From ex-line cooks to former high-fashion talent bookers, the Bon Appétit staff has come from all walks. Each week, a different staffer will tell us about what they’re cooking, eating, and generally into right now. Today, it’s integrated editorial assistant Josie Adams. Want even more dispatches from our staff? Follow us on Instagram.
What I do at Bon Appétit: I’m the integrated editorial assistant, which means I write, edit, and research articles for the magazine and also write for the website. I also open a lot of boxes.
In a previous life, I was: A cheesemonger. I got my cheese chops slingin’ wheels at the counter at Murray’s Cheese in NYC before moving up to the classroom, where I then taught cheese pairing classes. I basically got to geek out about cheese all day.
Essential kitchen tool: My eight cast iron pans. I use them for browning meats on the stovetop and then transferring to the oven to finish, roasting and sautéing veg, and making low-acid pasta sauces. I also like serving food in cast iron, because you can’t beat the rustic ease of stove to table.
The last thing I cooked at home: Cornish game hens roasted with sausages, rosemary baby potatoes, garlic green beans, and a butter lettuce salad with mustard vinaigrette.
Best restaurant dish I had recently: I was just in San Diego, and the al pastor tacos from Tacos El Gordo (which I ate 6 of) had this thin, refreshing avocado crema that put them over the top. They were the best tacos I’ve ever had—and I’m from LA. If there’s one thing I know, it’s tacos.
Favorite tried-and-true Bon Appétit recipe: The Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs are ludicrously good.
Next travel destination: In reality, New Jersey (to visit my boyfriend's parents). In my dreams, always Japan.
I like my eggs: Made by my dad, over medium on top of buttered toast.
3 things I’m into right now:
- GQ magazine. Because she knows all, I asked executive editor Christine Muhlke for a reading suggestion, and she said to pick it up because "the sentences are so tight you could bounce a quarter off them.”
- Joan Didion. I just finished reading The Year of Magical Thinking, her memoir about the struggle to comprehend the loss of a loved one.
- Scandal, because one can only take so much Didion.