Welcome to SALT PIG! After analyzing all sorts of home-cooking topics over these last 22 episodes (!), we marvel at how often we neglect certain basics and niceties when cooking day in and day out. As cookbook professionals, we are devoted to the details of our clients and our work; but when left to own devices, we can really phone it in and forget/refuse to make cooking as pleasant and fulfilling as it can be. So for our SALT PIG season finale, we explore if there's a way to make putting dinner on the table more of a practice than a task. What tiny, easy acts make a nicer experience for ourselves? Do we have the brainspace and time to prioritize joy and ease in the kitchen? Is there a price to “treating” ourselves to the right piece of equipment or a little extra care and attention? Being intentional just may be the secret (ingredient) to everything. Happy summer, pals! We are taking a break until September. Write us and let us know what you’re up to. We’ll be back for season 2! Discussed in this episode: Chicken cutlets dredged in Preserved Lemon Paste Jenna Helwig’s interview with Greta Podleski Lukas’ Snacks For Dinner The SALT PIG Lentil Salad Matrix Alice Medrich’s melted butter tart crust Full circle to our first SALT PIG episode: Food Waste vs Recipes Instagram | Substack
Beans at Home, with Steve Sando!
06/02/2026 | 47 mins.
Bean tribe, unite! This week, we have a very special guest joining us: Steve Sando, founder of everyone’s favorite heirloom bean company Rancho Gordo and author (or publisher) of nearly a dozen books on the topic. We get philosophical: What is actual simplicity in cooking (and can it exist in cookbook publishing)? We get genre-bendy: Is there a connection between making fashion choices and eating beans? And of course we get very deep on the specifics of bean cookery: pre-soaking, brining, blending, and what to do with the liquid gold that is bean broth. Plus, Steve’s ultimate no-fuss dinner-party finale: Pockys and Amaro? Yes, please! Discussed in this episode: Caballero Beans Pineapple Vinegar Lukas’ Smoky Confit’d Beans with Olives, which is one of the most popular Rancho Gordo Bean Club recipes OF ALL TIME The Rancho Gordo Bean Club (sorry, there’s a waiting list!!) The Rancho Gordo Cooking with Clay Facebook Group The movie The Taste of Things, on our to-watch list now Rancho Gordo Gift Boxes Also, Steve is on Substack! Instagram | Substack
Striving for No-Stress Dinner Hangs
05/26/2026 | 43 mins.
Sometimes having people over can be kind of stressful. But as they say, you have to make the community you want, right? And we want dinner parties. We share the successes, the mishaps, the too-small chicken pot pie, the desserts to remember. We debate if it’s better to apologize for your own shortcomings or just zip it and hope no one notices. What can be done to make an evening no-fuss, tasty, and, most of all, fun for you, too? We have thoughts! Plus more strategies to get your spouse to bring leftovers for lunch. Discussed in this episode: Lots of people eat chive blossoms Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi Nora Efron on Lee Bailey and the “Rule of Four” Julia Child’s My Life in France Amiel Stanek’s Homemade Onion Dip Instagram | Substack
Is Costco Worth It?
05/19/2026 | 47 mins.
Welcome to SALT PIG! There comes a time every year when we wonder: is paying for a membership at Costco worth it? Especially given the spectacle of the almost-fistfights in the parking lot, the morality of buying the world’s most giant chicken breasts, the longest lines, the tallest soft serves, the lifetime supply of Zyrtec that might expire before you can take it all, the physical grappling to fit it all in your freezer when you get home…it is truly savage. But then, after the food is all ziplock-portioned and decanted and the millions of boxes are tied up and dragged to recycling, there is a deep contentment, knowing that you might never, ever, EVER need to go shopping again. Is this just the price one pays to wild-out at one of the few clubs middle-aged people still go to? Discussed in this episode: Ellie’s Old-Fashioned Rice Gratin Can the Golden Age of Costco Last? from The New Yorker The olive oil we both buy: Terra Delyssa organic extra virgin olive oil Lukas’ favorite Costco treat: Whisps Instagram | Substack
Homegrown Food Highs & Lows
05/12/2026 | 43 mins.
Welcome to SALT PIG! This week, we are pushing back against the enshittification of Big Food and talking about what veggies are growing on Lukas’ roof and in Ellie’s backyard. Turns out homegrown food has a wide range of highs and lows: mistakenly planting the proliferative yet dull-as-rocks banana pepper, the verdant joy of clipping your own herbs and lettuces, the diverse findings of chili pepper experiments, and the horrifying, nightmare-inducing girth of a lost cucumber from 2012. Plus, can a ferment get too fermented, or is Ellie just a ninny? Discussed in this episode: Pale in Comparison: What to Know about US Butter (via Radio New Zealand) The Enshittification of Big Food (via Mike Lee) Lukas’ fermented hot sauce Lukas’ soupy orzo Instagram | Substack
Lukas and Ellie really hate washing greens. We may be two professional cookbook writers, but when the aprons come off, we eat quesadillas for dinner more often than we might like to admit. Real home cooking is improvisational, intimate, surprising, creative, sometimes mundane, sometimes memorable, and always best when debriefed with a pal. Topics include: dried mushrooms and where to use them, making stock out of arguable trash, the joy of broccoli pancakes, what not to bring to a dinner party, how we really clean our cast iron pans (even when people say not to), gauging the lifelessness of one’s sourdough starter, and a seemingly neverending discussion on how to pronounce fricassee. Join us as we get together to break down the flops, the good enoughs, and the pleasures and hilarity of home kitchen life.---Elinor Hutton has been a writer, ghostwriter, editor, and publishing and culinary consultant since 2010. She’s worked on more than 25 books to date, including four New York Times bestsellers, most recently as the co-author of Gisele Bündchen’s Nourish. She’s also judged the James Beard awards twice, ran the test kitchen for a meal-kit company, and has worked in book packaging and design. www.elinorhutton.comLukas Volger is the author of six cookbooks, including Start Simple and Bowl, and has collaborated on numerous other cookbooks, including two New York Times bestsellers. Previously, he co-founded the award-winning queer food journal Jarry, and created a line of premium, fresh, and locally made veggie burgers called Made by Lukas. He lives in Brooklyn. www.lukasvolger.com
USA