Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio

Milk Street's 10th anniversary is right around the corner! To celebrate, we're revisiting our favorite moments, starting with this week’s episode featuring the very first appearance of regular contributor Alex Aïnouz. On YouTube, Alex is known for his mad scientist experiments, from his million-layer puff pastry to his quest for the perfect French omelet. Also in this episode—we hear about the ama...

Al Roker is back on Milk Street with family recipes and television stories to share. He recalls celebrity-filled lunches at the NBC commissary and the holiday meal he dreamt of while recovering from surgery. Plus, Ben Mims reveals the secret history of cookies; Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette of “A Way With Words” express holiday gratitude with food-themed compliments; and we prepare Cantonese S...

Happy Thanksgiving! Join us for a star-studded trip down memory lane with our Thanksgiving episode from 2019! Stella Parks reveals pumpkin pie secrets and serves up a fresh twist on à la mode; Vivian Howard invites us to her kitchen for North Carolina turkey and sides; Alice Waters, Erin French, Joanne Chang, Reem Kassis and other chefs, authors and friends recount their most harrowing Thanksgivin...

How do you carve a turkey without losing the crispy skin? What kind of pie should you make if you’re sick of apple? And what’s the world’s easiest pie crust? This week, chefs Jet Tila and Dominique Ansel join Chris Kimball to answer your Thanksgiving cooking questions. Plus chef Jesse Griffiths goes hunting for wild turkeys; José Andrés, Melissa Clark, Joe Yonan and Monti Carlo reveal why they’re...

We're putting the finishing touches on our 2025 Thanksgiving special, but in the meantime we have a special treat: We're re-releasing our first-ever Thanksgiving episode from 2017! Reporter Sandip Roy desperately seeks turkey in Calcutta; Kenji López-Alt reveals his secrets to make-ahead mashed potatoes; Dan Pashman spins the wheel of Thanksgiving anxiety; we find out from Dr. Aaron Carroll whethe...

Nancy Silverton is here to make you a better baker. She tells the story about the time she made Julia Child cry on TV and the very best way to make cornbread, angel food cake and more classic desserts. Plus, Joan De Jesus explains the wine world’s biggest trend right now, natural wines; J. Kenji López-Alt shares his secrets for cooking salmon at home; and we make Korean Stir-Fried Chicken with Ric...

In the beginning, there was the Cronut, the pastry hybrid that ushered in the era of "viral" foods. Its mass appeal wasn't all that surprising, but what about the rise of tinned fish? Reporter Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong shares the unlikely story of this humble pantry staple. Plus, chef Joshua McFadden changes the way we cook and eat pasta, and our friends from A Way With words teach us a language lesso...

Milk Street Radio took our show on the road for an unforgettable night at The Wisconsin Art of Cheese Festival in Madison, Wisconsin. To celebrate being in America’s Dairyland, Chris got a Wisconsin dairy history lesson from Laura Werlin; met with Master Cheesemakers Marieke Penterman and Chris Roelli; and even got his fortune read with a wedge of cheddar, thanks to professional cheese fortune tel...

Modernist Cuisine founder Nathan Myhrvold is here with his hottest pizza takes, from deep dish to Tokyo marinara. Plus, journalist Larry Tye tells us how the father of public relations made bacon a breakfast staple, Adam Gopnik explains how to cook for a family with vastly different dietary restrictions, and we whip up a Venetian pasta recipe with radicchio and walnuts. Get this week’s recipe for...

Today, we're sharing an episode from our friends at “Bon Appétit Bake Club.” In this episode of Bon Appétit Bake Club, hosts Shilpa and Jesse team up with pie expert Erin Jeanne McDowell, author of “The Book on Pie,” to tackle listener questions on how to bake the perfect pie. You can listen to all episodes of BA Bake Club here: swap.fm/l/ba-bakeclub-msr

We’re serving up an extra frightful hour of Milk Street Radio! Folklorist Lesley Bannatyne reveals the mischievous origins of the jack-o’-lantern, and Oaxacan tour guide Gabriel Sánchez shares memories from Day of the Dead celebrations. Candy historian Susan Benjamin recounts candy’s surprising history in America — and the ghostly encounters in her candy shop — and we uncover a modern recipe for t...

According to journalist Zoë Schlanger, your garden isn’t just full of plants that are alive, but plants that can think —like the rice plant, which recognizes its own family members. Schlanger takes us inside a hotbed of scientific controversy: the study of plant intelligence. Plus, the Washington Post’s Joe Yonan masters the art of plant-based cooking; Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette help us wra...

Food writer Tim Hayward shares the juicy history of the steak. We take a peek inside the secret beefsteak societies of England and New York, learn a classic Argentinian salting method, and even try a steak from a 25 year-old-cow in Spain. Plus, Kenji López-Alt goes on a quest for the perfect teriyaki; Sara Moulton and Chris take your cooking calls; and we prepare a Sunflower Hummus from Georgia. G...

This week, your favorite apples get ranked, mercilessly . Find out which apples comedian Brian Frange deems “horse food” and “indigestible filth,” and which crisp, glorious apples rise to the top of the heap. Plus, reporter Katie Thornton joins us to discuss the history and ingenuity of the Frankfurt Kitchen, the blueprint for space-saving kitchen design; Adam Gopnik revels in the alchemical wonde...

Bon Appétit columnist Maggie Hennessy helps us navigate the new rules of dining out. Is it ever OK to take out your phone? What’s the best way to grab your server’s attention? And how fussy is too fussy? Plus, Irene Yoo throws a soju party, and Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette of A Way With Words share the stories behind your favorite pasta shapes. Listen to Milk Street Radio on: Apple Podcasts |...

We explore the cooking of Colombia with Mariana Velásquez, from homemade arepas to sweet panela that tastes like almost-burnt caramel. Plus, we learn about the secret world of creating food emojis with artist Yiying Lu, Adam Gopnik ponders the elements of dinner, and we present a recipe for Spicy and Sour Julienned Potato Salad with Sichuan Pepper. (Originally aired July 23, 2021.) Get this week's...

In this special episode, we’re sharing an extended cut of our interview with Samin Nosrat. We discuss everything from fame and family to her current culinary obsessions. She shares her favorite salad dressings, go-to snacks and treasured old recipes, alongside exciting new flavors and techniques (whipped tahini! burnt honey!). Plus, hear how she found the sublime in food processor pesto. Listen to...

Following her 2017 hit—“Salt Fat Acid Heat”—Samin Nosrat is back with her second book, “Good Things”. We talk about fame, family and what she’s cooking; her favorite new flavors and techniques (whipped tahini! burnt honey!); and how she found the sublime in food processor pesto. Plus, James Ooi shares secrets from the Chinese supermarket and Chris and Sara Moulton are back and ready to take on mor...

When Justin Davies cuts into a piece of wood, he wonders what it tastes like. Today, he shares his adventures in crafting desserts out of trees, from the bark infusion that made his tongue go numb to the ice cream concocted from an infamously smelly tree. Plus, Lidia Bastianich returns to answer your questions on pasta and pesto; we eat through the backroads of Vietnam with chef Anaïs Ca Dao van M...

Is airplane food bad on purpose? Historian Richard Foss takes us through the turbulent history of food in flight, from extravagant meals aboard zeppelins, to the flaming Baked Alaskas once served en route to Singapore, to the truth about mediocre food service on planes today. Plus, Rebecca Rupp tells us how carrots won the Trojan War, Amanda Herbert shares a recipe for the world’s first macaroni a...

For this special bonus episode, we share a story from the Points North podcast about blue moon ice cream—it's a wacky, surprisingly delicious and very blue ice cream flavor beloved in the Midwest. But no one knows what the flavor actually is, and ice cream makers are notoriously secretive about it. We hear about Morgan Springer's quest to find out more. Plus, we share a few of our all-time favorit...

This week we’re joined by Noor Murad—longtime recipe developer at the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen. She’s here to share cooking inspired by her home country, Bahrain. We talk about the magic of tahini dates, lamb with fenugreek, and spiced rice. Plus, Meathead is back to take more of your barbecue and grilling calls, from the rules of ribs to whether bones actually make your meat taste better; we learn...

Cowboys work hard—which means they need to be fed well. This week, hear how ranch cook Kent Rollins feeds cowboys out of his chuck wagon, serving up his famous coffee, steaks and “burger dogs.” Plus, Tove Danovich introduces us to Mike the Headless Chicken, as well as her brood of mail-order chickens and their complex emotional lives; Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett of “A Way with Words” make le...

He cooked for the czar of Russia, the Rothschilds, and he even made Napoleon Bonaparte's wedding cake. He invented the chef’s hat and published the first recipes for soufflé and meringue, but you’ve probably never heard his name. This week, it’s the story of the world’s first celebrity chef: Marie-Antoine Carême. Plus, we’re joined by one of today’s best chefs, Enrique Olvera; Kenji López-Alt retu...

It's a very happy hour of Milk Street Radio: Chef Edward Lee returns for a tour of Kentucky’s bourbon distilleries, where the water is sweeter, the barrels are (accidentally!) charred, and the rickhouses are sacred territory. Plus, Gary Shteyngart recounts his wet, dry, twisted and dirty martini tour of New York City; Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette of “A Way With Words” reveal the surprising or...