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Good Things

Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love: A Cookbook

Author Samin Nosrat On Tour
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On sale Sep 16, 2025 | 2 Hours and 32 Minutes | 9798217296446
Grades 6-12
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From the bestselling author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat—and one of America’s most beloved chefs and teachers—a selection of meticulously tested, flavor-forward, soul-nourishing recipes that bring joy and a sense of communion

With all the generosity of spirit that has endeared her to millions of fans, Samin Nosrat offers a selection of her favorite recipes—simply put, the things she most loves to cook for herself and for friends—and infuses them with all the beauty and care you would expect from the person Alice Waters called “America’s next great cooking teacher.” As Samin says, "Recipes, like rituals, endure because they’re passed down to us—whether by ancestors, neighbors, friends, strangers on the internet, or me to you. A written recipe is just a shimmering decoy for the true inheritance: the thread of connection that cooking it will unspool."

Good Things is an essential, joyful guide to cooking and living, whether you’re looking for a comforting tomato soup to console a struggling friend, seeking a deeper sense of connection in your life, or hosting a dinner for ten in your too-small dining room. Here you’ll find go-to recipes for ricotta custard pancakes, a showstopping roast chicken burnished with saffron, a crunchy, tingly Calabrian chili crisp, super-chewy sky-high focaccia, and a decades-in-the-making, childhood-evoking yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Along the way, you’ll also find plenty of tips, techniques, and lessons, from how to buy olive oil (check the harvest date) to when to splurge (salad dressing is where you want to use your best ingredients) to the best uses for your pressure cooker (chicken stock and dulce de leche, naturally).

Good Things captures, with Samin’s trademark blend of warmth, creativity, and precision, what has made cooking such an important source of delight and comfort in her life.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing lists of essential ingredients and kitchen tools, select recipes, recipe matrices, references, influences, and resources from the book.
Introduction

The Treasure Chest

When my neighbor’s daughter, Miya, was about six years old, she transformed an old cigar box into what she called her “treasure chest.” She filled it with all sorts of precious things: jewelry and coins, seashells, sand dollars and acorns, and notes from Queen Zoe, the mischievous fairy who watches over our courtyard.

Any time I’d drop by, she’d sit me down in the living room and take me, piece by piece, through the box. She had a story for every little thing. A collection of pinecones from around her mom’s childhood home. A geode, not yet cracked open. Tiny paintings. Each of these things told a story about who she was and what she cared about, a brief chance to view the world through her eyes.

This book is my cigar box. Inside, you’ll find my most useful and beloved everyday recipes. You’ll encounter my favorite ingredients, tools, and techniques, as well as stories about the ways cooking continues to be a source of meaning and beauty in my life. Like Miya and many other kids (and some adults), I’ve always had an unbridled enthusiasm for things others might consider useless—­apricot pits, the liquid from a can of chickpeas, or the oil left behind after frying a pot of shallots.

I’ve obsessively collected and refined these treasures, large and small, over a lifetime of cooking. And because I believe sharing life’s pleasures only magnifies them, I’d like to share my Good Things with you.

Welcome.
Copyright © 2025 by Samin Nosrat. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
“A collection of essential recipes and kitchen wisdom that celebrates the art of cooking as an opportunity for connection and community. For Nosrat, cooking is about sharing time and attention with the people in our lives—and paying attention to details that take foods from simple to sublime. . . . Adventurous home cooks will appreciate the firm foundation of knowledge that ultimately offers the freedom and confidence to experiment and create special foods to share.”—Booklist, starred review
Samin Nosrat is a chef, teacher, and author of the bestselling, James Beard Award–winning Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. She has been called “a go-to resource for matching the correct techniques with the best ingredients” by The New York Times and “the next Julia Child” by NPR’s All Things Considered. Samin is an Eat columnist for The New York Times Magazine and can be found eating, cooking, and laughing in the Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat documentary series on Netflix. View titles by Samin Nosrat

About

From the bestselling author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat—and one of America’s most beloved chefs and teachers—a selection of meticulously tested, flavor-forward, soul-nourishing recipes that bring joy and a sense of communion

With all the generosity of spirit that has endeared her to millions of fans, Samin Nosrat offers a selection of her favorite recipes—simply put, the things she most loves to cook for herself and for friends—and infuses them with all the beauty and care you would expect from the person Alice Waters called “America’s next great cooking teacher.” As Samin says, "Recipes, like rituals, endure because they’re passed down to us—whether by ancestors, neighbors, friends, strangers on the internet, or me to you. A written recipe is just a shimmering decoy for the true inheritance: the thread of connection that cooking it will unspool."

Good Things is an essential, joyful guide to cooking and living, whether you’re looking for a comforting tomato soup to console a struggling friend, seeking a deeper sense of connection in your life, or hosting a dinner for ten in your too-small dining room. Here you’ll find go-to recipes for ricotta custard pancakes, a showstopping roast chicken burnished with saffron, a crunchy, tingly Calabrian chili crisp, super-chewy sky-high focaccia, and a decades-in-the-making, childhood-evoking yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Along the way, you’ll also find plenty of tips, techniques, and lessons, from how to buy olive oil (check the harvest date) to when to splurge (salad dressing is where you want to use your best ingredients) to the best uses for your pressure cooker (chicken stock and dulce de leche, naturally).

Good Things captures, with Samin’s trademark blend of warmth, creativity, and precision, what has made cooking such an important source of delight and comfort in her life.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing lists of essential ingredients and kitchen tools, select recipes, recipe matrices, references, influences, and resources from the book.

Excerpt

Introduction

The Treasure Chest

When my neighbor’s daughter, Miya, was about six years old, she transformed an old cigar box into what she called her “treasure chest.” She filled it with all sorts of precious things: jewelry and coins, seashells, sand dollars and acorns, and notes from Queen Zoe, the mischievous fairy who watches over our courtyard.

Any time I’d drop by, she’d sit me down in the living room and take me, piece by piece, through the box. She had a story for every little thing. A collection of pinecones from around her mom’s childhood home. A geode, not yet cracked open. Tiny paintings. Each of these things told a story about who she was and what she cared about, a brief chance to view the world through her eyes.

This book is my cigar box. Inside, you’ll find my most useful and beloved everyday recipes. You’ll encounter my favorite ingredients, tools, and techniques, as well as stories about the ways cooking continues to be a source of meaning and beauty in my life. Like Miya and many other kids (and some adults), I’ve always had an unbridled enthusiasm for things others might consider useless—­apricot pits, the liquid from a can of chickpeas, or the oil left behind after frying a pot of shallots.

I’ve obsessively collected and refined these treasures, large and small, over a lifetime of cooking. And because I believe sharing life’s pleasures only magnifies them, I’d like to share my Good Things with you.

Welcome.
Copyright © 2025 by Samin Nosrat. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Reviews

“A collection of essential recipes and kitchen wisdom that celebrates the art of cooking as an opportunity for connection and community. For Nosrat, cooking is about sharing time and attention with the people in our lives—and paying attention to details that take foods from simple to sublime. . . . Adventurous home cooks will appreciate the firm foundation of knowledge that ultimately offers the freedom and confidence to experiment and create special foods to share.”—Booklist, starred review

Author

Samin Nosrat is a chef, teacher, and author of the bestselling, James Beard Award–winning Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. She has been called “a go-to resource for matching the correct techniques with the best ingredients” by The New York Times and “the next Julia Child” by NPR’s All Things Considered. Samin is an Eat columnist for The New York Times Magazine and can be found eating, cooking, and laughing in the Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat documentary series on Netflix. View titles by Samin Nosrat

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