The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

Listen on:  Apple Podcasts | Stitcher |  Google Podcasts  | Spotify |  Pandora This week, human rights advocate and award-winning food writer Yasmin Khan takes us inside the kitchens of Palestine, where she spent months talking to cooks for her book Zaitoun . We dive deep into the diversity of Nigerian food and cooking techniques with Philadelphia chef Shola Olunyolo. We are introduced to frozen b...

Listen on:  Apple Podcasts | Stitcher |  Google Podcasts  | Spotify |  Pandora Splendid Table Selects is our podcast that highlights conversations that make us better, more worldly cooks. In this episode we hear from Kian Lam Kho, a self-described tech geek who transformed himself into a chef and food writer. Kho’s Red Cook blog features authentic Chinese recipes from his native Singapore. His fir...

Listen on:  Apple Podcasts | Stitcher |  Google Podcasts  | Spotify |  Pandora This is Splendid Table Selects, our mini-podcast about the stuff that makes us better cooks and eaters. There’s nothing better than a properly cooked scallop, but they have a reputation for being temperamental and hard to cook. And sourcing the right scallop is as important as how it is cooked. Molly Birnbaum and her co...

For all the bad news in our world today, we're happy to report there is some good news on the food front. In this episode, we consider some of the positive things that are happening. In her book , Big Chicken , journalist Maryn McKenna says the chicken industry is largely to blame for our enormous overuse of and exposure to antibiotics. But, as she explains to Francis Lam, she's found real reasons...

Listen on:  Apple Podcasts | Stitcher |  Google Podcasts  | Spotify |  Pandora Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our podcast that features interviews that make us think more about the food we love to eat and cook. Our guest this episode is Andrea Nguyen, best-selling cookbook author and expert on Vietnamese cooking. Nguyen says, in the past, cooking Vietnamese food in America meant multiple shopp...

Listen on:  Apple Podcasts | Stitcher |  Google Podcasts  | Spotify |  Pandora In this episode, we're looking at food and identity. Francis Lam talks with Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris, the duo behind the podcast Still Processing , about how social media is changing the way we look at and enjoy food. America’s Test Kitchen takes on the latest culinary cult, the Instant Pot. ATK's Hannah Crowley...

Listen on:  Apple Podcasts | Stitcher |  Google Podcasts  | Spotify |  Pandora Our Splendid Table Selects podcast spotlights conversations that inspire us to cook in creative ways. Mandy Aftel is an artisan perfumer with a deep knowledge of natural essential oils. Her book  Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent ,  co-authored by chef Daniel Patterson, features scent-crafting skills and perfume ingred...

Bon Appetit’s Editor-in-Chief Adam Rapoport joins us with a rather intense take on sandwich making, our Dinner Party Download pals Brendan Francis Newnam and Rico Gagliano help us throw a dinner party, Anya Von Bremzen talks to Melissa Clark about the home restaurants of Cuba, America’s Test Kitchen teaches us how to make a veggie broth concentrate, and Doc Willoughby on country-style pork ribs. F...

How important are sauces in the world of food? In French kitchens, the most respected cook is the saucier – the person who makes the sauces. You can’t have tacos without salsa. And, Beyoncé keeps hot sauce in her bag. So, obviously, sauces are essential. But what is a sauce? And how did we start making them? Maryann Tebben is a food historian, the head of the Center for Food Studies at Bard Colleg...

This is a show about restaurants, but not necessarily about the chef. It's about the lives of kitchen workers, their triumphs and troubles, and the extended family they often find on the line. We talk to Amy Thielen, author of Gi ve a Girl a Knife, about what life was like for her working in some of the great kitchens in NYC. In 'Chefs With Issues,' Kat Kinsman offers a place for kitchen and servi...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our podcast on the stuff that makes us better cooks and eaters. It's January. It’s cold. It’s dark. You may find yourself fighting off a case of the sniffles, along with those eight pounds you gained over the holidays. Do not despair. We’ve got something to make your cold winter world a little more colorful – and it’s soup.  But, not just ordinary soup; we’re tal...

We're going back in time, to the 1970’s and the beginning of the American restaurant revolution.  It was a time when young, talented chefs started opening restaurants that didn’t feel bound to tradition. It was when cooking first became cool, and writer Andrew Friedman says the energy at that time was palpable. Friedman runs a website about chefs called Toqueland  and wrote the book  Chefs, Drugs,...

No matter what you celebrate – or where – one thing we all have in common this time of year is that we gather with family and friends to celebrate the season. And food is central to those celebrations. It’s in that spirit that we turned to Jack Bishop, the Chief Creative Officer at America’s Test Kitchen and part of the team behind the new travel and food book Tasting Italy: A Culinary Journey , t...

Host Francis Lam talks to chef Samin Nosrat about the four elements you need to understand to make your cooking sing. She is the author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking . Emily Kaiser Thelin brings us the story of legendary food writer Paula Wolfert and her struggle with memory. Thelin is the author of the new biography Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfe...

In our show’s home state of Minnesota, holiday cookie baking is a knock-down, drag-out competition thanks in part to the food section of the Star Tribune . Fifteen years ago, Rick Nelson, the paper’s restaurant writer, suggested that they have a little holiday cookie contest for readers. 3,500 recipes later, Rick and Lee Dean, the paper’s food editor, picked 150 of the very best for The Great Minn...

Francis Lam talks to chef Sean Sherman, author of The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen , about the diverse elements of modern Native American cuisine in North America. Contributor Shauna Sever talks to Dorie Greenspan about the ingredient she has built her career around, butter. Tucker Shaw of Cook’s Country from America’s Test Kitchen comes to the defense of pumpkin pie spice, just in the nick of...

Francis Lam hosts the 2018 edition of our popular Thanksgiving call-in show. Francis fields two hours of calls from listeners and is joined by guests Dorie Greenspan, Pati Jinich, Samin Nosrat and Lynne Rossetto Kasper. Looking for something specific from the show? See this page for a full rundown of questions and topics from this year's phone calls. Broadcast dates for this episode: November 22,...

We all know that the starring role of the Thanksgiving feast belongs to the turkey, but the side dishes are just as important. While traditional sides bring a classic feel to the meal, sometimes it’s refreshing to shake up your routine. With that in mind, Managing Producer Sally Swift talked with our dear friend Lynne Rossetto Kasper. Lynne always has a long list of wonderful ideas for adding new...

This week, The Splendid Table presents unique perspectives on Thanksgiving. We begin with Indian-inspired dishes for your holiday feast. Francis Lam talks with Chef Vikram Sunderam and David Hagedorn, co-authors of the best-selling Rasika: Flavors of India . Contributor Melissa Clark visits with Emma Christensen, author of Modern Cider . Christensen explains the simple steps for making your own ha...

Since the holidays are synonymous with entertaining, you may already be thinking about the wine you’ll undoubtedly need to purchase between now and the end of the year. With that in mind, we’ve called in an expert to help you choose unique wines that will impress your guests and hosts without busting your budget. Madeline Puckette is a sommelier, the author of the expansive wine guide Wine Folly:...

Francis Lam is in the kitchen with cookbook author and Top Chef judge Gail Simmons to learn about her Key 3, the three go-to dishes she just can't do without - including the perfect fried egg sandwich. Chef, writer and photographer Michael Harlan Turkell traveled the world in search for unique vinegars for his new book, Acid Trip . He talks with Shauna Sever about his experiences, and discusses th...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our podcast featuring interviews we find particularly interesting or helpful. This episode, we're talking about hard cider. The alcoholic beverage made from fermented apple juice was popular with early Americans because it was easy to make and was safer to drink than water. Over the years, hard cider became less popular as people began to favor beer, wine, and sp...

Pastry chef Stella Parks, best-selling author of BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts , talks with Francis Lam about the origins of our favorite classic desserts. She shares the history of and her decadent recipe for red velvet cake. (Spoiler alert: there's red wine in it!) SAVEUR writer Leslie Pariseau takes us to India for a grand religious pilgrimage centered around a sweetened rice dish as devo...

Here's the situation. You’ve got friends coming over for beers after work. You get home, and there it is. Your beer. On the floor of the garage, not in your fridge. And you can’t find your bottle opener. Have no fear; the King of Beer Hacks is here! Ben Robinson is the author of Beer Hacks: 101 Tips, Tricks, and Projects . He shared a handful of his favorite hacks with Managing Producer Sally Swif...

In this episode of The Splendid Table, we are looking at food from faraway places with host Francis Lam. Top Chef contender chef Sheldon Simeon talks cooking the home food of Hawaii. Francis recalls a trip to the remote Faroe Islands and the efforts of chef Leif Sørensen to bring fine dining to an area known traditionally for a subsistence diet. Contributor Melissa Clark explores the rise of Briti...