Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love

by Samin Nosrat, Aya Brackett (photographer)

From the bestselling author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat—and one of the America’s most beloved chefs and teachers—125 meticulously tested, flavor-forward, soul-nourishing recipes that bring joy and a sense of communion

With all the generosity of spirit that has endeared her to millions of fans, Samin Nosrat offers more than 125 of her favorite recipes—simply put, the things she most loves to cook for herself and for friends—and infuses them with all the beauty and care you would expect from the person Alice Waters called “America’s next great cooking teacher.” As Samin says, "Recipes, like rituals, endure because they’re passed down to us—whether by ancestors, neighbors, friends, strangers on the internet, or me to you. A written recipe is just a shimmering decoy for the true the thread of connection that cooking it will unspool." 

Good Things is an essential, joyful guide to cooking and living, whether you’re looking for a comforting tomato soup to console a struggling friend, seeking a deeper sense of connection in your life, or hosting a dinner for ten in your too-small dining room. Here you’ll find go-to recipes for ricotta custard pancakes, a showstopping roast chicken burnished with saffron, a crunchy, tingly Calabrian chili crisp, super-chewy sky-high focaccia, and a decades-in-the-making, childhood-evoking yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Along the way, you’ll also find plenty of tips, techniques, and lessons, from how to buy olive oil (check the harvest date) to when to splurge (salad dressing is where you want to use your best ingredients) to the best uses for your pressure cooker (chicken stock and dulce de leche, naturally).

Good Things captures, with Samin’s trademark blend of warmth, creativity, and precision, what has made cooking such an important source of delight and comfort in her life.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food and Drink, Audiobook, Culinary

464 pages, Hardcover

Published September 16, 2025

Reviews

[Traci Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beloved chef behind Salt, Fat, Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat is back with another cookbook and it is a delight. As a person who loves to cook and loves to read cookbooks almost as much, it check my boxes: good storytelling without being a novel (though maybe this one pushes that boundary), a mix of simple and challenging recipes, gorgeous images, a strong perspective, and a variety that compels me to want to cook. The one thing that is a little confusing here is the organization of the book itself — the first section is sauces and there are parts that mix breakfast with pastas. It is a a bit chaotic for my sensibilities, but maybe I could be convinced this is the way all cookbooks should be. I’ve only made one recipe so far (French Onion Labne dip) and it was extremely delish.

[Hannah Duiven · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might find it strange that I like to read my cookbooks from cover to cover, but I find it absolutely delightful. Samin’s second book focuses in on her favorite recipes and on cooking and sharing food in community. I love her advice for creating and sustaining food rituals, and she has some super cool flow charts that are the bridge between recipe and creative freedom.

Some techniques were a little above where I see myself in the kitchen right now (like making noyau extract from apricot kernels) but maybe something to strive for!

[Sandra The Old Woman in a Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good "daily eating" cookbook for the modern foodie who desires to cook more at home. However, many suggested ingredients are expensive - this is a book about quality cooking, not budget meals. Many of the recipes have Persian origins, and Persian cuisine is both delicious and healthy (I, for one, will definitely try the faster, crispy-bottom rice recipe). I would make any and all of the breads and desserts. While the dressings look great, and keep for a while, they were more complicated than I would use (I'm a lazy, buy-my-dressings kind of cook). The chicken recipes also look easy and tasty. There is a long vegetable section, and I appreciated the range of cooking options and the planning charts provided. I would gift this book to a friend or family member setting up their first home, or working on becoming a competent cook.

PS: I went back to copy the recipes I wanted to try and there were so many I went ahead and bought the book, plus gifted one to my daughter. I mostly want to make the Myer lemon paste (I have a Myer lemon tree and am always looking at things to make with my lemons). I’ll post back as I make items.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the essays and quotes Samin sprinkled through the book. They showed me how everything connects — that being a good cook, a good human, and a good neighbor all inform each other. And that making art comes from the same place as being a good friend. It really made me pause and think about what a good life means.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really adore Samin and was really looking forward to this cookbook. And while I did enjoy it, I ultimately feel it was a little chaotic and lacking cohesion. It's a long cookbook, and Samin talks a lot, both in the book and in external interiews, about how she struggled with what she wanted this book to be, and even her relationship to cooking and her career, and I do think that comes across here. She attempts to pull it all together in her vision of gathering and good things, but ultimately that felt like too loose a structure, and I really feel like this needed to be edited down to reach its full potential. A lot of the format here really deviates from traditional cookbooks, because she doesn't really cook in that way. And while I can respect that, and what she was trying to accomplish, I think it often results in something that is just less useful for a home cook. There were a ton of recipes I bookmarked, and I'm looking forward to cooking from it, but it didn't quite live up to the hype for me.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only about ten recipes I would want or attempt to make, and most of those are salad dressings.The book is laid out very difficult and not in typical recipe format for ease of scanning or ingredient lists, portions, or cook times. Also have no idea which recipes are in the pictures because they're not captioned.

[Kaylie Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realistically, I'm not sure how many of these recipes I will make, but I love the way she writes and talks about food. The fresh produce section was very informative. Also the photos and design are gorgeous.

[bugonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really wanted to love this cookbook - i knew it wasn’t going to be another salt, fat, acid, heat, and i was perfectly fine with that - but the mix and match, improv styles of so many of these recipes just limits the utility of it for me.

nosrat talks a lot in the introduction about her struggle with the idea of writing a book of recipes when she doesn’t want cooks to have to rely on recipes, and to move beyond the recipe’s “mindless repetition”. as a result, the book is formatted so there are many smaller, explicitly written recipes, paired with ideas of how to combine them with ingredients or other recipes into larger dishes. this works better for some meal types than others - the salad dressings, each providing ideas for three different loosely described slaw/salad/veg/bowl pairings, work rather well (though not even samin nosrat can sell me on aquafaba). the section on boiling/roasting/sautéing vegetables (which had almost no distinct, vegetable-specific directions) on the other hand, did nothing for me.

i respect nosrat’s stance on not relying on recipe following, but i also think it misses the core draw of a recipe for people who are time limited, good but not great home cooks like myself: recipes are easy. i don’t have so much time or money that i want to spend a bunch of both trying to combine multiple different smaller recipes (or vague combination suggestions) in order to create one normal meal - especially when that meal is of middling quality because i don’t have a feel for the proportions or preparations involved yet. maybe i’m just a lazy cook who wants to think less and follow instructions more, and i don’t particularly want to “approach my everyday cooking as ritual” to sanctify it and infuse it with meaning (especially after a long shift), but the style of this cookbook just didn’t work for me.

i’d give it three and a half stars, rounded up to four for the obvious care and love put into it. it really is a beautiful and well-written book (though i wish the pictures had captions so you could identify dishes), and i’m really loving a couple of the smaller recipes from it. it’s just a bit too involved and complicated to be useful to my life.

[Vjera · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's obvious that care and thought went into this book. From the honest vulnerability of dealing with depression to the focused illustration of how eating together can make a difference, this book is not just about making food but using it to bring us together. The recipes are a mixture of traditional recipes with measurements, suggestions of easy ways to do something, and flow charts guiding how to maximize vegetables. The photos are beautiful yet show glimpses of humanity. There's a source list of books that shaped Samin's thinking. I also liked that the book has a ribbon bookmark and is very sturdy.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Things is the collection of recipes that Samin Nosrat cooks when she cooks for herself or friends and family. It's not organized like a typical cookbook. The chapters are a little random - there is one about seven dressings with three ways to use each, one about yeasted bread, etc. There are lots of tips and suggestions for various ways to use many of the recipes. The recipes skew more ethnic than my personal taste but there were a few recipes I'd like to try. Definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Nosrat.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samin has the great gift of possessing both a high level of skill and exceptional warmth. This cookbook is a joy to read and its recipes are incredibly appetizing, instructive, creative and encouraging. Truly a pleasure!

[Toby Welch · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 thousand shining stars!
I checked this out of the library but loved it so much I bought myself a copy so I can mark it up. Then I bought a copy as a gift as it is that good! This cookbook is a book of inspiration!

[Catherinealice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t say I have read cover to cover, but love the writing and recipes and photos. Salad dressings as marinades and sauces, pickled onions, chicken thighs…so many I have tried that will be in steady rotation. This is our Julia Child. Can’t wait to see her in SLO.

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treat. (You deserve it.)

[Anna Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to cook every single recipe in this book. For real. I've already started my spreadsheet.

[Alex Desmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing could beat salt, fat, acid, or heat, but this comes close!

[Josh Cleveland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kind of cookbook! Right down to the labneh miso caramelized onion dip. And soba salads and shoyu chicken. And aquafaba salad dressings and lazy bolognese and and and and. The commentary and stories in between. Just devoured and soon will put into practice and devour again.

[Dory · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered this audio version of this book, read by Samin herself, and thoroughly enjoyed it as an accompaniment to the hard copy. I love how she manages to convince me to make a few changes, try different approaches, and generally expand my cooking practice

[Melanie Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the way Samin writes and after reading Salt, Fat, Acid, heat, watching the show, and being a fan of her podcast, I could hear her voice while reading Good Things.
So good that upon return to the library I ordered the book so I could continue to replicate the deliciousness inside.

[Doug Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

My cooking crush and the chef I would most want to be like. Her books are both visually stunning and well-written - with amazing recipes thrown in for good measure.

[Jacquie Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Samin’s approach to recipe writing and just writing in general. Perhaps especially because her last book encouraged us to not solely rely on recipes, this is well crafted with various and interesting recipe styles. I love the “choose your own adventure” type sections especially (dressings, vegetables). I’ve already made 5 of these recipes & look forward to working my way through the rest of the book.

[Jacqui Busch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and thoughtful, but a lot of the ingredients are out of reach at my budget

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samin Nosrat begins this cookbook with an intro that states her dislike of recipes. She makes it clear that once you know what you like to eat and once you have put flavors together, you really only need the bare bones of a recipe.

But person after person has asked Nosrat to share her favorite recipes, and at last she has heeded their requests.

The recipes are, in general, simple, with a few ingredients and a few steps.

I bookmarked these (and I’m linking them here for easy future reference): Ricotta Custard Pancakes; Sarit’s Ashura Cereal; Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe; Creamy One-Pot Pasta with Ricotta and Peas (similar); Sky-High Focaccia; and Sparkling Banana Bread.

I decided to try Sparkling Banana Bread.

I thought I was ordering four bananas from Kroger’s last week, but apparently I accidentally ordered four pounds of bananas.

Three Things I Like About This Recipe:

This recipe uses five bananas in one small loaf. That’s one thing I like about it right away: it has a lot of bananas.
You make this bread in a 8 x 8 inch square pan. That’s another thing I like about this bread. It cooks better.

You put two whole bananas on top. I like this because it gives the bread a lovely appearance.



Ingredients
Banana Bread
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1¼ cups well-mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
¾ packed cup dark brown sugar
½ cup neutral oil
½ cup buttermilk or sour cream, at room temperature
1½ tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
Topping
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp flaky sea salt
2 very ripe bananas, halved lengthwise

Directions
Yield: Makes 1 8" x 8" square
Make Banana Bread
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat to 350°F. Coat 8″ square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line with parchment sling and spray parchment.
2. In large bowl, whisk together flour, kosher salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
3. In medium bowl, whisk together mashed banana, brown sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs until evenly combined.
4. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients and mix to combine, making sure to incorporate all dry flour at bottom of bowl.
Make Topping and Bake
1. In small bowl, combine granulated sugar, cinnamon and flaky salt.
2. Pour batter into prepared pan and let pan drop from height of 3″ onto countertop a couple times to release any air bubbles that might have gotten trapped inside batter. Sprinkle topping in thick, even layer over batter, then gently place banana halves, cut-side up, atop batter, cutting into pieces as needed to make fit.
3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until toothpick inserted around halved bananas emerges clean.
4. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before slicing. (Alternatively, leave cake to cool in pan and serve it directly from there.)
5. Wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to return this book to the library in three days, and I'm scanning recipes from it so that I will get a chance to try them. But this isn't really a recipe book. It's more of a book about how individual taste is. Which is, I guess, the theme of every cookbook: the opinions of the author about what is good.

Samin Nosrat doesn't really like recipes, anyway. I noticed which ones were long and detailed and which were not. The chili crisp recipe was super detailed, with many steps, even though most chili oil recipes are pretty simple. That's because it's possible to mess up the recipe if you overcook the garlic or burn any other ingredients. I got this book for the salad dressings, but once I got a look at them I thought, "I already make a good dressing that's something like this." But it was still nice to think about what I do and don't like in a dressing, how I like salad, and so on.

Many of the "recipes" here are flow charts. Roasted vegetable salad starts with one roasted vegetable. You can add one more roasted one or a crunch raw one. You can slather a viscous dip on the platter and/ or put some cheese on top, add a cooked grain, a salad dressing , a pickle, some herbs or herb sauce (she likes herb sauces) something sweet and something crunchy.

In several sections I realized that my tastes don't overlap 100% with Samin's tastes. Her writing is my style, and I do like this type of book--the kind that lays out a philosophy and a general method about cooking at home. Her idea of making Russian honey cake (medovik) using graham crackers is kind of genius, since the original of the cake relies very heavily on the cream penetrating the layers in any case. I'm still probably not going to make it, even though the idea of making burnt honey sounds like so much fun! I probably won't ever have access to enough apricots to make jam out of them, much less jam flavored with the apricot kernels. These are recipes of a certain place and they use ingredients from that place.

What I want to make the most: the Persian bread recipe based on focaccia and Samin's Persian rice recipe. What I will never make: all this meat, are you kidding me? Hence getting it from the library.

Even though I don't want to eat everything in here, I think it is a good book and fun to read and I recommend it. Sometimes food books are a good opportunity to think about what you like and care about, so get this one from the library and do that. (After the 72 people waiting for me to return the copy I have here, of course.)

[Leane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely useful and thoughtful follow-up to her first seminal cookbook and philosophical musing on the art/science of cooking: Salt Fat Acid Heat (2017), this book is more recipe than technique and chemistry but she does wonderful pages on how to measure flour, boil an egg, and make a perfect pot of rice. The photography by Aya Brackett is stunning, of both the recipes provided, and the chef at home and in convivial gatherings, and pairs well with the vibrant pastel fonts and chapter heading drawings used throughout the book. Recipes contain complete, clear instructions, and personal narratives giving history and context for the creation and enjoyment of the food prepared. A short sincere Intro explains why this book now and is followed by a Rule of Thumb for best practice while cooking Like Eating With Your Eyes and pictures of branded ingredients and equipment preferences. The book ends with a thorough Index, preceded by a list of References and Influences, Resources that includes favored ingredients and housewares, and Acknowledgements. Chapters cover almost every cooking category and all begin with Good. Recipes for condiments and components like Seven Versatile Dressings and Cardamon Ghee, making the most of Pantry items, the preparation of seasonal produce, chicken, yeasted breads and waffles, sweets and desserts. Her chapter on Good Things to Welcome Others highlights small gestures of hospitality and includes refreshing summer drinks, and Good Things Are Better Shared combines recipes and ideas for cooking and eating in a community. One of the most useful parts of this practical cookbook is the colored matrix of Boiled Spring Vegetables like asparagus and snow peas, including how long to boil and tossing with various dressings and adding various toppings. She does similar matrices for Tomatoes, Summer Salads, and Fall and Winter Roasted produce. I look forward to trying her Spinach Lasagna with her own recipe for Bechamel and her Fluffy Pork Meatballs. She has short pages that ruminate on community, and happiness, and living in the moment that is very inspirational. Great gift for people who entertain or cook for themselves, newbie or old hand. Readalikes may be J. Kenji López-Alt’s The Food Lab, Nigella Lawson’s Cook, Eat, Repeat, and Nadiya Hussein’s books.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m disappointed with this book. I love Samin’s recipes and her first book is basically my kitchen bible. She really transformed the way I cook in my kitchen.
One big disappointment is that she repeated 14 recipes from her first book, or she tweaked her recipes from the New York Times. Some examples: salmon, the rice with a crisp bottom, lasagna, and her chocolate cake.
She also decided pages to a basic popcorn recipe or frying bread in oil. Some of her other pages are dedicated to the many ways to cook a potato: steamed, roasted, boiled. No real ingenuity in creating those recipes.
In the book she talks about how she went through a depression period between the two books and you can tell. The writing isn’t nearly as joyful. She openly admits that there are no new ideas. She often says how you can never achieve the same restaurant quality at home, so you (the reader) need to lower your expectations. I personally didn’t like that because I am an avid cook/baker and I have often found that I enjoy my home cooked meals more than going to a restaurant. True, Samin probably eats at better restaurants than I do, but then shouldn’t her goal be to help achieve that quality at home? That’s how it was in her first book.
Her attitude changed from “anyone can cook” to “here are some recipes to get you through the day.” It’s not nearly as enticing.
The book isn’t advertised as a quick dinner book and it also isn’t promoted as a plant based book, but those are the themes with the book that I picked up on. I just wish that was expressed in the promotion of the book so that I would have been more aware of what I was getting myself into.
Samin did have a few recipes that seemed unique or fun to try, but not enough to where I would want to keep this book.

[Ian Roseen · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVE Samin, but I do not anticipate making a whole lot of use out of this cookbook at this point in my life. The recipes are precise, helpful, and I’m sure will yield impeccable results… but most of them are also complicated and require (or at least strongly recommend) difficult to find ingredients or—a stressor for me—an ingredient that is ITSELF another complete recipe found elsewhere in the book! This will be great at another time in life I am sure, but not in this phase of raising a young family where I don’t have the time to add a fourth grocery stop to my usual circuit or to ferment my own Thai chilis.

Still, the writing is a pleasure to read as always and I unexpectedly found the whole Vegetable section to be the most helpful, and one that I WILL refer to for a whole host of cooking methods right now!

[Joan Tognacci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first cookbook that I bought brand new in about 30 years! I love Samin Norsat's approach to cooking. I've been a professional cook (not a chef) for the last 14 years when I bit the bullet and decided to leave tech behind and do what I love. I also have over 100 cookbooks in my house!

That being said, this is not a regular cookbook. If you're looking for "Joy of Cooking" or "How to cook everything", this cookbook is not that. It's more of a cookbook to read through and then maybe try your hand at to recipes that strike your fancy.

I haven't read (but plan on reading) Salt, Fat Acid, Heat so I can't compare this book to that. I respect any author who has the wherewithal to write a book, any book. But this book feels very personal and I enjoy that. It's a book of stories about cooking and how the recipes came about more than just instructions.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book from the library, but about halfway through I realized I was going to want to reference it forever, so I asked for it for Christmas. I think that's about the biggest compliment I can offer: I didn't want to give it back to the library and had to get my own copy.

Of special note to me was the section on different ways to cook different seasonal vegetables. Like in her other book, Samin doesn't just want to give you a handful of recipes. She wants to give you the tools to make good choices at the farmer's market and make the best use of nature's cyclical bounty. This is not how I'm accustomed to thinking about cooking and shopping - what with greenhouse produce and nearly constant supermarket availability - but it's refreshing and more connected to the earth.

Also, all parts of the book are punchy and beautiful, from the colors to the photography. What a delight.