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Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savor
The James Beard award-winning author of Tenderheart returns to her roots with a year of seasonal salad recipes that emphasize community, family and the importance of finding time and space to linger.
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s culinary career began with salads. Specifically, a charred broccoli salad. She began making salads at home and before she knew it, was delivering hundreds of salads all over Sydney, Australia. Although her salad cart days are behind her, her love of salads remains. It is this love that inspired her to start the Linger Project, which brings people to the table at her Brooklyn apartment every month to eat, talk and enjoy the sense of community that forms around the table of salads. McKinnon’s goal with these gatherings was to instill a sense of unhurriedness in her guests, giving them a space to slow down, enjoy the food and just linger. In Linger, her sixth book, her fans get to do the same with more than 100 new recipes.
These salads are not just bland piles of leaves — they are beautiful, rich creations. In fact, one of McKinnon’s salad rules is that salads don’t always have to have leaves. Another salad rule? Anything can be a salad.
Curry Potato and Pea Dumpling SaladCaprese Salad with Grilled PineappleBibimbap-style Gnocchi with Gochujang VinaigretteRice Paper Spring Roll Salad Sunchoke and Cannellini Beans with Never-ending Tahini SaucePeaches and Cream with Chili CrispMushroom, Seaweed and White Bean Burger Salad
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s culinary career began with salads. Specifically, a charred broccoli salad. She began making salads at home and before she knew it, was delivering hundreds of salads all over Sydney, Australia. Although her salad cart days are behind her, her love of salads remains. It is this love that inspired her to start the Linger Project, which brings people to the table at her Brooklyn apartment every month to eat, talk and enjoy the sense of community that forms around the table of salads. McKinnon’s goal with these gatherings was to instill a sense of unhurriedness in her guests, giving them a space to slow down, enjoy the food and just linger. In Linger, her sixth book, her fans get to do the same with more than 100 new recipes.
These salads are not just bland piles of leaves — they are beautiful, rich creations. In fact, one of McKinnon’s salad rules is that salads don’t always have to have leaves. Another salad rule? Anything can be a salad.
Curry Potato and Pea Dumpling SaladCaprese Salad with Grilled PineappleBibimbap-style Gnocchi with Gochujang VinaigretteRice Paper Spring Roll Salad Sunchoke and Cannellini Beans with Never-ending Tahini SaucePeaches and Cream with Chili CrispMushroom, Seaweed and White Bean Burger Salad
312 pages, Hardcover
Published October 7, 2025
29 people are currently reading
248 people want to read
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December 20, 2025As heard on The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters (840: Holiday Traditions Around the World with Hetty Lui McKinnon and Yasmin Khan)
December 19, 2025 (originally aired)
https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dt...
This week, we’re celebrating the holidays by looking beyond, into global stories that shape the season. First, we talk with Hetty Lui McKinnon about her new book, Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savor, and what the holidays look like in Australia, where Christmas is hot and the seafood markets buzz at midnight. Hetty reflects on the vegetable forward meals that defined her Chinese Australian upbringing and leaves us with her recipe for Coronation Cauliflower and Chickpeas. Then, we turn to writer Yasmin Khan for a deeper look at Yalda Night, the Persian winter solstice celebration that reminds us of the return of the sun, after the longest night of the year. Her latest cookbook, Sabzi: Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes, explores vibrant vegetarian cooking rooted in Persian culture. Yasmin shares how Yalda brings people together through poetry, pomegranates, and seasonal comforts, and leaves us with her recipe for Eggplant Fesenjan.
Broadcast dates for this episode:
December 19, 2025 (originally aired)
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https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dt...
November 15, 2025
I adore Hetty McKinnon and her recipes. They're always creative and tend to tilt east-Asian inspired (which have lots of my favorite cuisines). I didn't like Linger as much as I loved Tenderheart. I wish there were time estimates included in these recipes and also noticed the serving sizes tended to be smaller than what I would consider to be X serving.
Onto the recipes tried:
- Bibimbap gnocchi - liked, didn't love. Lots of (personal) issues with cooking the gnocchi, but also felt like it was lacking something
- Kung pao cabbage and tofu - the first major miss for me - found it to be bland
- Spicy braised eggplant and tofu with noodles - loved this - I really enjoyed the japchae noodles, which added an interesting bouncy texture to the dish
- Roasted sunchokes and cannellini beans with tahini sauce - a lot of potential, but honestly the sunchokes just didn't do it for me - found them to be turnip-like in taste, adding a lingering after taste
- Broccoli tempeh with salsa macha - I also made the salsa macha and really loved this sauce - though I liked the salsa macha more than the broccoli tempeh
- Roasted spiced carrots with tofu and agrodolce - my husband loved this dish ("best thing you've ever made" - even though it had raisins in it, and he hates raisins, so I think this one was a win
- Spiced chickpea and lentil salad - beautifully colorful dish and very filling
So overall a bit of a mixed bag for me.
Onto the recipes tried:
- Bibimbap gnocchi - liked, didn't love. Lots of (personal) issues with cooking the gnocchi, but also felt like it was lacking something
- Kung pao cabbage and tofu - the first major miss for me - found it to be bland
- Spicy braised eggplant and tofu with noodles - loved this - I really enjoyed the japchae noodles, which added an interesting bouncy texture to the dish
- Roasted sunchokes and cannellini beans with tahini sauce - a lot of potential, but honestly the sunchokes just didn't do it for me - found them to be turnip-like in taste, adding a lingering after taste
- Broccoli tempeh with salsa macha - I also made the salsa macha and really loved this sauce - though I liked the salsa macha more than the broccoli tempeh
- Roasted spiced carrots with tofu and agrodolce - my husband loved this dish ("best thing you've ever made" - even though it had raisins in it, and he hates raisins, so I think this one was a win
- Spiced chickpea and lentil salad - beautifully colorful dish and very filling
So overall a bit of a mixed bag for me.
Read
November 6, 2025Such an aptly titled cookbook, as you truly do want to linger with it. McKinnon strikes a balance between the new and the nostalgic, making her recipes feel like both comfort food and fresh discoveries. And though it’s perhaps not surprising for a salad cookbook, it’s a delight to find that most of these recipes are vegan or offer vegan alternatives.
For my first pass, I tried the Black Sesame Tofu “Basque” Cheesecake, the Mapo Tofu Salad, the Potato and Scallion Flatbread, the Tofu Bread Rolls, and the Vegan Meringue, all of which were tasty. The cheesecake had a satisfyingly creamy texture both warm and cold (with a not-surprisingly coconuty flavor thanks to the can of coconut milk). The Mapo Tofu Salad captured some of my favorite flavors in salad form, the flatbread and rolls were chewy and flavorful, and the vegan meringue, as McKinnon notes, nothing new but still wonderful to be guided through for the first time.
McKinnon manages to draw great depth of flavor from a relatively limited number of ingredients in each recipe, and her instructions are consistently clear and confidence-building. This is a new favorite.
Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for the advance reading copy.
For my first pass, I tried the Black Sesame Tofu “Basque” Cheesecake, the Mapo Tofu Salad, the Potato and Scallion Flatbread, the Tofu Bread Rolls, and the Vegan Meringue, all of which were tasty. The cheesecake had a satisfyingly creamy texture both warm and cold (with a not-surprisingly coconuty flavor thanks to the can of coconut milk). The Mapo Tofu Salad captured some of my favorite flavors in salad form, the flatbread and rolls were chewy and flavorful, and the vegan meringue, as McKinnon notes, nothing new but still wonderful to be guided through for the first time.
McKinnon manages to draw great depth of flavor from a relatively limited number of ingredients in each recipe, and her instructions are consistently clear and confidence-building. This is a new favorite.
Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for the advance reading copy.
January 31, 2026
I reviewed McKinnon’s previous book, Tenderheart, in 2023. She has another one on the “best of” lists.
Linger is primarily about salads. Salads helped the author find herself and her calling and helped her find her people (especially after she immigrated to NYC). Linger came about post-pandemic as she “beckoned” her friends back to her salad gatherings—a “deeply moving, emotionally healing and delicious adventure” (8).
I read cookbooks from cover to cover but I know that some will skip straight to the recipes. Don’t. Read every essay that is included in Linger. McKinnon’s voice is pragmatic, sensible, yet poetic. The photos are amazing and were shot in her NYC apartment. The most beautifully photographed dish has to go to the Eggplant Trifle (topped with pomegranate seeds (187). All the photos are beautiful though.
All kinds of salads are in Linger, entree salads as well as side dishes. McKinnon does include ideas for menus if you want to create a “vegetable-rich feast” (15). Each chapter is classified by the seasonal menus on page 25. It is not all salads. Desserty-things include a Spiced Pumpkin Mochi Cake (46), Black Sesame Tofu “Basque” Cheesecake (73), Vegan Meringue (97), Deconstructed Pavlova Board (98), Hong Kong Milk Tea Tres Leches (124), Rhubarb and Rosewater Almond Cake (152), Cherry Tapioca Pudding (172), A Rice Pudding Inspired by Güllaç (196), Plum and Cardamom Galette (216), Almond Jello Float (237), Black Sesame Rice Pudding with Caramelized Asian Pears (257), Matcha and Ginger Custard Tart (276), Sparkly Orange Ginger Butter Cookies (299), Little Christmas Cakes (300). I will not pick which one is the most inventive. Condiments are included or the the composing process: Turmeric Daikon Pickles (Danmuji) (55), Salted Eggs (Haam Daan) (59), Master Cashew Cream (81), and Salsa Matcha (107). A few appetizer-type dishes also are found like Gruyere, Jalapeno and Scallion Mochi Balls (69); Potato and Scallion Flatbread (90); Tofu Bread Rolls (123); Candied Any-Nuts (133); and Pickled Mushrooms with Quinoa (148). There’s even some beverages like Rhubarb and Cardamom Spritz (151), Iced Tea Fizz (195)
Most recipes include substitution ideas like using squash and sweet potatoes interchangeably; date syrup in lieu of maple syrup; whatever green veggie you have on hand (broccoli or Brussels sprouts, or chard, or kale). I totally appreciated these tips. I don’t have Fu Yu (fermented tofu) but I do usually have gochujang in the fridge.
Because of these substitution ideas, I found these recipes to be totally approachable. There are a few things you might have to order or buy from a local Asian market, but most are doable. I would not necessarily classify her recipes as “fusion” (which I think has become a derogatory comment in the food world recently, but more inventive. She sums it up this way:
I have come to realize that, for me, cooking in itself is an act of cultural translation. It provides me with the vocabulary to process and reconcile the different parts of my identity. This translation infuses my food with soul and context and give me the framework to metabolize the turbulence of thinking and cooking across several cultures at once. (77)
This is a vegetarian book with lots of vegan and gluten free options, too.
Great tips:
Vinaigrettes are better on pasta salads than mayo ones. (Pasta is already heavy.) (20)
Adding a bit of spice to dressings creates depth. “Even if it’s something as simple as a lemon vinaigrette, adding a bit of ground cumin can really make things much more interesting” (20).
If your dressing is too thick, don’t add more olive oil to thin it out (and make it more bitter). Just add water (21).
Her mother’s hack about reconstituting and freezing dried shitakes (177).
The greatest tip being layer your salads in a serving bowl placing the dressing on the bottom, topped with the “hardiest” ingredients and layering up. End with the most delicate. Don’t toss until ready to serve (16).
Recipes that stood out to me:
Hot-and-Sour Potato Salad (45). Shredded potatoes are stir fried and then tossed with chiles, Sichuan pepper, soy sauce, garlic and rice vinegar. It’s finished with thin cucumber slivers and cilantro.
Bibimbap-Style Gnocchi with Gochujang Vinaigrette (115). McKinnon was inspired to create this dish from the premade bibimbap boxes from H Mart.
Falafel-in-Spirit Salad (165). “How can I harness the flavor of falafels, without making an actual falafel?”(165). I think she does it!
Roasted Baby Carrots with cannellini Beans and Carrot-Top Chimichurri (168). To cut the “green grassiness” of the tops with the “sweet woodiness of the roots,” she adds vinegar-soaked raisins, olives and capers to the mix.
Potato Chip Salad (171). Inspired by junk food and chaat. What more is there to say.
Salt and Vinegar Potato Salad (181). This is a salad of vinegary potatoes on top of spinach so not your typical potato salad. McKinnon was inspired by the malt vinegar chips she remembers from her time living in London.
Buffalo Corn Salad with Celery and Chickpeas (192). There is no Buffalo chicken here but not sure one would miss it.
French Onion Salad (234). She caramelizes the onions in the oven and mixes their goodness with quinoa, greens and a Mustard and Thyme Vinaigrette
Roasted Grapes and Feta with Grains and Kale (254). This dish was inspired from one that roasted grapes with feta, then serving it on bread.
Sparkly Orange Ginger Butter Cookies (299). This is a holiday favorite and is gluten free but I am going to make them with regular flour.
Don’t forget about the playlists curated by McKinnon’s daughter, Scout. One son is named Huck too!
This is such a great book. Check it out. Linger more with your veggies to linger more around your table.
Linger is primarily about salads. Salads helped the author find herself and her calling and helped her find her people (especially after she immigrated to NYC). Linger came about post-pandemic as she “beckoned” her friends back to her salad gatherings—a “deeply moving, emotionally healing and delicious adventure” (8).
I read cookbooks from cover to cover but I know that some will skip straight to the recipes. Don’t. Read every essay that is included in Linger. McKinnon’s voice is pragmatic, sensible, yet poetic. The photos are amazing and were shot in her NYC apartment. The most beautifully photographed dish has to go to the Eggplant Trifle (topped with pomegranate seeds (187). All the photos are beautiful though.
All kinds of salads are in Linger, entree salads as well as side dishes. McKinnon does include ideas for menus if you want to create a “vegetable-rich feast” (15). Each chapter is classified by the seasonal menus on page 25. It is not all salads. Desserty-things include a Spiced Pumpkin Mochi Cake (46), Black Sesame Tofu “Basque” Cheesecake (73), Vegan Meringue (97), Deconstructed Pavlova Board (98), Hong Kong Milk Tea Tres Leches (124), Rhubarb and Rosewater Almond Cake (152), Cherry Tapioca Pudding (172), A Rice Pudding Inspired by Güllaç (196), Plum and Cardamom Galette (216), Almond Jello Float (237), Black Sesame Rice Pudding with Caramelized Asian Pears (257), Matcha and Ginger Custard Tart (276), Sparkly Orange Ginger Butter Cookies (299), Little Christmas Cakes (300). I will not pick which one is the most inventive. Condiments are included or the the composing process: Turmeric Daikon Pickles (Danmuji) (55), Salted Eggs (Haam Daan) (59), Master Cashew Cream (81), and Salsa Matcha (107). A few appetizer-type dishes also are found like Gruyere, Jalapeno and Scallion Mochi Balls (69); Potato and Scallion Flatbread (90); Tofu Bread Rolls (123); Candied Any-Nuts (133); and Pickled Mushrooms with Quinoa (148). There’s even some beverages like Rhubarb and Cardamom Spritz (151), Iced Tea Fizz (195)
Most recipes include substitution ideas like using squash and sweet potatoes interchangeably; date syrup in lieu of maple syrup; whatever green veggie you have on hand (broccoli or Brussels sprouts, or chard, or kale). I totally appreciated these tips. I don’t have Fu Yu (fermented tofu) but I do usually have gochujang in the fridge.
Because of these substitution ideas, I found these recipes to be totally approachable. There are a few things you might have to order or buy from a local Asian market, but most are doable. I would not necessarily classify her recipes as “fusion” (which I think has become a derogatory comment in the food world recently, but more inventive. She sums it up this way:
I have come to realize that, for me, cooking in itself is an act of cultural translation. It provides me with the vocabulary to process and reconcile the different parts of my identity. This translation infuses my food with soul and context and give me the framework to metabolize the turbulence of thinking and cooking across several cultures at once. (77)
This is a vegetarian book with lots of vegan and gluten free options, too.
Great tips:
Vinaigrettes are better on pasta salads than mayo ones. (Pasta is already heavy.) (20)
Adding a bit of spice to dressings creates depth. “Even if it’s something as simple as a lemon vinaigrette, adding a bit of ground cumin can really make things much more interesting” (20).
If your dressing is too thick, don’t add more olive oil to thin it out (and make it more bitter). Just add water (21).
Her mother’s hack about reconstituting and freezing dried shitakes (177).
The greatest tip being layer your salads in a serving bowl placing the dressing on the bottom, topped with the “hardiest” ingredients and layering up. End with the most delicate. Don’t toss until ready to serve (16).
Recipes that stood out to me:
Hot-and-Sour Potato Salad (45). Shredded potatoes are stir fried and then tossed with chiles, Sichuan pepper, soy sauce, garlic and rice vinegar. It’s finished with thin cucumber slivers and cilantro.
Bibimbap-Style Gnocchi with Gochujang Vinaigrette (115). McKinnon was inspired to create this dish from the premade bibimbap boxes from H Mart.
Falafel-in-Spirit Salad (165). “How can I harness the flavor of falafels, without making an actual falafel?”(165). I think she does it!
Roasted Baby Carrots with cannellini Beans and Carrot-Top Chimichurri (168). To cut the “green grassiness” of the tops with the “sweet woodiness of the roots,” she adds vinegar-soaked raisins, olives and capers to the mix.
Potato Chip Salad (171). Inspired by junk food and chaat. What more is there to say.
Salt and Vinegar Potato Salad (181). This is a salad of vinegary potatoes on top of spinach so not your typical potato salad. McKinnon was inspired by the malt vinegar chips she remembers from her time living in London.
Buffalo Corn Salad with Celery and Chickpeas (192). There is no Buffalo chicken here but not sure one would miss it.
French Onion Salad (234). She caramelizes the onions in the oven and mixes their goodness with quinoa, greens and a Mustard and Thyme Vinaigrette
Roasted Grapes and Feta with Grains and Kale (254). This dish was inspired from one that roasted grapes with feta, then serving it on bread.
Sparkly Orange Ginger Butter Cookies (299). This is a holiday favorite and is gluten free but I am going to make them with regular flour.
Don’t forget about the playlists curated by McKinnon’s daughter, Scout. One son is named Huck too!
This is such a great book. Check it out. Linger more with your veggies to linger more around your table.
February 21, 2026
I think Hetty McKinnon gets full credit for my significant increase in vegetable intake. A huge fan of Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds and To Asia, With Love: Everyday Asian Recipes and Stories From the Heart, I was very excited about Linger. The premise is essentially that almost anything can be a "salad" and "salad" is an opportunity to linger, to be in community with one another. McKinnon's prose is a treat to read--I love the ways that she acknowledges her past as part of her present. And I never review a cookbook until I've cooked at least three recipes. In this case, "Roasted Spiced Carrots and Crispy Tofu with Agrodolce" (138); "Spiced Chickpea and Lentil Salad" (136); and "Bibimbap-Style Gnocchi with Gochujang vinaigrette (115). The last is a favorite. Her flavors are inventive, but not so out there that you get confused. The agrodolce was terrific and now I'm thinking about other ways to use it. Honorable mention goes to "Green Beans, Caponata Style" (205), which is even better the next day! And I'm always down for a recipe that gets rid of the eggplant.
I've mentioned this before, but I also appreciate how well McKinnon's books are INDEXED. It makes it very easy to find a recipe with what I have on hand (especially shelf-stable stuff like Gochujang).
I look forward to cooking my way through most of this book.
I've mentioned this before, but I also appreciate how well McKinnon's books are INDEXED. It makes it very easy to find a recipe with what I have on hand (especially shelf-stable stuff like Gochujang).
I look forward to cooking my way through most of this book.
December 28, 2025
I’ve loved the recipes of Hetty’s that I’ve tried before, so I was excited when the library got a copy of her new cookbook. However, this was sort of a miss for me, which made me very glad that I borrowed a library copy instead of buying. While almost all of the recipes sound good to me, many of them contain ingredients that are not possible to find in rural America, or they take longer to make than I have normally have time for. Having said that, I did save a few recipes that I could get ingredients for that take less than an hour to make.
September 3, 2025
Netgalley ARC- I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. The recipes are presented in twelve chapters with their own playlist (QR codes provide) which helps set the mood and ties them together. Handy substitutions are provided for some of the ingredients which will provide endless options. I've never read her published work outside of the NYTS, but I will definitely seek out her others.
July 21, 2025
A Great cookbook for anyone who wants to make a variety of international vegetarian recipes.
I already made: potato & sumac salad, soba noodles with crunchy vegetables, & iced tea fizz.
I really appreciate that most recipes include substitutions and ways to veganize &/or make a dish gluten free.
I’m excited to make even more recipes!
I already made: potato & sumac salad, soba noodles with crunchy vegetables, & iced tea fizz.
I really appreciate that most recipes include substitutions and ways to veganize &/or make a dish gluten free.
I’m excited to make even more recipes!
January 14, 2026
If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you might really like this cookbook. I’m not, so it’s just okay for me. If Hetty had me over for a meal, I’d be delighted to try her offerings. But making them myself? Only two recipes appealed enough to me that I’d try them.
November 11, 2025
if i could give this more than 5 stars i would. love the variety of recipes in this book!! as someone who brings cold lunch to work many of these room temp salads will be perfect.
November 21, 2025
lots of healthy veggie dishes and gluten free pumpkin cake!
December 7, 2025
Part cookbook, part stories, this did not have my fave recipes of McKinnon.
December 22, 2025
This is one of the best cookbooks I've ever purchased. Every recipe, so far, has been perfect.
January 1, 2026
I have so many recipes bookmarked waiting to try. Another wonderful blend of recipes, writing and music too!
January 27, 2026
Quirky, interesting, unlikely combinations that create really interesting and delicious vegetarian dishes. I am a fan.
September 28, 2025
Our Review...
The author of bestselling Community is back with a fabulous new cookbook Linger. This delightful collection is packed with vegetable laden loosely seasonal menus full of salads, sweets and stories that celebrate the coming together of friends.
Each chapter features a distinct collection of songs, playlists curated by McKinnon’s daughter Scout, and to be enjoyed as you cook, eat and linger.
In Linger, salads aren’t just made of leaves—they’re stories in their own right, rich with flavor and memories. It’s an incredible follow-up to Community, offering not just a fantastic cookbook but a beautiful way to connect through food.
Review by Jess L @ Great Escape Books
The author of bestselling Community is back with a fabulous new cookbook Linger. This delightful collection is packed with vegetable laden loosely seasonal menus full of salads, sweets and stories that celebrate the coming together of friends.
Each chapter features a distinct collection of songs, playlists curated by McKinnon’s daughter Scout, and to be enjoyed as you cook, eat and linger.
In Linger, salads aren’t just made of leaves—they’re stories in their own right, rich with flavor and memories. It’s an incredible follow-up to Community, offering not just a fantastic cookbook but a beautiful way to connect through food.
Review by Jess L @ Great Escape Books
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