Welcome to Culinary Repertoire
Hello from the Culinary Repertoire Kitchen
It has been a while since I introduced myself properly here, and with so many new subscribers arriving recently, I thought it was time to open the kitchen door and say hello.
I am Lisa McLean. I am a clinical naturopath, nutritionist, medical herbalist, registered nurse, cook, teacher and food writer. For most of my adult life, my work has lived somewhere between the clinic, the stove, the spice shelf and the garden. I have spent decades thinking about food not only as nourishment, but as memory, culture, medicine, pleasure, technique and daily practice.
Culinary Repertoire is the place where all of those strands now come together.
Some of you may have first found me through Spice Chronicles, where I wrote about spices, ferments, broths, global food traditions and the way a single ingredient can open the door into history, medicine and the kitchen. Others may have arrived through Cooking with Marcella, my long love letter to Marcella Hazan and to the Italian cooking education she gave so many of us through her books.
If you are looking for that Marcella writing, it has not disappeared. It has simply come home.
All of my Cooking with Marcella work is now gathered here on Culinary Repertoire, alongside my spice writing, Science Corner essays, recipes, kitchen postcards and practical cooking notes. I wanted one generous place where these different parts of my food life could speak to each other, because in truth they have never been separate in my own kitchen.
Marcella Hazan taught me to pay attention. To respect the ingredient, to cook onions slowly. To understand that a tomato sauce could be both simple and profound. My work with spices taught me something else: that flavour also travels through trade routes, family kitchens, village techniques, medicinal traditions and the long memory of plants. My clinical work has added another layer again, asking what food does in the body, how it supports health, and how traditional knowledge and modern research might sit together with care and honesty.
This is what I mean by a culinary repertoire.
It is not just a list of recipes. It is the body of knowledge we gather over a lifetime of cooking. It is the sauce you return to when you are tired. The spice blend you make by hand because the aroma tells you when it is right. The soup you know how to rescue. The beans you soak properly because you understand both their generosity and their demands. The cake you make for someone you love. The technique that becomes instinct only after many small repetitions.
Here, I write about that kind of cooking.
You will find Marcella Hazan recipes explored with respect and care, often across different editions of her books. You will find spice-forward recipes from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Middle East and beyond. You will find Science Corner posts, where I look more closely at foods, herbs and ingredients through nutrition, traditional medicine and current research. You will also find the more immediate things that happen in my kitchen: a pot of stock, a pickle, a quick lunch, a tray of roasted vegetables, a sauce that becomes three meals, or a small discovery that seems worth sharing.
I write from a working kitchen, not a studio. My food is shaped by what I have on hand, what is in season, what I am curious about, and what I have learned from years of cooking, teaching, clinical practice and reading. Sometimes the writing begins with a patient question. Sometimes it begins with a mortar and pestle. Sometimes it begins with Marcella. Sometimes it begins with a jar of mustard seeds, a bunch of curry leaves, a bowl of beans, or the memory of a meal eaten many years ago.
If you are new here, welcome. I am very glad you have found your way to this table.
If you have been here for a while, thank you for staying with me as this work has grown, shifted and gathered itself into one home. I know some of you have followed me from earlier publications, and I am deeply grateful for that continuity. Culinary Repertoire feels like the right place for this next stage, broad enough to hold the Italian foundations, the spice traditions, the science, the stories and the everyday cooking that continue to shape my life.
I hope this space becomes useful to you. I hope it gives you recipes you want to cook, techniques you can carry into your own kitchen, and a deeper sense of how food connects us to culture, health, memory and pleasure.
And I hope, above all, that it helps you build your own repertoire.
Welcome to my kitchen.
Lisa x
A home for the stories, techniques and traditions that shape the way we cook.
A repertoire is something we build over a lifetime. It is the dishes we return to again and again, the techniques that become instinctive, the spices that feel like old friends, the recipes we can cook without reaching for a book. It is also the knowledge we gather quietly: the scent of toasted coriander, the way lemon transforms raw beef, the patience needed to coax sweetness from a tomato, the confidence to trust a method because it has been handed down with care.
This publication is where I share the repertoire I have built over decades as a cook, naturopath, traveller, teacher and lifelong student of food. It is also where I explore the repertoire we continue to build together.
What You’ll Find Here
Cooking with Marcella
My ongoing project dedicated to cooking through Marcella Hazan’s books, examining her recipes across editions, exploring their origins and technique, and reflecting on how her teaching shaped my own life in the kitchen. These posts combine memory, history, meticulous instruction and a deep respect for Marcella’s legacy.
Spice Chronicles
A space for spice-forward, technique-driven cooking from around the world, often with longer stories woven through. Here you’ll find spice blends, global culinary traditions, fermentation projects, broths and stocks, travel-inspired dishes, and my “Science Corner” deep-dives that explore the medicinal and nutritional life of ingredients.
Science Corner
Evidence-based explorations of herbs, spices, foods and nutrients from my clinical work as a naturopath and nutritionist. These pieces draw on research, biochemistry and herbal medicine and translate them into accessible guidance for everyday cooking and wellbeing.
Recipes, Techniques and Global Flavours
The full breadth of my cooking life: Italian, Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Mediterranean, Balinese, Middle Eastern and the dishes that have shaped my own kitchen over the decades. Many of these recipes are accompanied by personal narratives, ingredient notes and cultural context.
Kitchen Postcards
Brief, informal posts from my kitchen, rooted in what I’m cooking in the moment. These pieces include the recipe, but are lighter and more immediate than my longer essays, often beginning with a small observation, a dish made on instinct, or a plate shared with someone else. They capture everyday cooking as it happens, and sometimes grow into longer work later on.
Why I’ve Brought Everything Into One Home
For a long time I ran two Substacks, each with its own identity. But the truth is, none of my work sits in a tidy box. Marcella taught me Italian technique, but she also taught me how to see ingredients, and that teaching carries through everything I write, whether I am tempering spices for a Sri Lankan curry or slow-roasting tomatoes for a broth.
Similarly, my spice work shapes the way I understand flavour, aromatics and the medicinal properties of herbs and plants. My naturopathic background is never separate from my cooking. My cooking is never separate from my writing. And my writing is never separate from my life.
Bringing all of this together under Culinary Repertoire allows me to present my work as it truly is: connected, layered, evolving and rich with the accumulated knowledge that comes from a lifetime spent in kitchens, markets, libraries, gardens and clinics.
What Readers Can Expect
Culinary Repertoire brings together everything I write and teach: the Italian techniques I learned through Marcella Hazan, the spice-forward cooking that shapes my everyday kitchen, the global traditions I have absorbed from decades of travel and study, and the evidence-based food and herbal medicine knowledge from my clinical practice. You will find recipes, stories, ingredient notes, stock-making, fermentation projects, sensory reflections and research-guided deep-dives woven throughout the publication.
To make this space clear and easy to navigate, here is how your subscription works.
Free Subscribers Receive
One free newsletter per month - often more
A combined offering that reflects the heart of Culinary Repertoire. This may be a spice-driven recipe, a Cooking with Marcella reflection or a hybrid piece drawing on both traditions.One Science Corner post per month
An evidence-based exploration of a herb, spice or ingredient written for the home cook as well as the curious reader.Cooking with Marcella posts - Occasional
Kitchen Postcards
Access to the most recent posts in the archive
Free subscribers can read everything from the past 2 weeks so you never miss the latest work.
Paid Subscribers Receive
One full newsletter every week
A rotation of Cooking with Marcella essays, Spice Chronicle style recipes, kitchen technique guides and research-rich Science Corner articles.This includes, each month:
Two Cooking with Marcella posts
One Spice Forward recipe or technique post
One Science Corner article
One edition of Lisa’s Kitchen Roundup or Kitchen Postcard, a behind the scenes look at what I am cooking, testing, reading and exploring
Access to live chat - once I get this going
A dedicated space where you can ask questions about my posts, techniques or ingredients, or simply talk about what you are cooking.Full archive access
Every post from both Spice Chronicles and Cooking with Marcella, including all Science Corner articles and the comprehensive recipe portfolio only available to paid subscribers.Paid subscribers receive the entire body of work, both past and present, in one place.
About Me
I am Lisa McLean, cook, writer, naturopath, nutritionist, medical herbalist and registered nurse, but the thread that runs through all of these roles is food. For as long as I can remember, my life has been shaped by kitchens. The spice stalls of Indonesia and India, the markets of Italy, the quiet rituals of Bali, and the tropical abundance of my home in northern Australia have each left their mark on the way I cook and the way I think about nourishment.
I have spent decades exploring how herbs, spices and whole foods support the body, calm the mind and sustain long-term health. My clinical work has given me a deep respect for the relationship between food and physiology, and my research has been published in peer-reviewed journals. But my truest lessons have come from the stove, the chopping board and the conversations that unfold around a shared meal.
Cooking is both craft and care. It is technique, repetition, instinct and memory. It is also joy, colour, aroma and the quiet revelation that the simplest ingredients can become extraordinary with attention and love. This is the foundation of my work.
My years of cooking through Marcella Hazan’s books have shaped me profoundly. Her clarity, discipline and respect for ingredients remain at the heart of my own culinary philosophy. Through those teachings I discovered not just Italian technique but the deeper rhythm of the Mediterranean way of eating, a way of life that is restorative, generous and rooted in real food.
Culinary Repertoire brings all of these threads together. It is where I share the dishes I make at home, the techniques I return to, the spice knowledge that guides my cooking, the science that informs my practice and the stories that tie it all together. It is the accumulation of a lifetime of learning and the space where I continue to explore what food can teach us.
Authorship and Attribution
Everything you read in Culinary Repertoire is written, researched, developed, tested and photographed by me. This publication brings together several strands of my work, each with its own form of authorship, and I want to be clear about how I approach recipe writing, historical context, research, and attribution.
Cooking with Marcella
All recipes in the Cooking with Marcella series are drawn directly from Marcella Hazan’s published works. I rewrite each recipe entirely in my own words, preserving the meaning, method and intention of the original while ensuring clarity for the contemporary home cook. These posts are accompanied by historical and contextual research, including publication history, regional background and comparative notes across Marcella’s various editions. The aim is always to honour her legacy, respect her authorship and keep her teaching alive for new generations of cooks.
Spice-Forward and Global Recipes
All spice-forward recipes, global dishes, narrative explorations and kitchen techniques outside the Marcella series are my own creations, developed, tested and refined in my kitchen. When a recipe is inspired by a traditional dish, a cultural practice or another cook’s work, I acknowledge that openly and credit its roots. Respecting culinary lineage is fundamental to how I write and cook.
Science Corner
All scientific and nutritional research is conducted by me, drawing on peer-reviewed literature, traditional herbal knowledge and contemporary nutrition science. I translate this material into practical guidance for home cooks, ensuring accuracy while keeping the writing accessible.
Photography
All photography is my own, taken in natural light either in my kitchen, garden or during my travels. If I ever use an image from another source, the photographer or creator will be clearly credited.
What others are saying about my substack
Amela Marin - Imaginary Recipes
“Reading your posts is like attending fun lectures of a knowledgeable, inventive and generous teacher. I grew up with a cuisine that doesn’t use spices and it has taken me a long time to learn more and to start appreciating them. May your curry leaf tree give you lots of leaves for years to come so that you can continue to produce spices and write beautiful posts on how to use them.”
“Lisa wears many hats; From her Guru level knowledge of Spices, culinary techniques, traditions, nutrition, to the culinary science. She shares so much wisdom with every note, every post. I am inspired with Lisa’s work every day. I am grateful that she is on Substack, and would Wholeheartedly recommend Spice Chronicles and all of her work!!”
Fiona Whittaker - A Social Apothecary
“Lisa is a passionate and knowledgeable cook - when she recommends something, you know it will have been thoroughly researched and tested. And her food styling is phenomenal! She deserves a wider audience.”
“Your encyclopaedic knowledge - and the straightforward clarity with which you present it - is so impressive”
Sanaa Boutayeb Naïm - The Walking Palm
“Lisa is a spice alchemist who brings clinical naturopath credentials to her kitchen. Her "Culinary Repertoire" weaves ethnobotany, biochemistry, and culinary tradition into recipes that span Asian and Mediterranean cuisines. She moves between lab and kitchen with ease. If you love spice-forward cooking grounded in both science and soul, pull up to Lisa's table.”
Sheryl O'Connell - Just Really Good Recipes
“Cooking without spice is like playing a musical symphony without all the instruments - Lisa McLean is the maestro.”
“Lisa, you are bringing it, ok you kinda always do but, I feel like you are writing your posts just for me right now. I will be making this recipe tomorrow - it will require another trip to buy more leeks but I am excited to make this.”
Valerie Cotter - Fruits of the Forage
“I don’t quite know how @thecookingnaturopath manages to produce so many utterly tempting posts but Lisa does week after week. A must read for the discerning food lover. This is quality produce!”
Jenn Sharp - Sharing Kitchens Live
“Lisa’s recipes, her thoughtfulness and insight make her publication one of the most professional of the stacks I follow. Looking through the cooking world through the lens of a naturopath brings a fresh perspective to her offerings.”
“I LOVE Lisa’s work. Her writing is thoughtful and her insight, as you say, spot on. I also adore the fact that this community finds and supports each others efforts.”
“I have learned so much since subscribing to Lisa’s newsletter! She generously shares her knowledge of spices, ingredients, and techniques in every captivating post. I’m hooked!”
Harshita saxena - Epicurean Dispatch - My Spicy Journal
“Lisa is a fantastic writer, She explores not just recipes but ingredients and the science behind them too.”
Annada D. Rathi - Chutney Lovers
“I love Lisa’s eclectic and inclusive approach to cooking. My jaw fell to the ground when I saw the recipe for Misal Pav (a streetfood from where I come from in India) on her Substack. And that had a recipe for the masala for Misal too. She has the same thoughtful and respectful approach to all her recipes.”
Giovanna Solimando - My Half Apulian Table
“Cooking with Marcella is a beautiful project by Lisa. She cooks through Marcella Hazan’s recipes exactly as written, while exploring their history and regional roots. I highly recommend following along.”
“Lisa’s recipes and research are always spot on, full of insight and inspiration. This post is no exception.”
“What I love about Cooking with Marcella is the simplicity. The recipes are true Italian food, easy to follow, never overcomplicated, and everything I’ve made tastes wonderful.”
Ellen Kornmehl MD - Eating and Feeding
“This is a terrific recipe…..ingredients going in my cart now”
“To the honorable Lisa and in turn, respectfully, the honorable Marcella - this is an astounding, inviting collection of classics. thank you for putting it all together, I would love a (vegetarian) bowl of any!!”
“An inspiring, informational whirlwind of culinary delights”
Jamie Schler - Life’s a Feast by Jamie Schler
“I love cauliflower! We rarely make it but when we do it’s always dressed simply. I love the idea of raisins and pine nuts. Beautiful.”
Lizzie Wingfield - The Downsized Diva
“I think Lisa is such an amazing food writer with such a breadth of knowledge – and she’s warm and kind too!”
Faustina Gilbey - Eating Clouds in Italy
“I love using spices and Lisa McLean's writing and recipes are a continual pleasure and inspiration for me!”
Join Me
If you are curious about how flavour is built, how ingredients speak to each other, how tradition and science meet in the kitchen or how food becomes a form of care, this is the space for you. Culinary Repertoire brings together the worlds of spice, slow technique, Italian cooking and evidence-based food wisdom.
Subscribe to join me each week for recipes, reflections and the unfolding stories of a cooking life, shared slowly, season by season.
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