Profiles

Martine Trelaun, food52 Shop Editor

by:
June  7, 2010

For this week's Cook Spotlight, we decided to do something a little different. Yes, Martine Trelaun is an excellent cook, but she also works behind the scenes as food52's Shop Editor, scouting out and curating the daily food, garden and tabletop selections for our Shop. Read our Q&A with Martine below to learn more about where she gets her knack for great food and design.

  • Martine Trelaun, food52 Shop Manager Martine Trelaun, food52 Shop Manager's Kitchen
  • Martine in Santa Cruz with a basket of tomatoes (left), and her kitchen, as seen from her dining room (check out that fab orange KitchenAid!)

What do you do for a living?
I'm a graphic designer, a yoga teacher and the Shop Editor for food52.

How do you find all the cool stuff that goes into the food52 Shop?
Some of the stuff I bump into during my walks around New York City, some I discover when I'm travelling. It's sort of the same way online -- one Google search multiplies into a zillion tabs in my browser! I also have to credit Amanda, Merrill, Kristen and Emily at food52, food52's users, and friends for sending terrific recommendations my way. I'm an inveterate shopper and I love research, so I'm constantly bookmarking things -- in my head, on my iPhone, or online -- for inclusion in the shop.

What's your favorite cooking tool?
It's a toss-up between the tea ball (I drink a lot of tea) and the microplane (I'm obsessive compulsive about zesting.)

If you could design a tabletop item, what would it be?
Hmm. Can I eliminate a tabletop item, instead? I'd like to do away with the bread plate. I think crumbs are totally underappreciated.

How do you like to entertain?
Often! This is something I learned from my parents who had dinner parties all the time when I was a kid. It's one of my favorite ways to spend time with the people I love. What gets cooked depends a lot on how much time I have to plan, but one thing is a constant: there will be dessert.

Where do you live and shop regularly?
I live in Brooklyn, in what I like to call Carroll Gardens Adjacent, but is actually known in real estate parlance as Columbia Street Waterfront District. I'm spoiled by the great shops nearby: Sahadi's, Trader Joe's, Union Market, Staubitz Market, Cobblestone Foods, Stinky Bklyn, Heights Chateau... the list goes on. For gift items, I love Brooklyn Collective, a small gallery/store that showcases local artists' and designers' work. They're housed within General Nightmare, a cool place for vintage furniture.

Describe an early food experience that has influenced the way you think about food and/or cooking.
I spent a lot of my early childhood in France, and every Saturday my Uncle Michel would ask me which tart he should get "chez Valentin" for Sunday's lunch. I always asked for strawberry or apricot, and it was Michel who explained that I could have those my birthday (in May) but that in October, I had to pick something that was in season, like apple or pear.

In the mornings I would play with the neighbor's bunnies, and at lunch, I wouldn't freak out like my sisters did when we were served lapin.

What is your idea of comfort food?
Anything that reminds me of something I devoured as a kid: my mother's roasted potatoes, my father's stuffed breast of veal, my aunt Pauline's tomato salad... even a middling croque monsieur can make me happy.

What's your least favorite food?
I eat everything, but raw garlic or enormous quantities of cooked garlic make me want to kill myself.

Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
There have been so many flops! One time, I slid a pizza from the oven onto the floor. Another time, I added orange to mashed potatoes. The worst might be the time my mother commanded me to make salad dressing, and I grabbed a bottle of oil that had gone rancid. "Didn't you taste it first?" she yelled. Uh, lesson learned...

Your desert island meal?
First, a kir. Then, a medium rare steak with a tiny bit of Béarnaise; pencil thin, crispy fries; salad followed by a crazy-ass cheese course. Lots of Pomerol. And finally, dessert: a tarte aux fraises or my mother's crème caramel.

  •  No-knead Bread
  • Martine's living and dining room (left), and her gorgeous rendition of Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread

 

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • dymnyno
    dymnyno
  • mariaraynal
    mariaraynal
  • mtrelaun
    mtrelaun
  • lapadia
    lapadia
  • CatherineTornow
    CatherineTornow
Food52 (we cook 52 weeks a year, get it?) is a food and home brand, here to help you eat thoughtfully and live joyfully.

13 Comments

dymnyno June 13, 2010
You have wonderful taste...I am impressed by your bicoastal shopping.
 
mariaraynal June 9, 2010
Martine, it's a pleasure to meet you and learn more about you. I love your Shop picks, your coffee pot collection and your sassy orange Kitchen Aid.
 
mtrelaun June 9, 2010
Thanks for all the sweet comments! I really couldn't do it without the support and encouragement of everyone at food52. What goes in the shop is truly a reflection of this delightful community of gourmands. Y'all rock!
 
lapadia June 9, 2010
Nice to meet you Martine, and oh, what fun you must have, keep up the great job! RE: your Kitchen Aid...love the color!
 
CatherineTornow June 8, 2010
Martine, Great to meet you! It's so fun to meet the minds behind the magic.
 
lastnightsdinner June 7, 2010
What a wonderful spotlight - so great to learn more about the cooks behind the scenes at food52! And I miss Sahadi's so, so much. (The B61 to get there? Not so much.)
 
drbabs June 7, 2010
Nice to meet you, Martine. You have great taste.
 
mtrelaun June 8, 2010
Aw, thanks drbabs!
 
Amanda H. June 7, 2010
Martine, I like how all of your coffee makers seem like pedestrians walking along Cabinet Street.
 
mrslarkin June 7, 2010
Hi Martine! I like your coffee pot collection! Thanks for all the fun shop picks!
 
Kitchen B. June 7, 2010
Nice to meet you Martine, thanks A & M...I ? your twists on things. And that bread....is to live for. Send me a loaf please
 
mtrelaun June 7, 2010
Thanks, WinnieAb! Congrats on your Smoky Minestrone win, by the way. I can't wait to make a giant pot of it this Fall.
 
WinnieAb June 7, 2010
Nice to learn more about Martine...I love her shop pics..and her Kitchen Aid!