What Happens When Gochujang Crashes an Italian Dinner Party?
The pasta sauce I didn’t expect to fall in love with — and a deeper look into the creative recipe creation process.
I’m honestly overwhelmed with gratitude. The response to Flavor Forward has been beyond anything I imagined. What excites me most is hearing how you’ve used these episodes to cook something new, to see ingredients differently, or to rediscover why you love being in the kitchen. Thank you for tuning in, for cheering me on, and for sharing this journey with such kindness and curiosity.
This week’s episode is one of my favorites yet, featuring a simple weeknight pasta that combines Italian passata and Korean gochujang. It’s comfort food with a twist: silky, bold, and quietly surprising, much like this adventure has been for me. The sauce reminds me why I love cooking in the first place: how two seemingly different ingredients can come together to create something entirely new.
Watch previous episodes of Flavor Forward
This week, I’m taking paid subscribers behind the scenes into my kitchen to explore how a recipe takes shape. My Guide to Recipe Creation shares the framework and principles I rely on when developing new dishes, using my Pineapple Five-Spice Rice Krispies Treats from America’s Test Kitchen’s Rice Krispies Treat Challenge as a running example. I hope it inspires you to experiment, adapt, and create your own.
Thank you, truly, for watching, for writing, and for reminding me that food connects us in more ways than I could ever put into words.
From Idea to Plate: My Guide to Recipe Creation
How to Build Recipes That Tell a Flavor Story
Cooking gets more exciting when you stop following recipes and start understanding them. This guide is meant to help you think like a recipe developer to see how flavors connect, textures form, and small choices shape big results. Once you grasp the “why” behind a recipe, you can start experimenting with confidence and make every dish your own.