(bright music) - I am Lauren Smith with the PBS Books Readers Club.

Today, We are so excited to chat with the host of "The Great American Recipe," Alejandra Ramos.

Alejandra, thanks so much for joining us.

- Hi.

I'm so happy to be here.

Thanks for having me.

- And you have a little friend there too.

- I do.

I have my little friend Jojo who's gonna be joining us.

(laughs) - Hey, Jojo.

So tell us what's cooking this season on "The Great American Recipe"?

- Oh my gosh, we have so many new things happening this season.

Jojo, why don't you to take a seat, buddy?

So we are in a new barn.

So we moved the show from Virginia to Tennessee.

So we're in Nashville this season, which is really exciting to take the show on the road after the first two seasons in Virginia.

So we're in Nashville in this gorgeous barn.

It's a little bit smaller, which is nice because it's a little bit cozier and more intimate and we get to really be closer to the cooks as they're doing their magic.

And then of course, we have our two new amazing judges, Tim Hollingsworth, who is a chef from California.

He's incredible, he's from LA.

And we also have Francis Lam who is the host of "The Splendid Table" on NPR.

And he's a book editor.

And they just both bring such a great, amazing perspective and warmth and knowledge to our family.

And then we've got, of course, Tiffany Derry from Texas is back with us.

So it's like a nice view.

We just kind of mix it up.

We have some fresh faces, fresh contestants.

A whole new cast of contestants.

We have eight of them this season from all over the country.

So it's just really fun.

I think it's really nice way to kind of mix it up a little bit and I think viewers are gonna be really excited.

- Well, it sounds fabulous.

I can't wait to watch.

So our book club pick this month is "Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame."

And it follows the story of this 77-year-old woman, Jenny, who finds herself a contestant on her favorite cooking show.

And Jenny, she's very sweet, she's a little bit older.

She doesn't fully understand like, what all the young kids are doing all the time, but we just, we fall in love with her.

I wondered if that reminds you of any of the contestants on the show this year.

- I love that.

That's so great.

So we actually have a slightly older contestant this year, I think she's amazing.

Her name is May.

But she's wonderful because she was kind of like the house mama basically.

Like everyone's like Mama May or Auntie May.

She was so wonderful.

Her background is Chinese and she made so many incredible dishes that she introduced us to.

And she always had such incredible knowledge of the food and the cooking technique.

So every time she came to present, we would all learn so much.

Even Francis, who is Chinese also, he would learn so much.

So it was a really incredible experience to have her with us.

Just all those years of knowledge.

- That sounds amazing.

I can't wait to watch her journey.

So for some of our readers that may not have seen the show before, tell us how it works.

How does the competition all flow and episode to episode, how does that work?

- So we start off with eight contestants this season.

And then we keep them throughout the course of the competition up until the last week.

So in basically we sort of score their dishes and we keep track of the rankings throughout the- - [Lauren] So nobody's getting cut week to week.

- [Alejandra] Nobody gets- - [Lauren] You can fall in love with these people.

They're not leaving us.

- Exactly.

And that's what was really important to us because I think especially with a lot of these shows, sometimes, some folks, you know, they get cut too early or they leave early and you don't get to know them.

You don't get to know their recipes and their stories.

And for us, that's what's really most important, right?

It really is about celebrating the regions, the native backgrounds, the history and traditions, family stories that each of our cooks bring to the barn, to our kitchen.

And it's important to have them there so they can really take that time to share with us.

Also, when you think about food or competition in general, everybody has an off day sometimes.

And so it's nice to be able to have those opportunities where sometimes, if you mess something up and a round or even a couple rounds, you still get that chance to kind of bring it back and show what you know.

And I think that that was really important for a lot of the cooks, especially because they're sharing such important recipes.

Recipes that mean so much to them.

So it's nice for them to be able to really have the proper time to kind of present their stories the way that they feel proud of.

- Yeah, and you mentioned those important family or nostalgic recipes and that's such an important theme in the book that we're all reading together this month.

And I wondered about you if you have any like favorite, important family recipes that sort of spark those memories and those feelings and bring back all those great emotions.

Anything come to mind for you?

- Of course, yeah.

I mean, so my family's Puerto Rican.

I was born in New York, grew up in New York, New Jersey, but eating a lot of Puerto Rican food and also visiting my family on the island a lot very regularly.

And so, those are probably the dishes that are kind of the heart of my culinary story and my food story.

Even if they're not necessarily things that I would eat all the time or cook regularly, they're still sort of the dishes that when you pull them out, they bring all of those memories and all of those stories with them.

And also, they keep kind of traditions alive and they keep family members alive.

And so it's kind of like, you know, having my grandmother back in the kitchen with me or having my cousins with me, or if I'm traveling being away, it's a way of having a taste of home.

But some specific dishes would probably be things like pernil which is a roast pork shoulder that we serve.

Puerto Rican serve for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

And it's very much like a celebratory dish.

Like it's our big feast dish.

We actually have a challenge on the show that's always like a holiday or a special celebration dish.

And if I were gonna be on the show and cooking a dish, that would probably be what I would make for that specific challenge because it's- - Oh, that's awesome.

I love that.

That's really cool.

So we don't want spoilers of course, but were there any sort of funny or heartwarming moments stories that stood out from filming?

- Oh, let me think about some dramatic moments.

I'm trying to think if there were any like... Like I remember last season, in season two, one of my favorite moments was when our cook Leanna got her, like her napkin was on fire at one time.

And it was so funny because I remember Tiffany shouting, "Leanna, you're on fire, girl."

And she was like, "I don't know," like thinking it was a compliment.

And then we're like, "No, really, your like station is on fire, they're flames."

- Oh my God.

- So that was always, I remember like that was one of my favorite moments.

I think this season, we didn't have any like big huge culinary disasters.

We probably had like a couple, like I think it's just people getting to know like the equipment or running out of time.

Oh, I do remember one.

There was one dish, I think it was our cook, Marcella, who was making something with lemons and she had all these Sicilian lemons and they were like huge.

They were like this big.

Like when you guys see this episode, you're gonna see these lemons are huge.

And there was just like an enormous amount of them.

And I remember she was like peeling them, but she also had like Doug, one of the other cooks, he was like helping peel and everybody's like peeling all of these lemons.

And I just remember seeing them from all across.

And another one that Marcella did, she had this crazy squash, I think it's called a- - Crazy squash.

- It was a crazy squash.

Like a little image, the squash.

It's like, I think it's called cousa, but it's very long.

It's like this long, it's like like three or four feet long.

And it literally is, I mean, it tastes just like a zucchini type yellow squash, summer squash.

But it was just such a wild thing to see but it was something.

Apparently in her family, they like grew in their garden and their gardens.

And so she had it specially brought for one of her challenges.

But it was just so cool to, yeah, to see like new ingredients and learn about new things.

Oh, one of our cooks had this, she's from Alaska and she had a sourdough starter that is apparently like over 100 years old.

- Oh my gosh.

- Yeah, and it was so crazy.

And she brought it with her, but apparently- - How do you travel that from Alaska?

That's crazy.

- Well that was our question.

And she explained that.

I don't know, if it was her mother, it was one of the women in her family had figured out a way to dehydrate it.

So it was like in little packets and then she like rehydrated it and then she had it ready by the time she used it, I think she used it for like a sweet, like a raised coffee cake or something along those lines.

- Oh my God.

- Yeah.

But it was so cool because it was like, I mean, talk about eating history, like traditions, right?

Like this is something that in her family has been passed down through generations literally.

And it was like there in the barn with us from Alaska to Nashville.

- That is an incredible story.

I can't wait to see how that plays out, that's amazing.

I wanted to ask too, in our book, Mrs. Quinn, Jenny, she makes friends with this much younger contestant and their friendship is really heartwarming and sweet.

I was curious about the relationships and the friendships that form between the contestants.

How does that all typically play out?

- That is actually my favorite part of the show.

Just seeing the friendships, the relationships that form between all of our cooks.

And I think that it really speaks to how special our show is because it really is just this warm, uplifting, kind of joyful celebration of cooking.

And everybody's sharing together.

And you know, if you've watched the show or if you do watch a show, a lot of times, there's stories that are very emotional, right?

'Cause sometimes it's stories from someone that passed on or something from just an emotional moment in one of the cook's lives.

And so it's these very vulnerable times.

And so they're all sharing together.

And I would always love, like when someone came up and share something that was maybe a little bit harder to share.

Everybody would just sort of like run and hug them and support them.

Or even just like celebrating joys, right?

Like we had a cook who kept missing the mark a few times and was feeling a little bit defeated and finally got that win.

And just seeing everybody kinda come in and like just give them the hugs and the support, that's always one of my favorite parts of the show.

But actually speaking of, 'cause we were talking a little bit earlier about May, and she actually bonded really well with Ajo, which is another cook and who's much younger.

And so it is kind of that combination of like sort of the older cook and then the younger one.

And they became really good friends.

And they're both very short.

(laughs) And so they'd always like run and like hold hands.

They were both like about the same height.

And it was just so sweet to see.

And they call each other bestie like, "Hey, bestie."

"You've got this, bestie."

And would give each other advice and tips.

But I saw a lot of that.

Like you saw people pairing off and you saw people also just kind of knowing when someone needed a little bit of extra support and coming in to help.

- Yeah, I love that.

I love the idea of food, bringing different types of people together and the idea that these are relationships that you would never form in any other circumstance.

And the way that the show brings those people together is really charming and I can't wait to see how that plays out.

- Yeah, no, I mean that's such a great point.

And I think we always talk a lot about how food brings people together and I think there's a lot of truth to that.

I also think it can be an oversimplification, but I think it is very much the sort of thing where it is an icebreaker and it's something that allows you, like it's a commonality that people can find.

And so if you're in that space, you've got, I mean, this is, they're all great cooks, but none of them are professional cooks and they're not like always competing and things like that.

So this was a very unique moment and experience for everyone that was in the barn with us.

And so we kind of joke about it, it's almost like grownup summer camp or like when you first go away to college and it's those first few weeks where you're just sort of bonding in this sort of unusual experience.

And I think that that's why they all come together because they're out of their comfort zones, but they're all together and they know they're all dealing with the same kind of challenges and it just allows them to grow together.

And it's just so beautiful to watch those friendships.

And if you've watched past seasons and follow any of the past cooks on Instagram, you see that they're all friends.

They have group chats, they visit each other, they support each other when they have projects and things coming out.

I think all of them from season one went to Tony's wedding.

- Aw.

- When he got married, I think last year.

And so it's just really great to see that these are friendships that form and continue beyond the show.

- That's so cool.

And it feels like the show that we all really need right now.

Something that just brings joy and life and friendship and that's also wonderful.

We wanna get to know you a little bit more too.

- Sure.

- Because you're a chef in your own right and a writer and you've done all kinds of amazing work in your career.

Tell us a little bit about your story and your inspiration for the work that you do.

- Absolutely.

Well, I always say that I learned to cook because I love to eat.

And when I was a little kid, I kind of realized that if there was something that I really wanted, that if I learned how to make it, I could have it.

Like I remember I really loved, I mean, it was a simple lesson.

I was like, this is amazing formula.

You make it and then you have it.

So I remember there were things like shrimp scampi that I really loved or specific types of baked goods or cakes and things.

And so I would go through my mom's cookbooks and the recipes and her rule was basically, as long as I cleaned up the kitchen, I could kind of do whatever I wanted.

I didn't always like fully fulfill.

- (indistinct) probably.

- I left a lot more messes.

And there were of disasters too.

Like it wasn't all culinary successes, but I think having that sort of freedom to be creative and to play and to not be intimidated kind of set a good foundation for me.

And then I cooked all throughout.

Like I used to cook in high school.

I would throw dinner parties for all my friends.

When I went to college, I used to cook in my dorms and throw parties in my dorms.

And it was always like elaborate dinner parties, right?

It wasn't like a typical like college kegger type party.

It would be like a wine, it would be like a cheese tasting.

Spanish tacos.

And it would always be like very elaborate for a college dorm.

And that's always something that I really loved.

So actually my junior year of college, I took a semester off and I went to culinary school in Italy.

And then I came back and I ended up going into magazines and media and publishing.

But I always had food stuff that I did on the side.

So it was this kind of like contrast.

I was working as a magazine editor with Cosmopolitan Magazine, but then on the side, I would be like doing like catering.

I made like wedding cakes, I was like making desserts for events.

I was selling cookies online and I would do all these kinds of things.

And it sort of kind of came to realize I started a food blog and I kind of realized that like food was really where I wanted to be focusing.

And I kind of slowly went off in that direction, that combination of food and TV.

And for me, it was, like, I never really wanted to be in a kitchen, like in the back of the kitchen because I always really love the interactive part of food.

And like the friendship and the sharing.

And I also wanted to eat it also with the food.

So for me, it was always about things where I could connect with people, throw dinner parties, I would do dinner party style cooking classes.

So it was always writing about food tasting.

So that side of it is what was really exciting to me.

- Well it seems like it's working for you.

Honestly, you sound like you should be like the heroine in a romcom with that story.

- I mean, I would love that.

That'd be great.

So I'm back in school now.

I do TV, but then I'm also in school.

(laughs) Like this morning, I literally had like class.

- Lifelong learning.

That's what PBS is all about.

We love it.

- I was in an art history class this morning.

and I'm studying creative writing and I'm studying poetry and fiction.

And one of my projects has been a sort of like food inspired romcom.

So we'll see where that goes.

- Oh, that's awesome.

Our author this month, Olivia Ford, who wrote "Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame," one of her pieces of advice was to take writing courses.

So you're you're on the right track.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah, I mean- - And put them into competition.

- It's really.

- "Great American Recipe," so.

- Yeah.

It really, really is such a great, like being an adult i school has been my favorite thing.

Like it up your eyes and helps you like dream new dreams.

And it's kind of, I mean, kind of like your talking with Mrs. Quinn, right?

Like at a later point in life, having this sort of new adventure.

And so for me, like going back to college at like 40 is very much like this.

It's a new way of thinking and it opens up your minds, and so.

- It sounds like a lot of fun.

I wanna take you back to your first day on set with "The Great American Recipe."

Tell us what that experience was like to sort of walk onto the set, get the lay of the land.

How are you feeling?

Take us back to that moment.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So I love that question, but I very much remember that moment of like walking on set and the way that we did it, 'cause we'll do a thing sometimes where it's just like, there'll be some lines or it's just me.

So they'll just get the clean lines with me there and then bring everybody else in.

So the first moment, or like my first line, it was literally just me alone in the barn.

And so I'm like looking out, pretending that I'm talking to people, but they weren't there yet.

And then, it was such a cool moment 'cause I was just like, it felt like walking into a TV show, like it was a set and it was something that I had seen on television even though it hadn't been that specific one.

But being there, it really felt like I was like walking into this program and I was like, "Oh, this is real."

And my first line at that point was literally just, "Welcome to the Great American recipe.

I'm your host, Alejandra Ramos."

And it was such a great moment of just kind of getting to like, introduce myself and sort of represent myself.

'Cause I'm usually being introduced like on today's show or on other programs and things that I do, I'm always being introduced.

So that moment of getting to speak for myself and introduce myself, it felt very moving.

And I also feel like it speaks to kind of what we do with the cooks because we're giving them the space to speak for themselves and we're giving them the ability to tell us their story in their own words.

'Cause I think that that's the best form of representation.

Like just giving the person the platform and letting them speak for themselves.

Yeah, that was like, that moment was so, so exciting.

And then in Nashville, it was so great kind of coming back in into this like, new space especially 'cause it just felt so, it's like such a much more intimate space.

It's cozier It felt like fresh and exciting and it was just so nice and I couldn't like wait for them.

So I have like a little video that I took.

I'll probably post it on Instagram this weekend of like first day on set and like looking around and it's just so nice.

And also coming back year after year, it's kinda like you're coming back home.

Right?

And I hope that it feels like that for the viewers too, just coming back and getting to hang out with us for another eight weeks.

- Yeah, I love that.

That's a really moving story.

So what is your favorite way to read?

Are you like a hardcover book person?

Do you like to read an ebook?

Audiobook?

Do you like to mix it up?

- Oh, I'm definitely like, solid.

I wanna like hold the book.

I like the tactile turning of pages.

My husband's a big, he was a big Kindle reader.

And then this year I don't know how it was.

I think he just didn't have a book to read.

And I was like, "Just read one of these."

And I gave him one and he read it and he is like, "Oh, it is a nice experience."

And so now he's also a like real actual book like reader.

So I'm all for the tactile experience.

- I like a tactile book too.

My husband prefers it when I use the e-reader because apparently I turn the pages too loud.

So he just has to deal with that.

- That's hilarious.

I mean, I think my husband, he will get a book and then once he finishes it, he will like give it away or like donate it or something.

I like hoarded my books.

So we just like live in this like house filled with books.

- It's so hard to give away.

You can't have too many.

- No, you can never have too many.

I collect, I love my books.

And I also have like a huge TBR pile.

I mean like, we'll see, we ever get to all of them.

- Yeah, our show is not gonna help you with that problem.

- But no, I mean, it's a good problem.

- Follow up.

Do you have a favorite genre that you like to read?

- I do love...

I mean, I read a lot of different genres, but I do love like I love mysteries and I love like a cozy mystery.

I do love like romance, like romcoms.

What else?

I read a lot of poetry.

So I have like tons of poetry books and collections.

And then like non-fiction, like memoirs I really enjoy.

But I mean it's like.

The only kinds of books I think I don't read probably are like, I don't do a lot of like speculative or science fiction type books.

But other than that, or like history, I don't have a lot of history.

But other than that, pretty much everything then.

(laughs) - Well, it's all in there.

Is there anything that you've read in the last year or so that stood out that you would recommend to readers?

- Oh, well I think my favorite book of last year was "Lessons in Chemistry," Adored that book and then when the show came out, I immediately watched it and I felt like they were both like equally good.

What else have I really loved?

I read a short story collection called "Her Body & other parties" I think.

Which is, I think the last, what was the name?

Machado, I think.

I don't remember but it's like a short story collection.

And there's some incredible stories in there that are just like a little bit like eerie and just kind of creepy and stuff.

I've been reading "Just Kids," the like Patti Smith's book.

'Cause I'm actually going to a Patti Smith like talk this weekend.

- Awesome.

- Yeah.

So I was like, I've been rereading it and I love that one 'cause it's just such a great meditation on like art and artists and like finding yourself as an artist.

- I'm gonna write that down.

I like that.

- Yeah, yeah.

It's like about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe and how they both kind of found their art.

- Yeah, that's really cool.

I always like to ask people, were there any books that you read in your childhood that sort of stood out and gave you that basis for your love of reading?

- Oh my gosh, yeah.

So there was a children's book called "Linnea in Monet's Garden."

And it was this girl who wanted to like actually go see the water lilies and like learned all about impressionism.

And so it was like this really beautiful book.

And I think my dad bought it for me on like a work trip and he bought it at museum gift shop or something.

And I love that book.

And I remember I was like, I used to like pore over the paintings and I was like, "I wanna go see the water lilies."

So I think that one's one that just kind of stayed with me a really long time.

- That's really cool.

So over the course of your life, your career, what's a piece of advice that was given to you that's really stuck with you?

Whether it's about your career, your writing, your cooking, anything that made a difference in your life?

- So I think I've gotten a lot of great piece of advice, but the one that sort of jumps in my head at this moment would be, I think it was like, it was my dad and I was having a conversation with him.

I think this was when I was, it was like just after college in my early 20s.

And I was like in a job I didn't love and like a relationship I didn't love.

Like a lot of stuff I didn't love.

(laughs) And I had come home for the weekend and then on our way back, I lived in Washington D.C. at the time.

So on our way back to like the train, I was gonna take Amtrak.

He was just like, you know, "Like if there's things that you don't like in your life," then he's like, "just start making changes.

Like nothing's going to change if you don't change something."

Phrasing that not as well as he did at the time, but it was that sentiment of like, if you continue doing the same thing, you're gonna get the same result and you're gonna be in the same place.

So just start changing things, even if it's just like little things at a time because each one of those is gonna then kind of grow exponentially and then that will lead to you being in a different place.

And I think, yeah, that was kind of one of the first things and that led me to like quitting that job that I didn't like.

And I ended up moving back up to New York and I ended up kind of changing my career and I've turned back to it anytime where I found myself in a position where I feel kind of stuck in a rut or just not loving what I'm into.

And it's just that little thing of like changing a little something, just doing something different.

If it's just like adding something new to your routine or walking home a different way or like dressing a different way or something.

You know, it can be a tiny little thing.

It doesn't have to be like something monumentous like changing your job or your address, but those little tiny changes kind of build and they start to grow and they do sort of lead you to be in a different place.

So yeah, I think that that's probably something that stands out and has definitely served me well in my life and in my career.

- I think that's great advice.

That's gonna stick with me too.

I really like that.

Is there any advice that you would give to aspiring home cook?

- Ooh.

Well, kind of like I was talking about how when I first started cooking, I mean, I started cooking as a child and I think I had that sort of childlike enthusiasm and like bravery, that lack of fear that I think kids have that adults sometimes lose because obviously, we have more responsibilities and more consequences and things.

And so it's like for us, we might be like, "Oh, that was like a $5 bag of flour.

I don't wanna waste it."

Right?

Like, you think about things in a way that the kid may not as they're like scooping the flour.

But I think bringing in a little bit of that sense of, you know, cooking at the end of the day is really low stakes.

Like even a disasters meal.

Like you can always order a pizza or make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or you know, have a glass of- - I've definitely cried over a failed meal before and you're right, like, just order a pizza, what are you doing?

- It's like a fixable problem.

So it is a very kind of low stakes challenge, but I think sometimes we over, like, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

So I think letting go of that and just kind of really having fun with it.

I do tend to like, people always say things like, read the whole recipe and like follow the instructions.

I break all those rules all the time and it doesn't always work out.

But I think that having that sort of flexibility.

And the other thing I would also really say that is important when it comes to cooking is learning your taste and like prioritizing your taste.

So like, cook for yourself, just 'cause of the recipe or the cookbook or the show or whatever says, you know, two tablespoons of sugar doesn't necessarily mean that that's what's gonna taste right to you.

Maybe you want more spice or less sweet or you wanna add some acid.

So you know what you like, right?

Like, you know, when you're ordering food, what flavors do you like?

So cook for yourself, cook for your taste and learn your taste.

And if you don't know, like if you don't actually know what you like, then experiment and try things.

And I think that's a really important thing in the kitchen.

I think it's an important thing in a lot of stuff, right?

Like kind of like getting to learn your own tastes and learning what you like.

I think it's something that's gonna serve you well in the long run.

- Yeah, I love that.

That's great advice.

Breaking all the rules and having grace for yourself.

I love that.

- Yeah.

- So last question.

What would you say is different and special about "The Great American recipe" that's unique from other cooking competition shows?

- I think what sets "The Great American recipe" apart from other cooking competitions is the fact that for us, the story is just as, if not more important than everything else.

So we understand that food comes within context, right?

It's not just ingredients that end up in a dish.

It really does have history, it has cultural history, it has an like, there's environmental stories, there's science to it, there's tradition, there's like personal emotional things that you add to it.

And we wanna know about that because like maybe there's a reason why that soup is so delicious to you and it's because you know, it was the first soup that your husband made on your first date.

And so every time you eat it, it brings you back to that.

And for us it may just be a delicious soup, but once we know that that's the soup that the love of your life first made you and that you fell in love with him over, that's gonna add so much more richness to the story.

And we recognize that.

We recognize that that's what makes food special.

It isn't really just about the taste.

And we allow the space for that so that we can really get the full complete picture of what our cooks are sharing with us and why those recipes and those stories are so important to them.

- I love that.

Well, we can't wait to watch "The Great American Recipe" on PBS.

It's gonna be a fabulous season and I'm sure there's so much for us to enjoy.

We can't wait to cozy up with that one.

And I wanna give you the chance to do your own outro, okay?

Because I know the introduction was so important for you on "Great American Recipes," so we'll let you do your own outro here.

- Thank you all for watching.

I'm Alejandra Ramos, this has been PBS Books and I'm so excited for you all to tune in to season three of "The Great American Recipe" on PBS.

- Fabulous to have you.

Thank you so much for joining the PBS Books Readers Club.

Great to have you.

- Thank you.

This was super fun.

(bright music)