Podcasts about Cowgirl Creamery

If you enjoy this podcast and look forward to it in your inbox, consider supporting it by becoming a paid yearly subscriber for $60 or you can buy me a cup of coffee for $8Welcome to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanie's Dish." Today, I interview acclaimed food writer, wild foods expert, and self-described hunter-gatherer Hank Shaw. Hank is the author of the brand new cookbook, "Borderlands: Recipes and Stories from the Rio Grande to the Pacific," an exploration of the flavors, cultures, and stories that define the borderlands between the United States and Mexico. He also has a Substack that's wonderful, called Hank Shaw “To The Bone” and a website full of recipes.In this episode, Hank and I dive into everything from his early days as a restaurant cook and investigative journalist to his passion for foraging, preserving, and hunting wild foods. Hank discusses the vibrant mix of culinary traditions that thrive along the border, debunks myths about iconic ingredients (like acorns!), and shares the fascinating histories behind beloved dishes such as chimichangas and parisa.They also touch on practical advice—like the art of drying herbs, the joys and challenges of single-person food preservation, and the ins and outs of self-publishing cookbooks at a high level.Get ready for an episode filled with storytelling, culinary wisdom, and inspiration for your next adventure in the kitchen or the great outdoors. Whether you're a curious home cook, an aspiring cookbook author, or simply a lover of good food, there's something here for everyone. Let's get started!Original Episode Transcript Follows:Stephanie:Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish, the podcast, where we talk to fun people in the food space and sometimes they have cookbooks. And today's author is an author. He's an author of great magnitude, Hank Shaw. His new book is Borderlands Recipes and Stories from the Rio Grande to the Pacific. And Hank, you are such a prolific, beautiful writer. This book, I feel like, is just so you. Do you love it?Hank Shaw:It's been a long journey to make this book, and I'm pretty proud of it. And it's. It's been probably the biggest project of my adult life in terms of time, commitment, travel, really unlocking understanding of things that I thought I knew but didn't necessarily know until I got there. And it's just been this. This crazy, fantastic journey and a journey that you can eat.Stephanie:Can you talk a little bit about your history? Like, I think many people know you as the hunter, forager, gatherer, type, and Borderlands obviously has a lot of those elements to it. But can you just walk readers that are listeners that might be new to your journey kind of through how you got here?Hank Shaw:Sure. Many, many years ago, when I was still fairly young, I was a restaurant cook. So I worked first as a dishwasher and then as a line cook and then as a sous chef in a series of restaurants, mostly in Madison, Wisconsin. And I left that job to be a newspaper reporter. And I ended up being a newspaper reporter for 18 years. And I cooked all throughout that and traveled and learned more about food and did fishing and hunting and foraging and such. And then I left the News Business in 2010 to do my website, which is hunter, angler, gardener, cook. And I've been doing that full time since 2010.So, yeah, my entire kind of current incarnation is wild foods. But Borderlands is kind of an outgrowth of that for two reasons. The first is I've been basically written all of the fishing game books you can possibly write already. I've got one for every kind of quarry you can imagine. And then the other thing was, oh, well, you know, a lot of that travel for those other books was on the border on both sides, on the American side and on the Mexican side. And that kind of grew into this. Wow, you know, God, the food is so great and God, this area is just so neglected, I think, by most, you know, the. The food, or radio, for lack of a better term.Yeah, because all of the, like, everybody seems to love to hate Tex Mex without really fully knowing what Tex Mex actually is. And people say that the Southwestern cooking is so very 1987. And. And, you know, the people who know Mexico are like, oh, all the good foods in Oaxaca or Michoacan or Mexico City or Yucatan. And really that's not the case, as over and over and over again, I was discovering these amazing just finds. And a lot of them had to do with wild foods, but not all of them. And so that borderlands became my diary of that journey.Stephanie:And quite a diary it is. What's interesting to me is I didn't actually ever know that you were in the newspaper business.Hank Shaw:And that makes a Pioneer Press graduate.Stephanie:Oh, you work for them. How did I not know this?Hank Shaw:Yeah, I was a St. Paul Pioneer Press investigative reporter from 2002 to 2004. And if you're of a certain age and you remember there was a big story about some Republican operatives getting involved with a telecommunications boondoggle. And yeah, that was probably. That was us. That was our story.Stephanie:Well, and it makes sense because the book is so like. It's the storytelling that's so good. And, you know, cookbooks are cookbooks with beautiful recipes and different people's point of view on recipes. But what I love about your book, too, is it really goes into ingredients a little more in depth. It tells the story of the terroir, of where the recipe's from and why it's the way it is. And it makes sense now to me that you're a journalist because it's so beautifully written.Hank Shaw:I really appreciate that. I mean, I tried in this particular book. There are essays in all of my books, but in this particular one, I really, really wanted people from the rest of the country to get a flavor of what it's like to was really honest to God, like on the border. Everybody has thoughts and opinions about immigration and about the border and about blah, blah, blah. And it's like, well, how much time have you actually spent on the border? Do you actually know what it feels like, what it smells like, what it tastes like? Chances are you probably don't. And I really wanted this book to shine a light on that in ways that go well beyond food.Stephanie:When we talk about the borderlands, can you talk about it without talking about immigration and the close connection between the United States and Mexico? I mean, we share this border. People have this idea that it's like this gated, fenced situation, and really there's tons of the border that's just. You'd only know it was a border if someone told you you were crossing it.Hank Shaw:It's very true. In Fact, one of my favorite moments to that was in south southwest Texas there's a beautiful national park called Big Bend. It's one of the biggest national parks in the country. It's fa. It's famous, it's amazing. But you're going to drive and hike and hike and drive and hike and drive a gigantic park. So one place that you can go to. And it's actually, if you open up a copy of Borderlands and you see this huge vista right at the beginning of the book, there's this huge vista and it's on a cliff. That is exactly it. That is. That is Big Bend National Park. And if you're looking right in the back end of that back center, a little to the left, you'll see a canyon in the background. In that canyon is St. Helena Canyon. And St.Helena Canyon is created by the Rio Grande. So you can go to that park and you can walk across the border literally to Mexico and not have the Rio Grande come up over your ankles. And there's Mexicans on their side, there's Americans on our side, and everybody's crossing back and forth until their families are there and having a fun time, blah, blah, blah. And it's just, it's one of these great moments where it shows you that, yeah, that border is really just sort of a fiction.Stephanie:Yeah. Yes, in many ways. Right. Figuratively. And also, I don't know, we seem to be in a global food economy whether we want to or not. When you look at the individual ingredients that you're using here in Borderlands, obviously there's very different things because of temperature in Mexico than you might have here in the Midwest. But is it really different from like say, Texas to Mexico in.Hank Shaw:Yes, there, there are definitely different. So the food you'll get in Nueva Leon or Coahuila or Tamaulipas, which are the three Mexican states, that border Texas is going to be different from what you would think about as Texas food. However, on the Borderlands, that. That change really is minimal. And I talk about in the book the idea of Fronteraisos, people who are neither fully Mexican nor full. They're. They're border people and they can slide between English and Spanish in mid clause. And it's really the, you know, the, the pocho or Spanglish or whatever you want to call it that you'll hear there is very different from what you'll hear from a bilingual person from, say, Mexico City, where typically those people will speak in full sentences or paragraphs in one language and then maybe switch to another language in the next sentence or paragraph.Hank Shaw:Well, on the border, it's a mishmash. So the structure, the words, the adjectives, like, it's everything. It's like no function. And so it's like. It's like this whole kind of amalgam of what's going on. And that kind of translates into the food where you've got some Texas, you know, some very Texas. Texas. Things that don't cross the border, like yellow cheese doesn't really cross the border.Stephanie:Right.Hank Shaw:The idea of, like, rotel queso. So it's. It's like Velveeta cheese melted with rotel. That's queso. That's the bad queso in North Texas. Like, you'll get that in, like, Amarillo. But the real queso is south of Interstate 10. And that is a white Mexican cheese.That it where you get, you know, roasted fire roasted green chilies folded into it and a little bit of Mexican oregano and salt and a little bit of crema to thin it out. And it's is to the rotel queso what a match is to the sun.Stephanie:Yeah.Hank Shaw:And, you know, I mean, that said, I'm not gonna poop all over the Velveeta one, because that while I don't think it tastes great, what I realized is that particular version of queso, which I personally don't like, is really heavy with cultural significance.Stephanie:Yeah.Hank Shaw:And. And so that's. There's a place for it. It's just not. That's not really as border food as you might think. That's a little bit more North Texas, and that's an example of where things don't cross. But a really great example of where things are damn near the same is Arizona and Sonora. So that there's almost no difference between Arizona Mexican food and Sonora Mexican food because they're one and the same.The burritos are pretty similar. The flour tortillas are similar. The carne asada is pretty similar. And so that. That's a case where the border's really. I mean, yes, it's a border, but I mean, it's like the. It's. There's no food border.Same thing with Southern California and Tijuana and Northern Baja. There's almost no. No functional difference between the two of them. Now, New Mexico and Chihuahua has a difference. And, like, north of Interstate 10 in Texas and the border in Texas are quite different.Stephanie:There's a recipe in here that I didn't even really know existed called Parisa.Hank Shaw:Oh, yeah.Stephanie:And, you know, you we will order steak tartare or make tartare. And I didn't realize that there was a. In many cultures, you sort of see similar foods or similar food groups, and they're just treated differently with herbs or spices. This looks delicious.Hank Shaw:It really is. It's the best way to describe it if you. If you're not familiar, because it's very. It's. It's super regional in Texas. Like, you can't even really get barista in Dallas or in. Or in El Paso. It's not a thing there.It's sort of a south central Texas thing. But the best way I can describe it is really accurately describe it. It is steak tartar meets aguachile. Because most people will say it's steak tartare meat ceviche. And yes, you absolutely can get it like that, but the. The acidity and the citrus will turn the. The raw beef gray, which I think looks gross. Yeah, I mean, it.It tastes fine, but it just kind of looks like, meh. So my recipe and what I do is I. I mix the steak tartare with the. Essentially, pico de gallo is really what it. What it's being mixed with, and a little bit of cheese, and I. I'll mix it and serve it right away so that when you eat it, the meat is still pink.Stephanie:Yeah, it looks really good. And then also in the book, so you're a hunter, obviously, we established that. But in many of these recipes, you have substitutions of different animal proteins that can be used. So whether it's elk or bison or sheep or duck, I think that's cool.Hank Shaw:Yeah, I mean, I think I. I started that process. It's done with icons. So if you look at a recipe for. Oh, there's a stew that's very popular. They're called puchero. And I'm just to that page, so I'll. So.Oh, that's a sour puerto. So always pork, but, like, no. Babies will die if you use something else from that. But that is traditionally a pork dish. Buchero is traditionally beef or venison, but really, you know, you're gonna be fine if you put damn near anything in it. It's a big, giant stew, a lot of vegetables, and it's fantastic. And to. To really make the book more versatile, because I.The two things that I always do in my books. Number one is I'm going to give you the recipe as faithfully as I can to what it actually is, wherever it's from, and then I'm going to give you all these substitutions so that if you live in, you know, Bismarck or Crookston or, you know, rural Iowa, you're going to be able to make it. And that's important to me because it's more important to me that you make some version of it than to be exactly proper and specific. I hate cookbooks where it's like, especially with cheese, where you'll see someone be like, it must be the, you know, Cowgirl Creamery point raised blue from 2012. Otherwise this recipe won't work. I'm like, come on guys, this is a stupid recipe. Like it's blue cheese. It'll be fine.Stephanie:I was surprised that you have a chimichanga in the book. Can we talk about chimichangas? Because people that grew up in the Midwest, Chichis was like the first Mexican restaurant besides El Burrito Mercado. And El Burrito Mercado was authentic and chichi's was like the Americanized what they thought Mexican food was. Which also I will say I have taste memories of chi cheese. I say this not dogging on them and they're actually coming back. And the chimichanga is something that like, if I actually go to the new restaurant, which I'm sure I will, I will order a chimichanga. It's like a taste memory for me. What is the origination of chimichanga?Hank Shaw:It's shrouded in mystery. So there's a couple different theories. And then I'll tell you what I think the general story is that a woman was making burritos in Arizona and either dropped, which I don't believe because that would create a splash that would, you know, send 350 degree oil everywhere, or placed a burrito in the deep fryer. And the, the legend, which I don't believe this is true at all, is she drops the burrito in the deep fryer and you know, says something like, you know, ah, chingo to madre or whatever, like just like swears something bad and. But then sort of does what you would do in a kind of a mom situation. And if you instead of saying the F word, you would say oh, fudge. And so she goes, oh Jimmy changa. And which is sort of vaguely reminiscent of some Mexican swear words.And so that thus the, the dish was born. But I think that's not true because there is a fantastic resource, actually. I mean, I found it in some of my older Mexican cookbooks that I own. But there's a fantastic research that the University of Texas at San Antonio of Mexican cookbooks. And some of these Mexican cookbooks are handwritten from the 1800s, and so they're all digitized and you can. You can study them. And so there's a thing in Sonora. Remember I just got done saying that, like, there's almost no difference between Sonora and Arizona.There's a thing from Sonora many, many, many, many years ago, you know, early early 1900s, for a chivy changa. C H I V I C H A N G A ch and it's the same thing. So I'm convinced that this is just a thing, because if you have a burrito and you fry things, there's zero. There's zero chance that at some point you be like, I want to. I wonder if frying the burrito will make it good? You know, like, the answer, yes, yes, all the time.Stephanie:And.Hank Shaw:And so, you know, I, like you, came into the chimichanga world just thinking with a definite eyebrow raised, like, what is this? And when it's done right, and if you see the picture in my book, it is dressed with a whole bunch of things on the outside of the burrito. So it's crema, it's a pico de gallo. It's shredded lettuce or cabbage, limes. The thing about a properly served chimichanga is that you have to eat it as a whole because the chimichanga itself is quite heavy. You know, it's a. It's a fried burrito with, like, rice and beans and meat inside it. Like, it's a gut bomb. But when you eat it with all these light things around it that are bright and fresh and acidic, it completely changes the eating experience. And I was sold.Stephanie:I can imagine. The one you have in the book looks really good. I'm going to. I keep asking about specific recipes, but there were, like, some that just jumped out at me, like, wow. Another one that jumped out at me was from that same chapter about the acorn cookies. I've always been under the impression that acorns, and maybe it's from just specific to the oaks, but that they're poisonous. I didn't think about making acorn flour.Hank Shaw:So, number one, no acorns are poisonous. Zero, period. End of story. It's a myth. You were lied to. Sorry.Stephanie:Yeah. I mean, it helps me because my dog eats them.Hank Shaw:I mean, acorns have been a source of food for human beings forever, you know, all the way. I don't know how long ago, but way more than 10,000 years. Way more. Okay, so what the myth comes from is most acorn varieties, so most especially red oaks, are full of tannins. And tannins are not poisonous. Tannins are not toxic. Tannins will make you constipated if you eat too many of them. And I suppose it would be possible to poison yourself with tannins, but I mean, good luck.Yeah, good luck eating enough of that astringent stuff to be able to get yourself poisoned. But tannins are water soluble. So for millennia, the people who eat acorns, and especially in. In northern California, where, you know, acorn. Acorns were their main starch, the idea of leaching the tannins out in a stream or wherever is as old as time. And so you make the. You make a meal. It's really a meal is probably a better way to put it.I call it flour, but there's no. There's no real gluten in it. In fact, there's no gluten in it, but there is some starch in it that will help the flour stick to itself. So that's true everywhere. In fact, it's a very good acorn year here in Minnesota this year. And I found some bur oaks in a. In a place that I'm going to go back and harvest them to make some more acorn flour this year. And I'll have to leach them here.But this is a very long walk up to this cookie recipe, because in south Arizona and in Sonora, there's an oak called an emery oak. And the emery oak is in the white oak. It's in the white oak clan. And it is sweet in the sense that you can roast those acorns and eat them. And in fact, you can get roasted acorns as a snack on some of the reservations down there or really wherever. I mean, it's a thing like it's. It. It.They could just roast it. Roast the acorns? Yeah. It's just like a chestnut. Very good. That's exactly with the. Because it's the same kind of a texture as well. And so that particular oak is unique in. In North America.The cork oak in Europe is the other one that doesn't have any tannins to it. So you can just sit there and eat them. And that's why they make flour out of them. It's an indigenous thing. You don't really see it too much among the Hispanic Sonorans. You see it a lot more with, like, Yaqui or Pima or Tono O', Odham, those indigenous groups.Stephanie:It's so Cool. I also subscribe to your substack, which I would encourage people to subscribe and. And yes to the Bone, it's called. And you just had a post about herbs and how important herbs are in your cooking and in your yard. And I know that you have kind of a small St. Paul yard because we've talked about it. What are you doing with your herbs now that we're at the end of the season? Are you. Do you have anything that's special that you do with them? Do you dry them? Do you mix them with salt?Hank Shaw:I do all of the above. I am a preservation fanatic. I could talk for hours just about various ways to preserve things for our Minnesota winners. Maybe that's another podcast for sure. But the short version is, yes, all of the things. I mostly will do things like make pesto with basil, because I love pesto. But I do dry some and there are tricks to drying herbs. The trick is low heat for a long time, so the don't use your oven and try to get them dry within 40, 48 hours, but also try to do it at less than 110 degrees, otherwise they turn brown.Stephanie:Do you use it like a dehydrator, then?Hank Shaw:Yes, I use a dehydrator. And most herbs dry really well. In fact, many herbs are better dried because it concentrates their flavor. Basil's iffy. Parsley's kind of terrible. Dried parsley's one of those ones where eat it fresh, make pesto. I suppose you could freeze it. I mostly will.I will gather big scabs of it because I grow a lot and I will freeze it. And even though it's going to suffer in the freezer, it is one of the most vital things I use for making stocks and broths with the game I bring home. So freezing, drying, you can, you know, I just mixed a whole bunch of. Of lovage with salt. So you go 50, 50 the herb and. And coarse salt, like ice cream salt almost. And then you buzz that into a food processor or a blender, and then that creates a much finer kind of almost a wet salt that is an enormous amount of flavor. And if you freeze it, it'll stay bright green the whole winter.And sometimes I like to do that, but the other times I kind of like to. To see it and progress over the. Over the months. And it's kind of a beautiful thing to see that herb salt kind of brown out and army green out as we get to like, late February, because it really is. Is sort of also indicative of how of our Harsh winters and feels a little bit more of the time and place than pulling something out of a freezer.Stephanie:Yeah. So let's talk about that because you're a single man, you are a recipe writer and developer, so you're also cooking and testing recipes. You're preserving all these things. I mean, my freezer right now is kind of a hellscape. I just closed up my summer and I came home with so much food. I have, like, canned and pickled and preserved. And I just literally feel overwhelmed by all of the food in my home right now. And I realize this is a real first world problem.So, you know, my daughter's kind of in her young 20s and sort of poor, so I've loaded her up with stuff. But do you just feel overwhelmed sometimes by all of the abundance of food?Hank Shaw:Absolutely. It's one of the things that's been really remarkable about it, about sort of single life, is how less I need to hunt or fish. So I find myself. I mean, I still. I. Because. So, side note, background backstory. I don't buy meat or fish at all.I occasionally will buy a little bit of bacon because I love bacon. And I'll occasionally buy pork fat to make sausages with game, but that's it. So if I'm eating red meat, it's going to be venison. If I'm eating white meat, it's probably going to be grouse or. Or pheasants. If I'm eating fish, I've caught it. And so that's what I find is that I eat. Hey, I don't eat that much meat anymore.Like, I eat plenty. But I mean, it's not like I. I don't gorge myself on giant steaks anymore. And it's just me. So, you know, a limit of walleyes can last me a month. And before, it was definitely not like that. And so, yes, I can feel the overwhelm. But what's, you know, I have neighbors that I give things to.I have friends that I give things to. Like, I. I had two deer tags last year, and I shot the second deer because I had a whole bunch of friends who didn't get a deer and needed medicine. So it was really cool to be able to give to. You know, I butchered it all and gave them an all vacuum seal. It was like all ready to go. And. And that was really satisfying to be able to help people like that.And then, you know, I like, you know, have a dinner party here and there.Stephanie:Yeah, I want to come to a dinner party. Not to invite myself. But please, I'll. I'll reciprocate in the. I have a cabin in the summer, so I'm sort of like between here and there. But once sets in, I really like to entertain and have people over. I find that it's a really easy way to gather new people too. Like, I like collecting people because I just think people are so amazing and I love putting like, new people at the table that people don't know yet or making those connections.I think I'm actually kind of good at it. So I can't wait to have you over this fall.Hank Shaw:Yeah, likewise. We'll. We'll do a home and home.Stephanie:Yes, I would love that very much. Your book is available, Borderlands on. I found it because obviously I. You sent me a copy. But also it's on Amazon and you self publish. So there's a lot of people that listen to this podcast that are cookbook writers themselves or people that maybe are trying to get published or find publishing. Can you speak to that a little bit and why that's been your route. You've been doing this a long time.Hank Shaw:Yeah, this is my force. Fourth self published book. And self publish is really kind of a misnomer in a way because the books that I put out are of Random House quality. Like, they're for sure. There's no way you're gonna be able to tell this book is apart from a gigantic publishing house, because what I ended up doing is creating a publishing company. So the books are published in big, big runs at Versa Press in Illinois. I'm very happy to say that these books are entirely made in America. And that's kind of important to me because most cookbooks are made in China and not a fan.So the books are printed in Illinois and they are stored and shipped at a, at a, a warehouse in Michigan. So the best ways to get the books are to either buy them from my website or buy them from Amazon. Those are probably your two best avenues for it. The thing about self publishing, if you want to do it at the level that I'm doing it, which is to say, make a book that, you know, even a snooty Random House person will be like, damn, that's a good book. You have to go big and it's not cheap. So I do, I, I don't ever do runs less than 5,000. And a typical run for me is between 10 and 15,000. And because your unit costs go way, way down.Stephanie:Right.Hank Shaw:And we can get in the weeds of it, but I have some Advantages in the sense that my sister has designed books for a living for 30 some odd years and her husband has edited books for 30 some odd years.Stephanie:Oh, so you got like family business going.Hank Shaw:Yeah, and my ex, my ex does most of the photos like this. Borderlands is the first book where the majority of the photos are mine. They're nice, but the. But even she's cheap. She photo edited this book. And so like I have people with very good skills. And so what I would say is if you have a kitchen cabinet where you have people who have those skills. And I have to kind of stress that, for example, copy editing, copy editing or proofreading or indexing a book are entirely different from copy editing or proofreading something in businessIt's just not the same skill. And I found that out. So if you have that ability to put together a dream team, then you can make a really, really beautiful book that will, that will impress people and that you will actually love. The print on demand system is still not good enough for cookbooks. It's fantastic for like a memoir or something without a lot of pictures, but it is not good for, for cookbooks still.Stephanie:All right, I'm just making notes here because people ask me questions about this all the time. All right, well, I appreciate that you've done all this work, and the book is beautiful, and I love talking to you about food. So hopefully we can call you again and just wrap it down.Hank Shaw:Yeah, let's talk about preservation.Stephanie:Yeah, I. Because I've never met anyone that only was eating what they killed.Hank Shaw:Well, you could go up north. I bet you'd find more people who do.Stephanie:But yes, yes. And I just, I find that to be fascinating and also just the idea of preserving food and how you use. Use what you preserve. So yeah, that's a great topic to get into at a later date. The book is Borderlands. I'm talking with Hank Shaw. Recipes and Stories from the Rio Grande to the Pacific. You can find it at Amazon or at his website.I always say this one wrong. Hunt, Gather. CookHank Shaw:So. So the best way to get to my website is just go to huntgathercook.com okay.Stephanie:And you have lots of recipes there too. I want people to just explore thousands. Yeah, it's incredible the mon recipes that you have there. And you know, if you think about protein as being interchangeable in a lot of these instances, it's definitely a really well done website with tons of recipes.Stephanie:Thanks for your time today, Hank. I appreciate it.Hank Shaw:Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me on.Stephanie:We'll talk soon.Hank Shaw:Bye.Stephanie:Bye. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

If you enjoy this podcast and look forward to it in your inbox, consider supporting it by becoming a paid yearly subscriber for $60 or you can buy me a cup of coffee for $8Welcome to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanie's Dish." Today, I interview acclaimed food writer, wild foods expert, and self-described hunter-gatherer Hank Shaw. Hank is the author of the brand new cookbook, "Borderlands: Recipes and Stories from the Rio Grande to the Pacific," an exploration of the flavors, cultures, and stories that define the borderlands between the United States and Mexico. He also has a Substack that's wonderful, called Hank Shaw “To The Bone” and a website full of recipes.In this episode, Hank and I dive into everything from his early days as a restaurant cook and investigative journalist to his passion for foraging, preserving, and hunting wild foods. Hank discusses the vibrant mix of culinary traditions that thrive along the border, debunks myths about iconic ingredients (like acorns!), and shares the fascinating histories behind beloved dishes such as chimichangas and parisa.They also touch on practical advice—like the art of drying herbs, the joys and challenges of single-person food preservation, and the ins and outs of self-publishing cookbooks at a high level.Get ready for an episode filled with storytelling, culinary wisdom, and inspiration for your next adventure in the kitchen or the great outdoors. Whether you're a curious home cook, an aspiring cookbook author, or simply a lover of good food, there's something here for everyone. Let's get started!Original Episode Transcript Follows:Stephanie:Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish, the podcast, where we talk to fun people in the food space and sometimes they have cookbooks. And today's author is an author. He's an author of great magnitude, Hank Shaw. His new book is Borderlands Recipes and Stories from the Rio Grande to the Pacific. And Hank, you are such a prolific, beautiful writer. This book, I feel like, is just so you. Do you love it?Hank Shaw:It's been a long journey to make this book, and I'm pretty proud of it. And it's. It's been probably the biggest project of my adult life in terms of time, commitment, travel, really unlocking understanding of things that I thought I knew but didn't necessarily know until I got there. And it's just been this. This crazy, fantastic journey and a journey that you can eat.Stephanie:Can you talk a little bit about your history? Like, I think many people know you as the hunter, forager, gatherer, type, and Borderlands obviously has a lot of those elements to it. But can you just walk readers that are listeners that might be new to your journey kind of through how you got here?Hank Shaw:Sure. Many, many years ago, when I was still fairly young, I was a restaurant cook. So I worked first as a dishwasher and then as a line cook and then as a sous chef in a series of restaurants, mostly in Madison, Wisconsin. And I left that job to be a newspaper reporter. And I ended up being a newspaper reporter for 18 years. And I cooked all throughout that and traveled and learned more about food and did fishing and hunting and foraging and such. And then I left the News Business in 2010 to do my website, which is hunter, angler, gardener, cook. And I've been doing that full time since 2010.So, yeah, my entire kind of current incarnation is wild foods. But Borderlands is kind of an outgrowth of that for two reasons. The first is I've been basically written all of the fishing game books you can possibly write already. I've got one for every kind of quarry you can imagine. And then the other thing was, oh, well, you know, a lot of that travel for those other books was on the border on both sides, on the American side and on the Mexican side. And that kind of grew into this. Wow, you know, God, the food is so great and God, this area is just so neglected, I think, by most, you know, the. The food, or radio, for lack of a better term.Yeah, because all of the, like, everybody seems to love to hate Tex Mex without really fully knowing what Tex Mex actually is. And people say that the Southwestern cooking is so very 1987. And. And, you know, the people who know Mexico are like, oh, all the good foods in Oaxaca or Michoacan or Mexico City or Yucatan. And really that's not the case, as over and over and over again, I was discovering these amazing just finds. And a lot of them had to do with wild foods, but not all of them. And so that borderlands became my diary of that journey.Stephanie:And quite a diary it is. What's interesting to me is I didn't actually ever know that you were in the newspaper business.Hank Shaw:And that makes a Pioneer Press graduate.Stephanie:Oh, you work for them. How did I not know this?Hank Shaw:Yeah, I was a St. Paul Pioneer Press investigative reporter from 2002 to 2004. And if you're of a certain age and you remember there was a big story about some Republican operatives getting involved with a telecommunications boondoggle. And yeah, that was probably. That was us. That was our story.Stephanie:Well, and it makes sense because the book is so like. It's the storytelling that's so good. And, you know, cookbooks are cookbooks with beautiful recipes and different people's point of view on recipes. But what I love about your book, too, is it really goes into ingredients a little more in depth. It tells the story of the terroir, of where the recipe's from and why it's the way it is. And it makes sense now to me that you're a journalist because it's so beautifully written.Hank Shaw:I really appreciate that. I mean, I tried in this particular book. There are essays in all of my books, but in this particular one, I really, really wanted people from the rest of the country to get a flavor of what it's like to was really honest to God, like on the border. Everybody has thoughts and opinions about immigration and about the border and about blah, blah, blah. And it's like, well, how much time have you actually spent on the border? Do you actually know what it feels like, what it smells like, what it tastes like? Chances are you probably don't. And I really wanted this book to shine a light on that in ways that go well beyond food.Stephanie:When we talk about the borderlands, can you talk about it without talking about immigration and the close connection between the United States and Mexico? I mean, we share this border. People have this idea that it's like this gated, fenced situation, and really there's tons of the border that's just. You'd only know it was a border if someone told you you were crossing it.Hank Shaw:It's very true. In Fact, one of my favorite moments to that was in south southwest Texas there's a beautiful national park called Big Bend. It's one of the biggest national parks in the country. It's fa. It's famous, it's amazing. But you're going to drive and hike and hike and drive and hike and drive a gigantic park. So one place that you can go to. And it's actually, if you open up a copy of Borderlands and you see this huge vista right at the beginning of the book, there's this huge vista and it's on a cliff. That is exactly it. That is. That is Big Bend National Park. And if you're looking right in the back end of that back center, a little to the left, you'll see a canyon in the background. In that canyon is St. Helena Canyon. And St.Helena Canyon is created by the Rio Grande. So you can go to that park and you can walk across the border literally to Mexico and not have the Rio Grande come up over your ankles. And there's Mexicans on their side, there's Americans on our side, and everybody's crossing back and forth until their families are there and having a fun time, blah, blah, blah. And it's just, it's one of these great moments where it shows you that, yeah, that border is really just sort of a fiction.Stephanie:Yeah. Yes, in many ways. Right. Figuratively. And also, I don't know, we seem to be in a global food economy whether we want to or not. When you look at the individual ingredients that you're using here in Borderlands, obviously there's very different things because of temperature in Mexico than you might have here in the Midwest. But is it really different from like say, Texas to Mexico in.Hank Shaw:Yes, there, there are definitely different. So the food you'll get in Nueva Leon or Coahuila or Tamaulipas, which are the three Mexican states, that border Texas is going to be different from what you would think about as Texas food. However, on the Borderlands, that. That change really is minimal. And I talk about in the book the idea of Fronteraisos, people who are neither fully Mexican nor full. They're. They're border people and they can slide between English and Spanish in mid clause. And it's really the, you know, the, the pocho or Spanglish or whatever you want to call it that you'll hear there is very different from what you'll hear from a bilingual person from, say, Mexico City, where typically those people will speak in full sentences or paragraphs in one language and then maybe switch to another language in the next sentence or paragraph.Hank Shaw:Well, on the border, it's a mishmash. So the structure, the words, the adjectives, like, it's everything. It's like no function. And so it's like. It's like this whole kind of amalgam of what's going on. And that kind of translates into the food where you've got some Texas, you know, some very Texas. Texas. Things that don't cross the border, like yellow cheese doesn't really cross the border.Stephanie:Right.Hank Shaw:The idea of, like, rotel queso. So it's. It's like Velveeta cheese melted with rotel. That's queso. That's the bad queso in North Texas. Like, you'll get that in, like, Amarillo. But the real queso is south of Interstate 10. And that is a white Mexican cheese.That it where you get, you know, roasted fire roasted green chilies folded into it and a little bit of Mexican oregano and salt and a little bit of crema to thin it out. And it's is to the rotel queso what a match is to the sun.Stephanie:Yeah.Hank Shaw:And, you know, I mean, that said, I'm not gonna poop all over the Velveeta one, because that while I don't think it tastes great, what I realized is that particular version of queso, which I personally don't like, is really heavy with cultural significance.Stephanie:Yeah.Hank Shaw:And. And so that's. There's a place for it. It's just not. That's not really as border food as you might think. That's a little bit more North Texas, and that's an example of where things don't cross. But a really great example of where things are damn near the same is Arizona and Sonora. So that there's almost no difference between Arizona Mexican food and Sonora Mexican food because they're one and the same.The burritos are pretty similar. The flour tortillas are similar. The carne asada is pretty similar. And so that. That's a case where the border's really. I mean, yes, it's a border, but I mean, it's like the. It's. There's no food border.Same thing with Southern California and Tijuana and Northern Baja. There's almost no. No functional difference between the two of them. Now, New Mexico and Chihuahua has a difference. And, like, north of Interstate 10 in Texas and the border in Texas are quite different.Stephanie:There's a recipe in here that I didn't even really know existed called Parisa.Hank Shaw:Oh, yeah.Stephanie:And, you know, you we will order steak tartare or make tartare. And I didn't realize that there was a. In many cultures, you sort of see similar foods or similar food groups, and they're just treated differently with herbs or spices. This looks delicious.Hank Shaw:It really is. It's the best way to describe it if you. If you're not familiar, because it's very. It's. It's super regional in Texas. Like, you can't even really get barista in Dallas or in. Or in El Paso. It's not a thing there.It's sort of a south central Texas thing. But the best way I can describe it is really accurately describe it. It is steak tartar meets aguachile. Because most people will say it's steak tartare meat ceviche. And yes, you absolutely can get it like that, but the. The acidity and the citrus will turn the. The raw beef gray, which I think looks gross. Yeah, I mean, it.It tastes fine, but it just kind of looks like, meh. So my recipe and what I do is I. I mix the steak tartare with the. Essentially, pico de gallo is really what it. What it's being mixed with, and a little bit of cheese, and I. I'll mix it and serve it right away so that when you eat it, the meat is still pink.Stephanie:Yeah, it looks really good. And then also in the book, so you're a hunter, obviously, we established that. But in many of these recipes, you have substitutions of different animal proteins that can be used. So whether it's elk or bison or sheep or duck, I think that's cool.Hank Shaw:Yeah, I mean, I think I. I started that process. It's done with icons. So if you look at a recipe for. Oh, there's a stew that's very popular. They're called puchero. And I'm just to that page, so I'll. So.Oh, that's a sour puerto. So always pork, but, like, no. Babies will die if you use something else from that. But that is traditionally a pork dish. Buchero is traditionally beef or venison, but really, you know, you're gonna be fine if you put damn near anything in it. It's a big, giant stew, a lot of vegetables, and it's fantastic. And to. To really make the book more versatile, because I.The two things that I always do in my books. Number one is I'm going to give you the recipe as faithfully as I can to what it actually is, wherever it's from, and then I'm going to give you all these substitutions so that if you live in, you know, Bismarck or Crookston or, you know, rural Iowa, you're going to be able to make it. And that's important to me because it's more important to me that you make some version of it than to be exactly proper and specific. I hate cookbooks where it's like, especially with cheese, where you'll see someone be like, it must be the, you know, Cowgirl Creamery point raised blue from 2012. Otherwise this recipe won't work. I'm like, come on guys, this is a stupid recipe. Like it's blue cheese. It'll be fine.Stephanie:I was surprised that you have a chimichanga in the book. Can we talk about chimichangas? Because people that grew up in the Midwest, Chichis was like the first Mexican restaurant besides El Burrito Mercado. And El Burrito Mercado was authentic and chichi's was like the Americanized what they thought Mexican food was. Which also I will say I have taste memories of chi cheese. I say this not dogging on them and they're actually coming back. And the chimichanga is something that like, if I actually go to the new restaurant, which I'm sure I will, I will order a chimichanga. It's like a taste memory for me. What is the origination of chimichanga?Hank Shaw:It's shrouded in mystery. So there's a couple different theories. And then I'll tell you what I think the general story is that a woman was making burritos in Arizona and either dropped, which I don't believe because that would create a splash that would, you know, send 350 degree oil everywhere, or placed a burrito in the deep fryer. And the, the legend, which I don't believe this is true at all, is she drops the burrito in the deep fryer and you know, says something like, you know, ah, chingo to madre or whatever, like just like swears something bad and. But then sort of does what you would do in a kind of a mom situation. And if you instead of saying the F word, you would say oh, fudge. And so she goes, oh Jimmy changa. And which is sort of vaguely reminiscent of some Mexican swear words.And so that thus the, the dish was born. But I think that's not true because there is a fantastic resource, actually. I mean, I found it in some of my older Mexican cookbooks that I own. But there's a fantastic research that the University of Texas at San Antonio of Mexican cookbooks. And some of these Mexican cookbooks are handwritten from the 1800s, and so they're all digitized and you can. You can study them. And so there's a thing in Sonora. Remember I just got done saying that, like, there's almost no difference between Sonora and Arizona.There's a thing from Sonora many, many, many, many years ago, you know, early early 1900s, for a chivy changa. C H I V I C H A N G A ch and it's the same thing. So I'm convinced that this is just a thing, because if you have a burrito and you fry things, there's zero. There's zero chance that at some point you be like, I want to. I wonder if frying the burrito will make it good? You know, like, the answer, yes, yes, all the time.Stephanie:And.Hank Shaw:And so, you know, I, like you, came into the chimichanga world just thinking with a definite eyebrow raised, like, what is this? And when it's done right, and if you see the picture in my book, it is dressed with a whole bunch of things on the outside of the burrito. So it's crema, it's a pico de gallo. It's shredded lettuce or cabbage, limes. The thing about a properly served chimichanga is that you have to eat it as a whole because the chimichanga itself is quite heavy. You know, it's a. It's a fried burrito with, like, rice and beans and meat inside it. Like, it's a gut bomb. But when you eat it with all these light things around it that are bright and fresh and acidic, it completely changes the eating experience. And I was sold.Stephanie:I can imagine. The one you have in the book looks really good. I'm going to. I keep asking about specific recipes, but there were, like, some that just jumped out at me, like, wow. Another one that jumped out at me was from that same chapter about the acorn cookies. I've always been under the impression that acorns, and maybe it's from just specific to the oaks, but that they're poisonous. I didn't think about making acorn flour.Hank Shaw:So, number one, no acorns are poisonous. Zero, period. End of story. It's a myth. You were lied to. Sorry.Stephanie:Yeah. I mean, it helps me because my dog eats them.Hank Shaw:I mean, acorns have been a source of food for human beings forever, you know, all the way. I don't know how long ago, but way more than 10,000 years. Way more. Okay, so what the myth comes from is most acorn varieties, so most especially red oaks, are full of tannins. And tannins are not poisonous. Tannins are not toxic. Tannins will make you constipated if you eat too many of them. And I suppose it would be possible to poison yourself with tannins, but I mean, good luck.Yeah, good luck eating enough of that astringent stuff to be able to get yourself poisoned. But tannins are water soluble. So for millennia, the people who eat acorns, and especially in. In northern California, where, you know, acorn. Acorns were their main starch, the idea of leaching the tannins out in a stream or wherever is as old as time. And so you make the. You make a meal. It's really a meal is probably a better way to put it.I call it flour, but there's no. There's no real gluten in it. In fact, there's no gluten in it, but there is some starch in it that will help the flour stick to itself. So that's true everywhere. In fact, it's a very good acorn year here in Minnesota this year. And I found some bur oaks in a. In a place that I'm going to go back and harvest them to make some more acorn flour this year. And I'll have to leach them here.But this is a very long walk up to this cookie recipe, because in south Arizona and in Sonora, there's an oak called an emery oak. And the emery oak is in the white oak. It's in the white oak clan. And it is sweet in the sense that you can roast those acorns and eat them. And in fact, you can get roasted acorns as a snack on some of the reservations down there or really wherever. I mean, it's a thing like it's. It. It.They could just roast it. Roast the acorns? Yeah. It's just like a chestnut. Very good. That's exactly with the. Because it's the same kind of a texture as well. And so that particular oak is unique in. In North America.The cork oak in Europe is the other one that doesn't have any tannins to it. So you can just sit there and eat them. And that's why they make flour out of them. It's an indigenous thing. You don't really see it too much among the Hispanic Sonorans. You see it a lot more with, like, Yaqui or Pima or Tono O', Odham, those indigenous groups.Stephanie:It's so Cool. I also subscribe to your substack, which I would encourage people to subscribe and. And yes to the Bone, it's called. And you just had a post about herbs and how important herbs are in your cooking and in your yard. And I know that you have kind of a small St. Paul yard because we've talked about it. What are you doing with your herbs now that we're at the end of the season? Are you. Do you have anything that's special that you do with them? Do you dry them? Do you mix them with salt?Hank Shaw:I do all of the above. I am a preservation fanatic. I could talk for hours just about various ways to preserve things for our Minnesota winners. Maybe that's another podcast for sure. But the short version is, yes, all of the things. I mostly will do things like make pesto with basil, because I love pesto. But I do dry some and there are tricks to drying herbs. The trick is low heat for a long time, so the don't use your oven and try to get them dry within 40, 48 hours, but also try to do it at less than 110 degrees, otherwise they turn brown.Stephanie:Do you use it like a dehydrator, then?Hank Shaw:Yes, I use a dehydrator. And most herbs dry really well. In fact, many herbs are better dried because it concentrates their flavor. Basil's iffy. Parsley's kind of terrible. Dried parsley's one of those ones where eat it fresh, make pesto. I suppose you could freeze it. I mostly will.I will gather big scabs of it because I grow a lot and I will freeze it. And even though it's going to suffer in the freezer, it is one of the most vital things I use for making stocks and broths with the game I bring home. So freezing, drying, you can, you know, I just mixed a whole bunch of. Of lovage with salt. So you go 50, 50 the herb and. And coarse salt, like ice cream salt almost. And then you buzz that into a food processor or a blender, and then that creates a much finer kind of almost a wet salt that is an enormous amount of flavor. And if you freeze it, it'll stay bright green the whole winter.And sometimes I like to do that, but the other times I kind of like to. To see it and progress over the. Over the months. And it's kind of a beautiful thing to see that herb salt kind of brown out and army green out as we get to like, late February, because it really is. Is sort of also indicative of how of our Harsh winters and feels a little bit more of the time and place than pulling something out of a freezer.Stephanie:Yeah. So let's talk about that because you're a single man, you are a recipe writer and developer, so you're also cooking and testing recipes. You're preserving all these things. I mean, my freezer right now is kind of a hellscape. I just closed up my summer and I came home with so much food. I have, like, canned and pickled and preserved. And I just literally feel overwhelmed by all of the food in my home right now. And I realize this is a real first world problem.So, you know, my daughter's kind of in her young 20s and sort of poor, so I've loaded her up with stuff. But do you just feel overwhelmed sometimes by all of the abundance of food?Hank Shaw:Absolutely. It's one of the things that's been really remarkable about it, about sort of single life, is how less I need to hunt or fish. So I find myself. I mean, I still. I. Because. So, side note, background backstory. I don't buy meat or fish at all.I occasionally will buy a little bit of bacon because I love bacon. And I'll occasionally buy pork fat to make sausages with game, but that's it. So if I'm eating red meat, it's going to be venison. If I'm eating white meat, it's probably going to be grouse or. Or pheasants. If I'm eating fish, I've caught it. And so that's what I find is that I eat. Hey, I don't eat that much meat anymore.Like, I eat plenty. But I mean, it's not like I. I don't gorge myself on giant steaks anymore. And it's just me. So, you know, a limit of walleyes can last me a month. And before, it was definitely not like that. And so, yes, I can feel the overwhelm. But what's, you know, I have neighbors that I give things to.I have friends that I give things to. Like, I. I had two deer tags last year, and I shot the second deer because I had a whole bunch of friends who didn't get a deer and needed medicine. So it was really cool to be able to give to. You know, I butchered it all and gave them an all vacuum seal. It was like all ready to go. And. And that was really satisfying to be able to help people like that.And then, you know, I like, you know, have a dinner party here and there.Stephanie:Yeah, I want to come to a dinner party. Not to invite myself. But please, I'll. I'll reciprocate in the. I have a cabin in the summer, so I'm sort of like between here and there. But once sets in, I really like to entertain and have people over. I find that it's a really easy way to gather new people too. Like, I like collecting people because I just think people are so amazing and I love putting like, new people at the table that people don't know yet or making those connections.I think I'm actually kind of good at it. So I can't wait to have you over this fall.Hank Shaw:Yeah, likewise. We'll. We'll do a home and home.Stephanie:Yes, I would love that very much. Your book is available, Borderlands on. I found it because obviously I. You sent me a copy. But also it's on Amazon and you self publish. So there's a lot of people that listen to this podcast that are cookbook writers themselves or people that maybe are trying to get published or find publishing. Can you speak to that a little bit and why that's been your route. You've been doing this a long time.Hank Shaw:Yeah, this is my force. Fourth self published book. And self publish is really kind of a misnomer in a way because the books that I put out are of Random House quality. Like, they're for sure. There's no way you're gonna be able to tell this book is apart from a gigantic publishing house, because what I ended up doing is creating a publishing company. So the books are published in big, big runs at Versa Press in Illinois. I'm very happy to say that these books are entirely made in America. And that's kind of important to me because most cookbooks are made in China and not a fan.So the books are printed in Illinois and they are stored and shipped at a, at a, a warehouse in Michigan. So the best ways to get the books are to either buy them from my website or buy them from Amazon. Those are probably your two best avenues for it. The thing about self publishing, if you want to do it at the level that I'm doing it, which is to say, make a book that, you know, even a snooty Random House person will be like, damn, that's a good book. You have to go big and it's not cheap. So I do, I, I don't ever do runs less than 5,000. And a typical run for me is between 10 and 15,000. And because your unit costs go way, way down.Stephanie:Right.Hank Shaw:And we can get in the weeds of it, but I have some Advantages in the sense that my sister has designed books for a living for 30 some odd years and her husband has edited books for 30 some odd years.Stephanie:Oh, so you got like family business going.Hank Shaw:Yeah, and my ex, my ex does most of the photos like this. Borderlands is the first book where the majority of the photos are mine. They're nice, but the. But even she's cheap. She photo edited this book. And so like I have people with very good skills. And so what I would say is if you have a kitchen cabinet where you have people who have those skills. And I have to kind of stress that, for example, copy editing, copy editing or proofreading or indexing a book are entirely different from copy editing or proofreading something in businessIt's just not the same skill. And I found that out. So if you have that ability to put together a dream team, then you can make a really, really beautiful book that will, that will impress people and that you will actually love. The print on demand system is still not good enough for cookbooks. It's fantastic for like a memoir or something without a lot of pictures, but it is not good for, for cookbooks still.Stephanie:All right, I'm just making notes here because people ask me questions about this all the time. All right, well, I appreciate that you've done all this work, and the book is beautiful, and I love talking to you about food. So hopefully we can call you again and just wrap it down.Hank Shaw:Yeah, let's talk about preservation.Stephanie:Yeah, I. Because I've never met anyone that only was eating what they killed.Hank Shaw:Well, you could go up north. I bet you'd find more people who do.Stephanie:But yes, yes. And I just, I find that to be fascinating and also just the idea of preserving food and how you use. Use what you preserve. So yeah, that's a great topic to get into at a later date. The book is Borderlands. I'm talking with Hank Shaw. Recipes and Stories from the Rio Grande to the Pacific. You can find it at Amazon or at his website.I always say this one wrong. Hunt, Gather. CookHank Shaw:So. So the best way to get to my website is just go to huntgathercook.com okay.Stephanie:And you have lots of recipes there too. I want people to just explore thousands. Yeah, it's incredible the mon recipes that you have there. And you know, if you think about protein as being interchangeable in a lot of these instances, it's definitely a really well done website with tons of recipes.Stephanie:Thanks for your time today, Hank. I appreciate it.Hank Shaw:Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me on.Stephanie:We'll talk soon.Hank Shaw:Bye.Stephanie:Bye. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Kiren Sekar is the CPO of Samsara, a company that brings real-time visibility, analytics, and AI to physical operations. Before Samsara, Kiren was an early leader at Meraki, which was acquired by Cisco for $1.2B. In this episode, he walks us through Samsara's origin story: from hardware hacking in a basement to scaling a cross-industry IoT platform. He shares how early customer feedback loops led to the company's first product, why starting with the mid-market was a deliberate choice, and how Samsara kept a startup mindset even as it scaled. In this episode, we discuss: Lessons from Meraki's acquisition by Cisco How Kiren hires for intrinsic motivation Why Samsara was built for operations industries The early hardware prototype and the Cowgirl Creamery insight Building broad vs. niche from day one The shift from founder-selling to a scalable sales motion Organizing product teams around revenue vs. experience How Samsara uses LLMs and AI today What Kiren learned from longtime co-founder Sanjit Biswas Where to find Kiren: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirensekar/ Where to find Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson References: Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/ Clay: https://www.clay.com/ Cowgirl Creamery: https://cowgirlcreamery.com/ IBM: https://www.ibm.com/ Meraki: https://meraki.cisco.com/ Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/ Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ Samsara: https://www.samsara.com/ Sanjit Biswas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjitbiswas/ Uber: https://www.uber.com/ Timestamps: (01:27) Meraki's growth and acquisition by Cisco (03:25) The "evaporating" exit strategy from Meraki (04:42) Identifying the IoT market gaps (07:38) The early keys to success at Samsara (09:39) What does quality mean to Kiren? (10:54) Building a customer-centric roadmap (17:34) Early customer research and the failed fridge monitoring idea (20:57) How a cheese producer helped create Samsara's first prototype (28:06) Balancing depth and breadth in customer profiles (33:45) Developing customer trust to build feedback loops (40:27) How “ease of use” became a growth secret (44:23) Pricing strategies and market positioning (51:51) How Meraki influenced Samsara's GTM strategy (57:19) Helping customers navigate change management (1:00:48) How Samsara's team evolved during rapid growth (1:04:03) What AI means for an IoT giant

It's the Sarah trifecta again on this episode. Sarah Marshall and Sarah Masoni interview Sarah Marcus, founder of Briar Rose Creamery, Dundee, Oregon. This is another check-in show, as Sarah was interviewed previously on episode #68, released in March, 2021. For background, Proprietor and Cheesemaker Sarah Marcus is a Bay Area native and started making cheese in her kitchen. In 2005 she took a chance and got a job as a cheesemonger at Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco. It was there that she fell in love with the world of cheese and developed her palette. Her cheesemaking studies took her to England, Spain, North Carolina, and Vermont. In 2008 she and her husband moved to Dundee, Oregon with the intention to build Briar Rose Creamery. So what has changed with the business and the industry since we last talked? The Creamery did have sheep milk supplied to them for a short while and made a special cheese from it. However, the owners of the farm raising the sheep sold the farm and that product line ceased to exist. But the all-cows'-milk program is working great and the company is selling more cheese than ever before. The company sells whole wheels of cheese only and consolidates the wheels in a Portland, Oregon location where trucks are loaded along with other cheese makers' products and delivered to the customers. The company is a small business, however, and subject to the ups and downs of circumstances beyond their control. For example, the local area recently suffered unusually cold weather, icing up roads and making travel difficult. It stopped milk supplies and kept employees from getting into work, so now Sarah is trying to balance increasing shifts to make up for the lost days, lost production and ultimately, lost revenue, all at the mercy of the weather. All cheeses from Briar Rose are artisan. As much art as they are food, most of the cheeses are soft and luscious. They are a golden color and the crusts take on that golden glow as well. And as the cheeses age, they get a deeper and deeper golden hue. They also get richer tasting and softer as they age, taking on a buttery experience and complexities similar to complexities found in fine wines. The company and its cheeses also have been featured in Food and Wine magazine as one of the top 50 cheese makers in the US. Sarah still does not know how that happened, as they must have been visited at either their Farm Store in Dundee or at one of the Farmers Markets they attend. So there's a message here for all foodpreneurs: Treat everyone who shops your products as best you can, because you never know if they are customers or undercover reporters. In addition to the company's Farm store, you can buy Briar Rose cheeses at local Oregon Farmers Markets and special markets and grocery stores up and down the west coast, including Alaska. Look at the amazing offerings of cheese on the company website: http://www.briarrosecreamery.com/. Follow Sarah and company on FB, https://www.facebook.com/briarrosecreamery/. On IG, https://www.instagram.com/briarrosecheese/. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall.

Welcome to the 7th episode of "Curd is the Word" with your host, Brittany Bisset! Get ready to embark on a cheese-tasting journey as we explore the alluring realms of two sensational artisanal cheeses. First up is Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk, a funky soft cheese hailing from Northern California with a backstory as rich as its flavor. We'll dive into its washed rind goodness and uncover the secrets behind its delectable, unforgettable taste.But wait, there's more! We'll then whisk your taste buds away to the Finger Lakes region in New York to savor Sunset View Creamery's BelPaese, an Italian snacking cheese that's sure to make your palate dance, especially if you are fond of both Swiss and Parmesan cheeses. From its origins to its distinct character, we'll delve into what makes this cheese a must-have for your after-dinner able.Join us for a lively and cheese-filled discussion that's packed with wit, wisdom, and a whole lot of flavor. Whether you're a cheese connoisseur or just beginning your cheesy adventures, this episode is for you.Sound effects by Pixabay Featured cheese:Cowgirl Creamery Red HawkSunset View BelPaeseCheese events: The B's Cheese Cheese Tasting/DIY Charcuterie Board classThe Barnyard Collective presents Best Practices: Salesmanship, Storytelling & ServiceCheeseSexDeath Cheese Church - last of 2023!Follow along on IG for more cheesy inspiration @TheBsCheese or at my website www.thebscheese.com and cheese suggestions are always welcome. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave a review!

This week Jessica speaks with Vivien Straus: Writer, Performer, & Small Farm Advocate. Vivien is known for her one-woman shows exposing her “interesting” life choices. She's worked in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She was part of the New York sketch comedy group “BOB” and has had roles on film and TV with directors such as Francis Coppola and Oliver Stone. You might have seen her in films like Peggy Sue Got Married, plus she's acted in numerous plays and commercials. She wrote and performed the solo shows entitled: “After I'm Dead, You'll Have to Feed Everyone” and “E-i-E-i-OY, In Bed with the Farmer's Daughter.” She's also served as VP of Marketing for Straus Family Creamery, led tours at Cowgirl Creamery, created the California Cheese Trail, and currently manages Straus Home Ranch, a vacation rental and wedding venue in Marshall, California. You can learn more about Vivien at vivienstraus.com/, the Straus Home Ranch at straushomeranch.com/ and the California Cheese Trail at CheeseTrail.org. Are you a high achiever, a leader, or an Ampersand who's recently taken on more responsibility at work? Jessica works with people just like you. She coaches individuals and leadership teams to rise to new challenges - with a unique blend of analytical & creative approaches, plus 18 years of invaluable experience working in companies and startups. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠jessicawan.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or BOOK AN INTRO CALL: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://calendly.com/jessicawancoaching/intro-call-coaching⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Credits Produced and Hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessica Wan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Co-produced, edited, and sound design by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Naomi Tepper⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Theme music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Denys Kyshchuk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stockaudios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay

Harry & Natalie. Natalie Cilurzo brings the 2023 Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing Co. to Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras today. This is the 19th presentation of the new Pliny the Younger. This version is a little bit different than the one that premiered in February. The Pliny the Younger base recipe is fairly stable, at about 10.25% ABV, but there is a tweak to the hops and this year that is a new hop from New Zealand called Nectaron. Vinny decided to put a little more bittering hops into the second mix. The hop aroma is brilliant and beautiful and the flavors really shine through. The New Release Schedule In February they did a limited release. The first Friday in February used to be the launch date. Last year they had to postpone distribution due to a Covid outbreak, and what they found out was that their accounts appreciated the rollout this way, so they will continue to release for wholesale, draft only, in February and then in person, on draft and in bottles, for their brewpubs only, in late March. Natalie describes about a four-month process they have to manage for the release event. There is merchandise galore to design and order, the label, packaging, timing and logistics for all that, wristbands, et cetera. There are 28,000 unique wristbands, marked with date and location, with four pull tabs. The first three tabs are redeemable for one 10-ounce pour. The fourth, or B tab, allows the bearer to purchase two bottles to go. A lot of people enjoy the social event, including meeting people in line. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info. There are usually 20 beers on tap at Russian River Brewing Co. in addition to Pliny the Younger. They are releasing Hopfather IPA and a sour peach beer, tomorrow. Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Herlinda and Natalie were at the California Craft Brewers Association conference this week. On the last day, the final talk had Natalie, Vinny and Ken Grossman on stage talking about the beer business and then they served a taste of Pliny for everyone, which was a big hit. There is a cheese tasting too, for people waiting in line. The California Artisan Cheese Festival is at the Fairgrounds, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Cowgirl Creamery, Cypress Grove and others will be there.

Our host Diane discusses with Debra Dickerson, Director of Education and Customer Outreach at Cowgirl Creamery about the current atmosphere in the cheese market and what may be next for the industry.SAVORY InstituteDZTA Daphne Zepos Teaching AwardCheese Culture CoalitionImage courtesy of Debra Dickerson.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cutting the Curd by becoming a member!Cutting the Curd is Powered by Simplecast.

Cara interviews Amanda Parker about her new role as Managing Director of Cowgirl Creamery. Tune in for a discussion about what challenges arise when taking on a legacy creamery and what's next under Amanda's direction in this leadership role.Photo Courtesy of Cowgirl Creamery and Amanda Parker.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Cutting the Curd by becoming a member!Cutting the Curd is Powered by Simplecast.

Well, this episode is Sarah, Sarah and Sarah; try not to get confused. Sarah Marcus started her career in San Francisco, taking a job as cheesemonger for Cowgirl Creamery. She fell in love with cheese and developed her palate there. The company sent her to the processing plant where she learned the entire cheese making business and she wanted more. Her cheesemaking studies took her to England, Spain, North Carolina, and Vermont. In 2008 she and her husband moved to Dundee, Oregon with the intention to build Briar Rose Creamery. They chose that area because of the natural beauty: rivers, forests, and farmland, and the wineries make some of the best Pinot Noir in the world. Plus, the water adds a flavor found nowhere else. Our own Sarah Masoni (again, try not to get confused) has been deeply involved in dairy products and in 1985 was Oregon State University's Dairy Products judging team and was the number one judge for the national butter and ice cream competition. After that, she ran the Blue Heron cheese factory in Tillamook, Oregon. Currently, she is one of 65 judges for cheese, butter and ice cream products. A lot of cheese knowledge in this episode. But back to the guest (aka Sarah number three). Sarah Marcus is a typical founder, whatever needs to be done for the business, she gets it done, wears every hat that Briar Rose Creamery has. She also is an incredible photographer, and has chosen Christine Hyatt to post photos of her cheeses on her website. They make you feel as if you can smell and taste them. Probably her background in selling music has added to her artistic background but she left the 9 to 5 world for the cheesemonger job because she "knew how to sell". But you have to do more than sell to have a cheese factory, you have to be a business person too. A cheese plant is expensive to start up and Sarah's experience in England taught her how to source equipment that produced beautiful cheese as economically as possible. Luckily, the cheese community in her area is very open and the owners share information on how to stay in business easily and work hard to support each other. Sarah has rebuild her business "three or four" times when life threw her a curve. But she's dialed in and determined to live her dream. "Masoni and Marshall the meaningful Marketplace" with your hosts Sarah Masoni and Sarah Marshall We record the "the Meaningful Marketplace" inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland. Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil Show logo was designed by Anton Kimball of Kimball Design Website was designed by Cameron Grimes Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster 10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes Listen to the "Masoni and Marshall the meaningful marketplace" live on-air every Friday at 9:00am pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com

Not Light in the Butt! Noor Zainab (Dishes and Dimes) joins Agata and Anastasia to discuss NBA news. Noor shares her love for the Raptors, her lockdown blues, and how she celebrated the championship. The gang discusses Kawhi, polite Canadians, parades, covid protocol, women in sports media, Blake Griffin, Kyrie's party, worms, Kiwis Abroad, KAT, postponed games, lush towels, and Tampa Bay, Florida. Will the gang make plans for a tour around the world post-pandemic? You'll hear the answer if you press play!

How did a plant-based food brand expand from farmer's markets to every Chipotle and thousands of grocery stores by focusing on quality, innovation and empathy for its employees? Minh Tsai, Founder & CEO of Hodo Foods, quietly built one of the most influential food brands in the U.S. by channeling the empathy that he learned as a Vietnamese refugee. In this episode, Minh shares how his mission-driven company combined "old school" business fundamentals with artisanal craft, a commitment to justice and the environment, plus a healthy dose of luck to run the table in tofu.BONUS: He also shares real-time evidence that restaurants -- many of whom have been Hodo's biggest customers -- are figuring out how to survive post-COVID-19.See below for what you'll learn in this episode.* How to apply lessons learned from iconic, "OG" brands like Blue Bottle Coffee, Cowgirl Creamery, Acme Bread and Niman Ranch -- all founded around the same time as Hodo* How a commitment to worker safety & cross-training prepared the company for COVID-19* How to develop & launch innovation using new platforms for connecting with retailers, like Spark Change by New Hope Network (learn more here)

We almost can't believe we landed an interview with THE Chef John Ash -- the Father of Wine Country Cuisine! But somehow, we did, and it turned out to be one of the most informative interviews we've done that brings the world of food and wine together in perfect harmony! In this episode, Meredith & Lou get to learn about Chef John's past experiences, but they also learn about one of the most fascinating topics for wine lovers: pairing wine and cheese! John was so generous to us as he walks us through some really valuable tips, and, he also provided some great connections for us -- and our listeners -- to source some incredible cheeses. To help out, we've provided the names and links to all of the places Chef John mentioned in this interview. For an INCREDIBLE cheese selection, look no further than Cowgirl Creamery! Chef John mentions how well they do seasonal cheeses — and, this is the kind of place that sources specialty cheeses you’re gonna want to try! Click here to visit the site. Gioia Cheese Company is the place where Chef John told Meredith to go for the best burrata cheese ever! Click here to visit the site. If you’re looking for vegan cheese and butter that tastes like the real thing, Meredith, Lou and Chef John can all testify that Miyokos absolutely delivers the goods! Click here to visit the site. Chef John gave us a great tip for the upcoming holidays: Keep things simple by ordering beautiful favorites online. And for Chef John, Zingerman’s is a great place to get the ball rolling! Click here to visit the site. For more information on Chef John Ash and all of the many ways he keeps adding beautiful things to the world of food and wine, visit his website www.chefjohnash.com CONTACT US: If you have questions or comments for Meredith and Lou, and you're listening on the Anchor App, you can send them to us directly. If you're listening to this podcast on any other platform, and you want to reach out, you can email us at majorcrushpodcast@gmail.com  // Follow us on Instagram: @majorcrushwinecast. // Be sure to check out all three seasons of Major Crush on Spotify, or wherever you access your favorite podcasts! Episodes of Season Three drop every Thursday but make sure to subscribe to our show so you never miss a thing! — 

Host Cara Warren interviews Caitlin O'Neill of Cowgirl Creamery to hear her POV and what's ahead for the cheese retail world.In March, HRN began producing all of our 35 weekly shows from our homes all around the country. It was hard work stepping away from our little recording studio, but we know that you rely on HRN to share resources and important stories from the world of food each week. It’s been a tough year for all of us, but right now HRN is asking for your help. Every dollar that listeners give to HRN provides essential support to keep our mics on. We've got some fresh new thank you gifts available, like our limited edition bandanas.Keep Cutting the Curd on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. Cutting the Curd is powered by Simplecast. 

Dr. Jacob Lahne is an assistant professor of food science at Virginia Tech Jake brings an interdisciplinary background to sensory science. Besides his extensive work experience in the culinary field: he has worked as a farmhand, as a line cook in fine dining, and as a cheesemonger at Cowgirl Creamery. He is broadly interested in adapting new tools into sensory-science and has had success adopting diverse approaches to understanding sensory perceptions, from qualitative research to complex-systems and data-science. Jake collaborates widely with researchers from outside sensory science, with current collaborations in computer science, agricultural economics, public-health nutrition, and science & technology studies.   University Page: https://www.fst.vt.edu/aboutus/faculty/jlahne.html     To learn more about Aigora, please visit www.aigora.com

Lou Reed—music icon, poet, photographer, Tai Chi master, vital force in the cultural life and underworld of New York City. Lou died in 2013 and left not a word of instruction about what he wanted done with his archive of recordings, instruments, gear, his Tai Chi swords, jackets—from his days with The Velvet Underground, through his solo career and last recordings. He left everything to his wife, artist and musician Laurie Anderson. Over the next six years Laurie and a team of Lou’s “keepers” created a vision. In March 2019, on the occasion of his birthday, The Lou Reed Archive opened to the public at the New York Library for the Performing Arts with parties, friends, family, fanfare and a drone concert at the largest cathedral in the world. During that week and beyond we spoke to many of Lou’s archivists, family, and friends — Laurie Anderson, Curator Don Fleming, Jason Stern and Jim Cass who worked with Lou, drone wizard Stewart Hurwood, Producers Tony Visconti and Hal Willner, Carrie Welch from the New York Public Library, Curator Jonathan Hiam and a devoted crew of librarians and archivists at the New York Library for the Performing Arts, and Lisa Shubert at Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Many thanks to all. The Keepers, stories of activist archivists, rogue librarians, curators, historians and collectors, is produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) in collaboration with Nathan Dalton & Brandi Howell and mixed by Jim McKee. Special thanks to story interns Sydney Stewart and Josh Gross. The Kitchen Sisters Present is part of the Radiotopia Podcast Network from PRX. Support for The Kitchen Sisters comes from Radiotopia, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Grammy Museum Foundation, The Marin Community Foundation/ Susie Tompkins Buell Fund, Cowgirl Creamery, The Kaleta Doolin Foundation, The Robert Sillins Family Foundation, The Robert Lee Hudson Foundation, the TRA Fund and listener contributions to The Kitchen Sisters Productions. “These are really terribly rough times and we really should try to be nice to each other as possible.”  Lou Reed.

Sue Conley, co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery, shares her journey from falling in love with sustainable agriculture to transforming Marin County into a region that deeply celebrates fresh, organic cheese making.

This episode of HRN On Tour brings you inside Good Food Mercantile in Brooklyn, New York. Hannah Fordin got to sit down with longtime friends of HRN, Sue Conley and Maureen Cunnie of Cowgirl Creamery to talk a bit about the company's history as a producer, distributor and retailer of cheese, their brand new products, their ideal cheese spreads and why while there are many incredible emerging cheese makers, many of them are struggling to stay in business. Heritage Radio Network On Tour is powered by Simplecast.

What does the future of food look like? Futuristic plant-based meat, Michelin-chef ramen vending machine, or how about augmented reality for your oven? All those things are here today. On this episode of Tech Bites (@techbiteshrn) host Jennifer Leuzzi (@mmesnack) talks with The Spoon (@thespoontech) publisher Michael Wolf (@michaelwolf) about The Spoon Food Tech 25, this year’s list of the companies making the biggest impact on the overall meal journey. This episode of Tech Bites was made possible by the generosity of Cowgirl Creamery (@cowgirlcreamery) Artisan cheese makers and mongers in the Golden State of California. Tech Bites is powered by Simplecast.

Mona Talbott and Kate Arding are the forces behind Talbott & Arding, a cheese and provisions shop, in Hudson, New York. Mona and Kate approach their food, shop, and community with intention and love. They sat down with Julia to talk about what their lives were like before they opened their business, how they navigate running it together as a couple, and more. Mona has over 25 years experience in the culinary industry. She began her cooking career as a camp cook in remote logging camps in her native Canada, formalizing her training at the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon where, in 1993, Talbott graduated with highest honors. She was a cook at Chez Panisse for five years before she launched Mona Talbott Catering and began cooking exclusively for “A” list private clients and catering events both in the United States and Europe working within the fine arts, media and entertainment industry. Her ongoing collaboration on special culinary projects with Alice Waters eventually led her to Italy, where, from 2006-2011, she was the founding Executive Chef at the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome. She has written and published two cookbooks: Biscotti and Zuppe: Recipes from the Kitchen of the American Academy in Rome, and contributed to over ten cookbooks authored by notable chefs. In 2010, Talbott was included in COCO, 10 World-Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs and, most recently, contributed 50 recipes to Amy Goldman’s forthcoming book, Heirloom Peppers. Mona has published recipes and written articles for the New York Times, Saveur, Bon Appetit, and Organic Cooking. Kate is an internationally recognized authority on cheese with over 20 years of experience in the farmhouse cheese industry. Her work encompasses cheesemongering, sales and marketing, infrastructure management for small-scale cheese businesses, affinage (cheese maturation), publishing and teaching. She is a keynote speaker at regional and national conferences. Kate’s cheese career began at Neal’s Yard Dairy, London, UK in 1993 where she developed a thorough understanding of what it takes for cheesemakers and retailers to create and sustain profitable businesses. In 1997, Kate was recruited by Cowgirl Creamery & Tomales Bay Foods, the award winning cheese retailer and cheesemaker, to be their Head Cheesemonger and Cheese Buyer at their newly formed company in Marin County, California. In 2008, Kate co-founded the ground-breaking consumer print and online cheese magazine Culture: The Word on Cheese. Kate’s consulting work has influenced agricultural agencies, cheese producers and retailers around the globe, working in places as diverse as Uganda, Ecuador, the Netherlands and Macedonia. A member of the Board of Directors for the American Cheese Society (ACS), and Co-Chair of the ACS’s Regulatory and Academic Committee, Kate also regularly judges at many U.S. and international competitions. In 2011, she was inducted into the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers, where she was especially recognized for her work within the artisanal cheese industry, both in the U.S and overseas. Kate is an area editor of the Oxford Companion to Cheese (Oxford University Press, 2015). As an industry spokesperson and sought-after expert, Kate has appeared on The Martha Stewart Living Show, Heritage Radio Network and has been regularly featured in national and international press, including the San Francisco Chronicle, The LA Times, The Times (UK). As a contributing writer, editor and photographer, Kate’s work on cheesemakers and the cheesemaking process has been published in media outlets worldwide. Follow-up links from the episode: Julia will be signing copies of Now & Again at Talbott and Arding (323 Warren Street in Hudson, NY) on Saturday May 4, 2019 from 2p - 3p. Come say hi! For more about Talbott and Arding, head here. For the quinoa recipe (Charoset Quinoa) from Now & Again that Julia mentioned, head here. For the red lentil recipe (Curried Red Lentils with Coconut Milk) from Small Victories that Juila mentioned, head here. For Julia's Red Lentil Soup with Coconut and Cilantro from Feed the Resistance, head here. For more about Rolling Grocer 19, head here. For more about Kinderhook Farm, head here. For more about Julia, head here.

You may not know them by name, but Sue Conley and Peggy Smith are the dairy mavens who founded Cowgirl Creamery, the famous Bay Area maker of such delicious cheeses as Mt Tam and Red Hawk. On this ep, Claire and Erica had the pleasure of hearing the full story, which involves a Steinbeckian post-college road trip, a stint at Chez Panisse, and—you guessed it—a thriving work-wife relationship. P.S. Hey, have you grabbed a copy of Claire and Erica’s book Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses? And, if not, what are you waiting for?!

Today's guest is Jay Brooks, the well-known beer writer who is also one of the organizers of SF Beer Week. Jay Brooks has been writing about beer for nearly 30 years, based in the Bay Area. He is a co-founder of SF Beer Week and writes a syndicated newspaper column. Wade and Sean from Olver’s Market are also coming in today. Jay talks about his new initiative called Flagship February, to shine a light on “the beers that got us here.” With all the new beers around, it’s a chance to pause and consider the classics, like Anchor Beer. By flagship beer he means the beer that defines a brewery like Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale, Stone’s Arrogant Bastard, Firestone DBA and others. Anchor Steam Beer is one of those. Every day there are well-known writers, including Tara Nurin, who will write an article about their first experience with one of those flagship beers. Today is the 5th anniversary of Brew Ha Ha on the radio and the first anniversary of this podcast. Herlinda wanted to pair some cheeses with beer so she invited Wade and Sean from Oliver's Market.  They have Oliver's first private label beer. They have begun with one and will add a stout and a lager in the next few months. They also produce their own wine, so they wanted to have a local brew too.  Their goal was to appeal to all tastes. They brought four cheeses for the four beers. One classic Basque-style from France, a goat's milk Gouda, a locally produced washed-rind, which is Red Hawk from Cowgirl Creamery, and a blue cheese. They are also serving their spicy bar nuts that they serve in their tavern. "We take our cheese very very seriously!" This is SF Beer Week and reports are that crowds are large. It has exceeded Jay's wildest expectations. They struggled to get 100 events the first year and this year there are 800 or 900, all over the Bay Area. Next week Herlinda Heras will be in Bologna, Italy, as a judge in the Italian "Beer of the Year" competition (called "Birra dell'anno" in Italian).  

Some of the people that have been a part of the Good Food movement from the very beginning join us to talk about where the organization started and where it's going next (2020 is the 10 Year Anniversary of the Good Food Foundation). Brian Kenny of Hearst Ranch kicks us off with his hot take of the Good Food Mercantile and speaks to the importance of passion in building a small food business, but also the strategies involved with pricing your product effectively and reaching economies of scale. We're thrilled to welcome long-time supporters of HRN, the women behind Cowgirl Creamery! Sue Conley, Amanda Parker, and Peggy Smith sit down to reflect on the early days of Good Food and talk about the growth of their cheese-making business, which is favorite among many in the Bay Area. Finally, we host a conversation between Louisa Conrad of Big Picture Farm (a small goat dairy in Southern Vermont that makes goats' milk caramels) and Luke Schmueker of Shacksbury Cider. Louisa talks about the unique ethos of Big Picture Farm, such as the reason why their goats live in their family units for their full lifespan, why they chose to self-distribute their caramels, and what's in store for visitors to the farm! HRN On Tour is powered by Simplecast.

Sue Conley, and Peggy Smith (Founders of Cowgirl Creamery & the two people behind the endowment for the Annual Great Smoky Mountain Food Days Event) along with keynote speaker, James Beard Award winning Ronni Lundy reading from her award winning book “Victuals”. Plus - Fred Sauceman’s “Pot Luck Radio on the road” segment on “Egg Cream from NYC”

Comedian, actor, and multiple Moth-winning storyteller Oscar Sagastume talks about comedy, family, and growing up Hispanic in an increasingly Asian neighborhood when you don't speak Spanish.   Learn more about Oscar's shows and other projects at OscarComedy.com.   This week's Pairings: This week's episode pairs very well with Red Hawk cheese from Cowgirl Creamery, Ohana's Blonde Ale, and the song "Stay Up Late" by Talking Heads.    

Sue Conley, co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery in California, joins host Greg Blais to talk about the recent wildfires in California and how the cheese community has come together to help. Cutting the Curd is powered by Simplecast

Peg & Sue, Co-Owners of Cowgirl Creamery. These two women let us know about their business, and thoughts on whole, good foods. They attended the University of Tennessee and now want to give back to this region by helping to support regional agriculture and hospitality concerns. One way they are doing this is by sponsoring the 1st Annual Great Smoky Mountain Food Days Event. This is an event that celebrates the food, culture and agriculture of our region.

As the record drought in California – the worst in hundreds of years – continues to make headlines, food producers across the state are forced to adapt. For Sue Conley of Cowgirl Creamery, this means cutting down on certain styles of cheese. In this next installment of Cutting the Curd’s Lost Cheese series, tune in to hear Sue, Greg Blais and guest co-host Matt Rubiner discuss the drought, cottage cheese, and the present and future of dairy in California. This program was brought to you by Academie Opus Caseus. “We stopped making it [cottage cheese] before the the drought hit because it is a water intensive cheese.” [10:40] “This drought, what it’s done, has made every commodity precious so our whey is in demand and we actually get a little bit of money for it.” [14:50] —Sue Conley on Cutting the Curd

On this edition of the Cutting the Curd Book Review, Diane Stemple talks with Sue Conley, co-author of Cowgirl Creamery Cooks. Sue, along with her partner Peggy Smith, were artisan cheese innovators with the establishment of the Cowgirl Creamery in Marin County, California. Tune in to hear how the Cowgirls combined recipes with cheese know-how in order to create an encompassing cheese guide. Tune in to learn how to arrange cheese plates according to region, variety, and beyond! Hear how Cowgirl’s Mt Tam evolved from a gouda recipe, and how the development of Red Hawk was a lucky mistake! This program has been sponsored by Academie Opus Caseus. Music by The California Honeydrops. “One suggestion for arranging a cheese plate is to take all of the same kind of cheese, such as a cheddar, but from all different regions.” [16:55] “I was always very confident in making fresh cheeses. It’s just like baking!” [18:50] — Sue Conley on Cutting the Curd

Cathy Erway is talking artisan and farmstead cheese with Sue Conley of Cowgirl Creamery! Recently, Sue and co-author Peggy Smith wrote Cowgirl Creamery Cooks, a book that highlights the types of cheeses that Cowgirl Creamery makes in Marin County! Tune into this episode to hear Cathy and Sue recount the history of the artisan cheesemaking movement in the United States. Why are European artisan cheeses often less expensive than their American counterparts? Hear how Sue and Peggy use milk from different breeds of cows for different cheesemaking applications. Find out what recipes are included in the book, and why Sue doesn’t intend for the book to be a cheesemaking manual. What is Sue’s favorite cheese from Cowgirl Creamery? Tune into this episode to find out! This program has been sponsored by Many Kitchens. Music by The California Honeydrops. “I know that it’s part our the ethic to pay people well. The goal is to turn this into a profession; it’s not just another low-wage, unskilled job.” [14:20] — Sue Conley on Eat Your Words

On this episode of Cutting the Curd, Anne Saxelby and Sophie Slesinger are joined by Kate Arding of the American Cheese Society. Kate is also the founder of Culture Magazine, and British farmstead cheese expert. Learn about the decline of artisanal British cheeses after the Industrial Revolution. Hear about mechanized cheese production, and the practice of coloring cheese. How did Neal’s Yard Dairy revive the British cheesemaking? Learn more about the role of distributors in the cheese business, and how they help to popularize small producers. Tune in to find out more about Kate’s work with American cheese, including a delicious cheese accident that occured during her time at Cowgirl Creamery! This episode has been sponsored by Susty Party. “Farmhouse cheeses were increasingly on the back burner [after the industrialization of food]. The methods of production and efficiency for cheap food were eclipsing flavor.” [5:36] “A lot of the attention understandably gets put on the producers… You can be making the best cheese in the world, but unless you have the other links in the chain in place i.e. the retailers who are going to act as the translator to the consumer- all of these things have to me in alignment in order for it all to work.” [23:14] — Kate Arding on Cutting the Curd

On this week’s episode of Cutting the Curd, Anne Saxelby and Sophie Slesinger are in the studio talking about the Cheesemonger Invitational. First, Anne and Sophie talk with Adam Smith of Cowgirl Creamery in Washington, D.C. Adam was this year’s Cheesemonger Invitational champion, and he discusses the rigors of the cheese competition. Hear about the different facets of the contest, including everything from a “plate the slate” test to a blind tasting. Later, Adam Moskowitz, founder of the Cheesemonger Invitational, joins Anne and Sophie in the studio. Tune in to hear how the contest has grown, what are the aims of the competition, and Adam’s hopes for the invitational in the future. Tune in to hear how your favorite cheesemonger scored in the competition! This program has been brought to you by Heritage Meat Shop. “The first year- it was about the party. The second year- it was about the monger. And the third year- it was about the community, and I hope the community aspect continues to grow and prosper.” — Adam Moskowitz on Cutting the Curd

Cheese comes in more than 2,000 varieties. This nutritious food has been made for thousands of years. Take a journey to Cowgirl Creamery in Marin to learn how artisan cheeses are made. See how scientists can put cheese under the microscope to gain new insights about this incredible food.

"Terroir" is a French word that has historically been used to describe the geographical features such as climate, soil and topography that lend unique flavor characteristics to a wine. Now this term is being applied to artisan cheese, underscoring the importance of location in the production of award-winning, handmade cheese. Watch this QUEST web extra to learn more about the role of terroir in artisan cheese.

Cheese. It comes in more than 2,000 varieties – hard, soft, fresh and aged - and it’s been with us for thousands of years. Take a journey to Cowgirl Creamery in West Marin to learn how artisan cheese is made and how scientists are putting cheese under the microscope to gain new insights about this incredible, edible food.

State #1: This week on Cutting the Curd, Anne starts her “State of Cheese” series: a 50 part show series highlighting each state in the US and it’s cheese culture. She begins with California, and is joined by guest Peggy Smith of Cowgirl Creamery. Peggy tells us how to make cottage cheese, and tells the story of the Straus Family Creamery, the first organic dairy west of the Mississippi. This episode was sponsored by Acme Smoked Fish. For more information visit www.acmesmokedfish.com Photo 1: Peggy Smith, Photo 2: Cowgirl Creamery

Fine cheeses are like fine wines. Producing and aging them properly is both an art and a science. From cave-aging to the use of raw milk, watch Dr. Catherine Donnelley, Co-director of the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheeses, describe the microbial world of cheese. Listeria and Salmonella are just a couple of the pathogens that pose a risk to cheese consumers. In this episode of MicrobeWorld Video, Dr. Donnelly explains how these risks are mitigated through strict processing guidelines, why these safeguards make cheese one of the safest commodities today, and how beneficial organisms contribute to the cheese making process. In addition, Erica Sanford from Cowgirl Creamery with the help of Carolyn Wentz from Everona Dairy walk us through the steps of artisan cheese production. For more information about cheese making and cheese safety please visit the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheeses. If you would like to try some of the cheeses featured in this episode order them online from www.cowgirlcreamery.com and www.everonadairy.com. Bon AppÃtit!

Fine cheeses are like fine wines. Producing and aging them properly is both an art and a science. From cave-aging to the use of raw milk, watch Dr. Catherine Donnelley, Co-director of the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheeses, describe the microbial world of cheese. Listeria and Salmonella are just a couple of the pathogens that pose a risk to cheese consumers. In this episode of MicrobeWorld Video, Dr. Donnelly explains how these risks are mitigated through strict processing guidelines, why these safeguards make cheese one of the safest commodities today, and how beneficial organisms contribute to the cheese making process. In addition, Erica Sanford from Cowgirl Creamery with the help of Carolyn Wentz from Everona Dairy walk us through the steps of artisan cheese production. For more information about cheese making and cheese safety please visit the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheeses. If you would like to try some of the cheeses featured in this episode order them online from www.cowgirlcreamery.com and www.everonadairy.com. Bon AppÃtit!

Fine cheeses are like fine wines. Producing and aging them properly is both an art and a science. From cave-aging to the use of raw milk, watch Dr. Catherine Donnelley, Co-director of the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheeses, describe the microbial world of cheese. Listeria and Salmonella are just a couple of the pathogens that pose a risk to cheese consumers. In this episode of MicrobeWorld Video, Dr. Donnelly explains how these risks are mitigated through strict processing guidelines, why these safeguards make cheese one of the safest commodities today, and how beneficial organisms contribute to the cheese making process. In addition, Erica Sanford from Cowgirl Creamery with the help of Carolyn Wentz from Everona Dairy walk us through the steps of artisan cheese production. For more information about cheese making and cheese safety please visit the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheeses. If you would like to try some of the cheeses featured in this episode order them online from www.cowgirlcreamery.com and www.everonadairy.com. Bon AppÃtit!

Cheese Torta with Apricot ChutneyThe simpler the recipe the more important the quality of the ingredients is. This cheese torta is a perfect example. Simple, easy to prepare, and so tasty. Mari Rossi invited me to try this recipe in her kitchen at B & R Farms. Jim and Mari Rossi and their son Scott run this apricot ranch in Hollister, where they grow the Queen of Apricots, the Blenheim. Using recipes from Jim's mother Elsie and recipes developed by Mari, their products all use dried apricots from their farm. To make the cheese torta, we combined 8 ounces of Fromage Blanc and 2 cups of grated Goat Milk Cheddar. Cowgirl Creamery makes a number of fresh cheeses, including Fromage Blanc, Crème Fraiche and Clabbered Cottage Cheese, all of them award-winners from the American Cheese Society. (We use the Crème Fraiche in the recipe for Dried Fruit in Vanilla Wine Syrup.) Fromage Blanc is sort of a French version of cream cheese, only richer and yummier. The goats at Redwood Hill Farms are happy goats, and the cheese is wonderful as a result, a fact that is attested to by the numerous awards the farm has won. All the cheeses are made on the farm with milk from their own herd of goats. There is a cheese for every occasion (and every wine pairing): fresh chevre, the Camembert-style Camellia, earthy and robust California Crottin, raw milk Gravenstein Gold cider washed and aged, feta, cheddar and smoked cheddar. As Mari added the grated goat milk cheddar from Redwood Hill Farms to the Cowgirl Creamery Fromage Blanc, she was watching the consistency of the torta. She chose to add not quite the full 2 cups of cheddar. It's a matter of personal preference, and it helps to keep in mind that a little bit of liquid is still to be added. The ingredients to add to the torta mixture were a dash of hot pepper sauce, two tablespoons of dry sherry, three to four minced green onions, a quarter teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of curry powder. That's it! The torta was shaped on a plate, any shape will do. And it was topped with the B & R Farms Dried Apricot Chutney. Mari made sure that it was well covered, so that every single bite would have both cheese and chutney! To serve the torta, we used heart-shaped Lahvosh crackers. It makes a pretty presentation and a tasty backdrop to the cheese torta. Valley Lahvosh also makes round crackers and star-shaped crackers (nice at the holidays). Since we had opened a bottle of very good dry sherry to make the recipe, we had a little glass of that with the finished torta. Marvelous! It would also be nice with a dry Riesling or Gewürztraminer. A Sauvignon Blanc or off-dry rosé would pair well too.