Hi, I'm Sam
welcome to my all new food adventure.
For those who might not know me, I’m Sam (Cooper), also known as Chef Sam Black on Instagram. I was a chef all my working life until I started growing food with my friend and colleague, Huw Richards, here in the heart of West Wales.
A little over a year ago, I started sharing videos demonstrating recipes and techniques, seasonal food, slow living, and with an emphasis on fermentation as a means to unlock extra ordinary flavour, nutrition, and preserve the crops we grow. And I’m still not quite sure why, but something really resonated with people and my account blew up. An ex chef turned gardener, who spends more time in a field or kitchen than in front of a camera, and only had one social media account because my family made me get a smartphone, suddenly found himself with over half a million people following my recipes, leaving comments, and sharing their delight at the flavours they managed to make for themselves. And you know what? It was really nice.
I’ve always thought of the videos I share as a moving cookbook, and my account as a catalogue of techniques that I put a lot of thought and time into demonstrating, recording, and editing. In a world of crazy fast content, I wanted to offer room to breathe. I countered superficial recipes with in-depth masterclasses. But these videos took a lot of time to make, time I had to balance with my life and work with Huw at the farm. And so I could only post once or twice a week, and as we all know, social media doesn’t like that. The people at Meta (who own Instagram) send notifications telling me to post 5 times a week. Now if that doesn’t sound like farming your attention I don’t know what does. And I refuse to let them use me to waste your valuable time, no matter the cost.
I began noticing my posts being throttled by the algorithm, and received messages from hundreds of people asking why I’d stopped posting when I hadn’t. I shared this on my story and an overwhelming number of people recommended Substack, notably Mark Diacono, who persuaded me to look into it.
A little while later I announced my new book, The Fermentation Kitchen, and shared the preorder link in my story posts. For context, my story posts are usually seen by between 20,000 and 80,000 people. But because I posted a link that took people away from the platform, only 3,000 people saw it. And this happened every time I posted it. That was the final straw for me.
Time to wave goodbye to algorithms and platforms that waste your time.
Here on Substack we can form a direct connection, get into all the juicy details, be as nerdy about food as we like, and not suffer because we have a healthy balance of social media and real life. I’m not going to abandon my Instagram account, but use it as a window display for a more nourishing form of content here in my newsletter.
So that’s a little background about me and how I ended up here. What a lot of people don’t know is that I started out my work with Huw writing recipes for a blog called Farmer and Chef. And if you are one of those who remember those days, hi! And thank you so much for coming along on the ride. I’d say that blog is where I honed my writing for the subsequent books, which in turn have brought me here.
So what can you expect from this newsletter?
Weekly recipes of course, with an emphasis on fermentation, how to use the ferments you’ve made as a healthy part of your daily meals.
Additional recipes that follow seasonal produce in the art of humble food to feed yourself and your loved ones.
Full audio readings of newsletters for those who like to listen.
Once a month live video chats.
Direct messages for help and feedback on fermentation and growing food, with an emphasis on community.
Course discounts for all current and future courses I release.
Chefs Almanac: publications on the breakdown of the year into the food-based micro seasons of foragable, wild, and farmed foods and recipes to cook and preserve them.
Sowing and growing guides on how to grow the best food money can’t buy (with guest appearances from Huw).
Life at the farm: a journal of a chef living with the land.
Additional kitchen skills, such as equipment maintenance.
A resource page for equipment, ingredients, and the more niche elements of fermentation and growing food.
Beautiful photography and illustrated motifs.
Free access to the previous 3 months of posts and recipes.
Let’s get into the details.
The weekly recipes will largely be for all members, free and paid, with only a select few being held back for paid members only. All fermentation recipes will be shared for free unless it’s a special masterclass in a particular subject. The other recipes I’m interested in sharing are some of the most impactful and delicious ways to use fermented ingredients as well as an ode to humble food made well, with elegant pairings and seasonal produce. Sure, occasionally I might make something a little more fancy, but my aim is tasty, healthy, natural food that wouldn’t be out of place in a home kitchen, a gastro pub, or farmside restaurant.
Shrimp with smoked garlic and lacto plum butter glaze The audio recordings, by popular demand from my followers on social media, are my answer to an audiobook. For all you ASMR people, this is something for you to listen to whilst you cook or garden (or fall asleep). As a dyslexic chap myself, I grew up listening to audiobooks and they hold a special place in my heart. And who knows? Recording my own each week for this might finally improve my reading!
A big part of what interests me in the world of food are the stories, lives, and cultures marked by it. So, when the opportunity arises, I’ll also record podcast conversations with people in various food related industries and professions as additional extras.
Once a month I will stream live video chats where you get the chance to ask me anything about your recipes, food, ingredients, and of course, fermentation. We’ll have a catch up and share insights from the previous month. Bring a cup of tea.
Substack will become a home for direct messages about all things fermentation and growing food where myself and the community will be able to share photos and tips on what’s going on in their gardens and kitchens.
Crucially, answering the demand for long form videos, I’m working on a few different full length online masterclasses and being a paid member of my Substack will give you a 30% discount on all future courses. If you’re a founding member, you’ll get free access.
Possibly something I’m most excited to develop in real time as the archive here grows is what I call my ‘Chef’s Almanac’, a monthly section to the newsletters that documents the micro seasons of the natural world, as broken down by food. To help you get the best ingredients out there, I’ll share tips on when certain wild foods are appearing, the best timing to buy particular crops that will be in season and at their freshest, the arrival of certain migrating animals like fish (it helps that I also live by the sea in a fisherman’s cottage), as well as annual events for your calendar such as winter miso making, apple pressing, and summer time glut preserves.
When I asked my patreons what they’d be interested in seeing more of, outside of fermentation, the next most requested subject was growing and gardening. So I’ll be sharing much more on sowing lists, prompts and tips on when and how to grow particular crops over the year, and feature guest appearances from Huw (the man who taught me all I know about growing food). This section will fit in perfectly for those who want to follow the Chef’s Almanac as a whole section will then follow up with recipes, ferments, and preserving techniques for the crops you grow (no matter how big or small your garden is).
I’ll also be documenting and journaling about life at the farm each week, highlighting the reality of it, as well as the successes and failures, and share what life is like getting food from seed to plate here in our forgotten little corner of Wales.
Additional kitchen skills is another requested feature from my patreons which I’m more than happy to cover. Knife sharpening and skills, cast iron maintenance, curing, drying, and all sorts. This one won’t be every week, but as and when I have the need to tend to various parts of the kitchen.
And lastly, on my to-do list is a resources page here on Substack, with links to my favourite pieces of equipment, as well as who I use for sourcing niche or difficult to track down ingredients like koji spores or gochugaru.
Lastly, I wanted to add that as a man who lives by the sea and works on a farm growing annual and perennial crops, the main focus of my food is what is locally available to me: fish, seafood, vegetables, legumes, and a small amount of eggs and dairy. The focus of my fermentation recipes will be plant based, with one or two dairy products, but this is purely because those are the ingredients we have in abundance at the farm and often the ones that require more work to make bioavailable. I’m not against people eating whatever they like and will always share tips and recipe inspiration to help you make the most of your food.
Not every newsletter will cover all the points above, but this is a preview of what I have in mind for most of them. This is going to be more than my creative playground, I’d like to turn it into a source of culinary inspiration and a resource that rivals most printed publications. But as my main reason for doing this is you, I want to hear your thoughts. Is there anything in particular you’re interested in or wish to explore? Let me know.
If you’d be so kind, as a new face around these parts, I’d be very grateful if you could share this post or consider subscribing.
Thank you so much for joining me, and I hope you have a great day.
Sam
Hang on is it Christmas? Sam Cooper AND Huw Richards come to Substack. What a week.
Fantastic! In the beautifully sung words of Carol King ‘Where you go, I will follow’