About the Episode:
Get a snack before you listen to this one! We talk to the amazing, James Beard Award winning Cheryl Jamison about New Mexico food and restaurants. If you’re not a green chile lover yet, you will be after this!
Links:
Links and Resources:
Cheryl’s Website
Excited About Food (Books)
Heating it Up
Bunny’s Website
Bunny’s Instagram
Buy Lifesaving Gratitude the book
Podcast music by Kene Terry find “New Mexico” on Spotify
Featuring:
Cheryl Alters Jamison
Cheryl Alters Jamison is among the nation’s most lauded writers, with four James Beard book awards and numerous other honors to her credit. With her late husband Bill, she’s penned enough books on food and travel to endow a small library, all the while living out nearly everyone’s dreams about traveling the globe in search of great meals and adventure. Their dozen plus books on food cover broadly the subjects of outdoor cooking and American home cooking, and are noted for their depth of research and cultural background. Cheryl and Bill’s landmark Smoke & Spice, on real American barbecue, has sold over a million copies.
Nothing thrills Cheryl more though than living in the Southwest. She’s written about it for publications such as Saveur, Cooking Light, and Bon Appétit and in books including The new Texas Slow Cooker, Texas Home Cooking, The Border Cookbook, The 50th Anniversary Rancho De Chimayó Cookbook, American Home Cooking, and Tasting New Mexico: Recipes Celebrating 100 Years of Distinctive Home Cooking. She also collaborated with James Beard Best Chef Southwest Finalist, Martín Rios, on The Restaurant Martín Cookbook.
Cheryl chose to move to Santa Fe 35 years ago, drawn by the beauty, culture, and—of course—the food. As a young teenager in Illinois, she read about New Mexican chile rellenos and attempted to make them, with such disastrous results that the story has become family lore. She is still trying to figure out whether enchiladas, carne adovada, green chile cheeseburgers, pinto beans, or flan might be her favorite New Mexican dish. She eats all of them regularly in a futile but always satisfying attempt to select one.
Cheryl was culinary editor for New Mexico Magazine, where she remains a contributor. She has consulted with the New Mexico Tourism Department too, where she developed the cuisine section for newmexico.org and worked on culinary initiatives such as the Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail and Culinary Treasures Trail.
Cheryl teaches cooking classes internationally, but often at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. She has instructed Matt Lauer to make French toast, Al Roker how to grill chicken, and Bobby Flay how to make a New Mexican breakfast.
She is a three-decade resident of the village of Tesuque on the outskirts of Santa Fe, where she raises a small flock of chickens with out-sized personalities and all hues of eggs. Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday, though she likes any excuse for a party. Cheryl is always—always—excited about food. She digs into the food world’s hottest topics weekly as host of Heating It Up on Talk 1260 KTRC radio, podcast at santafe.com.
Episode Transcript
Bunny: (00:10)
Hi there and welcome to the, I love New Mexico podcast. We are having ball here talking to people who, um, love New Mexico, just as much as I do. And I couldn’t do this podcast without inviting my friend, Cheryl Alters Jamison to be a guest because even though Cheryl didn’t start in New Mexico, she is as immersed, especially in food culture as anyone I know. And I gotta tell you, she is a phenomenal, um, foodie cook writer. She has her own podcast that I’m gonna let her tell you a little bit about you don’t wanna miss that, but, um, she’s also a James spirit award winner because, um, her cookbooks are so amazing. So, instead of me talking about you, Cheryl, I want you to tell folks your New Mexico story begin wherever you want. And thanks for being here.
Cheryl: (01:07)
Thanks Bunny. Oh, it’s great to be back with you on the, the air again. You know, I got here as fast as I could. I came, I started in Illinois. You did hold it against me. I got to New Mexico as fast as I could. I have to say that. My story, I think, starts with family vacations in the station wagon, like in the 1960s, you know, tumbling around the Rocky mountain west. And I just knew from the first time we visited as a family out in the, you know, the Rocky mountains, that that was where I ultimately wanted to live. I, you know, it’s like, oh, Illinois’s an okay place to be from, but , I wanted to be someplace surrounded by the natural beauty of the Rocky mountains. So that was kind of the beginning. And I was focused on, you know, the entire Rocky mountain region, as a kid early on. But the thing that really focused me on New Mexico was when I was 16. I was sitting at the dinner table with my dad who had just come home from work and he brought the mail in and he was sorting through the mail. He opened an envelope and it had in it something called the congressional, um, you know, cookbook. And it was this little, you know, like spiral, not spiral bound. What do you call it? Saddle stitched, you know, um, booklet of recipes from like all the people in Congress. And I think it was all men at that point. And most of the recipes actually were from their wives, but it was this wonderful little, you know, funny booklet. And he said, Hey, I think you should take a look at this because I already loved cooking and food and such. So I’m thumbing through this little cookbook and I’m seeing, you know, like Peapods from the Congress, one of the congressmen from Hawaii and such, and I’m flipping on through it.
Cheryl: (03:05)
And I get to the New Mexico page and here is a recipe from, uh, Congressman Manuel Luhan. Who’s no longer with us, but, um, it is a recipe for green chile chicken and chile casserole. And I saw this and I knew something about, you know, new Mexican and, um, Southwestern American and Mexican flavors at this point. But I had never seen a recipe that included like this massive quantity of green chile of a chopped green chile. And I was so taken with the idea of this instead of some little tiny amount of salsa port over something at the end that this green chile was so much a part of this recipe, I thought, okay, I need to be where this food is . And so it really got me focused on new Mexican food, uh, back when I was yes, 16, um, and had no inkling, you know, of where I might ultimately end up, but it did get me focused on thinking I might wanna be in this part of the world, because not only were there the mountains, they had the best food in the United States, or maybe the world too.
Johanna: (04:16)
I was gonna say, you couldn’t even make that recipe where you were, cuz you couldn’t get green chile.
Cheryl: (04:22)
not in like 1968 or whenever
Johanna: (04:26)
No, not at that point. Yeah.
Cheryl: (04:28)
You can get those, those little tiny cans of, you know, of El Paso brand green chile or something like that. But it’s like, no, I need to move to where that food is. And I should tell you what other little follow up to that piece. And that was that, um, eventually after moving out here after some years, I did actually, you know, meet, um, at, at that time I think he was, uh, um, you know, he was a cabinet secretary, you know, Manuel Luhan. And I did get to tell him the story of finding that recipe and how influential it was in me actually wanting to move to New Mexico. And he just loved that. That’s
Bunny: (05:04)
So cool. Oh, I’m sure. I mean, you’re, you’re such a treasure. Yeah. Such a treasure to the local culture, but um, you live in Tesuque, right?
Cheryl: (05:16)
I do. We are very lush and green sort of canyon mountain valley area here outside of Santa Fe. And it’s incredibly green right now. Um, we’ve actually had a little too much rain out this way in the last week. And some people have had actually some serious flooding and such too, but I am safe and dry and my flowers are just, you know, blooming like crazy and all. And I do love this part of New Mexico and I would recommend anybody who’s visiting Santa Fe or just, you know, even living in Santa Fe to come take a drive out here now, and then it’s gorgeous.
Bunny: (05:51)
Well, you did something really amazing. I mean, you, you, we talked in a prior podcast cuz you did the life saving gratitude podcast with me. You talked about, um, how you and your husband bill became travel writers and then food writers. And I love that story. I think that’s really exciting, but you did this great cookbook that I want our listeners to know about because it’s not you did a cookbook that commemorated the, um, hundredth anniversary. That was, it was our Centennial. So it came out in 2012, if I’m correct. And, that book that is not just full of traditional and some unexpected New Mexico recipes, but it’s also full of stories. I’m, I’m dying to hear about how the idea came about and the fun that you had creating that and meeting all those people.
Cheryl: (06:52)
Oh, that was a real project that, you know, just we loved working on that was when bill, my husband late husband was still alive and it was a delightful one for both of us to work on. We’d written at that point a lot about New Mexico food and culture, oh, the Rancho de Chimayo cookbook originally our very first cookbook. And that was a serendipitous thing that came together when we thought we might want a segue from travel writing into food writing. And we just happened to find out through a mutual friend that the, Jaramillo family who owns and operates, Rancho de Chimayo wanted to do a cookbook and needed somebody to partner with. And so that became our first cookbook project. So we started you know, there in, you know, writing about New Mexico food specifically, but have been writing a lot about Northern New Mexico and its culture and such and another book Santa Fe insiders guide to Santa Fe, over time too. So anyway, then we had done a book called the border cookbook, which, was focused on the foods of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. And so New Mexico played a large role in that. So we had some grounding in all of this and, you know, we’d always felt like back in the eighties and the nineties, I mean, this was, you know, way back when, um, that New Mexico food wasn’t really, um, recognized for it’s distinctive qualities that, uh, are so different. You know, there are similarities obviously with foods from the, again, other parts of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico and other parts of Mexico too, but it is a very distinctive type of food that evolved differently because of the isolation here. And the, you know, the, uh, ingredients that the pueblos and the other native indigenous people of this area had.
Cheryl: (08:45)
And then, blended with the chile that was brought by the Hispanics who settled in this area. And the family ancestors came here, you know, 400 years ago, literally. And then it was, an Anglo overlay to some degree here too. And it’s just an amazing mix and the, uh, the flavors are so intriguing and so bold and such. So that led us to want to, as the New Mexico, Centennial was approaching to think about doing a project that might really celebrate the foods. I mean, we have thousands of years of food thousand years of food history, but , we, you know, could look at the food in the context of the hundred years of statehood. And it was a really, you know, project. It was a project that we’re just really passionate about putting together. It was great fun. And we worked with Sharon Stewart, a really terrific local area photographer who lives up near Mora, uh, on the photographs for that too. And it came out from the museum of New Mexico press.
Bunny: (09:48)
So I just want, I wanna, spend just a minute, go back to the Rancho de Chimayo, cookbook, because I think you and I were talking about this before we ever began. That’s sort of, you know, first of all, people have got to go, they,
Cheryl: (10:08)
I think
Bunny: (10:08)
Right. To visit the church, but talk about the restaurant.
Cheryl: (10:11)
Yes. Yeah. The Chimayo is a wonderful village here in Northern, you know, New Mexico, about 30 miles, um, outside of Santa Fe. And I think it’s a must if you’re gonna be in the area and there’s a fabulous old Sano that has amazing significance, um, to those of the Catholic faith. And it’s also just a beautiful piece of architecture that you just have to see and it’s setting there and the, the valley after you drive through the Badlands and, you know, the (nature) going into Chimayo and you’re down into the valley and it’s lush and beautiful. And the restaurant is in the old family homestead of, um, the harmony family that, as I said, they were among the settling families of the Chimayo valley, you know, some 400 years ago. And, um, in the 1960s, uh, it was Arturo Jaramillo and his wife Florence who had come back from the east coast Arturo had been, um, in the military service and had met Florence out east. And they returned here to New Mexico to the village and decided that they wanted to create a restaurant. Now, you know, at this point it seems like the most logical thing of, of imaginable to have a beautiful Hacienda restaurant in this lovely mountain village, you know, an easy drive from Santa Fe, but at the time that they wanted to do this, I mean, bankers thought they were just insane. You know, people went to Chimayo for religious things, you know, who was gonna go and drive 30 miles from Santa Fe or from Los Alamos or whatever, to go to a restaurant serving, you know, local food. Because at that time too, that was looked at as more of a home style thing. And restaurants tended to have, you know, foods that were from, you know, oh, like continental cuisine or something. And the idea of putting a restaurant serving, you know, wonderful green and red chile dishes in this Hacienda. I mean, it’s a fabulous notion, but it was weird to bankers back then. And it took them a while to really get the restaurant up and running, uh, because yeah, there, wasn’t a lot of support from, you know, that side that you need to get, a restaurant going, but they persevered. And it has, you know, now it’s been more than 50 years that the business has been going and Florence still shows up, um, virtually every day to greet, uh, visitors and to keep an eye on everything that’s coming out of the kitchen too.
Bunny: (12:46)
Well. And she didn’t, she get a James Beard award for that, wasn’t she presented, but what did they call that?
Cheryl: (12:52)
A well worth mentioning, um, Florence and the restaurant Rancho de Chimayo were recipients of what’s called an America’s classic award from the James Beard foundation, um, a few years back. And it was just so exciting to see her receive this kind of award that is a very special award. Only a few of those are given annually, and they go to restaurants that are considered sort of timeless in their appeal that generally are serving some kind of food that really relates culturally, to the area that, uh, they are in. And they’re considered beloved in their community. They have to be in business for like a minimum of 10 years, but a lot of them, like in the case of, you know, Florence and such have been in business much longer. And let’s see they received their award somewhere around the time of the, you know, the 50th anniversary of the restaurant. So, it was a really wonderful celebration to see her on stage. I happened to, I got to be there for her receiving that award, and it was just, uh, so terrific to see the, you know, a lifetime of restaurant service and, you know, and not only do they make, you know, wonderful food and represent the region so fully, but they, you know, the restaurant and Florence and the family have been so instrumental in the economics of, you know, keeping a little village like that alive and, you know, virtually everybody who lives in that part of New Mexico worked in that restaurant at one time or another. And she’s encouraged people to go to college and, you know, just in all these kind of things to really further the development of that little village, it’s great to see. And it was wonderful to see it a rewarded with a beard award.
Bunny: (14:45)
So I have to ask you other than the margaritas, what’s your absolute favorite thing to order at Rancho de Chimayo?
Cheryl: (14:53)
At Rancho de Chimayo? Some of my favorites, well, the margaritas are good, but when I go there, I tend to get a, uh, a Chimayo cocktail, which is tequila like a margarita has, but it’s with apple juice because apples have always been a big crop there. And, and actually this is something, you know, yeah. Now you see Chimayo cocktails on menus here in Santa Fe and other places too, but they really conceived this drink they’re at the restaurant and it was originally a way to use a bunch of the local apples. They had such a huge crop and they were looking for ways to make use of them. So apple cider and tequila, you can’t beat that combination. It has a little bit of crema acid in it. Is that good? It’s yeah. Touch of lemon juice. Oh my gosh. It is so good. And they do it with a cinnamon sugar rim on it. Ooh, you have to try one of those when you’re up there next. So that’s one thing I especially love their carne adavada, pork marinated and cooked down low and slow in a ton of red chile sauce that I think is just a really special dish. And sometimes I just order it on its own, but you can get it in a burrito or other ways. So that’s a favorite of mine. Also, they have this simple, but oh, it’s deceptively simple, but incredible, appetizer called a Burrell tortilla. It’s named after a customer mark Burrell from way back when, and it is a flower tortilla that just has a big sprinkling of graded cheddar cheese on top of it. And then a mountain of fresh green chile. And it’s, you know, baked just long enough for that cheese to get ooey gooey fabulous. And it comes to the table and it’s as the wonderful cheese pulls from, you know, taking out the different, uh, wedges of it from the Burrell tortilla that served whole anyway, it’s just, crazy good. You know, it sounds so, so easy and it is, but, oh gosh, it all comes together perfectly there. and the flan can’t forget the flan. That is one of the best desserts ever. They just do a, oh,
Bunny: (17:04)
Oh The flan!
Cheryl: (17:04)
Flan flan.
Bunny: (17:06)
That’s my favorite dessert ever, ever. That’s my favorite dessert is flan.
Cheryl: (17:10)
Yeah. I’m a huge flan fan too. And I think there’s is so good. It’s really, custardy
Johanna: (17:17)
Now I’m hungry now I wanna go eat there.
Bunny: (17:20)
I know
Cheryl: (17:21)
Now I want to get in the car and drive to Chimayo!
Bunny: (17:24)
I do too. Let’s go. Let’s make a day
Bunny: (17:28)
Um, so when you did this… I just thought about this when I was looking, when I was looking through the cookbooks recently, I thought, you know, New Mexico food is rather simple to prepare. I mean, it’s not like Beef Bourguignon, don’t you find it simple to prepare.
Cheryl: (17:47)
It’s simple if you have the right ingredients on hand and you know, that really, of course includes New Mexico green and red chiles. When I was, you know, first stumbling onto this food, oh my gosh. You know, there was nothing like that available, uh, in, in Illinois. I mean, there were the little cans, those tiny little cans of probably old Old El Paso brand, green chile that was, and maybe Ortegas, I think those are the only things like that that were around. I could get some fresh jalapenos, but, you know, that was the only kind of thing that was available to me. So you’ve gotta have those New Mexico ingredients and it’s gotten a lot easier to find those, especially with the internet and being able to order and now, you know, a lot of, oh, of grocery store chains around the country, do these wonderful, fun hatch and, and New Mexico green chile festivals in the fall where they, you know, bring in bags and bags… sacks And sacks of, of New Mexico chile and roast them in their parking lots. Like we have always done here. , it’s great to see that spreading. So, but yeah, this is very simple home cooking. This was stuff that was done without much, you know, there wasn’t much, uh, that was here really, that was easily, you know, put together in dishes. So it’s simple stuff. You just have to have the right technique and the right chile.
Bunny: (19:14)
Well, we’re gonna put a link to all of your cookbooks on the podcast, but I especially wanna point people to the ones. You talked, you know, you did, um, the border cookbook, you did the Rancho, de Chimayo, you did the tasting New Mexico. Am I missing anything else? That’s pretty regional.
Cheryl: (19:32)
Those are the ones that are most specifically, you know, oriented towards in New Mexico being a big part of the books. It factors into our American home cooking and lots of other projects too, but those are the ones that have a more full, you know, array of New Mexico recipes in them.
Bunny: (19:50)
So you are living this life that the rest of us envy, because I see you going, like I saw recently you went down to hatch and you drove down that way. I didn’t know if you went over to silver city, but if you were, um, choosing a reg a part of New Mexico that somebody ought visit immediately for the food, do you have a favorite?
Cheryl: (20:14)
Oh my gosh. There’s so much good stuff all around. Hmm. You mentioned hatch and I would have to say that, I mean, that’s a place worthy of a visit just for Sparkies, which is a, a hoot of a restaurant down there. You just have to see the place to believe it. It is it’s full of these amazing wonderful restaurant kit, um, uh, things like, oh, I can’t, you just have to see it. I can’t even describe it, but inside that is some of the best food coming outta New Mexico. And, uh, they have a fabulous green chile cheeseburger, you know, there at Sparkies and they have always had really good barbecue, I mean, serious, slow, smoked, barbecued, like, you know, brisket and such. And, just doing a wonderful job of that. Now I know they weren’t doing that for a while during the pandemic, but I’m hopeful that they may have started again, but that’s worth checking on to find out if that’s the reason you wanna go. But, it’s a wonderful couple who owns and operates that, and it’s been great to see their success. So of course you should go down that way and, you know, there’s just all kinds of good places. As you get you know, down towards, um, you know, Masilla and such, there are other good places Chopes and I’m trying to, I I’m actually spacing out the name of the wonderful place that’s in, Masilla on the old Plaza.
Bunny: (21:38)
The Double Eagle
Cheryl: (21:40)
Oh yes. And well, and yeah, that the double Eagle or whatever. Yeah. That’s really good too. There’s some nice places down that way too, but we’ve got lots of good food all around, but yeah, those are some nice things to think about. I’m getting real hungry considering that.
Bunny: (21:58)
I know well, in terms of place other than where you live right now, which is so amazing. Um, do you have any places that just sort of fill your heart that you wanna go back to again tomorrow? I mean, we gotta figure we’re talking to people who have never been here.
Cheryl: (22:17)
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I love being in Tesuque. Yeah. I love Tesuque. It’s just a great spot to call home and I’ve got wonderful things like the Tesuque Glassworks across the road and I’m, you know, tucked between Bishop’s lodge, you know, the O bears resort one direction and the four seasons Rancho Encantanto another and so those are great places I can visit routinely around here and El Rito, and the, Tesuque village market that are just a stones throw away too. So there’s some really nice things around here and just being able to go, you know, hiking and walking around the Hills here is a favorite thing of mine. Definitely. But, one of the things I like is the drive north, um, the enchanted circle, drive that takes you, you know, up to toss and around angel fire and Eagle nest and red river and such, I just think that’s such a beautiful drive too.
Cheryl: (23:19)
And you could stop at all kinds of places along the way there, and experience different things, but that’s one of my favorites. You know, if you, one of the things I love about living is part of Northern New Mexico is that, you know, an hour in any direction, you can have totally different you know, climate and circumstances and all of that. I mean, that part, I was just talking about with the Enchanted circle is a lot of it’s sort of high mountain, you know, pine forest and that kind of thing. So almost feels Alpine in places. If you go like, you know, another direction you can be in the, uh, in the Jemez area where there’s the stunning, stunning red rocks that, you know, lots of people think about Sedona, Arizona for, and yeah, that’s a great area too, but oh my gosh, hemes has absolutely as much, if not more beauty, as far as I’m concerned. Right. Right. Is just us, you know, stunning, stunning thing to see that direction. So, and yeah, just, you know, every way you go, there’s something new and wonderful. You head up to Bandier in that area, outside a Los Alamo. So, which is pretty spectacular as well. We are so lucky to be surrounded by all of this.
Bunny: (24:25)
We are really lucky. I’m really curious because, um, it’s, they’re relatively new. I mean, Bishop’s lodge was an institution for years, and then they had a very extensive and expensive redo and I haven’t been there to eat yet. So tell me about that.
Cheryl: (24:43)
It took six years.
Bunny: (24:46)
Yeah. So tell me about.
Cheryl: (24:49)
Oh the restaurant. Yeah. It took forever for them to reopen. I was getting a little concerned. It wasn’t gonna happen. anyway, they have reopened about a little over a year ago under Obear’s management and they have a terrific, GM, uh, who is really, you know, done a great job because, you know, opening what is essentially a new resort. I mean, it’s an old property and thank goodness they kept a lot of the old feel of it and just brought it, you know, up to, um, a little bit higher level of quality and such, but really kept a lot of that old character. Oh, and there’s the old Archbishop Lame chapel that’s there that just looks beautiful and such. So anyway, good things happening up there. And, uh, their chef is Pablo Pablo Penalosa and he’s Mexican by birth and has been a lot of different places in the world cooking. And he’s a real talent. I think they’ve done a great job of bringing him in. And, it’s a really nice Southwestern menu has some traditional things of this area, but other influences of Mexico with some ceviches and things like that, that he brings to it in a beautiful way. I’ve really enjoyed my time up there for meals. Now it’s not cheap, but it’s really high quality food and service and such. And if you wanna get by with, you know, spending a little less money, just go have a drink, you know, in the late afternoon and the snack or two with it. And sit on that amazing terrace that overlooks like, you know, out to the greater, um, you know, river, Rio Grande river valley and the, the Jemez mountains behind, I mean, we’re talking miles and miles and miles of view. It is a stunning experience.
Bunny: (26:37)
And, Cheryl, I want people to know that when they come to New Mexico it’s, and especially in Santa Fe, you don’t just eat green chile. I mean, this New Mexico is about food. I mean, we have amazing places like Sasella, where you can get Northern Italian cuisine and we have Izanami. I mean, this is a place to come and visit if you’re a food eat. Right.
Cheryl: (27:00)
That’s absolutely right. I mean, Santa Fe has a world of great cuisine, and we’re fortunate that we have this, you know, underlay on the foundation of the new Mexican cuisine and wonderful places that are doing that. Like, you know, we’re talking about Rancho de Chimayo, but in town, you know, La Choza and the Shed and Atrisco and Tomasitas, and, you know, the Plaza Cafe and bunch of other places I’m not mentioning, but that are worthy too. And then we have this international array of amazing flavors that, you know, chefs and restaurant tours have brought to our area too. And, you know, we have, yeah, as you were saying, you know, Izanami for amazing Japanese food, including, you know, sushi as well as sort of the pub food. That’s traditional that area. So yeah, terrific. Northern Italian restaurants. So, and not the typical expected dishes that tend to be more from the south that Christian Ojeda, the chef there is doing. Oh, you know, I mean, just, you know, true Mexican food at a restaurant like Cison oh yeah. Where Fernando Ole, the chef just got a, a James Beard award as best chef earlier this year, too. Um, and then we have, you know, chefs that are just doing wonderful creative food that, uh, has, you know, just kind of they’re chef flavors too. And I’m thinking of people like, um, Martin Rios who was also nominated for a beard award again this year with restaurant Martin and, uh, what mark Kiffin does at the compound and, cruise over at Geronimo, you know, just again, great restaurants you know, compound at Geronimo, both on canyon road and Martin on the edge of downtown in a wonderful little home. And yeah, we just are so fortunate to have all these wonderful culinary resources. I’m really thrilled to be able to go out and eat all this all the time. And of course not every, you know, I mentioned in some expensive places, but there’s some really great cheap stuff and food trucks and all of that that are so enjoyable here too. We’ve got it all.
Bunny: (29:05)
Absolutely. We’re gonna list them all, but what what’s next for you? Are you writing another cookbook? What, what are you doing next? I wanna hear about that.
Cheryl: (29:14)
Oh, there’s always a few things in, in process. yeah. There working on a, a couple, well, a cookbook project that looks like it’s gonna come together. I can’t talk about that one yet. The next thing you’re going to see from me though, is, um, a redo of an old book. It was, um, one called sublime smoke and many years back, my husband and I did a book that became a huge success. I’m still amazed called smoke and spice on American barbecue traditions. And it really, you know, has, it’s still in print. It’s just, it’s done an amazing, you know, sales job over the years. And, uh, it’s been looked at as a book that really helped invigorate the whole barbecue culture in America again and such. And it’s been wonderful to get that reception well at the time that we did that book, I was also playing around with, you know, not only those classic barbecue dishes, like, you know, oh, you know, brisket, meat, brisket, and pork ribs and whole hog and, and all those things that really require the slow smoking.
Cheryl: (30:18)
But I was smoking all kinds of others, you know, smaller, more tender kinds of things that you might typically grill. So chicken breasts and fish filets, and was in that, you know, time period, putting those smoked ingredients together. Cause I always had tons of them sitting around. So I was, you know, making, you know, salads with these smoked ingredients and putting ’em into spring rolls and egg rolls and pastas and anything I could think of that might be enhanced by some kind of smoked ingredient. So that was the basis for what became our next book after, uh, after smoke and spice, it was called sublime smoke. So what’s gonna happen is that, uh, that book is being redone. We, our pairing down the number of recipes, just a bit you know, to focus on about 90 of the things that I think are just still the most interesting and most tasty in all.
Cheryl: (31:11)
And it’s going to be done with a whole new design and back when that came out in 94. So cookbooks didn’t have to have, you know, photographs on every page to, you know, be attractive to people. But in this day and age, and this is food that’s really, uh, very attractive too. It needs photos. So it’s gonna have a photo with every dish. And I’m really happy that, uh, the publishing company behind it has said, Hey, you know, we just, we need to do a new version of this and an update. So that’s gonna be called global smoke. And it comes out, I believe in April of next year. And I’m looking forward to seeing that.
Bunny: (31:46)
Nice. So just so you know, our last guest was Tania Katan that you and I did the class with down at open kitchen. And we all agreed that we ought to do a podcast. We ought to sit around and drink some margaritas and do a podcast together. So, I want you to stay tuned for that because I think it would be way fun to do it with you.
Cheryl: (32:09)
Yeah. I love the sound of that. We’d have so much fun together. I’ll be happy to have it here. If you want to, you can all come out to Tesuque and we’ll sit on the patio, or if it’s cold, we’ll be inside, but then we’ll, you know, light a fire in that fireplace behind me.
Bunny: (32:25)
And we’ll just bring our microphones and record and drink and eat. That’ll be so much fun because that’s what we like to do here. We love to eat new. Mexico’s all about eating. So Cheryl, thank you so much, much. This has been so much fun because there’s nothing I like better than talking about New Mexico and New Mexican food. So this has been a real treat. Thanks so much. Thank you, Cheryl.
Cheryl: (32:50)
Well, thank you for having me again. Thank you, Johanna too. Yeah. Bunny. I’ve always enjoyed talking with you cuz we share these great passions. So I hope everybody else will be as fired up about New Mexico and New Mexican food as we are
Bunny: (33:03)
Me too. Me too. How can they help it? They’ve gotta be.
Cheryl: (33:07)
I’m gonna go have to get something with green chile to eat right now.