The Splendid Table

Americans are crazy for olive oil. It's had a major impact on our cooking, but buying and enjoying it can be complex and confusing. Why does one bottle cost $6 while another costs $60? Peggy Knickerbocker, author of Olive Oil: From Tree to Table, has traveled the Mediterranean researching how olive oil is made and what makes a quality oil. She answers that question and more, names her favorite Cal...

We're visiting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to hear about the kitchen of the future coming from the scientists working on the Counter Intelligence Project. Are you ready for talking oven mitts that tell you when the roast is done, a kitchen counter that keeps track of your favorite recipes, or a coffee maker that knows you like extra milk in your latte? Gray's Ice Cream in Tiverton, R...

We're going way beyond burgers and brats on the barbie this week with grilling guru Steven Raichlen, author of Barbecue! Bible Sauces, Rubs and Marinades, Bastes, Butters & Glazes. Steve roamed five continents to bring a global perspective to the flavor boosting recipes in his latest work. His Korean Barbecue Sauce is just one tasty example. Jane and Michael Stern are in Kentucky "fried-chicke...

We're traveling this week and food, of course, is the highlight. Richard Sterling, author of the Vietnam and Spain guides for the new Lonely Planet World Food series, stops by with tales from a Saigon restaurant and advice on choosing a guidebook. Jane and Michael Stern report from the Akron Restaurant in Pennsylvania Dutch country where they're eating stuffed pig stomach! Fish expert Jon Rowley t...

Mexican food authority and TV chef Rick Bayless, author of Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen, is back this week and he's talking salsa. It's the new ketchup these days and we're putting it on everything from tacos to take-out. With summer's bounty just around the corner, we asked Rick to explain a bit of salsa culture and give us some tips for making fresh and fabulous salsas at home. It's a snap, an...

Remember that adage "tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are?" According to neurologist Alan Hirsch, M.D., Director of the Smell & Taste Treatment Research Foundation in Chicago and author of Dr. Hirsch's Guide to Scentsational Weight Loss, the notion might not be so far fetched. In his research on snack food, Dr. Hirsch discovered there are physiological reasons why our food prefer...

Food and travel writer Anya von Bremzen takes us to Shanghai with an eater's guide to China's born-again boomtown. The city is reinventing itself these days and a cosmopolitan restaurant scene is emerging. Jane and Michael Stern are bound to stir up debate and controversy with what they say is the best fried chicken on earth. Gadget goddess Dorie Greenspan has the word on hand-held blenders, those...

If a snooty wine dealer has ever treated you badly, tune in this week for advice and anti-intimidation tactics you can use the next time it happens. Our guests, Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, write The Wall Street Journal's "Tastings" column and are the authors of The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wines. They have definite opinions about what we should expect from a wine shop and tips for finding...

Dan Leone tells us how to eat out and eat well for under $10 in San Francisco, a city known for restaurants with break-the-bank prices. He knows where you'll find the perfect bowl of noodles, or a turkey dinner at midnight, and leave with your credit card intact. Dan is the author of Eat This, San Francisco and the popular "Cheap Eats" column in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The Slow Food Moveme...

After this week's show, you may decide to rethink your Valentine's Day dinner menu. We're looking at food and love with Dr. Alan Hirsch, a neurologist and psychiatrist who's researched the link between food aromas and arousal. Dr. Hirsch is the author of Scentsational Sex: The Secret of Using Aroma for Arousal and the forthcoming What Flavor is Your Personality? Forget the Chanel perfume and bring...

Mexican food authority Rick Bayless, who latest book is Salsas That Cook, is with us this week and we're talking tequila. It's not just for margaritas anymore. In fact, Rick says lose the lime and salt and move on to a different tequila experience. He means those types (especially artisan-made ones) so classy and smooth you'll want to sip them neat. In a nod to tradition, though, Rick shares his r...

We're taking a look at the politics of wine in America with our guest Bruce Cass, author of The Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America. Bruce says it's easier for a 13 year-old to buy a gun on the Internet than it is for an adult to purchase a bottle of wine. Polar explorers Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen are making history as they attempt to ski some 2,400 miles across Antarctica. They'll j...

This week it's the history of popcorn with Andrew Smith, author of Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America. It's been around for thousands of years and it's America's favorite snack food. Andrew debunks some popcorn myths and explains why it has such staying power. His recipe for Popcorn Canapés is one of the more unusual ones we've featured here at The Splendid Table. Jane and Mich...

It's our annual entertaining show and we've got tips from the experts for when you have little time and energy but want to entertain with style, simplicity and fun. Caterer Ina Garten, proprietor of the Barefoot Contessa specialty food store in the ultra chic Hamptons, creates take-out and party food for the likes of Steven Spielberg and Martha Stewart. And she has plenty of down-to-earth advice f...

We're off for a look at New Orleans bars this week with resident historian and photographer Kerri McCaffety, author of Obituary Cocktail: The Great Saloons of New Orleans. The Big Easy has more bars per capita than anywhere else in the country and each of these architectural and cultural treasures harbors true stories more fascinating than folklore. Try the recipes for a Sazerac, the brandy concoc...

According to history professor Rebecca Spang, author of The Invention of the Restaurant, it used to be that going out to eat was not something anyone did by choice, and in 18th Century Paris restaurants weren't about eating at all. It's an intriguing bit of history that Ms. Spang will share. Jane and Michael Stern report from Fairfield, Connecticut where they're eating Super Duper Weenies from wha...

This week Faith Popcorn, consumer trends forecaster to the Fortune 500 and co-author of EVEolution: The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women, gives us a look at how food will be marketed in the future. Ms. Popcorn has always been ahead of the curve with trends like "cocooning" and "the pleasure revenge." Now she brings us EVEolution, and it's all about a new power base in consumerism. She claims the...

We're off on an adventure this week to places you may not get to on your own. John Willoughby sweeps us away to Istanbul for Turkish food and a stay at the charming Empress Zoe Hotel, then world traveler and tea purveyor Sebastian Beckwith takes us trekking into the backcountry of Laos in search of the birthplace of tea. Jane and Michael Stern are raving about the impeccably fresh and lush seafood...

We're taking you from the cosmos right down to your coffee cup this week with Sidney Perkowitz, professor of physics at Emory University and author of Universal Foam. Professor Perkowitz will explain how foam is the link between your cappuccino and the cup you drink it from to the chair you sit in and the stars in the night sky. It's quite a trip. Jane and Michael Stern are eating Five-Way Chili a...

They've been linked to some pretty serious temptation and trouble—they did, after all, play a key role in that messy Garden of Eden business—but the illustrious apple still came out on top as the world's most popular fruit according to our guest Frank Browning. As the author of Apples and co-author of the cookbook, An Apple Harvest: Recipes and Orchard Lore, Frank has studied nearly every dimensio...

Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, is considered one of the top restaurants in the world, and today we've a conversation with its creator Alice Waters about how she runs a dream restaurant. Naturalist Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses, talks truffles, wine wit Joshua Wesson is back with his wine bargains, and Michael Ruhlman, author of The Making of a Chef, tells us what...

A culinary revolution is happening in Ireland these days due, in part, to a thriving economy, a new confidence among the Irish people, and the availability of superb local ingredients. Anya von Bremzen, Contributing Editor for Travel & Leisure magazine, stops by to tell us about some of therestaurants, inns and pubs she recently discovered on a trip into the Irish countryside. You'll want to p...

We're taking a look at olives this week with Ari Weinzweig, founder of Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ari will go anywhere to find high-quality, handmade foods and he knows all when it comes to superb olives. He has the scoop on some luscious and exotic varieties that bear little resemblance to those pitted black ones that appear on most Thanksgiving tables. Jane and Michael Stern are at...

It's that time again. The tomatoes are ripening and Lynne has been observed making unusually frequent stops at the farmers' markets, gathering up the beloved and luscious heirloom varieties that inspire her to rush into the kitchen and cook. Her recipe for the puglia streetwalker came from a similar tomato frenzy a few years ago and its uncooked sauce is just right for these hot summer days. Tomat...

We're off to France and one of Europe's great cooking schools to hear about life and learning in the beautiful Burgundy region. Anne Willan, owner of École de Cuisine La Varenne and author of From My Château Kitchen, takes us behind the scenes of her famous school and shares travel tips and tales of life in a rambling old chateau in the French countryside. This week's recipe for Patrick Gautier's...