Hi there —
We’re back! Salt + Spine returns this week with a new fall season and a slate of new episodes. We’ve been, admittedly, a bit sporadic over the past year as my family and I moved to Italy. I’m excited to share with you these conversations I’ve been having with cookbook authors over the last year—some recorded at The Civic Kitchen in San Francisco, others in the field, and some virtually.
Also, I’m excited to share that we are now part of the Heritage Radio Network! We’re joining their incredible roster of shows focused on food, drink, and culture. It’s truly the perfect home for our conversations with cookbook authors and we’re excited to be in community with so many other podcasts we admire. If you’re not already subscribing to other HRN podcasts, I hope you’ll check them out as I’m sure you’ll find two or five or ten to follow.
And now, let’s head to France…
—Brian
Episode 171: Makenna Held
For today’s episode, I traveled to La Pitchoune—Julia Child’s former summer home in Provence—to meet with Makenna Held, the entrepreneur who not only bought this iconic house but used it as a home base to build a bold new philosophy of recipe-free cooking.
Makenna didn’t set out for a career in food. Raised in California in a family connected to the corporate restaurant world, she was advised not to go into hospitality. Instead, she pursued consulting, teaching, and development economics. Yet food kept calling—like a lighthouse she says she couldn’t ignore. That pull ultimately led her to take a leap many only dream about: purchasing Julia Child’s home after spotting a real estate listing in the New York Times.
From there, she created Courageous Cooking, a recipe-free approach that helps home cooks unlearn dependence on recipes and rediscover confidence, intuition, and joy in the kitchen. She’s now taught thousands of students—both at La Pitchoune (lovingly called “La Peetch”) and online—how to “stop helicopter-parenting your food” and embrace imperfection.
And she’s captured it all in her debut cookbook, Mostly French: Recipes from a Kitchen in Provence. The book blends French ingredients and traditions with global influences from her travels, while reflecting her philosophy that recipes should be guides.
In our conversation, Makenna and I discuss:
Her winding path from consulting to Provence.
How she is balancing honoring Julia Child’s legacy while creating something entirely new. (“It was important to me that La Pitchoune didn’t become a temple. A house deserves to be lived in, especially one built for gathering and cooking. Julia Child doesn’t need anyone to keep rewriting her recipes—she told her story in her own words. My role is to honor the history while building something new for this generation.”)
And why perfection has no place in the kitchen.
Of course, we also put Makenna to the test in our signature culinary game.
🎙️ | Tune in wherever you podcast to hear how Makenna is redefining what it means to cook at one of the most storied kitchens in the world.
Mostly French: Recipes from a Kitchen in Provence by Makenna Held
From the young American woman who bought Julia Child’s home in the South of France sight-unseen, Mostly French is a love letter to the food and place; it is lushly photographed, filled with more than 100 modern recipes, and for anyone who loves France and Julia Child.
Mostly French is a stunningly beautiful cookbook developed and photographed at La Pitchoune, Julia Child’s home in Provence. Inspired by the olive trees and hills of lavender, thyme, and wild asparagus, author and cooking instructor Makenna Held shares 150 recipes that pay homage to the serenity of Southern France. Through dishes such as Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Sumac, Caprese with Peaches and Strawberries, and Lavender Salted Caramels, among dozens of others that lean into France and ease, she channels the best of French cooking: simple ingredients, technique, and balanced flavors.
But just as deliciously, Mostly French is Makenna’s story of finding herself in the slower pace of the French countryside. She lives with the spirit of Julia Child and honors her legacy, while forging her own path as a cook and teacher. In the narrative woven throughout the introductory material and recipe headnotes, Makenna writes as much about developing as a person as she does about developing delicious recipes.
What makes this book special is Makenna’s classic French staples—Roasted Tomato “Jam,” Dream Vinaigrette, and sauces like an easy Hollandaise, put to use next to meal-sized salads, roasts, and omelettes that make a meal. With tips and tricks, and an extensive section on cheese and charcuterie boards for the golden hour of L’Apero, this cookbook will delight anyone with its modern approach to everyday French cooking.
We 💚 local bookstores. Pick up your copy of Mostly French here:
This week, paid subscribers of Salt + Spine will receive the following recipes from Makenna’s Mostly French:
Citrus Galette
Braised Chicken in White Wine with Bacon-Radish Gremolata
