My brand new cooking series!

Announcing a new three-part series on MasterClass

Hola friends, I hope everybody had a fantastic weekend and Father’s Day (did anyone make my Father’s Day köfte kebab recipe? I hope so…let me know if you did!).

It has been an incredible couple of weeks over here, as we celebrated the World’s 50 Best Restaurants (and Spain’s amazing showing at the awards) in Las Vegas, and last Saturday, our team won a James Beard Award for the World Central Kitchen cookbook. I am so proud of everyone who helped make that happen…the book is a message that no matter where you are in the world, and no matter who you are, food connects all of us. 

I have some other exciting news to share: last week, my team and I launched the first episode of a three-part original series on MasterClass. If you aren’t familiar with MasterClass, it’s an amazing online platform for learning, and it always stays fresh with new series like this one!

For my MasterClass, I wanted to tell a big story—the story of how food connects us, breaks down barriers and opens up new ways of communicating with each other. As I have said many, many times—quoting the great food philosopher Brillat-Savarin: Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are. Food has the power to change the world, and to help us identify what we have in common.

Michael Twitty’s field pea soup.

The MasterClass series starts in my hometown of Washington, DC…where else would be more perfect to talk about bridging differences with food? Together with culinary historian Alex Prud’homme—the author of Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House—we get into how the dinner table has always been at the center of politics, and especially the importance of the White House State Dinner. Through this history lesson, we talk about how our 34th president, Dwight Eisenhower, was actually an amazing cook! We make a version of his famous beef stew recipe at The Bazaar, and we will show you how to make it at home (stay tuned…I’ll be sharing the recipe with you guys in a few weeks!) 

Our version of Eisenhower’s beef stew.

People, I do not want to spoil any surprises, but you just might see a few familiar faces during these episodes, like my friend and colleague Claudio Foschi (you just heard about the interesting things he’s doing with jamón and tepache, but he also, with his time as the chef of America Eats Tavern, has a deep knowledge of classic American dishes). You’ll also see Bill Yosses, the Executive Pastry Chef at the White House during both the Bush and Obama administrations…did you know that President Obama gave him the nickname “Crustmaster”??  

And I’m so excited that our second episode of MasterClass drops today, and people, it is one you will definitely want to see. I take a field trip to Monticello, a place with a rich and complicated history, and one that informed a lot of agricultural and culinary trends. There, with culinary historian Michael Twitty, I learned about the birth of many American food traditions. Together, we cooked in the Monticello kitchen, where the enslaved chef James Hemings, brother of Sally Hemings, created some of the original American comfort food dishes, including mac and cheese. The story of James Hemings is a fascinating one, as he was brought to Paris by Thomas Jefferson to train as a chef before returning to the U.S. So tune in for some amazing stories about American history, some of the dishes that define us, and to learn a little bit more about how to build your own longer table. I can’t wait for you to see what we’ve created, and I’m so excited to hear what you think.

Preparing mac and cheese at Monticello.

And friends, while I am here, I also want to mention an important Spanish holiday that is coming up.  In a week, the festival of Sant Joan will be celebrated in Catalunya. Sant Joan is a super Catalan holiday, taking place each year on the 23rd and 24th of June. The actual holiday is on the 24th, but that is usually more of a resting day, because most of the celebrations take place on the 23rd (called the Nit de Sant Joan)…and believe me, people, you will want to rest if you travel to Spain to celebrate Sant Joan! Barcelona in particular is a great place to enjoy the party, and on Wednesday, you’ll hear more about the holiday when we share a special Sant Joan recipe. Keep an eye out for it!