Burnt Toast

After our episode about the vintage rotisserie machine that still has a cult following, we received an email from the son-in-law of the inventor, Leon Klinghoffer. Today’s episode is his story.

(It's true!) Kyle MacLachlan swings by the Food52 offices to make a cherry pie with us, and we sit down to ask him about Agent Dale Cooper's approach to food, his own, and how he got into winemaking.

The story of a 22-foot tall fried chicken mascot that became the Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles—and one artist’s decades-long quest to find him a new home.

Throughout history, the same thing we eat with our morning cereal has inspired myth, magic, and superstition—like the fact that if you don't sit still after drinking a glass, it'll turn to cheese in your stomach. We speak with historian Deborah Valenze to dig into our complicated relationship with milk, sparing none of the strangest misconceptions.

One presidential term goes down in history as serving borderline inedible food to the thousands of guests who dined there. What was on the menu, who was responsible, and the revenge theory behind it all. This episode of Burnt Toast was produced by Gabrielle Lewis and Kenzi Wilbur. Thanks also to Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, the founders of Food52— and to Laura Mayer and Andy Bowers at Panoply...

We talk to Professor Charles Spence about the science behind how what you hear when you eat affects the whole multi-sensory experience.

This countertop rotisserie has a lively cult following for producing the juiciest, spit-roasted birds. Our reason to be suspicious? It was made in the 1950s. We put one to the test to find out if this machine *really* makes the best chicken,

We ask—and then we try to change emoji history. Learn how an emoji gets made as we submit our pie emoji proposal to Unicode.

We track down the composer of one of the catchiest jingles of all time—the jingle that opened new factories it was so popular—to learn its surprising origin story. 

We'll be back on March 9th with a new season --and a whole new look. Here's a sneak peek.

This episode digs into the art of the wedding toast—let it serve as an example of what to do, what not to do, and what to never even think of doing if you're asked to speak. We asked for your best and worst toast stories—here they are. This episode is a rebroadcast from June 30, 2016. 

Getting 30 minutes in a room with L.A. restaurant critic and Pulitzer-winning food writer Jonathan Gold is a little like feeding the man himself a single taco. We do it anyway. Listen as we discuss City of Gold—the new documentary featuring him—plus the role of a critic, the insignificance of anonymity, and the great mosaic that is L.A. food. This episode was originally released on March 24, 2016....

Nigella Lawson, the domestic goddess herself, on cooking as necessity over therapy, how she doesn't entertain, and about making up her own words. This episode is a rebroadcast from November 5, 2015. 

Does Michael Pollan always follow his own food rules? Does he truly believe sustainability is economically feasible? We talk to journalist and one of today's important voices in food about these things—and you tell us how his work has impacted your life. This episode was originally released on August 11, 2016. 

Or so says food writer Michael Ruhlman, who wants to know if you know what’s in your food. He wants to restart the conversation around this—and change the way we talk about what we eat. Today, we hear why he thinks kale isn’t healthy, and what we can do to be better cooks, eaters, and shoppers. This episode was originally released on February 11, 2016. 

We asked you to share your holiday disasters—the biggest flubs, the most comically tragic things that inevitably happen when everyone comes together for the holidays. You delivered. Here are the best of the worst—and here’s to reminding ourselves that whatever happens this year, it could probably be worse. This episode was originally released on December 17, 2015. 

Kenji López-Alt of Serious Eats’ Food Lab fame just published a book, and it’s 900 pages of hard cooking science and strong opinions. We learn what makes him and his recipes tick, then decide to tackle his 8-page meatloaf recipe on our own. Is it all worth it? This episode was originally released on October 22, 2015. 

In honor of Trillin's campaign to change the national Thanksgiving dish from turkey to spaghetti carbonara, we ask him to read his 1981 essay. Listen to him tell the tale of the very first Thanksgiving dinner, and then maybe start a campaign of your own. Happy Thanksgiving, turkeys. This episode was originally released on November 24, 2015. 

We talk to New York Times writer and prolific cookbook author Melissa Clark about co-authoring. We find out what it’s like to get inside someone else’s voice, why the process is a little like dating, and all about the infamous Tuna Casserole Bread from the first cookbook she ever wrote. This episode was originally released on July 18, 2015. 

Today's the first day of our annual NCAA-style cookbook tournament, so we asked for your predictions. Hear who our judges and readers think is going to win—and hear from a bookstore owner who's running her own competition—in today's episode. This episode was originally released on February 25, 2016. 

Kristen Miglore— our mighty Creative Director and colleague—has been surfacing recipes from food luminaries that promise to change the way we cook for the past 5 years. She collects them in her James Beard Award-nominated column, Genius Recipes, and also in a New York Times best-selling book by the same name. This episode goes behind the scenes on how she chooses them, those that have taken on a l...

We revisit a topic from one of our earliest episodes of Burnt Toast—and the one you’ve listened to most: first food jobs, and advice for future food writers. Listen to how co-founder of Food52 Amanda Hesser and founder of Lucky Peach Peter Meehan got to where they are now, and hear if any of their advice has changed.

Go see the World's Largest Peanuts (yes, there are two) or the World's Oldest Ham—We'll tell you what to eat and what to listen to along the way. Welcome to the great American road trip season. Happy travels, listeners. 

Does Michael Pollan always follow his own food rules? Does he *truly* believe sustainability is economically feasible? We talk to journalist and one of today's important voices in food about these things—and you tell us how his work has impacted your life. 

We go behind the scenes of the Food52 Shop, which celebrates it's third anniversary this summer, and talk with founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs about what it's like to run a food business, what we've learned, and the mistakes we've made--including, yes, shipping fresh turkeys on Thanksgiving.