Cooking Issues with Dave Arnold

Dave is back with a full crew (John, Nastassia, Quinn, and Jack) plus two guests with deep Momofuku roots: chef Paul Carmichael of Kabawa and Dennis Ngo of Di An Di. The conversation ranges from New York ingredient sourcing and Caribbean flavors to the mechanics of great bread and better sandwiches—banh mi rolls vs. po’boy loaves, what makes a steak sandwich fail, and why mayo choices matter more...

C-Y Chia and Shane Stanbridge of Lion Dance Cafe join Dave to break down the philosophy behind their self-published cookbook—and why they closed the restaurant after four years. They discuss designing a cuisine around systems (shallot oil, chili oils, dredges, staple sauces), building menus from repeatable flavor frameworks, and writing recipes that actually teach how they think. Highlights includ...

The crew dives into practical cooking technique: why some induction burners struggle to push a roux dark (and how throttling, pan material, and heat management affect the result), followed by a broader discussion of “high instantaneous heat, low average heat” cooking—rotisserie logic, off-and-on grilling, and moisture control strategies that build crust without overcooking. Dave also revisits shri...

Dave Arnold is joined in-studio by chef Alex Stupak to talk tacos (including the evolution of his “cheeseburger taco”), Substack-era dessert thinking, and why some techniques (and tastes) don’t hit the same a decade later. The crew detours into gumbo viscosity and the eternal question of whether s’mores should be toasted or fully incinerated. Along the way: freezing clams to open them, Manhattan c...

Dave kicks off another anything-goes Tangent Tuesday with a stack of updates: upcoming guests Paul Carmichael and Dennis (with Momofuku/Kabo context) and a correction on the “German” drop-off that turns out to be Austrian—complete with scarlet runner beans and pumpkin seed oil for the canonical salad. From there it’s pure free-association cooking brain: the French galette des rois vs. other king-c...

This week is a rapid-fire run of Cooking Issues staples: why most store carrots are trash (and why frozen veg is usually the correct move for pot pie), biscuit technique tweaks (including grating frozen butter), and a pie-crust method that splits the fat for a “medium” flake. From there it’s gear-and-systems nerdery: a Seattle Ultrasonics knife test, pro home-kitchen “hacks” (deli containers, tape...

The crew checks in live from Rockefeller Center and quickly veers from Patreon housekeeping into Polymarket absurdities, restaurant closures, and the grim mechanics of auctioning off a closed kitchen. Jean details liquidating equipment (including a Rationale), while Dave unloads on bureaucracy, safety grounds left floating inside a brand-new Bosch oven, and the  theoretical  physics of j...

Cooking Issues opens the new year with Dave and Joe in-studio, plus Nastassia and Jack in LA and Quinn on Vancouver Island. Dave recaps a rough holiday detour: adopting a young cat that immediately got seriously sick, turning New Year’s into emergency vet care and force-feeding. Jack reports from a cross-country drive to clear out storage, including a stop at Richmond’s Gwar Bar, inspiring instant...

Kevin Jeung (Noma / Noma Projects) calls in from LA to talk about Noma’s upcoming Los Angeles pop-up and what it changes when you suddenly have citrus, avocados, and California seasonality on the table. Kevin walks through how the team is doing early-stage R&D—ingredient exploration, fermentation setup, and testing techniques for hard problems like cactus slime and variable produce. Dave detou...

Katie Parla returns to talk about her new book Rome: A Culinary History Cookbook, including why she self-publishes, how she actually gets the writing done, and what it takes to shoot a full cookbook fast. Then it’s a deep Rome run: porchetta quality (and why most is mediocre), pajata, Roman pizza styles, and how “traditional” rules like guanciale-onlyand no cheese with seafood are more complicated...

Tune in for an all-tangent episode that's all over the map. Dave reports on a Copenhagen-inspired Danish pork sandwich project (crispy skin, red cabbage, remoulade, cucumber salad) plus pretzel-style brioche buns. Then it’s rapid-fire listener Q&A: Fernet ice cream without wrecking the freeze (boil off alcohol), why venison oxidizes when sliced, brining curve calculators, popping sorghum, and...

Dave is back with a packed studio and longtime friend of the show Nick Coleman — olive oil educator, sensory expert, and musician behind HGH — fresh off a trip to Greece teaching at the International Olive Oil Network. They go deep on how to detect defects in olive oil by smell alone, why  fruité noir  works when done intentionally, olive fly maggots, pruning for quality fruit, and why e...

Dave is joined by chef, food truck lifer, yakitori operator, and SNIBBS co-founder Daniel Shemtob for a run through hearts, food trucks, and what actually keeps you upright on a greasy kitchen floor. They start with skewers and offal: chicken hearts vs duck and beef heart, a Korean beef-heart “Heart & Soul” taco, tortilla engineering, and why overstuffed tacos are a design flaw. From there it’...

For this Thanksgiving “Classics in the Field” episode, Dave is back in studio at Rockefeller Center with Kitchen Arts & Letters’ own Matt Sartwell for a long, nerdy tour through cookbooks, regional food, and holiday obsessions. John’s on mic, Joe’s on the panels, and the show kicks off with cranberry-sauce loyalties, paper-bag chicken nostalgia, and why Dave will never forgive you if he walks...

Dave and the crew welcome chef and author Joshua McFadden to talk about his new book Six Seasons of Pasta: A New Way with Everyone’s Favorite Food . They get deep into dried vs fresh pasta, why salting your water to around 1% actually matters, the right way to use olive oil at the beginning and the end, and how a 50/50 Parm–pecorino mix behaves in the pan. Joshua explains the thinking behind his “...

Dave Arnold, with Jean and Joe Hazen, runs a tight, New-York-only, “No Tangent” session—clearing the inbox and dropping hard technique. Dave details a successful Westphalian pumpernickel shortcut (from ~2+ days to a single shift) using controlled enzyme rest and pressure-cooking in wide-mouth pint jars. From there the crew debates the only correct patty-melt bread (rye), cheese choice (Swiss vs. A...

Dave is joined in studio by chef Alex Kemp, a Quebec-born, Philly-based chef and co-owner of multiple neighborhood restaurants, for a wide-ranging hang about food, restaurants, and questionable late-night decisions. Alex talks about growing up between French and English Canada, separatist grandparents, and how he and his wife juggle two restaurants, a third on the way, and a nine-and-a-half-month-...

This week on Cooking Issues , Dave Arnold welcomes cocktail historian and author David Wondrich to celebrate his new release, The Comic Book History of the Cocktail . From 19th-century juleps to modern mixology, Wondrich and Arnold trace how drinking culture evolved — and occasionally went off the rails. They revisit the lost luxury of real peach brandy, debate the right way to build a punch, and...

Dave is joined in studio by chef, author, and TV host Diane Kochilas (My Greek Table on PBS) to talk about her new book, “Food Stories, Love, Athens: A Cookbook,” and to dismantle a bunch of lazy assumptions about Greek cooking. They get into the real Athens food scene right now: young chefs, post-crisis reinvention, and why the city doesn’t cook like some stuck-in-time postcard. Diane explains ho...

Dave, Jack, Nastassia, Quinn, Joe, and a caller turn “no-tangent Monday” into a focused run of kitchen opinions and practical technique. Jack recaps China trip eats and questions the culinary payoff of hot pot vs. the social vibe. The crew debates DIY dining (fondue, hot pot), ordering strategy, and server trust, with classic Luger/Rao’s anecdotes. Quinn’s Canadian Thanksgiving menu features turke...

On this episode of  Cooking Issues , Dave Arnold welcomes culinary historian and award-winning author  Michael Twitty  to discuss his new book  The American South . Twitty shares stories of growing up with Southern food traditions, his deep research into the region’s culinary roots, and how gardening, foraging, and heritage recipes shaped his perspective on what “Southern food”...

This week on Cooking Issues , Dave Arnold and the crew welcome special guest KC Boyle of Dock to Dish, a pioneering community-supported fishery connecting local fishermen directly with restaurants. KC breaks down how their model short-circuits the traditional supply chain, gives boats better pay, and brings overlooked species like sea robin, welks, and local red shrimp to chefs’ menus. Alongside t...

Chef Jeremy Fox joins Dave, John, Quinn, and Jackie Molecules for a rollicking Cooking Issues session that jumps from kitchen hacks to personal reflections. Fox, in New York fresh off the release of his new book On Meat , talks through the craft behind charcuterie, confit, scrapple, corned beef, merguez, and even buffalo deviled eggs. Dave kicks things off with a story of wiping out on an oily UN-...

Dave’s back and right into the weeds: rebuilding the legendary Flaming Jägerdemo, why modern rotovapcontrollers finally saved bartenders’ wrists, and how to keep a Japanese-style whisky highball lively with a little poly-dextrose science. Along the way we detour through lifelong zucchini trauma(and the rare preparations that redeem it), eggplant lore, and the eternal martini question—stirred, shak...

In this episode of  Cooking Issues , Dave and the crew dive into wide-ranging conversations spanning fruit obsessions, culinary technique, and the realities of running restaurants. The show kicks off with upcoming travel plans to Cologne for a Jägermeister demo, followed by a spirited debate about melon varieties, including the Bonnie melon and the elusive true cantaloupe. Other topics includ...