the Lebanese market. So I will be doing that this week.

[Megan Scott]

Thank you for the inspiration.

[Maureen Abboud]

Delicious. Put some toum on it.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, yes.

[Megan Scott]

I am so hungry, y'.

[Maureen Abboud]

All.

[Megan Scott]

I thought we gotta wrap this podcast.

[Jon Becker]

Is that galette recipe on your website?

[Maureen Abboud]

Yes.

[Jon Becker]

Okay, I'll be, we'll be, we'll put.

[Megan Scott]

That in the show notes.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah.

[Maureen Abboud]

Oh, wonderful. Thank you.

[Megan Scott]

And before we wrap, where can listeners follow you?

[Maureen Abboud]

Maureen, join [e-mail] and on all my social media handles. Ornaboot.

[Megan Scott]

Thanks for listening to the Joy of Cooking podcast. Before we go, show some love for your favorite podcast by subscribing to the show and leaving a review. Follow us at joyofcooking.substack.com and on Instagram @the joyofcooking. Stay tuned for next week where we'll talk about our ride or die recipes and joy. And don't forget to make this week's recipe French yogurt cake on page 734. Call in with questions, hopes, history, or where you find joy in the kitchen. Our number is 503-395-8858. That's 503-395-8858.

[Shannon Larson]

And we could not do this without our fantastic team at the Joy of Creation production house. Thank you to Dave Druske, our production coordinator, Haley Bowers, our audio engineer, and Sarah Marshall, our producer.

[Patreon Announcer]

If you love the stories we bring you each week, please consider supporting us on Patreon. As an independent media company, your support is absolutely essential. It allows us to continue creating high quality professional episodes that amplify the voices of women, small business owners, writers, artists and creatives and keep their stories free from commercial pressure. By becoming a Patreon member, you're not just supporting us. You're investing in the future of independent people media. Please visit patreon. Com thejoyofcreationproduction House to join our community today. Thank you for listening and supporting our podcast dreams.