Amanda Hesser - The Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2: Seasonal Recipes from Our Kitchens to Yours

Since its inception, the sometimes chaotic, always hunger-inducing, and often soul-feeding universe that is Food52 has been slowly but surely expanding. We knew this to be true in a vague sort of way, as evidenced by the growing numbers of recipes submitted to our weekly contests and the fact that we always seemed to be in need of just one more chair at our offices in Manhattan. However, the reality of the growth that has taken place around us didnt fully sink in until it came time to write these acknowledgments. We thought of all the people who have been on board since early days, and of the newer faces as wellcommunity members, staffers, and a very special, brand-new mini-Food52er (Clara Pauline, were looking at you). They are the heartbeat of the wonderful place we call Food52, generously giving our hungry little child all of the love and late nights that it needs along the way. This book belongs to all of them.

In the year since the first cookbook was published, we have watched our online community swell to (at last count) 85,000 members strong. Weve found new ways to engage, ways for our kitchens to get a little closerwhich, of course, is at the core of everything that we do. From our first-ever iPad app to the birth of the Food52 Hotline, growing the site has been a tremendous undertaking, and we couldnt have done it without the help of all of the top-notch people we are honored to call a part of the Food52 family.

We knew early on that ours was a community of particularly talented home cooks. Saturating the site with their soulful, storied recipes, they breathed warmth and life into the burgeoning world wed created for them. A few of these Food52ers have engaged with us on such a level that we want take this moment to thank them in particular.

It has been exciting to welcome one of our own deeper into the foldTom Hirschfeld, photojournalist and chef turned farmer, father, and now Food52 columnist, whose quietude and passionate engagement with food and cooking started seeping into the fabric of our site from the moment he joined. Cathy Barrow and Kim Foster hosted the meaty monthly challenges of Charcutepalooza with unparalleled gusto and shared it with us at Food52. Sharon Knoll has helped make the Food52 Hotline into an intelligent and remarkably spam-free place for cooking questions of all sorts by meticulously flagging anything that seems out of place. Sara Grimes has shepherded us through many a Community Picks dibs-calling, spreading the recipe-testing love with grace and easing our load simply because she can. A big thank-you to you all, and to countless others, for inspiring us to always be a little bit better and reminding us every day why home cooks are so very special.

Beautiful photographs define this book as they do our site, and we have a team of phenomenally talented photographers to thank for that: Sarah Shatz, James Ransom, Melanie Einzig, and Jennifer Causey brought life to the book. They tackle the particular challenge that food so often presents with artistry and heart, somehow managing to make even the most uncooperative of dishes look as delicious as they taste.

We have assembled the very best staff there is, a feat we would toast every single day given the opportunity. At the helm is Alexandra Lutz, our president, who pushes us to dream big and think in new ways, to look beyond our little corner of the internet, see a bigger world, and seek out our place in it. Kristen Miglore, our Genius Senior Editor, has a gentle presence and easy humor that keeps us at once on track and giggling each and every day. Her value is immeasurable. Head Recipe Tester Stephanie Bourgeois and Test Kitchen Manager Jennifer Vogliano run the recipe-testing show, whipping up perfectly executed, photo-ready recipes without batting an eye. Supporting them and cooking up a storm for us in each of their respective kitchens is a whole team of behind-the-scenes recipe testers: Victoria Ross, Natalie Barbarese, Annie Petito, Marisa Robertson-Textor, Rebecca Marx, Nora Singley, Andrea Lynn, Lauren Utvich, Pervaiz Shallwani, Paul Darrah, Rebecca Vitale, and Maia Cheslow. Thank you all for your hard work, and for what we know is an awful lot of dish-washing.

Kristy Mucci, Maddy Martin, Nozlee Samadzadeh, Brette Warshaw, Francesca Gilberti, Miranda Rake, Martine Trelaun, Christina DiLaura, Alaina Sullivan, and Victoria Spencer have been invaluable arms of our editorial team, tackling everything from last-minute blog-posting to Shop curation to party-planning and anything in between. Along the way, they and we have had an enormous amount of help from a group of tireless editors and interns, including Allie Chaden, Caroline Vernick, Helen Hollyman, Will Levitt, Rona Moser, Katie Essenfeld, Lily Taylor, Rachel Berkman, Hadley Assail, Meghan Gourley, Rose Kelly, Laura Wing, Anna Hezel, Gabriella Paiella, and Laura Loesch-Quintin. Our editorial and intern staffs handle everything we throw at them (and it really is everything) not simply without complaint, but with their whole selves, with absolute enthusiasm, and for that we are always so grateful.

Jennifer Steinhauer, a longtime friend of the site, continues to be an official part of the family with her weekly column Jennys in the Kitchen, where she tells the dirty truth about being a working mother and about cooking for her family, the joys and lack thereof. At the beginning of 2012, we welcomed the green-thumbed Amy Pennington as a columnist. Her urban gardening know-how has brought full circle the emphasis weve always placed on cooking in season and (we hope) encouraged more of our incredible home cooks to become home gardeners as well. Food News Journals Fran Brennan and Shelly Peppel bravely and wholeheartedly adventured into food news with us, and we loved every minute of working with them. Year after year, Charlotte Druckman, coconspirator in our annual Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, rounds up the best cookbooks and judges for three weeks of heated debate, and she always wears the best dress to the party.

Peter-Steinberg, Kfir Shay, Jon Stavis, Amanda Li, Michael Hoffman, Alain Benzaken, Camillia BenBasset, Gareth Geraty, and Oka Tai-Lee are the development and design magicians behind our site. With a click of the mouse or a tap-tap on the keyboard, they bring everything that we dream up into being, and it goes almost without saying that without them, we simply would not exist. We get additional digital help from our talented videographers Elena Parker, Drew Lavyne, Alex Lisowski, and Kyle Orosz, who tastefully edit our onscreen antics and handle the often-haphazard nature of a Food52 video shoot with nothing but good humor.

We cant believe that it was over three years ago that we sat down to lunch at Aquavit with Bob Miller. Three sentences into an explanation of our vision for what Food52 would become, he was signing us up for these two cookbooks. We are grateful for his faith in us. Along the way, weve had a ball working with Cassie Jones, who has dealt so calmly with any and all of our various book-related fire drills, of which there have been many. Also at William Morrow, were grateful to Jessica McGrady, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, Karen Lumley, Joyce Wong, Shelby Meizlik, Liate Stehlik, Lynn Grady, Tavia Kowalchuk, and Shawn Nichols.

Thanks also to Heather Schroder, Nicole Tourtelot, and Tabitha Schick at ICM; to Debbie Stier, the social media master who set us on the right path; and to our friends Gretchen Holt and Bena Shah at OXO, who have sponsored our contests from the very beginning and whose wares have made all of our winners very happy!

A special shout-out to our friends and partners at Whole Foods Market: Ken Meyer, Angela Rakis, Lex Alexander, Sirr Less, and Kristin Gross.

It takes a lot of work to keep Food52 in motion, and we are fortunate to receive an enormous amount of support from our family and friends. We would especially like to thank Jennifer Steinhauer; Eliza and Mike Anderson; Veronica Stubbs; Rhonda Thompson; our beloved children, Walker, Addie, and Clara; and, particularly, our sweet husbands, Jonathan Dorman and Tad Friend.