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

  This week it's a saga of money, ecology and a struggle to survive on the South Dakota prairie. Dan O'Brien, author of the autobiographical Buffalo for the Broken Heart, is a cattle rancher who asked some difficult questions and found some unexpected answers. One led to the restoration of life to his Black Hills ranch. Jane and Michael Stern recently returned from South Dakota where they found ir...

French chef-turned-barbecue expert Steven Raichlen is back with some off-the-wall grilling techniques from his new book Beer-Can Chicken . Whether it's in a leaf or in the coals, on a stick or under a brick, Steve inspires us to fire up the grill and start cooking. His recipe for Basic Beer-Can Chicken gets us started. Jane and Michael Stern tell of the sublime hand-formed biscuits at Mamie's in C...

Broadcast dates for this episode: May 10, 2003

Elizabeth Schneider, a woman who knows vegetables from the seed to the plate, joins us this week with simple ideas for good, healthy eating from her new book Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference . Elizabeth has given over the past decade to gathering every shred of information on produce—the best varieties to buy and the best ways to cook them. Her recipes for Baked Scente...

Dr. Kelly Brownell, director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, joins us this week for a look at how TV commercials shape our eating habits. His take on how advertising may be affecting our health raises all sorts of questions. Should junk food be controlled like alcohol and tobacco ads? On the opposite side of the health issue, Jane and Michael Stern are eating Butter Burgers at...

Coffee buyer and master roaster Kevin Knox, co-author of Coffee Basics , joins us with a guide to roasts and brewing methods, tells us what the pros are drinking now, and reveals a few surprises, too. To top it off, Lynne's decadent Espresso-Ricotta Cream with Chocolate Espresso Sauce is the perfect partner for a rich cup of joe. Jane and Michael Stern muse about religion and barbecue at Harold's...

This week it's a look at why we prefer some foods more than others with Dr. Julie Menella of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Dr. Menella studies taste preferences in infants and explains why one kid won't eat broccoli and another hates carrots. Jane and Michael Stern return to Keaton's, one of Jane's top five road food favorites, for the outrageous fried chicken and southern-style side dishes....

We're eating Appalachian this week with food writers Ted and Matt Lee, two brothers who rented a pickup truck and headed for the back roads of Eastern Kentucky in search of the elusive pawpaw fruit. Along the way, they discovered that good food is more about human ingenuity than rich resources. Read more about their adventure in the article, "On the Appalachian Trail" in the March 2002 issue of Fo...

Can you be addicted to sugar? We'll find out when Robin Edelman joins us on this week's show. Robin is the nutrition editor for Eating Well magazine and author of the article "Sweet Addiction" in the Fall 2002 issue. The always original Jane and Michael Stern are dining inside a longhorn skull in Amado, Arizona. Wine wizard Joshua Wesson has the scoop on Argentina's Malbec. Is it the next big red?...

This week Lynne talks with Paul Draper, CEO of Ridge Vineyards, and the winemaker who elevated California Zinfandel to world-class status by shunning market-driven, high-tech methods in favor of ancient techniques. The resulting wines are simply the essence of refinement, intensity, and complexity. Jane and Michael Stern are eating in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, at the Wolf Lodge Inn, and our hungry rep...

Art historian Carolin Young, author of Apples of Gold, Settings of Silver , takes us back to 1753 and a seduction supper with Casanova himself. In those days, romantic dinners were an art form, and this one has an interesting twist. It's all about who is seducing whom. Jane and Michael Stern have found romance and old-style Italian food at Gargiulo's on Coney Island. Sally Schneider tells us what'...

Restaurant critic John Heckathorn takes us to Honolulu, one of Lynne's favorite food cities, for an insider's dine-around and guide to eating like a local. In a town notorious for high prices, John's advice and restaurant picks guarantee great eating for little money. Jane and Michael Stern investigate the Frontier restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the legendary cinnamon rolls are a foo...

We'll take a look at small-batch bourbons with Kentucky bourbon maker Frederick Booker Noe, the grandson of Jim Beam and one of the pioneers in this new take on American whiskey. Forget bourbon and soda—this is stuff you'll want to leisurely swirl and sniff before taking a sip. Some experts claim these whiskeys are right up there with the great brandies and single-malt scotches. Texans take their...

Chef and author Anthony Bourdain described his first book, Kitchen Confidential , as an "obnoxious and over-testosteroned" account of his life in the restaurant business. Still, the book remained on the New York Timesbestseller list for weeks. Now the food world's outrageous bad boy is at it again with his new book, A Cook's Tour , the chronicle of his planet-circling jaunt in search of the ultima...

This week we're off to a region of Italy only 20 minutes outside Venice—yet known and visited by few. The wonderful cuisine here could be called a fusion of "Northern Italian Soul" meets the Arabian Knights. The greatest varieties of wines in all of Italy come from the area, and the scenery is pretty good too. It's Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and our guide is none other than culinary explorer Fred Plot...

This week it's talk of life, food, and Christmas dinner with television food star Nigella Lawson. Her show Nigella Bites (which also happens to be the title of her latest book,) is all about the sheer lustiness of food. Get ready to be a guest at your own party with holiday eats from Nigella. It's the perfect menu for entertaining, because everything is made in advance! The Sterns suggest we spend...

If a dinner party place setting with more than a knife and fork causes angst, this week's show brings relief. Judith Martin, the high priestess of etiquette known as Miss Manners, has tips for maneuvering smoothly through the minefield of dining and entertaining at this most social of seasons. Her new book, Star Spangled Manners , defends American etiquette and takes a look at what sets it apart....

Our guest this week is Kermit Lynch, a wine pioneer who's been bucking trends since he began importing wine from France in the 1970s. He's devoted his career to seeking out the small and unique in a world of big and uniform. His book, Adventures on the Wine Route , chronicles his life in wine. Jane and Michael Stern are checking out the goods in Calgary, that eater's paradise up north. Steve Jenki...

Her father wanted her to be a diplomat. She had other ideas. We'll hear the story of how two passions came together to define the life of legendary cook and actress Madhur Jaffrey. You've seen her in Merchant-Ivory films as well as her own productions, and her books introduced Americans to authentic Indian food. Her latest work, Madhur Jaffrey's Step-By-Step Cooking , takes readers from India to T...

This year it's Thanksgiving big time with Judy Rodgers, one of America's most gifted chefs and author of The Zuni Café Cookbook . Judy's Thanksgiving Menu is modern but homey, and includes a turkey roasting technique designed to free up precious oven space and an interesting stuffing idea. Jane and Michael Stern bring us soul food at its best from Ellen's Soul Food Restaurant in Memphis. Steve Bea...

The kitchen of tomorrow is on scientists' drawing boards today at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and we love what they're cooking up. Are you ready for a kitchen table that cleans itself and a coffeemaker in your car? We are! How about dial-a-smell that sends the tantalizing scent of tonight's dinner wafting over the telephone line to family and friends? It's the new kitche...

We're eating out in America with Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. Ruth will talk about what's driving chefs these days, how our eating habits are changing, and where in the entire country she would eat if given only two choices and they couldn't be famous restaurants. Gourmet's October 2002 issue is all about restaurants—from big-city, upscale, and grand to local, down-home, and c...

Hints of fall are in the air, we want to get back into the kitchen and cook, and Sally Schneider, author of A New Way to Cook , is going with us. Sally's healthy, lusty food is what we want to eat right now, and her sensational Fall Menu for A Splendid Table is the best inspiration we know. Jane and Michael Stern are eating loose meat sandwiches and onion chips at the Tastee Inn & Out in Sioux...

"We journey to Vietnam this week with our guide Mai Pham, author of Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table . We'll hear about street life, street food, and home cooking as she tells of a country at peace for the first time in a century and of a cuisine that's perhaps the freshest and brightest in all of Southeast Asia. We can't wait to try Mai's recipe for Lemongrass Beef on Cool Noodles. Back home, Ja...

We're talking with scholar, explorer, and beer anthropologist Alan Eames, author of The Secret Life of Beer. Alan has tracked down beers in Amazon jungles and Egyptian temples, and survived being held at gunpoint by guerrillas in his quest to discover beer's origins. He believes it's at the heart of nearly every culture and he claims beer is, and always was, about women! Jane and Michael Stern hav...