This Week's Episode

Hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper

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Daniel's Aioli - Daniel Boulud's Key 3, David Tanis on seaweed, Alice Medrich on desserts, Frank DeCaro plays Stump the Cook.

Lynne Rossetto Kasper

Lynne Rossetto Kasper has won numerous awards as host of The Splendid Table, including two James Beard Foundation Awards (1998, 2008) for Best National Radio Show on Food, four Clarion Awards (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) from Women in Communication, and a Gracie Allen Award in 2000 for Best Syndicated Talk Show. Lynne is a respected authority on food, having published multiple bestselling books: The Splendid Table; The Italian Country Table; a series of quarterly e-books, Eating In with Lynne Rossetto Kasper, as well as the best-selling  The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper, How To Eat Weekends and A Summertime Grilling Guide, which were co-authored with founding producer Sally Swift. The Splendid Table can be heard on more than 300 public radio stations nationwide.

 

Content By This Author

Three ways to get the most from your roast: salt, heat and time

The practice of salting meat before roasting it is a great way to season a piece of poultry or pork from the inside out. Molly Stevens has written All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art, and she swears by this technique.

The dieter's Catch-22: To have willpower, you need to eat

In the book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, psychologist Roy F. Baumeister explores the links between self-control and success. His co-author, New York Times science columnist John Tierney tells Lynne Rossetto Kasper how we can structure our lives for both.

A cheesemonger champ shares how to keep cheese fresh

Cheesemongering is a relatively new profession in the United States but a time-honored one in Europe. Steve Jones is the 2011 Cheesemonger Invitational champion. He has worked in cheese for some 15 years and owns the Cheese Bar in Portland, Ore.

The craft and culture of beer-making across America

Beer culture is alive and well in the U.S., according to beer journalist Christian DeBenedetti. The author of The Great American Ale Trail shares his brewery picks from coast to coast.

What extra virgin means, and who in the olive oil industry abides

Olive oil is a global business. There's lots of money to be made, and there are also many questions left unanswered. Journalist Tom Mueller has written about them in his book Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil.

Nonprofit D.C. Central Kitchen delivers healthy meals and opportunities for the needy

Feeding public school children using locally sourced food and professionally-trained cooks is only a small portion of the work being done at D.C. Central Kitchen.

Will eating bugs solve the world's food problems?

British gastronaut Stefan Gates spent 10 days eating insects for every meal on a tour of Thailand and Cambodia. Part of it was to make great TV. Part of it was to understand why people in the West are disgusted by it.

Dumpster-diving freegans are a response to food waste

There's a saying: The rest of the world feasts on what America throws away. And then there's a statistic that could stop you in your tracks: 30 to 50 percent of our food production ends up in the trash. Journalist Scarlett Lindeman took months to dig into the freegan lifestyle.

Early Southern food memories live on with The Alabama Project

Some memories just stick with us, like the nervousness a husband feels watching his wife clean their butcher knives. For chef and writer Scott Peacock, these memories are at the heart of The Alabama Project, a film that explores some of the food memories of Alabama's oldest residents.

Bao is the quintessential Taiwanese sandwich

Eddie Huang is one of the masters of bao. These little pockets of roast pork belly wrapped in sweet Asian dough are the focus of his New York restaurant, BaoHaus, and a staple of the working class of East and Southeast Asia.

The secret to real pho is the stock

Great food doesn’t come solely from the recipes. It comes from the techniques within those recipes. For instance, learn to make a good stock and you can do dozens of soups. This is how Vietnamese chef and restaurateur Charles Phan thinks about cooking.

How to make flavored sodas at home

If you want to do a party where people really pay attention to what they're drinking, try making your own craft sodas. These are the sodas that you can describe like wine; you can talk about the remarkable body, the delicious aftertaste.

Warm White Bean Salad with Fragrant Garlic and Rosemary

The Art of Eating: A publication rooted in tradition

After a long day at the office, wouldn't it be nice to unwind with some bread and cheese in the comfort of your kitchen? Ed Behr writes about life away from the monitor and shares simple yet delightful food discoveries in his magazine, The Art of Eating.

The call of port: Private collection numbers more than 1,100 bottles

A sweet wine like port isn't for everyone. But for Bob Antia, it's a worthy collectible. The bottles in his Massachusetts collection number over 1,000 and get better with age. Though some of them are better served sooner rather than later, and shared with groups of friends.

New is but a theory. Nigel Slater wants nostalgic holidays

What does a man who lives and breathes food practically 24 hours a day have on his table during the holidays? We went to renowned British food writer Nigel Slater for some ideas. The latest of his 11 books is Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch.

Sure, you can try to haggle with your local wine merchant

Ray Isle, executive wine editor of Food & Wine magazine, says "If a wine isn't on sale and it's not a really well known, popular wine, you can ask and see if they'll give you a deal. Especially if you're going to buy a case.

A Winter Holiday Dinner Menu

In spite of a shared Mediterranean heritage, Scandinavian tastes lure us in as winter descends. Celebrate anything with this menu. It could be Christmas, the New Year or just an excuse to get everyone around a table.

Midnight snacking idea: 'Throw an egg on it'

You know where you have to eat when you go to New York City? Go across the river to Brooklyn, where the cooks are young and trying all kinds of things. Two of them are the Sussman brothers, Eli and Max. Max is a chef at Roberta's in Bushwick and Eli is at Mile End Deli.

Christmas in Paris sounds nice. But wait, no cookies?

Talk about having all the fun. David Lebovitz is a pastry chef living in pastry chef heaven. He's based in Paris. His blog, Living the Sweet Life in Paris, can drive you either to the kitchen or to buy a plane ticket. His latest book is Ready for Dessert.

Improvised tabletops, napkins for your holiday gatherings

When it comes to entertaining ideas, we go to Sally Schneider's site, The Improvised Life. Sally is the ultimate improviser, as a cook and as a curator of design ideas. Her eye for repurposing is infallible.

Junot Diaz on pasteles, pork stuffed chicken, and his special relationship with goat

Writer Junot Diaz was born in the Dominican Republic, raised poor in New Jersey and is now a professor of creative writing at MIT. He holds a Pulitzer, a MacArthur Genius Grant and an armload of other awards.

The cheesemonger approves a few items from the supermarket

Steve Jenkins might be the most highly opinionated cheesemonger in the country. Then again, he's also the most respected cheesemonger in the country. He recommends some expensive cheeses, but also a few you can get in the local dairy aisle.

How a teacher's anonymous blog exposed school lunches

Sarah Wu teaches speech at a grammar school in Chicago, and she always brings her lunch. Well, one day she didn’t. Instead, she went to the school cafeteria for a student lunch, and what followed was a year of blogging that became a book.

Cereal input: Cap'n Crunch, Fruity Pebbles power Momofuku bakery

Christina Tosi runs one of the break-out bakeries in New York City, Momofuku Milk Bar. You go there to taste saltine panna cotta, Fruity Pebbles, Christmas cookies, and an apple pie cake people rave over.

White wine with steak? Yes, if it’s a Riesling

Riesling can be a versatile pairing with a variety of meals. These days you don't need to import from Germany to find a great bottle. Wine expert Stuart Pigott has the insider scoop on great Riesling from Washington State to the Finger Lakes.

Turkish delight and lemon-infused vodka for the comfortably numb

A taste of the U.K. might be the bit of inspiration you need when brainstorming holiday gifts from the kitchen. Indian chutneys and Turkish delight are just a few of the sweet and spicy creations in the repertoire of former rock 'n' roll caterer and author Annie Rigg.

Patience, practice key to Nel drip coffee method

James Freeman’s new book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, covers every way to get every nuance out of the coffee bean. Freeman founded the Blue Bottle Coffee Company in San Francisco, but the place he learned these coffee techniques was Japan, which is more commonly known for its tea.

Coke or OJ for breakfast? Dr. Weil says it's a wash

How bamboozled are we by conflicting health information? Figuring out what to eat isn't getting easier, so one expert worth checking in with is Dr. Andrew Weil. He's researched nutrition worldwide and he tracks the latest science.

Yelp and condiment-hoarding: The food tricks of a traveling musician

Dessa is a singer and songwriter, a rapper and a poet, who travels constantly with the rap collective Doomtree. The image of music stars on the road is pretty glamorous: star chef suppers, special treats. But in the real world, how does an indie rap queen eat on the road?