Songs about Buildings and Food
It’s been two weeks since the last newsletter, and a lot has happened in the world. On behalf of Trivet, I hope this one finds you healthy and safe. Staying informed and also doing what you need to take care of yourself and the people around you. Something I wrote here a few weeks ago still holds: it is going to be a long haul, a time to stay engaged and also pace ourselves. We wish you well through it.
At Trivet Recipes, we’ve seen a nice influx of new users: welcome, Urban Cookery, Savory Suitcase, Two-Bit Tart, the Virtual Caterer, Good Noms, Honey!, Happy Stirring, and Another Music in a Different Kitchen.*
Let me highlight just a few of these newcomers’ contributions this time:
A weekend breakfast to remember, in the form of these potato pancakes with salmon and crème fraîche, by Urban Cookery.
As dinner on a day when you’ve got some time, this mushroom and pea lamb broth risotto with gremolata, by Savory Suitcase.
For dessert, Two-Bit Tart’s s’mores cupcakes, with their dazzling marshmallowy icing.
Or in a more businesslike, weekday sort of vein, either of two instant pot recipes that bring restaurant favorites home: instant pot short rib ragu from Happy Stirring, and instant pot butter chicken from Good Noms, Honey! Either one would be just the thing on a dark night, after a long day of work.
Thanks to all. Keep on posting—and if you haven’t, don’t forget to take a moment to fill out your user profile on the site. It looks nice, and makes your social media details easy for everyone to find. Here’s mine, as a sample:
* Hello, Buzzcocks reference. I see you.
In this issue of the newsletter, we’re catching up with Amanda Scarlati. Amanda is a professionally trained chef who is currently living in Utah and focusing her culinary energies on her blog, Saporito Kitchen.
Hi, Amanda! Let's talk about culinary school. You're a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, and you have worked in the food business for a decade. How do you think your training in food influences your practice as a home cook?
My training and experience in the food industry have greatly influenced how I cook at home. My husband always jokes with my kids that they don't know how good they have it when it comes to dinners. I really try to stay away from the mundane routine of dinnertime, and there are only a few select recipes that I repeat on a regular basis. I love to switch it up and try new things. From the time all of my kids were very little, I have always just fed them whatever I cook and whatever we are eating. Basically, I'm raising a bunch of foodies!
You love Italian food from way back, and you've been living in Salt Lake City area in Utah. Have the foodways of your current home influenced your cooking at all?
The one thing that has differed from living in Salt Lake City, is that the food scene is not as sizable as it was when we lived in the Chicagoland area. There were many more options for authentic ethnic foods there, so you have to hunt a little bit harder here for those hidden gems. I don’t know that the current area has influenced how I cook much, though. I try and really stick with what I know and love, and most importantly, what my readers love.
Can you tell the story of how you decided to start your blog, and what kinds of challenges you met to get it where it is today?
I always wanted to start a food blog, and I even had a very basic recipe blog back in the day when blogs were just getting started. I’ve always liked creating new recipes and sharing them with others. It fell by the wayside, though. After having my third child and becoming a stay-at-home mom, I knew this was my chance to take a crack at it again. I had zero clue what I was doing at first. I did a lot of research on the internet and followed a lot of the “How to Start a Food Blog” blog posts from people like Pinch of Yum and Cookie + Kate. I tried to learn and figure out things as much as I possibly could on my own. I don’t have any technical/website experience, so that part was really hard for me. It was like someone was speaking to me in a foreign language. Over the years, I have found some great resources through Facebook groups like Food Bloggers Central, and I finally signed up with Food Blogger Pro, which has a ton of information and resources that I really wish I could have had three years ago when I was first starting. My initial goal when I was starting was just to get over my fear of putting myself out there and just do it. Now, over three years later, my goal is to turn my hobby into a business, and I'm really focusing on setting things up like a business and projecting goals for myself for 2021. I have started to dabble in video, and I hope to advance my skills further in that this year. I also would love to write a cookbook someday and at least do an e-cookbook on my site this year.
In addition to cooking professionally, you photograph food beautifully. Can you talk a little about your equipment and setup, and your learning curve, if there was one?
Thank you so much! I actually am 100 percent self taught on my photography. When starting my blog back in 2017, I wasn't the least bit interested in photography, and it was really a big hurdle to overcome for me. I have had some great tips and tricks from my father-in-law and brother-in-law, who are both photographers. They have helped me choose equipment and give me some great inspiration. I have also gained a ton of inspiration and help from the online community of other bloggers. Currently, I shoot my recipes using my Canon EOS Rebel T6. I have been really focusing on working with the manual settings and with different lenses. I have mostly shot with natural light, but as of late I have been experimenting more with artificial light. I'm finally feeling more comfortable with my camera and with food styling. While I have a lot to learn still, I feel like I'm finally finding my style.
The more food photography I look at, the more I am amazed by what people are achieving, and the effort that must go into it. I’m curious about what a food photo shoot looks like for you. How long does it take to photograph a recipe or dish? How many shots do you take? How long does the photography and photo-editing bit take, as compared to the recipe development and cooking parts?
This is funny because starting out, I really wanted to just make food, snap a picture, and share the recipe and photo with people. However, there is a lot more that goes into it. If you want to be successful and make your blog a business, there is a ton of thought required, especially with recipe development and production. There is research into what recipes your readers want and also what will rank well in Google. You then need to grocery shop and plan your shoots out. I like to have a production sheet for each recipe that outlines my ingredients, timing, notes, and photos I want to take. That way, I can make adjustments or notes the day of, and I don't forget to take that one shot during the middle of making it and have to start all over! Then, you need to make the recipe, photograph it, and video it. There is, of course, the whole other phase post-shoot that involves editing, outlining, and writing your post and planning the sharing of it on social media. The way that I have worked best is to “batch” the development and production of my work. For example, one day I have an admin day, where I work on bills, planning, website changes, etc. The next day, I have a shoot day where I strictly produce and shoot the recipes. Then there is a day of “editing,” where I edit my photos and videos and write my outlines. I sometimes really struggle with writing; it doesn't come easily to me, so I like to have one day just dedicated to my blog post and recipe. Then, my last day is usually spent scheduling social media for the following week. This helps me focus on what I am doing and I feel like I can produce my best work.
Find Amanda at Saporito Kitchen, or on Instagram or Twitter. You can also check out her profile and recipes on Trivet Recipes.
Finally, let me leave you with this essay by Adrian Miller, a.k.a. @soulfoodscholar, from Zócalo. It’s about how Black American G.I.’s serving overseas in the 20th century founded soul food restaurants, often to great acclaim, like Chez Haynes in Paris, Jack’s American Star in Bangkok, and the L&M Guest House in present-day Ho Chi Minh City.
It’s a piece of food history I didn’t know anything about, but it’s full of gems, like this:
One African-American veteran told me in an interview that during the Vietnam War, L&M catered gatherings deep in the jungle, delivering food by helicopter to black soldiers who had some brief downtime between their assignments.
After World War I, Miller writes,
French curiosity about black culture also sparked a hunger for what would later be called “soul food,” “la cuisine noire,” drawing in adventurous local diners. For black troops abroad, such support from white people must have been a great antidote to the absurdities of military service to segregated America.
See you in a couple weeks.
—Katherine