Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Right about now seems like a good time for a cooking show hosted by anyone other than an aggressive man who berates his colleagues. Fortunately we have Salt Fat Acid Heat, hosted by Samin Nosrat, who not only has a pleasing voice, but can use it to speak Italian. The premise of this show is a promise – as she says at the top: “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: commit to mastering them, you can become not only a good cook, but a great one.” Samin Nosrat is an alumnus of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters’ legendary Bay Area restaurant. She shares this credential with Jeremiah Tower, but that’s about all they have in common. In place of Tower’s swagger, on screen, Samin (her friends call her that, and just watching makes you feel like her friend) radiates a kindness and joy that is the polar opposite of the “white dudes yelling” genre of cooking show.
Samin got on the Netflix Original level radar on the strength of her award winning cookbook, Salt Fat Acid Heat. Buy a copy for yourself, and keep a few on hand for newlyweds and college grads. Most cookbooks give you recipes to follow; Samin teaches you how to cook. The TV show does the same, but oddly, there is virtually no mention that this show is an offspring of a cookbook. I would have to go back and check the tape to see how often Julia Child referred to her books on her TV shows, but it would be a public service if Netflix viewers knew more about the book.
Translating this book to the screen is a challenge in some ways, and the show feels at times like a victory lap as much as anything. There are four episodes, one corresponding to each of the four elements she discusses. We go to Italy to learn about fat, Japan to learn about salt, Mexico to learn about acid, and the Bay Area to learn about heat. The cookbook aside, it’s gorgeous television to watch. In the Italy/fat episode, we meet a grandmother making pesto with a mortar and pestle, wearing a silk scarf – Hermes? – and pearl earrings.
The first episode, “Fat,” takes Samin to Italy, where she cooks focaccia, pesto, salumi, ragu, and pasta. It is incredibly beautiful to see. At the same time, for a tv show that has a cookbook as its namesake, there is not much for the viewer to learn. We get to see Samin and her friends enjoy themselves, cooking with Ligurian olive oil, making charcuterie out of acorn-fed pigs, and using just the right blend of Italian flours to make perfect pasta. This is mesmerizing to watch, but I was surprised to see that there is really no effort to make any of this food accessible for a home cook in the U.S. There is nothing wrong with this —we didn’t expect Bourdain to teach us how to cook on No Reservations— but this is a show inspired by a cookbook, rather than a persona. If a viewer shifts their expectations, it’s a delightful show to watch. Visits to Japan and Mexico feel more accessible, as the action shifts from an Italian villa to a humbler environs, while the food envy level remains constant. Samin does travel well. She visits kitchens around the world like a respectful guest willing to pitch in, rather than as a colonizer.
There are moments in Salt Fat Acid Heat where there is a hint of the kind of preciousness that can be frustrating when encountering the Panisse school of cooking. Panisse founder and Samin’s former boss Alice Waters is an influential voice in the national conversation about how Americans eat, but at times she has caught flak for promoting a lifestyle that is aspirational for almost all. Many of us will struggle to find the ingredients Samin uses at our local supermarket, but for all that, Samin’s vibe is much more team Auguste Gusteau (anyone can cook) than grinchy food critic Anton Ego. I hope that this show does well enough that there is a follow-up that is more kitchen focused, and less destination focused.
Without getting into too many details, right now is a lot. When it gets to be a lot, many of us find watching other people cook on TV to be an important form of self-care. Salt Fat Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat’s new Netflix original, delivers on that promise. Go buy her book so you can cook while you watch and feel as if you are part of the gathering.
Jonathan Beecher Field was born in New England, educated in the Midwest, and teaches in the South. He Tweets professionally as @ThatJBF, and unprofessionally as @TheGurglingCod. He also sometimes writes for Avidly and Common-Place.
