We Are Joined At The Table With Carissa Mylin: Inspired By Salmon

Summary

The Joy of Cooking Podcast: Episode Summary

Title: We Are Joined At The Table With Carissa Mylin: Inspired By Salmon
Release Date: December 25, 2024
Host/Authors: John Becker, Megan Scott, Shannon Larson
Guest: Carissa Milan

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1. Welcome and Introductions (00:40 - 05:26)

The episode opens with the familiar warm welcome from Shannon Larson, John Becker, and Megan Scott. They share personal updates about their recent culinary adventures, emphasizing comfort foods suited for the Pacific Northwest's first atmospheric river.

Notable Quote:
Megan Scott (02:40): “We made aso Pao de pollo, which is a Puerto Rican chicken and rice soup. That's like one of our favorite, absolute favorite things to make during the winter because it's super cozy and it's really hearty.”

2. Introducing the Guest: Carissa Milan (05:26 - 07:47)

The hosts welcome Carissa Milan, a longtime friend, home cook, and gardener. Carissa shares her background in commercial interior design and her passion for cooking and gardening.

Notable Quote:
Carissa Milan (06:24): “I spend my day designing experiences for people and my time at home designing experiences for my cats.”

3. Cooking Styles and Kitchen Hacks (07:47 - 11:41)

Carissa discusses her flexible cooking approach, often adapting recipes to suit her needs as a single cook. She highlights her non-reliant stance on strict recipes, favoring improvisation in the kitchen.

Notable Quote:
Carissa Milan (08:05): “I'm definitely not a follow the recipe to a tea person. I'm a single person. So everything you've ever purchased or tried to cook is intended for more than one person.”

4. Tasting Segment: Yunhai Products (11:41 - 19:47)

The hosts engage in a tasting segment featuring Yunhai’s white sesame oil, dried green mango, and dried golden diamond pineapple. They explore the differences in quality compared to standard grocery store ingredients and discuss potential uses in various recipes.

Notable Quotes:
Megan Scott (13:35): “It's gonna have, like, a special crunch to it.”
Carissa Milan (17:20): “Think of it as nature's sour gummy.”

5. Carissa’s Culinary and Gardening Journey (19:47 - 25:20)

Carissa reminisces about her childhood with the Joy of Cooking and her family's vegetarian lifestyle. She delves into her gardening practices, sharing successes and challenges with different vegetables and experimental plants like okra and ground nuts.

Notable Quote:
Carissa Milan (21:24): “So, like, what kind of, like, weird, random, experimental things am I gonna stick in here?”

6. Kitchen Organization and Sustainability Tips (25:20 - 32:53)

Carissa shares her zero-waste strategies, including meal planning, vacuum sealing, and labeling her refrigerator items with tape and a Sharpie for easy identification. These practices help minimize food waste and streamline her cooking process.

Notable Quote:
Carissa Milan (31:07): “I keep a roll of tape, like, masking tape, and a Sharpie in my silverware drawer. Every time I pop something in the refrigerator or the freezer, I put a piece of tape on it that says what's in it.”

7. Listener Interaction: Easy Salmon Recipes (32:53 - 43:07)

Responding to a listener named Kai's request for easy salmon recipes, the hosts offer various suggestions:

• Salmon Chowder: A one-pot meal with leeks, stock, potatoes, cream, and salmon.
  John Becker (35:00): “The recipe that we have in the book is great. It’s got leeks, some stock, then you just simmer some potatoes for a little while…”

• Coconut Miso Salmon Curry: Adapted from the New York Times, praised for its simplicity and flavor.
  Shannon Larson (35:12): “The coconut miso salmon curry. That's like one of our favorite go-to weeknight meals.”

• Slow-Roasted Salmon: Emphasizing low oven temperatures for evenly cooked, moist salmon.
  Shannon Larson (35:22): “Slow roasted salmon is my go-to. It's always perfect.”

• Salmon on Papillote and Poke Bowls: Creative serving suggestions for enhancing presentation and flavor.
  Megan Scott (39:50): “Salmon poke is so easy. And I don't know if Kai likes raw fish, but it's just delicious and easy to make.”

Notable Quote:
Carissa Milan (37:52): “If I'm gonna cook fish, I'll cook like three or four of them at once and then put them in the fridge. And then weeknights, they're already cooked…”

8. Future Topics and Closing (43:07 - End)

The episode wraps up with a teaser for the next episode, which will address listener Carly’s request for favorite vegan and kid-friendly recipes. The hosts also share personal updates about their upcoming Thanksgiving plans and continued gardening endeavors.

Notable Quote:
Megan Scott (43:07): “I will talk about kid-friendly vegan recipes on the next episode.”

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Key Takeaways and Insights

• Flexible Cooking: Emphasizing adaptability in the kitchen allows for personalized and sustainable meal preparation, especially for single cooks.

• Gardening as a Lifestyle: Integrating gardening with cooking enhances the connection to food sources, despite challenges like pests and climate.

• Zero-Waste Practices: Efficient kitchen organization and mindful meal planning contribute to reducing food waste and promoting sustainability.

• Community and Connection: Sharing recipes and culinary tips fosters a sense of community, making cooking a more engaging and less solitary activity.

• Easy Salmon Recipes: The hosts provide a range of simple yet delicious salmon recipes, catering to different preferences and cooking styles.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Megan Scott (02:40): “We made aso Pao de pollo, which is a Puerto Rican chicken and rice soup. That's like one of our favorite, absolute favorite things to make during the winter because it's super cozy and it's really hearty.”

• Carissa Milan (08:05): “I'm definitely not a follow the recipe to a tea person. I'm a single person. So everything you've ever purchased or tried to cook is intended for more than one person.”

• Carissa Milan (31:07): “I keep a roll of tape, like, masking tape, and a Sharpie in my silverware drawer. Every time I pop something in the refrigerator or the freezer, I put a piece of tape on it that says what's in it.”

• John Becker (35:00): “The recipe that we have in the book is great. It’s got leeks, some stock, then you just simmer some potatoes for a little while…”

• Shannon Larson (35:22): “Slow roasted salmon is my go-to. It's always perfect.”

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Conclusion

In this episode, "The Joy of Cooking" Podcast delves deep into the art of flexible cooking, sustainable practices, and the joys of gardening, all while focusing on delicious and easy-to-make salmon recipes. With the insightful participation of guest Carissa Milan, listeners gain practical tips and heartfelt anecdotes that inspire both novice and seasoned home cooks. The camaraderie among the hosts and their dedication to fostering a cooking community shine through, making this episode a hearty serving of culinary wisdom and warmth.

Transcript

[Jon Becker]

Sa.

[Shannon Larson]

Hello and 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 most importantly, what we are cooking and eating right now. We're glad you've joined us at the table today. I'm Shannon Larson, home cook, ardent Joy of Cooking user and fan, and kiwi enthusiastic.

[Megan Scott]

I'm Megan Scott, co author of the 2019 Joy of Cooking. I'm a food editor by day and avoider of dish duty by night, but I make a mean pot of beans.

[Jon Becker]

I'm Jon Becker, 4th Generation Co author and steward of the Joy of Cooking, America's oldest family run cookbook. I enjoy cheesy potatoes and long walks on the beach.

[Megan Scott]

That's a good one. Yet. Welcome back, everybody. We had a break last week, which was kind of nice to have like the. The whole weekend with no plans, but I'm glad to see your faces.

[Shannon Larson]

I know it was kind of weird not seeing you. Yeah, I've gotten used to it.

[Megan Scott]

I know. What were you. What were you up to this week? Did you cook anything fun or eat anything really delicious that you want to talk about?

[Shannon Larson]

Well, speaking of beans, we definitely made rice and beans.

[Megan Scott]

Awesome.

[Shannon Larson]

Which is like a favorite of ours with scratch meats, chicken chorizo sausage.

[Megan Scott]

I haven't had it.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, it's so good. It's actually spicy. And sometimes you're just like, sometimes chorizo, it needs to be a little spicy, in my opinion. But I was traveling for work a little bit, so I ended up having to eat out a lot, which is not my favorite thing in the world.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. Like, it's kind of nice at first.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, like the first thing.

[Megan Scott]

Then it wears off really quickly. Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, I was. And it was to bend. So it was like brewery or brewery or brewery. So bend is also amazing. But you know.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, no, I know how that goes. Well, I mean, since we're having our first atmospheric river in the Pacific Northwest, we've been eating a lot of wet foods as well. So we. I know it sounds so gross. We made soup. Like, I think we ate soup for three meals in a row.

[Jon Becker]

Another way of saying that would be.

[Megan Scott]

It's.

[Jon Becker]

It's soup seasoning.

[Shannon Larson]

It's just soup.

[Megan Scott]

It's just. I'm talking about soup. That's all. But John was like, the last three meals we've eaten have been liquids. And I was like, I feel so hydrated. It's so nice. But, yeah, we made. We made aso Pao de pollo, which is a Puerto Rican chicken and rice soup. That's like one of our favorite, absolute favorite things to make during the winter because it's super cozy and it's really hearty and has like, it actually has, like, green olives in it and peas and chicken. And what else? I'm missing stuff.

[Jon Becker]

Some. Some minato achiote. It's very good. Yeah. What else is in there? We're usually starting off with skin on bone in chicken. And so though we'll. We'll take the skin off and then crisp it up in the oven as the, like, chicken and rice are cooking. So you have a nice little crispy topping.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, those crispy chicken skins are one of my favorite things in the world. Yeah, I had, I had a hot take this week, which is that I think I like them better than bacon. Like when they're super just like, shatteringly crisp. I would rather eat that than a slice of bacon.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, I don't think John agrees with you.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, I can't go there.

[Megan Scott]

Well, that's what a hot take is. Everyone disagrees with you.

[Jon Becker]

We cooked up some. Some white beans with some like, andouille sausage, like, you know, the Cajun holy trinity of green bell pepper, onion and garlic. And yeah, the sandui that I've been.

[Megan Scott]

Special ordering from Louisiana. Really?

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, I've been ordering this andouille from a smokehouse called Wayne Jacobs. It's fantastic. Wayne Jacobs does a really good job. But, yeah, a real andouille. It's just like big, big chunks of meat in there. It's not like your typical sausage. And there's like a lot of marjoram and it is, you know, actually spicy.

[Megan Scott]

It's really good. Very good.

[Jon Becker]

But that with crispy potatoes and yeah, salad was really good.

[Megan Scott]

And then we made gamja tong, which is another favorite. It's a Korean stew that has. Usually it's made with like, pork neck, I believe, but we usually use like, ribs or country style ribs, whatever we have. And it has potatoes and daikon radish.

[Jon Becker]

Like big, big chunks.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, big chunks. And then doenjang. So it's like fermented soybean paste. It's just delicious. It's so, like, comforting and warming.

[Shannon Larson]

It sounds amazing.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, we'll make that a lot this winter.

[Shannon Larson]

I definitely bust out my Korean American cookbook a lot during this time too, just for like, kimchi stews and all of that yummy fermented goodness.

[Megan Scott]

Such a good book.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, I love that book.

[Megan Scott]

We would like to welcome Carissa Milan to this week's episode. Thanks for joining us. Carissa, hello.

[Carissa Milan]

Thanks for having me.

[Megan Scott]

Carissa is a longtime friend of all three of us and also just an awesome home cook and home gardener. So we're thrilled to have you on the show. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, like what you do for a living?

[Carissa Milan]

Sure. Thanks for calling me an awesome home cook and gardener because as you know, when you guys come over, I immediately get self conscious about my cooking and I'm like, will you look at this? Will you smell it? Will you taste it? And I cook it all the way through. I get really nervous because your cooking is significantly better than mine. Just because I think you're a little more practiced. I grew up in Portland. I work for an architecture firm. I'm a commercial interior designer. So I spend my day designing experiences for people and my time at home designing experiences for my cats.

[Megan Scott]

And you have a new cat.

[Carissa Milan]

I do. I have a new little kitty.

[Megan Scott]

That's so exciting.

[Carissa Milan]

Yep. When John is talking about eating wet food this week, I was like, wow. Yeah, we've had a lot of wet food in the house this week.

[Megan Scott]

Gross. Do you, like, do anything special? I feel like I'm a little bit getting into crazy cat lady territory because of the things I do for my cats. Oh, yeah. Like, I have started heating up Lola's food in the microwave. It smells so bad. It's the worst thing ever. It's only for 10 seconds, but she loves it heated up and it. So I just do it now and it's just like a normal thing I do. But whenever we have people over, I'm like, this is a really weird. I'm doing something really weird.

[Carissa Milan]

The worst. The worst thing that I do is I feel first thing in the morning, you know, like you try to run the kitchen faucet to get hot water out and it takes forever. So instead of doing that, I use my espresso machine to run hot water to put in the food. That's about it.

[Megan Scott]

That's a good hack. That's just a good hack.

[Carissa Milan]

Gotta save water.

[Megan Scott]

So one of our goals for the show was to have some just normal home cooks on as guests occasionally, because I feel like we'll get a little bit of a different perspective and just talk about things that normal people are concerned with or interested in or happy about. And so I'm really stoked to have you on because you're just.

[Carissa Milan]

I'm just about as normal as it comes.

[Megan Scott]

Well, I don't know if I'd Say that. But could you tell us a little bit about your, like, what is your cooking style? Are you a follow the recipe to a tea person, or do you just, like, throw stuff in a pan and see if it works?

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah, I'm definitely not a follow the recipe to a tea person. I'm a single person. So everything you've ever purchased or tried to cook is intended for more than one person. So. And I. I don't. You know, if you have to buy those ingredients, it's never enough to make for one or two people. It's enough for, like, a family. And so you kind of have to, like, take it and wing it and toss things in or out that you might want to use or might not. Today, for example, I made your beets, the golden beets. And I was like, you're right. My kitchen doesn't have great ventilation. I'm gonna use my weird little jarred balsamic glaze. And so I just won it. I didn't even put pistachios or anything in. It was just the goat cheese and glaze, and it was fantastic. But one of the things I do like about the Joy is that I do feel really comfortable being really liberal with how I use the recipes. And so it's a good starting point and, like, kind of a roadmap, but knowing that you can kind of take detours in between and.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

Use other things and whatever. Whatever you have. Right. It's like, feel comfortable using whatever you have.

[Megan Scott]

Exactly. I think that's our goal for everyone using the Joy of Cooking is that they can feel empowered to go off script and not have to just follow the recipe verbatim every single time.

[Jon Becker]

Not necessarily. Have to gas themselves out of their kitchen by making a balsamic.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

If it came to. This is why I don't bake, girl. Like, I do not bake because baking is science, and you have to follow that. Exactly. And I cannot do that. Like, I barely use any kind of measuring utensils at any point. I'm like a sprinkle in a whiff kind of person. So cooking? Yes. Freestyle baking. Absolutely not. I will cook you a break.

[Jon Becker]

Luckily, you know, there's lots of awesome bakeries around town.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, you don't have to do that. Other people will do that.

[Jon Becker]

Knowing when to outsource, definitely. It's its own skill.

[Carissa Milan]

Yes.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. What is the best thing you cooked this week?

[Carissa Milan]

Oh, on Tuesday night, I made a delicata squash galette, and my friends came over from work, and they were like, girl, when did you have time to make this buttery, flaky crust. And I was like, I didn't. I made it with my money. I didn't. I literally, like, welded the two puff pastries together and then rolled them out flat. It was the ugliest thing I ever made. But because it was like sheet pan size, it slid nicely onto the serving platter. But I did like caramelized onions roasted delicata. I had a little honey goat cheese, which is what I had left over for the beets. And then I sprinkled some dried sage on that. I actually dried myself this summer, which I feel really proud about. And then at the last minute, I decided to drizzle a little honey over the top.

[Shannon Larson]

That sounds so good.

[Carissa Milan]

Fantastic. I feel like the next time I make that, I'm probably going to put some sopressata on it to, like, add a little protein element. But my realization from that was that puff pastry is kind of like fried food. It makes everything taste a lot better.

[Shannon Larson]

100%. It's true.

[Megan Scott]

Well, I'm going to make that very soon. That sounds like something that we would both really enjoy.

[Jon Becker]

We need to take.

[Megan Scott]

I need more ideas.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah.

[Megan Scott]

Puff pastry and then, like, ideas for winter squash. I always run out by the end of winter, and I'm just like, I can't eat another delicata squash. But I do. I'm still loving them right now.

[Carissa Milan]

So. Yeah, same. I bought three today. Big ones. Yeah. My mom asked if I would make it for, like, our post Thanksgiving thing. That same puff pastry thing. I was like, I got you.

[Megan Scott]

Awesome. So we're going to do our tasting segment now, and today we're going to be trying a couple things from Yunhai, which is a really awesome online marketplace that sells Taiwanese and Chinese specialty ingredients. And we've been using their white sesame oil for, I don't know, like, at least a year probably. It's really delicious. It's like the best. It's the best sesame oil I've ever had. And we also get, like, they have a few vinegars that we. That we stock regularly and kind of thinking about getting one of their. Awesome. They have, like, these countertop steamers that I'm very intrigued by. We're going to taste the white sesame oil, and I'm actually going to make on air. I'm gonna make this cabbage salad that we eat all the time because it takes, like, five minutes to make. And I'm making it in a. In a ziploc bag. We don't normally make it in a Ziploc bag at home because it's kind of wasteful. But since we're sitting at a table right now, it's just easier. So I've got. The cabbage is not really shredded. It's cut into like 1 inch chunks or 1 inch pieces. And I'm going to grate part of a clove of garlic in there on my miniature microplane.

[Carissa Milan]

This is the cutest microp.

[Shannon Larson]

I can't believe you brought that over knowing full well that there was probably one here.

[Jon Becker]

That miniature microplane was schwag of some kind. It looks like it's supposed to go on a keychain.

[Carissa Milan]

I was gonna say it's like, if you're like a chef and a backpacker.

[Megan Scott]

I'm not gonna use the full garlic clove. Cause it's not that much cabbage. And then I'm gonna add just maybe like a teaspoon, a teaspoon and a half of chicken bouillon powder. It's the nor brand. And then I will add a generous, probably tablespoon of this white sesame oil.

[Shannon Larson]

I opened it up before we started recording, and my mouth started like. I started salivating when I smelled it. It smells so good.

[Megan Scott]

So good. And you should smell it sometime beside, like, your regular grocery store sesame oil. The difference is, like, you. It's. There's a big difference. The quality is really high. Oh, my God. I just dumped. I just dumped, like, all of my sesame seeds. It's fin. All the sesame seeds went into this salad. But it will be really good.

[Jon Becker]

It's gonna have, like, a special crunch to it.

[Megan Scott]

It's gonna be delicious. I don't normally put that many sesame seeds in. I normally put, like.

[Shannon Larson]

No, you don't dump a tablespoon container in there.

[Megan Scott]

I thought I had opened the little.

[Carissa Milan]

They really shouldn't fool you with the dotted side and the whole side. They should just give you one option.

[Jon Becker]

You know, we're gonna try this, and we're never gonna make it another way again.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

Never going back.

[Megan Scott]

It's going to be so good. And I'm just like, kneading it in the bag to get all the seasonings dispersed.

[Carissa Milan]

I really thought to myself, I was like, she's going for it.

[Megan Scott]

Okay, I think we're ready. It might need a little salt, but I'm hoping the chicken bouillon powder will be enough. Okay, who wants to try? There's like, sesame seeds going everywhere.

[Jon Becker]

We need. We need a fork.

[Carissa Milan]

Is this a hand situation or a fork situation?

[Megan Scott]

I mean, you could grab, like. I'm just gonna grab.

[Carissa Milan]

I'LL do it or not.

[Shannon Larson]

I'll do it.

[Jon Becker]

Fine.

[Shannon Larson]

Come on, John. Peer pressure.

[Megan Scott]

It needs a little salt. Oh, my God. But it's really. The flavor is good.

[Shannon Larson]

Mm.

[Carissa Milan]

Honestly, I'm, like, really into that deep sesame flavor. Oh, my God. Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

I kind of love all the sesame seeds on it.

[Carissa Milan]

But that's the oil. That's the oil, though. And the bouillon, like, perfectly balances out. It's like the balanced partner to the sesame oil.

[Megan Scott]

It gives it this really nice, savory, Savory flavor.

[Shannon Larson]

That's so good.

[Carissa Milan]

Okay, I'm taking one more.

[Shannon Larson]

And so easy.

[Megan Scott]

We make this all the time.

[Shannon Larson]

Would it be good to, like, make ahead of time for, like, a potluck or something? Or do you think the cabbage would get too soft?

[Megan Scott]

I would. I would not make it ahead of time. I think it might wilt and, like, some water might come out. Okay. But it's so easy to make. You could just bring all the ingredients and throw it together in, like, three minutes.

[Carissa Milan]

But even if you put the cabbage and all the dry stuff, you could toss the oil at the last minute.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. And you can also, like, if you don't want to use a chicken bullion powder, you can also, like. I would just use, like, msg, because you do want that, like, savoriness and probably, like, some regular salt, too.

[Jon Becker]

Or if you. You could also grind up that. The instant dashi powder.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, that would be really good, too.

[Jon Becker]

I mean, usually kind of comes in granules, so you might have to break it up a little bit more.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. But that's, like, one of our easy, favorite easy weeknight salads.

[Shannon Larson]

I love it. That sesame oil is so good.

[Carissa Milan]

Incredible.

[Megan Scott]

So good. Okay, now we're gonna try the dried green mango from Yunhai. I'm really excited. I haven't had this.

[Shannon Larson]

The packaging is really pretty.

[Jon Becker]

I imagine it's gonna have a really nice tart flavor, like, I'm sure. But I don't know that.

[Megan Scott]

It'S really good. I mean, it's like mango, but more sour.

[Shannon Larson]

And what would you. What would you use this for?

[Carissa Milan]

Thoughts?

[Megan Scott]

I'd probably just eat it. It's really good.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm like.

[Megan Scott]

It's like an adult gummy candy.

[Shannon Larson]

It is.

[Carissa Milan]

I'm, like, laying in bed.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

That's how I would eat it.

[Shannon Larson]

Like a healthy Sour Patch Kid.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. That's so good. Yeah. What does it say? Green mangoes are the babies of the family, harvested early, when the fruit is small, crisp and sour. They're served many ways in Taiwan. Pickled in salt and sugar or served frozen in syrup. A proto granita, the dried form is addictively tart and chewy. Think of it as nature's sour gummy.

[Shannon Larson]

There you go.

[Megan Scott]

I agree.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah, it's the lamb of mangoes.

[Shannon Larson]

John's just over here shaking his head.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, it's mango veal.

[Carissa Milan]

Yes.

[Jon Becker]

Please cut that.

[Shannon Larson]

You can't cut everything you say.

[Jon Becker]

Just cut myself today.

[Megan Scott]

Okay. And this is the dried golden diamond pineapple, a variety unique to Taiwan, famous for their flavor, but also their soft, edible cores. Oh, that's cool.

[Carissa Milan]

Me too.

[Megan Scott]

You're soft edible.

[Shannon Larson]

Does that even mean.

[Carissa Milan]

I don't know. I'm getting all 10 pieces in one here.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, that's really good.

[Shannon Larson]

I'm excited for this one. I love pineapple so much.

[Megan Scott]

Really floral. Yeah. The core is super tender, and it's nice.

[Carissa Milan]

There's not, like, a bunch of sugar added. Like, it's just a really classic, tried pineapple flavor without being super sugary.

[Megan Scott]

Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much, Yunhai, for sending us these awesome things to taste. I'm really stoked to have another bottle of the white sesame oil, because we really blow through it.

[Sponsor]

We want to thank our sponsor for supporting the Joy of Cooking podcast and for helping us deepen our connection to home cooks everywhere. Let's hear a word from our sponsor, Yun Hai. Yun Hai offers a selection of premium ingredients for Taiwanese and Chinese cooking. Source directly from artisan farmers and soy sauce breweries in Taiwan. Visit Yunhai Taiwanese [e-mail] and use coupon code joyofcooking. All caps for 10% off orders through December 25th.

[Megan Scott]

Okay, Carissa, how did you first learn about the Joy of Cooking? Did you grow up with it?

[Carissa Milan]

I did. I grew up in a vegetarian household, and my mom is a good cook, but I think she probably didn't grow up around great cooking, and so she kind of relied on cookbooks. And I'm pretty sure the only two cookbooks we had were the Joy of Cooking and the Moosewood Cookbook, because that was a vegetarian cookbook. I grew up in Nashville, similar to you and I. As a kid, I hated vegetables, which is a really unfortunate being a family of vegetarians. Really unfortunate thing, which is ironic because now I love them. But my earliest memory of Joy of Cooking is when my mom would make buttermilk biscuits. That was like, it was going down, and we're making buttermilk biscuits, and the whole house smelled good, and we used, like, the little cutout thingy, and it was really that Was like, a big night in my house as a kid.

[Megan Scott]

Would she serve them with anything particular, or was it just, like she was in the mood to make biscuits?

[Carissa Milan]

It was probably a soup situation. So it's like, probably a minestrone soup, of course, vegetable based. But there was noodles in it, so I was into it.

[Megan Scott]

That helps.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah. I was like a carb kid. Still am. We all are.

[Jon Becker]

Double carb meals are the best meals. Little biscuit, little noodle.

[Megan Scott]

So I want to talk a little bit about your garden because you're a really amazing gardener, and your garden is beautiful.

[Carissa Milan]

Thank you.

[Megan Scott]

Do you plant veggies based on what you like to eat or what you enjoy growing?

[Carissa Milan]

I would say a little bit of both. My first year, I completely lost it and just planted everything I could possibly stuff into the ground. And then I was like, why do I have so many cucumbers that I'm never gonna eat? And you really helped me with that. You were like, carissa, you could make that, like, the cheap sushi where you scrape the seeds out of the middle and make, like, a little tuna and kewpie and sriracha and stuff it like a boat. And it's like, that's how you can eat a whole cucumber. Which I know that's very. It's like a trending thing right now. It's like, what do you do if you have a whole cucumber? This year, I planted pickling cucumbers, and I still had way too many cucumbers. And I kind of feel like all the things that I want to grow more of, I have the hardest time growing.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

Like zucchinis.

[Megan Scott]

Like, why I also cannot grow a zucchini. It's so weird because everyone's like, oh, I have a million zucchinis.

[Shannon Larson]

Mine always get, like, rotten. I don't know what I do wrong.

[Megan Scott]

I always get the powdery mildew.

[Carissa Milan]

I have a skunk that just takes nibbles out of mine. It's fine. But, yeah, I mean, I. Every year I try to experiment. I plant, like, I just did plant my garlic, and so that bed gets vacated last in the summer. And so it's like, it kind of gets a lot of shade in general. And so I'm always like, what kind of, like, weird, random, experimental things am I gonna stick in here? So, like, you guys know I planted ground nuts in that bed? Yeah. Which was a weird thing. I also, at the last minute, planted okra just for funsies. It was the most beautiful thing in my garden this year. I got exactly five Okra spears. They were delicious. But, you know, next year I'm like, more.

[Jon Becker]

That really speaks to our zone. I mean, I feel like okra is just prolific when. If you were to grow it in the South.

[Carissa Milan]

Totally.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

I mean, I planted it in, like, August.

[Jon Becker]

Okay.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, so. Well, that's pretty good then.

[Carissa Milan]

You know, it was like a three foot tall, stunning, beautiful flowers. Like, worth it just for the visuals.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. I want to try growing okra next year. I want to put, like, I want to put some of those galvanized metal tanks on the side of our driveway, because I'm thinking there they'll get a bunch of heat and sun, like afternoon sun. And I think the okra will really call me.

[Carissa Milan]

I'm a good soil schlepper.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, nice.

[Carissa Milan]

I get shoveled for hours.

[Megan Scott]

I got you.

[Shannon Larson]

I think one of the best things, one of the things I've loved so much about seeing you really get into gardening is that even when you don't get a great harvest, like, you don't give up. You just take it as, like a way to learn. And I think that's a big part about being a gardener in general is just like, sometimes it's just not going to work out, but you're just learning along the way, and then you try again next year or you don't because you didn't have a great time growing it. I don't know.

[Carissa Milan]

Totally. Yeah. Yeah. It's been. It's been fun. Like, again, I grew up in a gardening family and I didn't. I'm not really sure I appreciated the labor that. That is until it's your own and you really can't. It's like, tough to take a day off sometimes when you're like, yeah, all of these are relying on me. And if you miss a day of watering when it needs to happen, it's like, ooh, you're gonna pay for that for a couple of weeks. And like, maybe they recover, maybe they won't. But yeah, I. Having that kind of connection to the food, even, Lord knows I'm paying way more in water bills than I am in paying for fresh vegetables than I would if I just bought them whole. Having that kind of connection to my food has been really rewarding.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. Yeah. I love. I just love my little backyard garden. Even though I'm sure it's costing. Like, I think my tomatoes are probably the most expensive tomatoes on planet Earth. It's not very efficient, but it' so nice when you finally get, like, that beautiful, ripe heirloom tomato and it just fills both of your hands because it's so big and ridiculous.

[Carissa Milan]

And any day now and you get to eat.

[Megan Scott]

Any day now.

[Carissa Milan]

I have like a. I have prolific amounts of cherry tomatoes still. I have a pile of green ones on the counter. What are we doing with them, you guys?

[Megan Scott]

Oh, the green ones?

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah. What are we gonna do?

[Jon Becker]

You guys have a. Yeah, you could definitely turn them into chow chow or.

[Shannon Larson]

Green tomato chow chow. It's in the book, right?

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, no, it's really good.

[Megan Scott]

You could. You could try fermenting them. Like, fermenting them whole.

[Jon Becker]

We did that once. That was pretty good.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

And what did you do with them, like, afterward? Like, how would you use them?

[Megan Scott]

I feel like we just ate them, like pickle. Like, we kind of just served them, put them on the table when we were eating and just at them. But. And we. I think we did some bigger ones too. Like, not just cherries. Yeah, they were big, bigger tomatoes, like kind of Russian style fermented tomato, whole tomatoes.

[Carissa Milan]

You have to have like the burping lid on it with the fermentation. Or can you just. Just put a little cheesecloth over the top and cover?

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, I think you can do that as long as they stay submerged, because then that way they won't get mold on top.

[Carissa Milan]

But yeah, that's what I did with my red pimiento peppers. I made a crazy hot sauce with them and I was like, well, I have a couple of ghost peppers. I should throw those in there too. Wow. Really took it to the atomic level, which I'm good with. I love hot sauce, so, like, I love hot sauce.

[Jon Becker]

The fermenting lids are nice to have. I will say that.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, we do have some of the mason jar lids that are. They're plastic lids, but they have a little hole in the middle with a gasket.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah.

[Megan Scott]

And then you put the airlock on it and they're just nice. It's just very easy and nice to have, but you don't need it.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, you could just like, you know, let the hiss out every now and then. Hopefully you remember.

[Carissa Milan]

That's the hard part. It's like these like, little micro gardening, like, micro cooking tasks. It's like, man, trying to fold that into your day.

[Megan Scott]

What music do you listen to while you're cooking?

[Carissa Milan]

Oh, my God. So as I mentioned before, I live alone. I bought my house in 2021, and it's a small house. I went from living in a much bigger house in a community to a really small house by myself. I was like, wow, I'M feeling really lonely. Yeah. And so, like a creep, I got an iPad and I mounted it to the wall in my kitchen, and I started YouTube streaming, not myself. Like, watching YouTube videos of other people cooking.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, that's fun.

[Carissa Milan]

Just like Molly Paws and Claire Saffitz and some of these, like, Bon Appetit folks who have their own YouTube channels. Those YouTube channels stemmed from during the pandemic when people couldn't host in the studio and we're just cooking alone in their kitchens. And so, like, listening to people talk about cooking alone in their kitchen kind of made me feel a little bit less alone cooking in my kitchen. So, like, that's kind of where it started. But, like, I do listen to some music, too. Like, for being honest, I listen to drum and bass music, which is in no way aligned with the aesthetic of Joy of Cooking or this podcast in any.

[Megan Scott]

You don't know that.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

Be surprised.

[Carissa Milan]

I feel like if you guys were listening to drum and bass and cooking, some crazy things might happen. But, yeah, that's kind of where it all started. And so, like, I like to listen to people talk while I'm cooking because it kind of makes me feel like I'm doing it with other people, which I enjoy doing. And then it makes me feel a little bit less alone.

[Megan Scott]

I love that. Yeah, that's a really good strategy. I like to listen to loud music and dance when no one else is in the kitchen.

[Jon Becker]

I feel like we don't listen to podcasts or news broadcasts or anything when we're cooking. But I do have, like, childhood memories of just, you know, All Things Considered. And my mom. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's. That meant dinner was on its way.

[Megan Scott]

My mom listened to Kenny G a lot.

[Carissa Milan]

Same.

[Jon Becker]

See, my mom would save Kenny G for after.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, I see.

[Jon Becker]

You know, digesting.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, yeah, that smooth jazz.

[Shannon Larson]

I remember my mom would always, like, turn on Janis Joplin around the house. So, like, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. And sometimes I do turn that on just for fun.

[Jon Becker]

Your mom is cooler.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, she's pretty cool.

[Megan Scott]

I do not turn on Kenny G. I have to say sorry, Megan. Sorry, Kenny G. Yeah, sorry, Mom.

[Carissa Milan]

I played the saxophone, so. Oh, yeah, Kenny G was pretty cool.

[Megan Scott]

I mean, he's up there among. Among the cool saxophone. Saxophone players, for sure. That's that hair. The hair is amazing.

[Carissa Milan]

Now that I'm thinking about it, I think Kenny G's hair is better than mine. And that makes me feel a little.

[Megan Scott]

Self conscious, a little insecure. Do you have any good strategies for cooking? For one.

[Carissa Milan]

I Do I am not. My grandma was, like, a very zero waste person. And I consequently am also a very zero waste person. And so I try to plan ahead, like, what are the things I'm gonna have to buy a lot of? And then try to space them out throughout the week so you can incorporate them in other meals. And if I know I'm not gonna finish something, I also have a vacuum sealer, so sometimes I will cook all of it and then vacuum seal little packets of it, whether it's cooked completely or it's, like, in an individual ingredient that I know I can pop out later. I also freeze a lot of things that I know I'm not gonna get through just so I don't waste things. And then I just keep, like, a little list on a whiteboard on the side of the fridge in case I'm like, oh, I have, you know, I have, like, a little chunk of, like, pasta that I didn't finish or something just so I don't ever end up wasting anything. And that really helps me, especially if I'm like, I have no idea what I'm gonna cook this week. There's probably, like, four things in the freezer I could thaw and throw together with, like, a little ginger and some, like, frozen chanterelles and turn into something super amazing with, like, no effort at all.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, I love freezing, like, small portions of things that you're not going to use.

[Jon Becker]

I feel like having that. I swear to God, we've talked about having, like, a little list of things that are in the freezer for so long, and it just never happens.

[Shannon Larson]

You better do it. I'm going to follow up in the next episode and ask if it's been done.

[Carissa Milan]

I also. This is going to sound really insane. Maybe not to Shannon. I keep a roll of tape, like, masking tape, and a Sharpie and my silverware drawer. And every time I pop something in the refrigerator of the freezer, I put a piece of tape on it that says what's in it? And it's so helpful from a quick glance. Just open up the fridge and be like, oh, yeah, goat cheese. I have some roasted fennel in here. Like, you can very quickly see what it is, and you don't have to, like, trigger your brain to be like, what am I gonna use today? Like, beans, cooked beans. They're in there, and you can see it right away. It actually just helps a lot with not wasting things or forgetting things that are, like, randomly in the back of the fridge.

[Shannon Larson]

I do have a container of something in my Freezer. And I have no idea what it is.

[Megan Scott]

No, I have no idea.

[Shannon Larson]

But one day John and I are gonna pull it out and find out.

[Carissa Milan]

I haven't even lived there that long. How's that even possible?

[Shannon Larson]

It came from the old place. We moved it over.

[Carissa Milan]

Maybe that should be the next podcast. Just like, sniff this.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, yeah. Just open all the stuff from our.

[Carissa Milan]

Freezer, just heat it up, and it's a blindfolded taste test.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah. Instead of having a tasting segment, just bring in.

[Megan Scott]

Bring our unlabeled.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah, it's gonna be like vegetables you've been saving forever to make stock.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, it's definitely something I've cooked. I don't know. I'll fit. Maybe that'll be this week.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah.

[Megan Scott]

Text me when you find out what it is. Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

And you text me when you get your whiteboard up on your fridge.

[Megan Scott]

Okay. We have the whiteboard. Oh, yeah, it just. We have the whiteboard. We're using it to keep track of our grocery lists.

[Shannon Larson]

Gotcha.

[Megan Scott]

That's mostly what it's for. Also, sometimes I use it as a to do list, like reminder of things that I want. It's. It's bad when you have multiple to do lists. And this is my downfall because, like, I have. Anyway, that's where I keep the long term to do list. So I don't forget everything. I don't know.

[Carissa Milan]

Also, as a single person, I feel like sometimes I get home, I'm like, I'm feeling tired, I'm like feeling lazy. And I remind myself and I'm like, I could just eat some stuff that I throw into the pan. But then I ask myself, I say, if you were gonna cook something for somebody else, what kind of effort would you put into it? And then I'm like, okay, self, I love myself. I'm gonna put that effort into it. And it does help too, to try to pre plan and like write down what you're gonna make each day of the week. Cause then when you get home, you're like, what was I gonna do again? You're like, oh, yeah. Oh yeah, I'm just gonna make the pasta or whatever. And then having that kind of mindset helps me put the kind of intention to eating. Like, oh yeah, if I was gonna make it, I would just throw it into the pan and then throw it in my bowl. And it would look probably not that great and might probably taste okay. But if Shannon was there, I'm like gonna do some kind of presentation. It's always a finishing vinegar, a little on top Try to make it look a little nicer.

[Shannon Larson]

You're an excellent host.

[Carissa Milan]

You are.

[Megan Scott]

You're a very good host and you're.

[Shannon Larson]

Fun to cook with. You're still my favorite person to cook with.

[Carissa Milan]

I mean, like, Shannon and I know each other's butt sizes in the kitchen, and we never bump. Like, it's like we're aware of everybody's movement and I can anticipate what she's gonna do.

[Megan Scott]

It's kind of weird. That's so nice. I. That, I love that when you have that. That's very restaurant kitchen experience where you just develop this body awareness where you know where everyone is because you really don't want to bump into anything.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

I worked in restaurants for a long time, so yes, Shannon and I also lived together for a long time.

[Megan Scott]

So each week we choose a topic to tackle based on caller suggestions. And this week we're going to talk about easy salmon recipes. Can you play the hotline clip?

[Caller]

Hi, my name is Kai. I have a message for the Joy of Cooking podcast. Do you have any salmon recipes that are really easy to make? Thank you.

[Megan Scott]

That's such a good question.

[Jon Becker]

We should start with, like, the absolute easiest. And I think that that is just a salmon chowder. You don't have to pull out a thermometer. The recipe that we have in the book is great. It's got leeks, some stock, then you just simmer some potatoes for a little while, and then you're. You finish it off with cream and then add the salmon and you really just, like, prod it with, like, with your wooden spoon. And you know when it starts to flick apart, that's when it's done. So I, I feel like that is, bar none, like, the easiest.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. Salmon chowder, delicious.

[Jon Becker]

And also it's a one pot meal.

[Carissa Milan]

Could you do it with coconut cream?

[Jon Becker]

Sure.

[Megan Scott]

I don't see why not.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, we make K. Chun's recipe from the New York Times. The coconut miso salmon curry. That's like one of our favorite go to weeknight meals. It's delicious. And also same thing. You just cut up the salmon, throw it in a pot, get yourself dinner.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, I love a salmon curry. We'll do just like a green Thai curry with salmon. But no, I think the easiest way is to just slow roast it.

[Shannon Larson]

Samin, no strats. Slow roasted salmon is my go to. It's always perfect. And you get to, like, pick an herb. So you just lay salmon on an herb of your choice. Or fig leaves, which is my favorite. And then you Just stick it in the oven. I think it's at 250. I think it's really low for 40. I think 47 minutes is usually how much. How long it takes for two portions to cook. It's perfect every single time.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, it cooks really evenly too because, you know, fillets vary in thickness. And so, you know, it's in order to get it all to, you know, kind of cook to a nice done, but still moist and flaky texture, it's good to have a low oven temperature. I think we added a slow roasted salmon recipe in 1997, and it's like at 325. And so, you know, you're cutting down the cooking time by quite a bit. And, you know, it might not be quite as evenly cooked, but it's like a good 15 max, 30 minutes, like in the oven. So.

[Megan Scott]

And it's such a nice method because you don't have to worry as much about overcooking, which I feel like is. So when you're doing, when you're cooking salmon in a skillet on the stovetop, it's delicious, but you go from raw to overcooked in like 30 seconds, whereas the oven, it's so much more forgiving. And you don't have to worry as much about that.

[Shannon Larson]

I've given up cooking salmon on the stovetop. Honestly, I always.

[Megan Scott]

I mean, it's, it's. And it, you know, and it makes your house smell and, you know, it's splattery. So it's kind of a. It's delicious, but it's a little bit of a pain. Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

Okay, here's my other single girl thing. If I'm gonna cook fish, I'll cook like three or four of them at once and then put them in the fridge. And then weeknights, they're already cooked and you just put all your veggies in the pan when they're almost done. You could slap the salmon on top when it's already pre cooked and just let it warm and let the fat drizzle down over the vegetables.

[Megan Scott]

That's such a good tip.

[Carissa Milan]

And then you don't have to worry about overcooking in the pan because it's, it's like almost done.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

So you're vacuum sealing after you cook.

[Carissa Milan]

Not for that. Like, if I'm gonna cook salmon, I'm gonna eat it within two days, two, three days max. Okay, I have a question for you guys then, along with Kai's salmon question, I usually will individually foil wrap each piece of salmon and like, Put a little bit of crushed garlic and lemon and olive oil and salt and pepper in there to try to keep all the moisture in. Lately I've been using parchment paper.

[Jon Becker]

It's a thing.

[Carissa Milan]

Well, what's. Like, what's. I. I don't know. I feel like I'm being more sustainable by using parchment paper because then you just throw the foil away versus, like, throwing the paper away.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

Like, what's your experience with that? What works better?

[Jon Becker]

I mean, it's a. Well, what works better? I think that they're. I mean, I feel like they.

[Megan Scott]

I feel like they would be comparable.

[Jon Becker]

The same.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

You might get a little bit more evaporation with the parchment paper.

[Megan Scott]

Whatever.

[Jon Becker]

Steam leaking out.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. But I think I feel like parchment would be just as good. And that's like the classic French. The fish on papillot.

[Carissa Milan]

Obviously, it's because I'm French.

[Jon Becker]

You're being extra classy.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jon Becker]

And really, you shape the.

[Megan Scott]

Sometimes you'll see, like, cookbooks with the. The, you know, they'll have the fish on papillote recipe, and they'll shape the parchment paper into a little heart shape or like a half heart shape. Do you shape it all special when you.

[Carissa Milan]

I shape mine like a broken heart to represent my internal core.

[Megan Scott]

I'm kidding.

[Carissa Milan]

I'm kidding. No, I haven't seen that. But now I feel like I've been inferiorly wrapping my salmon.

[Megan Scott]

Mean, that's maybe one of the benefits of being single is that no one is there to see when you do.

[Shannon Larson]

Advice.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Jon Becker]

I can't believe you wrap your salmon like this.

[Carissa Milan]

I just wrap mine like a Tootsie Roll.

[Megan Scott]

I love that classic shape. I was also thinking about poke.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, yeah.

[Megan Scott]

Because salmon poke is so easy. And I don't know if Kai likes raw fish, but it's just delicious and easy to make.

[Jon Becker]

That is the easiest.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. Because you don't have to cook it at all.

[Shannon Larson]

You just cut it up great with that sesame oil.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, it would be amazing with that sesame oil.

[Carissa Milan]

Oh, it really would. And that cabbage also.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah. Broiling salmon fillets and miso zuke style, you know, with, like, the. It's a mixture of miso and sake and mirin. You just spread that over the top and, you know, line up. You want to line your sheet pan with foil before you do it, but, you know, you just put. Put the fillets on there and then broil it really close to the element, the heating element. That works really good.

[Carissa Milan]

What about. What do you call those? Like the. The creme brulee thing that you. The flamethrower.

[Megan Scott]

Oh, you have a torch.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah. Maybe we should be recommending, like, a flamethrower for Kai.

[Megan Scott]

We do have a torch that we use.

[Carissa Milan]

Blow charge. A little blow charge.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, we use it regularly.

[Shannon Larson]

I know that you would love to play around with that.

[Jon Becker]

Oh, yeah. You know, when. When kids are starting to cook. That's what you want.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah. You want a blowtorch.

[Carissa Milan]

I gave my college friend one of those. Her, like, last year of school. She was like, oh, my God, I don't want to graduate because then I'm gonna have to do real world stuff. So we were living together at the time, and she had, like, one class, and she spent the rest of her day watching a cooking. The Cooking Channel. And she became really obsessed with making creme brulee. And that's what I got her for graduation was one of those little handheld blowtorches.

[Jon Becker]

I looked at some of the older editions, and Irma.

[Megan Scott]

Well, this is a Midwestern cookie.

[Jon Becker]

Yeah, she was landlocked, let's just put it that way.

[Carissa Milan]

Not a lot of salmon out there.

[Megan Scott]

Not a lot of salmon.

[Jon Becker]

A lot of canned salmon, smoked salmon. Yeah. No, like this in the first edition, like, it was just canned salmon. And there was a cheesy salmon loaf that. I don't think we're going to try that. So, yeah, after the peak canned salmon in 1951, the next edition is the one that Marian oversaw. She was the one who did that revision. And that's like, the first time that you actually, you know, have some, like, kind of, I guess you could call them, modern approaches to salmon, where it's like, okay, there's salmon steaks. Broil the salmon steaks. In the 1997 edition, we added a bunch. We added gravlax, a spinach fettuccine with smoked salmon and asparagus.

[Megan Scott]

That's so 90s. I mean, it's delicious. Awesome.

[Jon Becker]

And this really fancy cabbage roll recipe that, you know, instead of the usual, like, kasha filling, it's wild rice and salmon.

[Carissa Milan]

My mom totally made that as a kid, and I hated it then, but I would love it now.

[Jon Becker]

It's empapillot, but with a cabbage.

[Megan Scott]

Totally. 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. And next week's topic comes from our caller.

[Caller]

Hey, my name is Carly, and I'm leaving a message for The Joy of Cooking podcast and I was wondering if you had any favorite vegan recipes. Bonus points for any that are kid friendly and yeah, that's my question. Look forward to hearing.

[Megan Scott]

Awesome. Thanks for calling Carly. And we will talk about kid friendly vegan recipes on the next episode. This week there's this bakery in Asheville. Well they're, I think they're located in like Mars Hill, which is near Asheville, North Carolina called Farm and Sparrow and they make amazing like sourdough bread. But the owner of the bakery also just mills grains. Like he has a mill and mills the grains and you can buy the grains online. And so I ordered a bunch because you know, Asheville just had a all of that really terrible flooding from Helene and so a lot of his like restaurant clients aren't buying bread right now. But he's selling grains on his website and also selling field peas which I was really excited to see because you just don't ever see. They're kind of like black eyed peas.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, I was going to. Not heard of them.

[Megan Scott]

But field peas or my grandparents used to call them Crowder peas I think because when you grow them they're in like you'll have a pod that's really long and there will be like 10 to 20 peas in the pod. So they're like crowded in.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, I like it.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, it's cute. But I'm going to cook some field peas this week because I just haven't had any. I don't think I've had them in years. I've never had them anywhere but my grandparents house.

[Shannon Larson]

I've never even heard of them.

[Megan Scott]

But yeah, delicious.

[Shannon Larson]

Try them. We were talking about delicata squash earlier. I also have two of them at home right now. So I'm excited to cook those up. Probably like what you said. I'm going to just roast them for next month or so and then I'll get sick of that and make soups and do other stuff. I think I'm also I'm getting excited about Thanksgiving so I might start thinking we're hosting Thanksgiving this year for my sister and brother in law and two nephews and a certain guest who's on the podcast right now. So I'm really excited to start thinking through our Thanksgiving menu.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

And the new house that we bought recently. I think it's just going to be really fun. So trying to look ahead and be excited about things this week.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, that's good.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

I just pulled all the rest of my carrots like yesterday so I have a big bag of carrots in the fridge. And a couple weeks ago, I made your guys's glazed carrot recipe, which is fantastic.

[Shannon Larson]

She texted me pictures of them, and I was just like, these are incredible.

[Carissa Milan]

I've hated cooked carrots my entire life until last Thanksgiving. My cousin's girlfriend made some carrots, and I was like, okay. And like, that's one of the things I look to the joy for is, like, really simple things where it's, like, not that many ingredients, but it's just the technique and the amount of things that go into it that make it delicious. So I'm probably gonna cook those carrots midweek, and I still have a boatload of fresh parsley in the garden, so.

[Shannon Larson]

I feel like those carrots might make a little Thanksgiving menu.

[Carissa Milan]

I know that's probably what I'm gonna bring.

[Shannon Larson]

Heck, yeah.

[Carissa Milan]

Also my stuffing, because I'm pretty good at that.

[Shannon Larson]

Yeah, your stuffing's great.

[Jon Becker]

Ooh, I just remembered we're getting, like, a celery root in the csa, so. Yeah, we were definitely talking about roasting a chicken with the celery root underneath. Yeah.

[Shannon Larson]

Oh, is that how you guys are gonna use it? Yeah, I've not done that before, so.

[Jon Becker]

Good.

[Megan Scott]

Yeah, put it under the chicken.

[Jon Becker]

The cheesy celery root is fantastic. Maybe put some onions.

[Carissa Milan]

Okay.

[Jon Becker]

Big, big wedges.

[Shannon Larson]

We get chickens from our csa. We have the same one, and so maybe we'll just do a chicken with that.

[Carissa Milan]

Yeah, I'm gonna eat my chicken this week too.

[Megan Scott]

So exciting.

[Carissa Milan]

I almost forgot about it.

[Megan Scott]

You have a whole chicken.

[Carissa Milan]

I shredded it.

[Megan Scott]

Thanks for listening to the Joy of Cooking podcast. Before we go, show some love for your favorite podcast by leaving us a review on Apple podcasts and itunes. Follow us on Instagram hejoyofcooking. Stay tuned for next week where we will tackle kid friendly vegan recipes. 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 Kayleen Veach, our production coordinator, Haley Bowers, our audio engineer, and Sarah Marshall, our producer.