Welcome to Salt Pig! This week Ellie and Lukas discuss the convenience foods that we love and the ones we snub. Indian jarred sauces and Trader Joe’s frozen treats are in, but Italian jarred sauces and pre-chopped produce is out. Turns out we are full of contradictions and biased as hell. Plus, are tech companies behind everything? Join us! A Very Good Tomato Sauce (by Alison Roman) Brooklyn Delhi (maker of Tomato Achaar and Cashew Korma) Trader Joe’s Thai Vegetable Gyoza and Orange Chicken Freedom with a Side of Guilt: How Food Delivery Is Reshaping Mealtime (New York Times)
Unfussy Sourdough, for Better or for Worse
03/2/2026 | 38 mins.
Welcome to Salt Pig! This week Ellie and Lukas discuss our sourdough bread baking journeys and all the practical and existential questions it provokes: How many starters has Ellie killed? Can you bake sourdough without being consumed with fussiness? How far is too far when experimenting with sourdough discard? What is a “real” baker anyhow?? Join us! Discussed in this episode: Il Buco: Stories and Recipes by Donna Lennard with Joshua David Stein Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson The Perfect Loaf by Maurizio Leo King Arthur Baking's Sourdough Discard Crackers King Arthur Baking's Sourdough Granola (and Lukas' adaptation) Alexandra Stafford's website Alexandra Cooks Lukas' Bread Machine Cookbook
It's Always Spinach
27/1/2026 | 34 mins.
Welcome to Salt Pig! This week Lukas and Ellie detail all the ways we love spinach, and all the ways we hate cleaning it. Plus Lukas shares his secret ingredient for smoothies and Ellie discloses her favorite 3-minute home lunch. Join us! For more information and to get in touch, visit saltpig.substack.com. Mentioned in this episode: Noah Galuten’s Health Sludge Lukas’ Smoothie Formula Everyone’s Table by Gregory Gourdet Caramelized Fish Sauce Tuna
We ❤️ Dishwashers
20/1/2026 | 30 mins.
Welcome to Salt Pig! This week Ellie and Lukas discuss all things dishwashers, which uncovers some personal compulsions. Plus Ellie has a broth disaster and Lukas throws something surprising into the waffle iron for dinner. Join us! For more information and to get in touch, visit saltpig.substack.com. Mentioned in this episode: Deep Cleaning Your Dishwasher Why running a dishwasher even twice a day is better than hand washing dishes
Food Waste vs. Recipes
13/1/2026 | 37 mins.
Welcome to Salt Pig! This week, Lukas and Ellie talk about food waste. We discuss the absurd lengths we go to to repurpose ingredients like milk that was left out overnight, leftover cranberry sauce, or even two precious spoonfuls of restaurant biryani. Plus, we debate the pros and cons of following recipes to a T or going rogue. Join us! For more information and to get in touch, visit saltpig.substack.com.
Lukas and Ellie really hate washing greens. We may be two professional cookbook writers, but when the aprons come off, we eat quesadillas for dinner more often than we might like to admit. Real home cooking is improvisational, intimate, surprising, creative, sometimes mundane, sometimes memorable, and always best when debriefed with a pal. Topics include: dried mushrooms and where to use them, making stock out of arguable trash, the joy of broccoli pancakes, what not to bring to a dinner party, how we really clean our cast iron pans (even when people say not to), gauging the lifelessness of one’s sourdough starter, and a seemingly neverending discussion on how to pronounce fricassee. Join us as we get together to break down the flops, the good enoughs, and the pleasures and hilarity of home kitchen life.---Elinor Hutton has been a writer, ghostwriter, editor, and publishing and culinary consultant since 2010. She’s worked on more than 25 books to date, including four New York Times bestsellers, most recently as the co-author of Gisele Bündchen’s Nourish. She’s also judged the James Beard awards twice, ran the test kitchen for a meal-kit company, and has worked in book packaging and design. www.elinorhutton.comLukas Volger is the author of six cookbooks, including Start Simple and Bowl, and has collaborated on numerous other cookbooks, including two New York Times bestsellers. Previously, he co-founded the award-winning queer food journal Jarry, and created a line of premium, fresh, and locally made veggie burgers called Made by Lukas. He lives in Brooklyn. www.lukasvolger.com