Other People's Kitchens Q&A with Kate McDermott
Kate lives in Pie Cottage, a one hundred year old place she calls home.
Q: Hello Kate. Can you please tell us about yourself, where you live and your substack publication?
A- "Hello Lynn and thank you for the opportunity to share a bit about my life and work with the Foodstack community.
I’m a home baker and cook and supported my family as a professional musician. In the early 2000s when I was living off and on in Seattle, I began working in food PR. I got known for the pies I make and share (I’ve never sold a pie and never will but I will give you one!) A few chefs and food writers asked if I might teach them how I make apple pie so I invited them to come over and I would show them how I do it. This started an unexpected career as a teacher of pie-making.
Since 2008, I’ve taught over 7000 people in virtual and in-person sessions and written three books including the bestselling Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings and Life which received a James Beard Nomination.
I’ve lived in a variety of places including a tiny one-room cabin when my children were small, a ten-acre blueberry farm, a tree house on the side of a mountain, and Pie Cottage, the sweet one hundred year old home where I live, teach, garden, and write. I started my Substack, Kate McDermott’s Newsletter in 2021 and write about my walks and bike rides, travels, and recipes, and life in a small town in the upper left-hand corner of Washington State, USA.
Q: Can you please describe the layout of your kitchen, how much of a role does it play with your family, and when writing for your Substack Publication ‘Kate McDermott’s Newsletter'?
A - I think the kitchen is the most important room in the house and visitors to Pie Cottage are surprised when they see how small mine is. It’s not fancy or updated but I’ve made it work for me and lots of creativity comes from it. When I needed more baking ovens for Pie Camps and recipe development, my son boarded over a door that was not needed and installed two wall ovens for me.
Kitchen countertop real estate is something I jealousy guard but never have enough so I added two stainless steel prep tables. They “hold court” between the kitchen and living room essentially giving me a “kitchen-broadcasting-teaching-living-dining-everything” room and I love that I can move them around into different configurations as needed.
Q: What are your most used kitchen gadgets and kitchen gear that you cannot live without?
A -There’s not really anything that I can’t live without but there are things that I do like and use on a regular basis. I love my rolling pins and use my mini-size dishwasher on a daily basis. There is one item I cherish more than any other—a set of tongs in the shape of hands that my mom received as a shower gift before she was to be married in 1943. In my family, they’re known as “The Happy Hands.” They are my kitchen talisman and I think of my mom every time I use them. They will even be featured in Bee Wilson’s upcoming book The Heart Shaped Tin which will be released in 2025!
Q: Is there anything about your kitchen that you would like to change or improve on?
A - A few years back I considered gutting and completely remodeling the kitchen but then I realized that even if it is small, with a roof over my head, a wood-stove and plenty of wood, clean water, and a full larder, there is nothing I really lack. I’m grateful for what I have.
Q: What tips can you give us that will help keep our kitchens neat and tidy and easy to manage?
A - I’m a clean and tidy as you go type. There are days when there are lots of projects converging at the same time, deadlines to be met and plates in the air, but when I spend the extra minute hand-washing what doesn’t fit in the dishwasher and wiping counters as I go makes my work seems much easier. Even if I’m tired at night, those few minutes spent tidying up before bed bring and feeling of peace and contentment the next morning.
One tip for bakers is to plan your landing place and never lift or hold anything hot with a wet towel or potholder. A potholder or heat-proof glove is not meant to hold a pipping hot vessel for two, three, or more minutes. No matter what the marketing materials say, heat will transfer to your hands if you hold it too long. So, please take this advice from one who has been there, plan your landing place and never lift or hold with wet towel or potholder. Wet transfers heat very quickly to your hands and you probably will get burned and that is NOT going to feel good.
Q: You have a garden and an Apple Orchard. Can you tell us about this and what else you grow in your Garden?
A - I’ve gardened for over fifty years in plots large, small and everything in-between. My current middle-sized plot provides garlic, greens, strawberries, rhubarb, potatoes, herbs and flowers. Some of the apple trees in my small orchard were here when I moved to the cottage twenty-five years ago. I planted some heirloom varieties that I started as scions about six years ago. There is also an espaliered pear tree with three different varieties and a quince tree, too. The apples and pears go into pies, crisps, crumbles, pandowdies and anything extra is contributed to the cider we press every year in the fall. The quince is mainly used to make membrillo which I give as gifts.
Q: You have a flock of chickens. How long have you had them and what is the inspiration behind getting them?
A - I’ve had chickens for approximately seven years. As they are considered livestock, I don’t name them. Each flock of twelve has about a three-year rotation and supply two households with eggs, meat and stock.
Q: How would you describe the regional cuisine where you live? Are there fresh food markets, or farmers markets available?
A - The North Olympic Peninsula of Washington State is known for salmon, halibut, shellfish, Dungeness crab, and berries. The climate here is such that it is possible to overwinter some crops for a year-round harvest. We have year-round farmers markets although they are most abundant in the summer and fall.
Q: How many cookbooks do you have and do you have any favourites? Have you written any cookbooks?
A - Approximately half of my 300+ cookbooks are on the subject of baking and half of those zero in on pie both savory and sweet. Favorites on my shelves are Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen, Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown, Horn of the Moon Cookbook by Ginny Callan, and The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash.
I am the author of three best selling cookbooks—Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life (2016), Home Cooking with Kate McDermott (2018), and Pie Camp: The Skills You Need to Make Any Pie You Want (2020). They were all written after the age of sixty-three. I consider this my third or fourth act and I’m not done yet!
Q: Do you have a favourite recipe that you would like to share with us?
A - I’m most known for pie recipes but I regularly make Pie Cottage Scones to share. A very unexpected and happy moment was when I brought some freshly baked ones to share with my friends at The Washington Post Food Section while on a book tour for Home Cooking.
Q: Have you had any kitchen disasters that you can share with us?
A - Oh yes! I was baking for the memorial service of a dear friend and had scaled up a recipe x 4. I hadn’t written down the exact amounts thinking I’d keep it all straight in my head. A good friend was helping, we got to chatting and I lost track of the amounts of butter and flour I had added. Apparently I added way too much butter which had leaked out all over the oven floor. When I opened the oven door, smoke poured out along with flames as the rush of air had ignited the melted butter!
My son, who lives in the cottage just next door with his wife, saw smoke coming out of my doors and windows and showed up to see if the house was on fire. It wasn’t thank goodness. He set up a big fan to help get the smoke out and I continued baking. I was relieved to have no lasting damage to the flaming oven. Lesson learned: When sizing up or down a recipe, be sure to write down and double check the measurements even if you think you don’t need to!
Thank you for sharing your kitchen with us
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Read more from the series Q&A: Other People’s Kitchens.
Thank you. Lynn H.
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So much fun to visit Pie Cottage and Kate virtually. Hope to make the trip in person one day. Thanks for a marvelous read, Lynn and Kate.
The hand tongs need their own feature 🤍😂