Founder Files: Olive Oil Whipped Cream, a Timeless Salad Bowl & 'Napoleon Dynamite'

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.

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I can’t let tomato season pass without promoting my favorite tomato recipe: Brown Butter Tomatoes. They taste like lobster, can’t explain why!

And I learned two great dessert tricks this week.

The first is that swapping the cream in a ganache for sweetened condensed milk creates a super silky ganache that’s almost stretchy. Try it! Put 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips in a bowl. Warm a can of sweetened condensed milk over low heat. Pour this over the chocolate, add a little salt and vanilla, stir until smooth, then thin with water until it’s a frosting consistency. Ta-da! This hot tip comes from chef Charisse Ledres.

Second is the epiphany of olive oil whipped cream, which I learned how to make from Lauren Calhoun, a private chef. She adds salt and sugar to cream, whips it to soft peaks, and then folds in a delicate fruity olive oil. This produces a wonderfully light, fragrant whipped cream. And it gives you an excuse to slice some good peaches, spoon the cream over them, and call it dessert.

Here are the proportions that worked well for me: ½ cup heavy cream 2 teaspoons sugar Generous pinch salt 1 teaspoon fruity or grassy olive oil

A style-y and functional cookbook stand. Thank you Virginia Sin!

My husband’s family has had a Dansk salad bowl since the 1960s. It’s used as a serving piece at nearly every meal—often for salads but sometimes for pasta or grain dishes. It’s sturdy, a beautiful tulip shape made from teak that’s darkened over the years from absorbing oils.

A great salad bowl made responsibly by craftspeople using sustainable wood is an investment. An investment in artistry, and an investment in family gatherings.

Last week, we released the Dansk Slope Teak Salad Bowl, which hasn’t been in production for decades. Its shape is simple and confident and modern, yet it has the heft of something that’s here to stay.

I heard from SO many of you! And you really know your cult classics—the quote, “I’ll do whatever I feel like I wanna do, gosh!” came, as nearly everyone knew, from Napoleon Dynamite. And there was a tie! The first two emails had the same time stamp, so both Jennifer from Birmingham, AL and Cari from Des Moines, IA have a set of these glasses coming their way!

Being a recipe developer is like being a food critic. Everyone sees it as a dream job and doesn’t want to hear your complaints. But we do want to hear just one—what’s the most difficult part of being a recipe developer?

Recipe development truly is something I've always wanted to do but never quite knew how to break into it. Now that I've been doing it for a while, I'd say the constant juggling act between being innovative yet practical is the most daunting challenge. The testing and adjustment needed to guarantee consistent results for a diverse audience with different levels of comfort in the kitchen, coupled with the pressure of staying ahead of trends and producing fresh content, can be overwhelming. Being a recipe developer is a balancing act of being creative, meticulous, and adaptable, while pushing boundaries and ensuring accessibility for all home cooks.

What’s your most underrated recipe?

I'd say my Kiwi & Tomatillo Salsa Braised Pork. This dish is an absolute flavor powerhouse with a few techniques and components that can be used in other ways. The kiwi & tomatillo salsa alone deserves to be made by anyone who loves to dip their chips—or loves salsa on top of tacos, sandwiches, or eggs. This pork can also very easily be swapped out for any protein that'd benefit from a long braise.

Where should out-of–towners eat in NYC?

I strongly encourage visitors to please get out of the "cool" neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Manhattan and make their way over to Jackson Heights, Queens. No neighborhood is a better representation of the melting pot that is NYC. I go at least once a month, and in just a few blocks' radius you can sample dozens of Latin American, Southeast Asian, and other less commonly accessible cuisines.

Favorite tool?

My lifelong favorite kitchen tool is a classic wooden mortar & pestle. Growing up in a Puerto Rican household, the pilón as I knew it was at the heart of almost every dish's preparation, whether it was to just make some garlic paste or to make sofrito for rices and stews. My first cooking task as a kid was to make sofrito for my mom after school while she was still at work so that she could get ahead on dinner prep.

May your day conclude with a dollop of olive oil whipped cream,

Amanda