From KCRW, I'm Evan Kliman and you're listening to good food.

What can one say about Nancy Silverton?

She is at the peak of her profession, owner of the Osteria Motsa here in town, as well as in Singapore and

Los Cabo, Simbaia, and Pizadia Motsa, plus Kiespaca. You might have

also indulged in her Uber-Del Delicious ice cream, Nancy's Fancy.

Nancy is a powerhouse recipe developer who creates engaging cookbooks with recipes that work.

Her breadbook is legendary and her recipes are

essential because she's a tinkerer in the best way, developing ideas and

then playing with them until finally they fulfill her platonic ideal.

This obsessive tinkering is at the heart of her new book, The Cookie that Changed My Life. That cookie was made by noted LA Baker Roxanna

Juulapot who owns the bakery, friends, and family. I'll let Nancy tell you the

story. She made a cookie that I was very angry about because it was better than any

peanut butter cookie I ever made and so it challenged me to make a well not necessarily a better version but one that was

personalized by me but okay let's say a better version just for the sake of it the bakers in our town have no

lack of ego I will say that right and I pretend that I don't have an ego and that I'm not competitive, but I can't stand when

somebody does something better than me.

Thank you for being so honest. So why did this cookie lead you to the idea of revisiting and

retooling classics? Okay so I guess what was in the air that was infectious in 2020 was that everybody was baking something, right?

And we all know that what were they baking?

They were baking sourdough bread.

I got COVID by the way in 2020,

but I didn't get that need to bake a loaf of bread

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