Let's Give It Up for Justin!
I'm excited for all of you to meet Justin Sullivan, the new mayor of Hotline! He's going to be taking your questions, making videos out of them, teaching us cool tricks in the kitchen, and serving as our culinary therapist when we're confused about why the pie dough was dry. Justin took a break from the test kitchen to answer a few questions I had:
Every cook, no matter what level they are, runs into problems in the kitchen. Tell us about a recent challenge you had in the kitchen.
Oof, I recently drastically over-proofed some pizza dough, which would have meant a super puffy pizza crust. I audibled and made some flatbreads that were midway between pizza and pita—it was pitza! Okay, no one steal that idea—that's mine.
Tell us three things you want to do as Hotline Editor?
First of all, expand the Hotline community on the website. We have a couple superusers right now (shoutout user 702551 and Nancy!), and I'd love to get even more folks involved with asking—and, more importantly, answering—questions.
Second, I want to get other Food52 staffers involved in responding to readers. And not just the test kitchen! Obviously Nea is going to pitch in on baking questions, but everyone here has a ton of experience. Our social producer Tam used to be deeply immersed in the coffee world and has a ton of knowledge to pass along!
And I'm excited to feature Food52 readers in our Hotline content! We'd love to feature your voice from our voicemail line or your face in videos that you can DM to us on our socials. (Psst! Our Hotline number is 1-877-52-HOTLINE.)
And what are your KPIs? Just kidding.
If you mean my Kettle Potato Chip Intake, I'd say at least 2 bags per week. But at Food52 I'm hoping to get that up to 6 or 7.
How'd you learn so much about cooking?
Like many folks who were young in the late 90s/early 2000s, I am a product of the Food Network. My folks were not people who loved cooking or eating, so I found my people there. After Ina Garten and Emeril Lagasse taught me the basics, I went on to work in a bunch of different kitchens (an NYC office caterer, a cooking school in Madrid, and a couple of Brooklyn's best pizza shops), then at Delish for 4 1/2 years. I developed recipes, created cooking series, wrote features, and ate a ton. I am also far too online and spend much of that time reading and watching food content. This has filled my head with truly inane, useless knowledge, like the subtle differences between an English and Irish breakfast. Hotline is one of the few places where I can put silly facts like this to good use!
Most prized kitchen tool?
I was recently gifted a $200 pepper grinder called the Pepper Cannon and it has become my favorite piece of kitchen EQ. I thought it was a total gimmick. The website says it is "milled from a solid chunk of Aerospace Grade Aluminum.'' However, when I ground out the first few cracks, I was completely sold. One grind with this behemoth (it weighs almost 1/2 a kilo) is equal to about four grinds from any other grinder. Plus the grind is insanely consistent.
What's the best piece of advice you have for someone who's in a cooking panic?
The stakes are really low in home cooking. Outside of anyone getting hurt (which can occur), the worst thing that can happen is that something doesn't go as planned. Yes, cooking can be a commitment of time and money, but every time you make a mistake you're ensuring that you will be way more likely to avoid the same pitfalls next time. And also, most things in food are fixable or delicious in failure. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen "burnt caramel'' on a dessert menu in restaurants.
