Naturalist Steven Brill, author of Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild and Not So Wild Places, is your guide to delicious backyard foraging! The cattail season is NOW! The sap is running and Jane and Michael Stern have been sampling the best that New Hampshire has to offer. Pick up your spouts and buckets, put on your wellies and a warm shirt and get to Polly's Pancake Parlour in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. Commentator Mark Bittman fills us in on farm-raised vs. wild fish. We have a recipe from Lynne for roast leg of lamb with hot and sweet onion confit, we'll answer some listener mail, and have our first installment of "Stump the Cook"—our homage to the old Tonight Show.
Lynne will field your questions in an hour devoted to listener's calls on cooking basics. It's a food free-for-all—anything goes! Al Sicherman, food and humor columnist for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, has been reading all that fine print under the bar-codes only to find some fairly libertine uses of "low-fat" and "reduced fat" labelling. The things THEY don't want you to know! Commentator Bix Skahill tells us about what he learned at the family dinner table and Rex Levang talks about the intersection of food and opera. Lynne answers listener mail and shares her recipe for the perfect roast chicken
A discussion of The American Food Chain with Professor Emeritus of Nutrition, Joan Gussow
Merle Ellis, author of The Great American Meat Book, will be with us to take your calls on everything from T-bones to tenderloins and he has a new take on Easter dinner—how about a country ham! Merle will fill us in on where to find one and what to do with it. Check out his recipe for country ham with red-eye gravy. Master of Wine Mary Ewing Mulligan gives us great ideas for pairing wine with food (think tawny port with stilton and walnuts!) Travel tips on the Tyrolean region of Austria from Margaret Fox and Chris Kump, owners of the renowned Cafe Beaujolais in Mendoncino, California—find out about staying at their Austrian castle. Lynne answers listener mail about how to pick a good CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture) and how to track down great places to eat while on the road.
Bob Klein, author of The Beer Lover's Rating Guide, has logged over 90,000 miles over the past decade and a half in search of the perfect beer—and is committed to tasting 2,000 beers by the year 2000! Consider this your guide to microbrews. We have a conversation with Peter Davidoff, owner of the H.C. Berger Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, about what its really like to run a microbrewery. Nell Newman, cofounder of Newman's Own Organics, tells us about life in a family business. Lynne answers listener questions about cumin and cocoa powder, recommends two new cooking schools in France, and shares a recipe that puts those microbrews to work.
What puts the French in French Roast? Sara Perry, author of The Complete Coffee Book and The Book of Herbal Teas, will be with us to answer your calls on coffee and tea. Interested in growing your own herbal teas? What's the secret to the perfect cup of coffee? Here's your chance to perfect your morning ritual. Darra Goldstein, author of The Vegetarian Hearth, talks about her love of Winter Foods and the power secreted away in every pantry. Celebrate living in a world where winter is real! (by the way, the book she refers to is The Golovlevsby Mikhail Sultykov-Shchedrin) Iced tea is never out of season for Kathleen Purvis—Food Editor of the Charlotte Observer. Lynne has spent some time down south and has some thoughts on butter.
This week it's the secrets behind the seasonings with master cook Julie Sahni, author ofSavoring Spices and Herbs.You may know Julie from her books on Classic Indian Cooking. Now she's traveled the world gathering recipes and information on herbs and spices. Jane and Michael Stern are back again with the best bratwurst picks (possibly the secret ingredient for Super Bowl Success) The Vinegar Man—Lawrence Diggs—shares his ideas on the one ingredient found in almost every kitchen in the world—vinegar. And, the curmudgeon shares her views on cooking sprays.
A look at why Americans are overweight with Dr. Kelly D. Brownell, Professor of Psychology at the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders. Yale Medical School Professor and Taste Expert—Dr. Linda Bartoshuk, sheds some light on why we choose to eat what we eat—the actual physiology of taste (ice cream anyone?) and how the sense of taste affects our lives. Jane and Michael Stern are back again with 3 of the country's best picks for comfort food guaranteed to warm your soul.
With Linda and Fred Griffith, authors of Cooking Under Cover —the definitive guide to stews, braises and casseroles. Who can forget Mom's famous one-pot suppers? This week's recipe,tea-smoked scallops. Gerald Asher, wine editor forGourmetmagazine, talks about his new book Vineyard Tales: Reflections on Wine. Lynne shares some cheese picks of her own plus four great books to help pass these long winter nights.
With Elaine Corn, author of Now You're Cooking and Now You're Cooking for Company, here's a show designed for the beginning cook, with some inspiration for those more advanced! This week's recipe: sautéed chicken breasts. Specialty produce expert David Karp talks about sources for one of winter's greatest pleasures —the blood orange. And what inspires America's greatest chefs? We talk with the co-author of Culinary Artistry, Andrew Dornenburg, about the creative processes of America's culinary artists.