Taste and Obsession: Author and Culture Writer Ella Quittner

This week on Kitchen Tape, Rose and Crystal sit down with Ella Quittner, author of Obsessed with the Best, to talk about what happens when curiosity meets obsessive recipe testing. Built around dozens of head-to-head comparisons, Ella’s book asks not just what tastes best, but how we arrive there — through repetition, methodology, instinct, and the strange culture of mass food discourse. We discuss the lineage of deeply practical cookbooks, the rise of personality-driven food media, and how humor, rigor, and experimentation can coexist on the same page. We dig into the epic photography in her cookbook, including, a portrait in bed with dessert. And why the perfect whipped cream matters!

Mentioned in this episode:
• Obsessed with the Best: 100+ Methodically Perfected Recipes Based on 20+ Head-to-Head Tests
• Joy of Cooking
• The New Basics Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso
• The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt
• Sweet Enough by Alison Roman
• Food Is a Feeling by Carla Lalli Music
• Will This Make You Happy by Tanya Bush
• Hello, Home Cooking by Ham El-Waylly