Questions for Aura Mae

The pink-haired owner of Azarra Salon & Wine hasn’t been to Le Cordon Bleu — but her charming video bloopers in an audition for The Next Food Network Star recall Julia Child’s 1960s-style television vérité.

Photo by Jason Ganwich

Writer Michael Pollan argues in The New York Times that today’s cooking shows are more spectator sports than lessons. Do you agree? I have grown as a cook by watching the Food Network, so I don’t necessarily agree. But certainly some shows are pure entertainment. Take Nigella Lawson’s show: the camera angles, the lighting and all of those shots of her boobs.

What’s your most memorable food-related memory? My uncle Harold’s salmon, grilled over Alder wood.

You have a fan letter from Dolly Parton saying how much she enjoyed your book. Get Some Hairapy — a hairdresser’s prescription for happiness. What’s it about? Basically, if you aren’t happy, it’s your own damn fault.

Are you inspiring your salon customers to get into food?Well, I consider it something of a bully pulpit. I mean you’re trapped when you’re in my chair. You have to listen to what I have to say.

You’re a word person. Were you going for alliteration with the word “Hairapy” in your book title, or do you actually prefer the word hairdresser to stylist? I have no attachment to either. When you have a name like Aura that people have mispronounced your whole life, titles become less important.

The correct pronunciation is…? “R-uh” as in “Are, uh, you going to drink that?” 

What’s the one item that you could not do without in the kitchen? Cast-iron skillet. It’s my go-to: on the stovetop, in the oven. I’ve used mine for a number of years and it’s now as non-stick as any manufactured non-stick pan.

You have a pragmatic, analytic side, yet also a wiliness to just “go for it.” I approach cooking with a cost-benefit analysis. So you’ve never had orange and olive oil cupcakes before. What is it going to cost you to try? Nothing! If you hate them, give them to the dog. 

What’s up with those people who won’t share their recipes? I don’t know. My life is an open book. If I worry about what I can and can’t share it takes too much work.

Find Aura Mae’s recipe for orange and olive oil cupcakes on our blog here, along with blogger Emily, Edibly's first-hand experience of trying it in her own kitchen.

Find Aure Mae's book, "Get Some Hairapy!" here.