Margot Halverson

I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, where dinner was almost always a one-pot situation and dessert was almost always cake. I started cooking professionally at 19 in a small bistro in Minneapolis, moved through line and pastry stations for nearly a decade, and ended my restaurant career as a pastry sous chef in Chicago in 2018.

A right-knee injury — chef's knee, predictably — pushed me out of the kitchen and into a writing job. I wrote about restaurants for a regional magazine for two years, then started Boil & Bake as a newsletter in early 2021. It outgrew the inbox by the end of that year, and this site is what it became.

The recipes here are the ones I actually cook on weeknights, on Sundays, and for the people I love. They're tested in a small Portland kitchen with a temperamental gas oven, so if a recipe works for me there, it will almost certainly work for you. I write headnotes the way I'd talk to a friend who was about to cook the dish — what to watch for, what to skip, what to do if you don't have the right pan.

I live with my partner Rune and an opinionated rescue terrier named Bishop. Most days you'll find me at the farmers market on Saturday morning, at the stove most evenings, and at my desk between the two with a strong cup of coffee.