Sour Patch Kid: Meet “Lemons” Author Alison Roman
It's publication week for our first volume of 2015, Lemons, and we couldn't be more excited! Our tireless team has been hard at work sending this brilliant edition out into the world. Subscriptions and pre-orders will be arriving in your mailbox soon!
We thought it was high time that you get to know the talented lady behind the recipes, so we sat down with Alison Roman and asked her to dish on some of her favorite things. In addition to being a Short Stack author, Alison is an alum of several top kitchens and currently a senior food editor at Bon Appetit magazine.
SS: What's your earliest food memory?
AR: My Grandpa Bob's dilly bread. The smell of it, specifically. He was an amazing baker and cook; raised his own rabbits, grew his own tomatoes, baked his own pies. His favorite part of Thanksgiving was the turkey neck, which makes me know we are kindred spirits.
SS: Make the guest list of your dream dinner party.
AR: Is this a trick question? What's the maximum guest list? For fear of not wanting to leave anyone out, can it just be Tina Fey and I getting drunk together?
SS: Which cookbooks couldn't you live without?
AR: Every new cookbook I have I can replace. The ones I couldn't live without are the strange old kitschy ones that I'm convinced are now one of a kind. I have an absurd (impressive?) collection, and I gain so much inspiration from just leafing through them. My new favorite addition is one from the 70's that bills itself as a "natural foods cookbook." It's called "The Garden of Eternal Swallows," and the recipe titles alone are worth the price of admission. Lots of grains (kamut!) and yogurt before they were cool. I also have a 1902 edition of "Boston Cooking-School Cookbook" by Fannie Farmer that used to belong to a woman named Blanche C. Buffone. I bought it for $12 from an antique store in New Orleans; it's falling apart and I guard it with my life.
SS: Who is your food hero?
AR: Judith Jones. What a boss. Have you read "The Tenth Muse?" Read it.
SS: What is your favorite way to use lemons?
AR: Thinly sliced, raw or roasted.