Welcome to the latest edition of Food52 Founder Amanda Hesser’s weekly newsletter, Hey There, It’s Amanda, packed with food, travel, and shopping tips, Food52 doings, and other matters that catch her eye. Get inspired—sign up here for her emails.
Today at Dansk, we’re relaunching our second teak salad bowl from the archives. Like the Slope Teak Salad Bowl, which we launched a few months ago, and which sold out (but you can get on the wait list here), the Brim Salad Bowl is another staved-teak design by Jens Quistgaard. This one’s about the same size, with a hefty rim that’s pleasing to grasp
You may have noticed that we’re launching fewer products in our Shop. This is part of our renewed focus on providing you with the best selection of kitchen and home goods, rather than the widest assortment. If you want a ton of choices, you know the places to go. If you want the place where every product is approved by our Shop team and me, then you come here.
Material Kitchen makes a very good standard peeler, but if you’re looking for a set that will serve every purpose, be sturdy enough to stand the test of time, and offer features for shredding, making zoodles, and shaving cheese, then Spartan Kitchen’s Peeler Trio is it.
In the early 2000s, I was an editor and writer at The New York Times Magazine, where we got to work with some of the best still-life photographers in the world, including Tom Schierlitz, Marcus Nilsson, and Ilan Rubin. Rubin, who loves food and the kitchen, has since created his own kitchen line, including a clever magnetic knife rack (with a modular shelf and hook!) and this paper towel holder.
Photo by Food52
We don’t like fuss in the kitchen but we do like donuts. So we cued up Christina Tosi’s No-Fuss Donuts.
Nea created a White Bean and Sausage Soup that’s threaded with kale and doused with parm. Put on your woolens and grab a spoon.
As you witnessed the destruction in L.A., it’s likely that you thought about how you’d feel if you lost all of your belongings, your safe space, your home. Would you feel as if you’d lost yourself?
Over the past decade, our attachment with our homes has grown deeper than ever. The pandemic altered our relationship with home and work, and made us understand, out of necessity, just how important it is to have a safe space. Streaming services and apps, meanwhile, have turned our living rooms into home theaters—while also, conversely, infusing our lives with a sense of relentlessness. We’ve created sanctuaries (with an asterisk—the more you resist the invasion of technology, the more you treasure the sanctuary). Our homes aren’t just where our stuff is, they’re expressions of who we are and vessels of our personal histories, they’re where we work, they’re the places we invite our closest friends and family, they’re oases in a pressured world.
I’m writing this newsletter from my mom’s home in Florida. She lives in an area hit hard by hurricanes Helene and Milton. While her building was barely touched, nearly every home around her has been gutted; across the street, one sits in the ocean. I feel anguish for her neighbors, and for everyone in L.A. who’s been affected by the fires. We are lucky—and our awareness of this means that my mom’s dinners at her table, surrounded by the brass candlesticks and a painting from my childhood, have never tasted better.
If you’re looking to make a donation to help with the L.A. wildfire recovery, scroll down past my signature for a short list of trusted organizations.
Photo by Amanda Hesser
While I visited, my mom served home-made smoked salmon on crackers with horseradish-creme-fraiche and capers as a pre-dinner snack. She and my sister used the Nordic Ware stovetop smoker and heavily adapted the salmon recipe from the smoker’s instruction manual. Here is their version:
Smoked Salmon
¾ cup pickling salt
¼ cup brown sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1 orange, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
2 quarts warm water
1 ½ pounds salmon fillet
Coarsely ground black pepper
In a casserole dish, stir together the salt, brown sugar, orange zest, orange slices, and bay leaves. Add the warm water and stir until the salt and brown sugar are dissolved. Place the salmon in the brine, and marinate for 24 hours.
Remove the salmon from the brine and rinse in cold water. Pat the salmon dry with paper towels, and season with coarsely ground black pepper. Place the salmon on the smoker, skin side down, and smoke, using maple chips and a dry smoke method for 20 to 30 minutes or until done. Refrigerate and serve cold.
Serve on crackers with horseradish-creme-fraiche (those two ingredients, mixed to taste) and capers.
Give your home a hug, and have a great week.
Amanda
Places to donate to help those affected by and responding to the L.A. wildfires:
• American Red Cross of Los Angeles
• California Community Foundation
