Podcast Summary: The Stacks, Ep. 402
"A Reader First, a Cook Second with Samin Nosrat"
Host: Traci Thomas
Guest: Samin Nosrat
Release Date: December 10, 2025
Episode Overview
This insightful episode features James Beard Award-winning chef, bestselling author, and beloved TV personality Samin Nosrat, who joins Traci Thomas to discuss her new cookbook, Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love. The conversation delves deep into the meaning of a "good life," the evolving nature of creativity after the overwhelming success of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, and how personal rituals, community, and the act of gathering play into both cooking and living well. With warmth and honesty, Samin shares her struggles and epiphanies as a writer, cook, and person pursuing fulfillment beyond achievement.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
Samin’s Identity: Reader, Cook, Writer
-
Balancing Acts:
Samin explores the balancing act between being a reader, a cook, and a writer.“I myself am, I would say, a reader first and a cook second... But my personality is cook and my identity is writer.” (09:03)
-
Writing Process vs Cooking Process:
She likens the structure of recipes to poetry, describing the constraints and creative aspirations of both. The "cook" in her strives for efficiency, while the "writer" is a dreamer, embracing inefficiency and frustration in the creative journey. -
Quote:
“Maybe there are people who are able to write like that, but I am not. And so I have found that my writing process is... disorganized, very inefficient… there’s so much wasted writing... Now I just understand, that's the road. The road is really curvy and ugly and scary.” (08:06)
On Cookbook Readers vs Cooks
-
Different Users:
Both Samin and Traci reflect on using cookbooks as reading material vs practical guides, and Samin acknowledges trying to serve diverse audiences. -
Constraints & Creativity:
The metaphor of music is used to differentiate between improvisational, creative cooking (jazz) and technical, procedural cooking (practicing chords or teaching “Mary Had a Little Lamb”). -
Cooking for Work vs. Cooking for Life:
Samin describes how her approach has shifted as she moved further from restaurant kitchens to being a home cook, learning to let go of perfectionism and open to new meanings for food and cooking.
The Meaning of a Good Life
-
Personal Reckoning:
After the massive success of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, Samin experienced a period of being unmoored, leading her to question the nature of fulfillment and achievement.“I was losing my appetite... It was the pandemic. I was alone. I wasn’t really eating with anyone else... I was on the hook to write a cookbook that I didn’t feel really interested in writing.” (21:29–23:31)
-
Seeking Ritual and Community:
She discusses the importance of ritual and community as alternatives to religious structure, and how these elements became central to her new book—and her life. -
Quote:
“...I tried to sort of almost become like a magnet for those things [what is sacred and awe-inspiring]...” (22:35)
Overcoming Perfectionism and Creative Block
-
Second Book Pressure:
Samin candidly talks about the paralyzing pressure of following up a monumental debut and watching other writers struggle. She outlines her resolve:“I was like... just make something. Like, do not... never make another thing because it wasn’t going to be another Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.” (26:33–27:15)
-
Evolving Past Her Debut:
Traci points out that Good Things expands our understanding of Samin as a person and cook, reflecting growth, new influences, and multidimensionality.
Lowering Standards: Making Cooking Realistic & Accessible
- Pragmatism > Perfectionism:
Samin discusses her continual process of "untethering" from restaurant standards and giving herself—and readers—permission to do less, use shortcuts, and not stress about impossibly high culinary standards.“It’s okay to lower your standards... It’s okay to buy pre-grated cheese... to use the thing from the corner store... invite people over and order pizza. There’s just a different why for me now.” (32:56–33:39)
Holiday Hosting Tips & Group Meals
-
Legendary Spreadsheets:
Stories spread about Samin’s (apocryphal) reputation for assigning holiday potluck spreadsheets, leading to a discussion about how structure can actually free people and reduce collective stress.“If you don’t want, you know, so and so to show up with her grandma Sally’s... whatever thing you don’t want at your table, then you have to tell her what to do.” (39:29)
-
Practical Advice:
- Delegate things you don’t care about.
- Organize timing backwards from when you want to eat.
- Google Docs/Sheets can help share the prep load and clarify roles.
The Power of Ritual: Monday Night Dinners
- Origins:
Samin shares how, during a lonely period, informal weekly dinners with writer-friends Alexis Madrigal and Sarah bloomed organically, becoming a “lifeline” and the heart of both her personal sense of community and her new book’s thesis.“In this way, this other thing had appeared that was not... what I had imagined... but it happened... it shifted something really fundamental for me.” (48:23–49:30)
Lightning Round: Recipes & Writing Process
- Most Popular Recipe:
- “Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting” (50:07)
- Favorite Sneaky Ingredient:
- Preserved Meyer Lemon Paste (51:30)
- Secret Writing Rituals:
- Writes amid “panic,” on yellow legal pads, then transcribes quickly.
- Recipe writing is meticulous; narrative writing much harder and more emotionally draining.
- Drinks “ungodly amounts of tea” while writing (56:52)
- Keeps her house snack-free to avoid bingeing. (57:29)
Book & Author Recommendations
-
On Ritual & Belonging:
- The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
- Awe by Dacher Keltner
-
On Cooking & Kitchen Wisdom:
- Anything by Nigel Slater (“I want the Nigel Slater paper in my book!” 60:41)
- Mentions of Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ross Gay, Audre Lorde, Rebecca Solnit as ongoing influences.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “I often have to make a lot of choices about [what to include in a recipe]… it’s like a juggling act to make sure that I’m balancing both the craft of writing... and making recipes.” (04:17)
- “Lowering your standards... is exactly what I’m trying to model for myself and convince you of.” (34:52)
- “That pork was actually maybe the most successful recipe of your recipe testing!” (49:42, Traci, re: the birth of Monday dinners)
- On the meaning of community, ritual, and love:
“For me, it’s often through nature and in very small ways. Sometimes it’s like taking a hike and being at the top of a mountain… Often it’s… look at this incredibly beautiful leaf… And it happens a lot when I’m cooking too.” (59:25–60:10)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 03:54 — Samin discusses being a reader vs. cook
- 08:06 — On inefficiency in writing vs. efficiency in cooking
- 18:23 — Samin explains the premise of Good Things
- 21:29 — The disorienting aftermath of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
- 32:26 — Letting go of restaurant-level standards for home cooking
- 37:44 — Myth-busting Samin’s holiday spreadsheet approach
- 44:27 — Monday dinners and post-pandemic ritual
- 50:07 — Lightning round: most popular recipe so far
- 53:40 — Samin’s writing and recipe testing process
- 57:57 — Book recommendations in the spirit of Good Things
- 63:00 — If one person could read the book: Samin’s late sister
Tone & Style
Samin speaks with her trademark generosity, candor, and warmth; Traci brings curiosity, humor, and an infectious enthusiasm for both food and books. The conversation remains upbeat yet vulnerable, with both speakers sharing relatable anxieties as cooks, readers, and humans seeking meaning.
For Listeners
This episode is an invitation to rethink the purpose of cooking and eating, embracing imperfection, ritual, and joy in the everyday. Whether you’re a recipe-follower or a kitchen improviser, you’ll find wisdom and warmth in Samin’s reflections on creativity, community, and what it means to live—and cook—a good life.
Learn more and get resources at: thestackspodcast.com
End of summary.