Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence, joins us this week with a send-up of France's latest wine craze. It's all about the scams and hype that have us sniffing our wines for traces of impertinence and pencil shavings! Peter's new novel is A Good Year.
This week it's the story of a life-altering sweet tooth. Our guest, Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak, has lived his entire life for candy and surely knows more about candy history than Mars and Hershey combined. The Sterns are choosing between democracy and dictatorship at Hallo Berlin, a sausage cart on the streets of New York.
Funny and frank journalist Linda Ellerbee joins us this week to talk travel, eating, and the meaning of life. She shares a recipe for Mama's Rescued Fudge Pie from Take Big Bites: Adventures Around the World and Across the Table, her recently published memoirs.
When our guest, Lawrence Osbourne, wondered if he could trust his own palate he went inside the wine world to find out. He'll tell us what he learned. His book is The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey Through the World of Wine.
Paul Dolan, president of Fetzer Vineyards and author of True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution, has made some unconventional changes at one of America's most successful wineries. We'll hear how this big producer is practicing what usually works only on a small scale. It could be the new way of wine. The Sterns settle a meat pie debate at Cousin Jenny's Gourmet Cornish Pasties in Traverse City, Michigan, and Lynne weighs in with her take on the meal in a crust: Pizza Rustica.
California Chef Paul Bertolli, author of Cooking by Hand, gives new meaning to "cooking from scratch." He makes his own balsamic vinegar, cures his own salami and hams and grinds his own flours. We'll learn what drives this talented artisan and owner of the award-winning restaurant Oliveto in North Berkley. He leaves us with his recipe for Boiled Chicken with Vinegar Sauce.
British journalist Christy Campbell joins us this week with the story behind the plague that threatened to destroy the world's vineyards. The fascinating account of how scientists working with vintners stopped a near disaster is documented in Mr. Campbell's book, The Botanist and the Vintner: How Wine Was Saved for the World.
"Our guest is BBC journalist Fuchsia Dunlop, the first foreigner invited to study at the professional chef's school in Sichuan, China. She fell in love with the spicy, hot, and unique cuisine the Chinese call "audacious cooking," and went on to pen Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. She leaves us her recipe for Fish-Fragrant Eggplant from the book.
This week it's heartbreak, glory, and big money. We're talking cooking contests with Amy Sutherland, author of Cookoff: Recipe Fever in America. If you think the Superbowl is competitive, wait until you hear how serious cooks go for the gold!
This week it's the story of two Southern cooks from different generations, different places, and different races. Young chef Scott Peacock talks about his special friendship with Edna Lewis, a cook, writer, and octogenarian who is one of our national culinary treasures. Scott leaves us his recipes for Sugared Raspberries and Scott's Chicken Stock from The Gift of Southern Cooking, the book he co-authored with Miss Lewis.