Kitchen Fire: Heat-of-the-Moment Snack-cidents, and Secrets Left on the Burner Too Long
Casey Elsass, author of What Can I Bring? Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life shares his go-to food for emotional damage control, & the idiosyncratic treat combo he swears by.
I invited Casey Elsass to kick off my new feature—a rapid-fire (pun intended) Q&A revealing his food life and soul secrets. His latest book is everywhere right now. A Brooklyn-based food writer and recipe developer, Casey’s known as the “cookbook doula,” having helped birth over twenty titles as co-author, ghostwriter, and unlicensed therapist. His work appears regularly in Bon Appétit, Food Network Kitchen, Delish, and Food52. What Can I Bring? Recipes to Help You Live Your Guest Life is getting rave reviews. Casey shares 75 recipes— your road map for crowd-pleasing party fare. “The only thing you’ll be taking home is the title of MVP—Most Valuable Partygoer.”
Here are Casey’s complete answers to my questions.
Kitchen Fire: Heat-of-the-Moment Snack-cidents, and Secrets Left on the Burner Too Long.
A time you ruined a meal and pretended it was intentional
In my 20s I invited friends over for a special dinner, carefully made a vegetable galette, slid it in the oven, and that was the night I learned that parchment paper and wax paper are not interchangeable. So after fanning away the smoke and realizing the galette wasn't going to unstick, I made it a dinner of snacky apps, salad, and dessert.
The item you hoard in your pantry for the apocalypse
I always have a backup jar of Lao Gan Ma in the cupboard to immediately replace the one in the fridge.
A risky culinary move
I love showing up to a party with Jell-O shots. (Page 57 in my book!) It's a big swing, but it always makes the night more fun.
Go-to food for emotional damage control
There is nothing more joyful than buying a box of Cinnamon Life or Honey Bunches of Oats, grabbing a jug of milk and a big mixing bowl, and eating the entire box in one sitting.
A “weird combo,” you swear by
A handful of roasted peanuts and Swedish Fish. Sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy, no notes.