Sam1148

Gotta love a guy who knows how to make his own Fritos. No, really. Sam1148 has long been a Hotline All-Star (way back to the days of ye olde Foodpickle). But since our recent facelift, he's stepped up to the plate time and time again with rocking good, honest answers over which we've had plenty a good chuckle. Like that time he served rocky beans.

If there's one corner of the site in which the tricky and resourceful do reside it's the Food52 Hotline. And, by jingo, is this cook ever helpful. He often appears to the rescue with so much more than the answer -- creativity, unusual experience, and a sense of humor pepper all of his responses. How do you clean a pizza stone? Oh, but it's so much more than a stone! Often weaving his family history in with his kitchen know-how, it's not all talk -- the dude took home silver in our Cherry Tomato Contest with his Cherry Tomato Tequila Butter Salsa with Fried Fish. Thanks, Sam1148, for teaching us to fish all over the site.

Read a Q&A with Sam1148 below:

• 1. Describe an early food experience that has influenced the way you think about food and/or cooking.
• Julia Child. The first thing I ever made that involved cooking was her French Onion Soup.

• 2. What's your least favorite food?
• That green Jello stuff with carrots.

• 3. What is the best thing you've made so far this year?
• Grilled Halibut with Chimichurri Sauce

• 4. Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
• I broke a blade on a Vitamix trying to grind a dried out parmesan cheese rind. Apparently they can turn wood into saw dust, but not cheese.

• 5. What is your idea of comfort food?
• Miso Soup

• 6. Apron or no apron?
• No apron.

• 7. What's your favorite food-related scene in a movie?
• The feast from a Christmas Carol. Alistair Sim version.

• 8. If you could make a show-stopping dinner for one person, living or dead, who would it be?
• My Uncle Jullian.