Talk Shop: Julia Turshen
Photo by Melina Hammer
ABOUT JULIA
Julia Turshen has done more for home cooks in the past ten years than anyone in recent memory. Often compared to Ina Garten in terms of her ability to bring the joy of cooking to a wider home audience (Garten even wrote the forward for her first book, Small Victories), the NYTimes Bestselling author conjures up her personal brand of kitchen spun magic with equal parts warmth, compassion, and relatability. Turshen’s goal is not for her readers to have to scour every speciality food store in a 50 mile radius to make one of her recipes: she wants you to use what’s in your pantry.
We are particularly excited to have Julia on Fenimore Lane because AO is Julia’s biggest fan. After meeting at a 92Y book signing years ago (Ariel was with her best friend RJ, who also is a Turshenite), Ariel and Julia became insta-friends, and the rest was history. Every single one of Ariel’s go-to recipes is a “Turshen recipe” (as she and RJ call them) – and for good reason: Julia’s recipes are thoughtful, simple, and most importantly, always, always delicious. Especially during quarantine, we all have found so much solace in the comforting simplicity of her meals, cooking up everything from her Japanese meatballs to her Aunt Renée’s famous chicken soup. Each recipe feels like the best hug – and what could be more needed right now?
Turshen’s latest book is Simply Julia, a treasure trove of healthy-without-feeling-deprived and easy recipes that we know will become instant classics – we were lucky enough to preview a copy, and we’ve already got about 20 recipes bookmarked for testing over the coming weeks. Each one is better than the next.
Julia’s writing is one of our most favorite parts of her cookbooks – they read like novels, which is such a gift. She has written for multiple publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, and more. Part of what makes her writing so moving is her palpable empathy – which is evident in all of the amazing non-profit work she does. Julia is the founder of Equity At The Table (EATT), an inclusive digital directory of women/non-binary individuals in food, and the host of the podcast Keep Calm and Cook On, a fantastic podcast we highly recommend for anyone interested in home cooking, that highlights interesting people from all walks of life. Turshen also sits on the Kitchen Cabinet Advisory Board for the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and is a member of God’s Love We Deliver’s Culinary Council.
Julia lives in the Hudson Valley with her wife and their dogs, and so much of why we love her work is not just about her books and her recipes; we also love how she gives back and provides a roadmap for how others can, too. Whether it’s locally in the Hudson Valley or beyond, she always has great advice on how to turn food into community. We sat down with the multi-hyphenate to chat home cooking - see what we learned below!
Describe your cooking style in three words or less:
Simple story telling.
What have been the three biggest influences on your approach to cooking in your life:
Watching public television cooking shows when I was a kid, living surrounded by cookbooks my entire life, and volunteering in my community.
How did you become a chef, and how did you start writing cookbooks:
I’ve cooked since before I can remember and am a self-taught home cook. I collaborated on about ten cookbooks and worked for many years as a private chef before I published my first solo cookbook Small Victories in 2016.
What is your favorite thing about what you do:
Connecting with other people who love to cook at home.
Do you have a mentor in your career, and if so, how have they helped to shape your trajectory:
While I don’t have a formal mentor, I have a lot of people I respect and admire and I consider a lot of my colleagues and friends mentors, whether they know it or not! So many of the people I know in food teach me a lot just by doing what they do and bringing their full selves to their work. I’m thinking about people like Sicily and Mavis-Jay from Food Plus People in The Bronx, Emmett Findley from God’s Love We Deliver in New York City, April Anderson from Good Cakes and Bakes in Detroit, and Cheryl Day from Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah.
What does your kitchen say about you:
That for someone who pays a ton of attention to detail, I never seem to close a drawer or cabinet all the way (which is to say, I think my kitchen reminds me that I’m very human).
Where do you find inspiration for new recipes:
Everywhere. Truly.
Who are your kitchen icons:
Every single person who cooks in schools, nursing homes, hospitals, and soup kitchens.
What are your key ingredients for entertaining:
Cold wine, room temperature food like grain salads and roasted vegetables that can be made ahead, using my grill year round, and serving ice cream for dessert.
Do you collect anything:
So many things! Cookbooks, dishes, napkins, a surprising number of pairs of the same exact sneakers that I’ve worn pretty much my whole life, artwork of our pets...
What are your pantry staples:
Olive oil, kosher salt (preferably Diamond Crystal), eggs, rice, garlic, and cheddar cheese.
Favorite Instagram accounts to follow for inspiration:
@blackfoodfolks (for incredible conversations), Rebekah Taussig (@sitting_pretty) (amazing writer and who shares a lot about her life in a resilient disabled body, which is a perspective I don’t have), and I always love to see what @roxanegay is baking in her stories!
What kitchen “rule” do you always follow, and which is made to be broken:
I don’t believe in rules in the kitchen!
What are you working on right now:
My podcast Keep Calm and Cook On!
Kitchen staples:
In addition to those pantry staples, I would add ice cream, lemons, onions, apples, pasta, and plain yogurt!
Favorite kitchen tool:
My hands
Best cooking advice you ever received:
Keep it simple
Best career advice you ever received:
If you use Gmail, download and use Boomerang (thanks to my wife Grace for suggesting this years ago).
Types of kitchen purchases to invest in, and save on:
Invest in heavy pots (they last forever and they’re easier to clean) and large cutting boards (you can never have too much space). Save on mixing bowls (stainless steel ones from a kitchen supply store or website are the best).
Your greatest extravagance:
A generator for our house.
Favorite places to shop for pantry/kitchen:
Kalustyan’s, Zabar’s, and Zingerman’s.
Most prized possession and why:
My grandmother’s candlesticks.
Your cooking motto:
It’s just dinner.
Your life motto:
You never know what anyone is going through.
Advice for someone looking to define their own cooking style or someone who is just getting into cooking:
Food doesn’t have to be complicated to be satisfying.
Take Ten: My Favorite…
Food: Chicken soup
Drink: Seltzer
Restaurant: Top Taste in Kingston, New York
Hotel: The Bowery
City: New York
Ingredient: Bread
Tea or Coffee (and how do you take it): Regular drip coffee, brewed very strong, with a little bit of half-and-half
Playlist: A variety of news podcasts….
Weekend Activity: Completing a puzzle with my wife
Cookbook: Simply Julia (but it’s actually Edna Lewis’s The Taste of Country Cooking)
