Special Sauce with Ed Levine

After falling in love with Italy, my good friend engineer and serial entrepreneur Bob Lang and his wife, environmental writer Alice Outwater, decided to buy a three acre vineyard called La Collina Delle Amici (The Hill of Friends) in Piedmont in 2021. How's it going for them so far?  Well, we're going to find out in this week's episode of Special Sauce. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.or...

On this episode of Special Sauce, grassroots food activist and farmer Karen Washington joins us to spread her message of food justice, the concept that healthy, nutritious food is a human right. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we go deep into the definition, history, and evolution of the New York pizza slice with Scott's Pizza Tours founder Scott Wiener.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we pay tribute to the great author, chef and cooking teacher Raghavan Iyer. He introduced much of America to the joys of cooking and eating Indian food.  We talked to Raghavan last in March of 2023 about his life, his work, and the last book he ever wrote, "On The Curry Trail". Raghavan talked openly and movingly about his terminal Stage 4 cancer diagnosis and the...

With the new year fast approaching we thought we would help bring it in by re-releasing -- or should I say reheating -- one of our favorite 'Special Sauce' episodes of all time. It features both my extraordinary conversation with  Michelle Zauner and a great talk about the relationship between food and music with Kenji. Michelle is the founder and lead singer of the great indie rock band Japanese...

On this episode of Special Sauce serious eaters will meet Roy Shvartzapel, who makes transcendent panettone at his LA online bakery From Roy.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

With the holiday season in full swing, this serious eater's attention turns to eating and baking cookies. And who better to shoot the breeze with on this rich topic than author and baker Erin Jeanne McDowell, who has been called the fairy godmother of baking. She's got some tricks for us. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As we go about planning our upcoming holiday feasts, it's a pretty good bet that at some point we're going to pick up a bottle of wine or two to share with family and friends. That's why I'm returning to my conversation with someone who's been a guiding light for wine connoisseurs and beginners alike, Eric Asimov, the wine critic for The New York Times. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.or...

Thanksgiving leftovers can sometimes be a freighted topic for serious eaters. Last year, trying to quell my own Thanksgiving leftovers anxiety and confusion, I had Deb Perelman and J. Kenji Lopez Alt, longtime friends and co-hosts of their own podcast The Recipe, on Special Sauce. We covered a lot of ground in our discussion, everything from the joys of eating leftover cold pie for breakfast to th...

Thanksgiving and the holiday season are upon us and that means this serious eater's thoughts turn to pie! And so I thought I would perform a public service by inviting perhaps our greatest pie baking teacher, Erin Jeanne McDowell from the YouTube series 'Happy Baking', to come on Special Sauce and talk about all things pie. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

If you're like me, you're probably already worrying about holiday dinners and parties that you might have to bring stuff to. And at least some of us might be a little punchy at the thought of cooking or baking for friends. So to the rescue comes friend of Special Sauce, Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce The New York Times's wine writer Eric Asimov shares his democratic and unsnobby approach to both food and wine, which invites newcomers and longtime enthusiasts to explore their own wine experiences. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce I talk to author and fellow pie lover Stacey Mei Yan Fong about her new book '50 Pies, 50 States, An Immigrant's Love Letter to the U.S. Through Pie'. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In part two of our discussion, Ruth Reichl and I get into how the American government has played a major role in corrupting our food system. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce legendary food critic Ruth Reichl talks about the documentary film "Food & Country" which she stars in and co-produced.   Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to Sullivan Street Bakery founder Jim Lahey about his revolutionary no-knead bread making technique. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce, Kenji and I dig deep into his (almost) foolproof pan pizza recipe.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we meet Rollen Chalmers, a third-generation African-American rice farmer based in South Carolina, who is reclaiming his roots one grain of Carolina Gold rice at a time.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

What happens when food writers take Ozempic? New York Magazine's Adam Platt and I discuss our experiences with the weight loss drug on this episode of Special Sauce.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Ah potatoes! How do we love them? Let me count the ways. Perfectly crispy, salty french fries, golden brown herb coated roasted potatoes, creamy smooth mashed potatoes. The not so lowly spud has  been an intense field of inquiry for our friend Kenji Lopez Alt for years now.  For this week’s re-heated episode, he and I take a deep dive into some of the now famous posts he wrote for Serious Eats bac...

For this episode of Special Sauce Sasha Marx and Katie Leaird return for more pasta wisdom and pleasure. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For this episode of Special Sauce we’re re-heating our conversation with Kenji Lopez-Alt from last summer about veggie grilling tips. And we'll be back this fall with fresh episodes featuring Alice Waters, Kenji, and the latest trends in pizza. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we're talking all things pasta with Chefsteps.com's editorial director Sasha Marx and Martha's Vineyard Pasta's Katie Leaird, who makes the best fresh bucatini I have ever tasted.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Spice Whisperer Lior Lev Sercarz is back on Special Sauce this week to school serious eaters on how to spice up our food in our own kitchens.  You can find all our episodes at thespecialsaucepodcast.com . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce the NYT's Kim Severson gives us the lowdown on Kamala Harris' passion for cooking. Plus we discuss the history of presidential cooking in the White House. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices