Rick Martinez, Salsa Daddy
Making a bold and spicy cookbook on his terms
When Rick Martinez signed the contract to write his second cookbook, Salsa Daddy, he had a list of demands for the publisher. “I wanted complete creative control,” he explains to Andrea and Kristin in this week’s episode. Rick’s demands included hiring his own editor, selecting the design and photo team, and inventing a whole new production process for the project, and, as we learn during the interview, his publisher graciously agreed.
For many cookbook authors, this may sound like an improbable dream scenario. Even if we show up at the negotiating table with a list of demands, no matter how reasonable they seem, how many of us believe the publisher will agree? And even when we launch into a project with a crystal clear vision of the outcomes, we often encounter obstacles and compromises in the production process that alter the way the book turns out.
How then did Rick manage to make the book he wanted on the terms he wanted? The answer lies in the years he worked to earn his success and build his platform. Born and raised in South Texas, “the son of a Mexican American mother who cooked by memory and smell, and a father whose family were migrant workers picking cotton in the fields around Waco.”1 Rick moved to New York City in the early aughts to pursue a career in advertising and digital strategy; he once described himself as “An advertising Mad Man. A Donald Draper who spent most of his free time thinking about food and what I was cooking that weekend.”2 Those dreams of food and cooking led him to pursue a culinary arts degree from the French Culinary Institute, and from there, he never looked back, working as a line cook at ABC Kitchen, then a food stylist at the Food Network (“He was the guy in the back kitchen who made sure the cinnamon rolls looked hot and gooey when the cameras were ready for them.”3), and most notably becoming a part of the editorial and digital team at Bon Appetit (or BA, as he refers to it during the episode).
Anyone paying attention to food media in recent years probably recognizes Rick’s unique flair (or his sazón as he calls it) and his approachable and encouraging teaching style from his appearances on the Today Show, as well as his byline in the New York Times, Food 52, and elsewhere. But is all of this enough to be able to ask for creative carte blanche when writing a cookbook? Probably not.
What put Rick in this position of control was how hard he worked - and fought - to control the content and style of his 2022 debut cookbook, Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico, and the fact that the resulting book won just about every award possible (including the James Beard Award for best international cookbook). A New York Times and LA Times best-seller, Mi Cocina has remained in Amazon’s top 10 sales rank for Mexican Cooking for 3 years running.
Tune in to the episode to hear Rick talk about the battles he had to fight with his first book and why the experience almost convinced him to never write another book. Thankfully, he did decide to write a second book, and he shares with us how the hard-won battles influenced the content and style of his new book, Salsa Daddy.
It’s an inspiring story for anyone at any stage of their cookbook writing journey. It’s also an important story about how the state of Mexican cooking and cookbooks has changed in recent years and the role that Rick has played in this evolution.
This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support the Everything Cookbooks podcast, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Links from the episode:
Rick Martinez Website
Rick Martinez Instagram
Salsa Daddy: Dip Your Way into Mexican Cooking, by Rick Martinez
Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico, by Rick Martinez
Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, by Josh McFadden and Martha Holmberg
Alex Beggs copyeditor/writer
Chris Cristiano creative director
Alex Lau photographer | Alex Lau’s Instagram
Check out the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to browse all books mentioned in the show (purchasing books here supports the show, independent bookstores, and authors. A win-win-win! 🏆)
Next week on EVCB:
Camilla Wynne, a Toronto-based pastry chef, writer and teacher, joins us to talk about her new cookbook Nature's Candy: Timeless and Inventive Recipes for Creating and Baking with Candied Fruit. Camilla shares her approach of writing a book about the niche technique of candying fruit. If, like me, you’re in any way a candied fruit enthusiast, I highly recommend checking out her elegant and stylish yet whimsical book even before you tune in. It will make you smile - as will our conversation.
Bye for now. I’ll be back here next week and hope to see you. In the meantime, keep on writing, reading, and cooking. ✍️📚🍳
Molly and the EVCB gang
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From My Story section of Rick’s website
So excited to listen to this one, huge Rick fan.
Two great looking covers, heading over to listen now!