Focus on food: Breaking up with perfectionist cooking, lemon-garlic-oil season, and Boston cream pudding cake
Pastry artist Paris Starn and chef Pierce Abernathy select their top Substack reads
This week’s digest is guest edited by and . Paris is a baker and former fashion designer, who writes , offering a modern twist on traditional dishes and desserts through an art history lens; one of her most popular posts is “Brooklyn blackout (birthday) cake.” Pierce’s Substack, , serves up exclusive recipes, tips on reducing food waste, and culinary interests from his Brooklyn kitchen. His top recent post is “What I Cook when I’m Too Busy to Cook.” The two New York–based chefs bring their fashion-forward style into the kitchen without losing any substance. We’re excited to have them curating Reads this week.
Hi! I’m Paris. I love the range of Substacks that discuss food: from inventive recipes to food history, the aesthetics of food and menu design, and how we take care of ourselves or others through cooking and eating. Reading and seeing others’ interests, passions, and feelings around food is a constant stream of inspiration for the food I make and write about. Pierce, my co-curator on this post, friend, and occasional collaborator, makes absolutely delicious food (still thinking about the bulgur salad he made at a dinner we threw at his apartment two weeks ago). I love how his recipes have an emphasis on sustainability, like making use of every part of a vegetable. Hope you enjoy our picks!
On breaking up with perfectionist cooking
Paris: “Christina’s Substack, Gentle Foods, is perfectly titled. In it, she writes about being kinder to ourselves and how we can achieve that through food (with great, unfussy, simple recipes and recommendations for nourishing foods). I really appreciate the deeply personal tone of her letters and her reflections on how she works to best nourish herself. It serves as a kind reminder to me of what I can do to take care of myself as well”
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in
Many people talk about the joys of cooking on the good days. It’s an idea that’s easy to love: We celebrate a birthday by baking a cake; we gather with friends and family around a holiday roast. We toast a friend’s promotion with a fancy charcuterie board. But fewer people talk about cooking on the bad days—specifically why it’s worth cooking at all when you’re having trouble finding the will to get dressed in the morning. And this is the question I’ve been trying to answer for myself lately.
Throughout my twenties and early thirties, I often used to weather the bad days by taking cooking out of the equation entirely and ordering takeout, which was an expensive and ultimately unsatisfying habit that didn’t leave me feeling good. I didn’t realize back then how much an “all or nothing” mentality ruled my thinking both in and out of the kitchen.
It’s lemon-garlic-oil season
Pierce: “Recipe developer Ali Slagle’s 40 Ingredients Forever is the home cook’s dream publication. Her Substack feels like a continuation from her New York Times best-selling book, I Dream of Dinner (so You Don’t Have To). You can clearly see Ali’s love of getting people excited to cook at home through her approachable, rewarding recipes. In her aptly named newsletter, recipes use only 40 specific ingredients, with an emphasis on streamlined processes and shopping. I learned about Ali through her frequent NYT contributions and feel lucky to have her sharing recipes here, and so should you”
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in
So today’s recipe is fish with asparagus, lemon, and garlic—you can probably make a dish with these things without me, but it’s in how all these elements are used that makes today’s recipe pretty fun to make and eat.
Fish is baked in a low-temperature oven in lots of olive oil so the fish gets so relaxed and soft and luxurious. Because the method is forgiving, it works with most fish, from thin to thick and one big piece to individual fillets. (You’re right, it is a lot of oil, but it’s not just a cooking medium here: It’s also our sauce and a flavor in the dish.)
The oil is seasoned with garlic and red pepper flakes—pasta aglio e olio was on the mind, as usual. And since all that oil is there pooling in the skillet, why not put something else in it to cook?
Chef de robot, you’ve been served
Pierce: “Podcasting legend and DJ Jason Stewart has started a highly entertaining Substack sharing food-centric musings from his bicoastal elite life. His posts are as entertaining as his podcast, How Long Gone, where he and co-host Chris Black drop hot takes left and right as they chat about pop culture and bring on guests like Hozier and Nancy Silverton. Jason shares refreshing restaurant reviews and essays like ‘Health food vs. healthy food.’ It’s always a treat when it shows up in my inbox”
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in
You can only order on your phone. They text you a code when your food is ready for pickup so you can liberate your food from its locker. In and out. If everyone does their job, Ms. Robot included, there is no reason for humans to interact with each other. I wouldn’t dream of asking if they had a restroom I could use. This is by design, for better or for worse. Removing the opportunity to interact with people feels wrong. Still, when most of your interactions with people are bad, it starts to sound like something you’d consider, like deleting your social media accounts.
Carrot and clementine cake
Pierce: “If you’ve been lucky enough to dine at King, Jupiter, or Stissing House, then you’ve been treated to the thoughtful cooking of Clare de Boer. She shares what she’s cooking at home in her newsletter, The Best Bit. From gingery miso-poached fish to carrot and clementine cake, her recipes have the precision of a four-time James Beard–nominated chef with the approachability of someone who just wants something unfussy and delicious at home”
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in
This cake splits the difference between carrot cake and morning glory. It has the nutty moistness of carrot cake but the tender crumb of the breakfast food. To turn the recipe into muffins, divide the batter into tins and reduce the bake time by 15 minutes. Include sultanas if you like.
Spring confetti
Paris: “I first came across Katie’s content through her Instagram account, @thankyou_ok, which features curated carousels of dreamy scenes bringing together fashion, food, felines, films, and florals. Katie’s Substack is a deeper dive into these themes. This recent newsletter details why polka dots are the print for spring (with a great selection of vintage runways and ads to make the case), a feature on the cutest umbrella-shaped chocolates, and a spring-summer-inspired film recommendation”
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in
For the past couple of years, I’ve felt drawn towards polka dots (the most cheerful pattern) and I tend to prefer them to florals for spring, for clothing at least. Here are some favourite references and some recent outfits.
Beware your choice of ice cream. It says a lot about you.
Paris: “Ruth Reichl’s Substack features every aspect of her varied career as a chef, editor, writer, and critic. Each letter includes a recipe, notes on meals she has loved (both recent and in the past), captivating photos of old menus, and scans of pieces she published decades ago. Not only is it great getting to read even more of her wonderful work, but it’s also so fun seeing how layouts, typography, photography, and ads have evolved through the years”
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in
When I met Ian Dengler in the late seventies, he absolutely fascinated me. I had always believed that food choices were like handwriting—a secret way of getting to know someone—but as he focused on the semiotics of food, he proved it.
I wrote a number of articles about him; in this one he takes on ice cream and coffee. Isn’t it interesting that at the time I wrote this article—1981—coffee consumption in the United States was on the decline? We had no idea what was coming down the road!
Boston cream pudding cake
Paris: “Baking legend Liz Prueitt, of Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, has just launched her Substack. Liz is one of my favorite cookbook authors of all time, and her baking style has deeply inspired me. Her recipes are, above all else: smart, clear, concise, technical, and inventive. I mean, this Boston cream pudding cake is pure genius to me. Oh, and her Substack recipes are gluten-free!”
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in
This is the best recipe I’ve developed in a while! Plus, it’s fun to make.
It’s essentially a variation on my Lemon Pudding Cake. Like the lemon version, you make one batter with whipped egg whites folded into it. When baking, it separates into two layers. The bottom layer of this one has more of a firm flan or custard texture, since it’s made with all milk. You could sub a few tablespoons of heavy cream for the milk if you like. The top cake layer is ✨light✨as✨air!✨
You can mix and bake the whole thing within an hour, which gives it a very high ROI considering how quickly it comes together and what a cool cake it bakes up into. Chill the cake, and top with this gorgeous and delicious chocolate glaze that is still a bit yielding to the fork when cool.
Recently launched
Coming soon
Congratulations to the following writers celebrating publication.
reveals the cover of her new cookbook, What Goes with What, which is now available for preorder. Julia writes about how the new cookbook was born of her newsletter, , and designed with her parents:s book The Age of Magical Overthinking makes the New York Times bestseller list: details the French leg of her Damsel book tour:
Noteworthy
Inspired by the writers featured in Substack Reads? Writing on your own Substack is just a few clicks away:
Substack Reads is a weekly roundup of writing, ideas, art, and audio from the world of Substack. Posts are recommended by staff and readers, and this week were curated by and . You can follow them both on Substack and subscribe to and . Substack Reads is edited from Substack’s U.K. outpost by Hannah Ray.
Got a Substack post to recommend? Tell us about it in the comments.
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More food reads please and from different parts of the world with real cuisines, not just from the US or U.K. who don’t have any real food other than stolen recipes 😂…try Arabic, Indian or Pan Asian😋 😋
Excited to report that my Cooks Without Borders newsletter won the Webby Award last week (People's Voice) in the category of Best Email Newsletters: Health, Wellness and Lifestyle. To my knowledge, it's the only Substack about food this year to be honored with a Webby. Do come check it out!