The Splendid Table

Chef Jenn Louis joins Francis Lam with her latest work, The Book of Greens, to talk about the wide range of flavor and uses for greens in the kitchen. Sally Swift talks with Omar Allibhoy about making Spanish sauces to spice up your meals. Sally also asked Allibhoy about the secret to amazing Spanish paella. He was happy to share some advice, as well as a recipe and instructional video. Francis ge...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our mini podcast where we share the interviews that inspired us, or just made us more curious eaters. In this Selects, we look at the global phenomenon of Thai rolled ice cream, also known as stir-fried ice cream. This style of ice cream is not simply pulled from frozen buckets by the scoop, instead its liquid base is poured onto a frozen pan and then chopped, mi...

Host Francis Lam looks at one of the relatively unexplored cuisines -- Ghanaian -- with Zoe Adjonyoh, author of Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen. Doc Willoughby from America’s Test Kitchen shares some new thoughts on charcoal grilling. Contributor Joe Yonan has a guide to homemade ice cream with pastry chef Dana Cree; her new book is Hello, My Name is Ice Cream. Field reporter Daniella Cheslow takes us to a un...

In the United States, many people choose ‘happy hour’ as a way to unwind after a hectic day at work. A routine that involves heading to a lively bar with pals, and ordering cheap drinks and food within a small window of time.  However, in Italy this end of day ritual is called aperitivo, and no offense to all of the happy hour frolickers, but it tends to be a bit more civilized. Our contributor Sh...

Host Francis Lam meets up with restaurateur and activist Andy Shallal to talk about how he makes choices, from the decor to the menu, to make a restaurant that appeals to both black and white diners. We meet Jorge Muñoz Zapata, aka The Angel of Queens; since 2004, he has been feeding people on the same corner in Queens every night, funded only by food donations and money from his own pocket. Step...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our mini podcast where we share the interviews that inspired us or just made us better cooks. In this Selects, we visit with Steven Raichlen, the master of the grill and smoker, and author of many cookbooks including The Barbecue! Bible and Project Smoke . Most of us think of smokers as being almost exclusively used for cuts of meat like brisket, ribs, and pork s...

We have unexpected stories from the South when host Francis Lam talks to historian John T. Edge about the "back to the land" movement and migration of San Francisco hippies to the rural South, where they became farmers in the 1960-1970s. Edge is the author of The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South. Hanna Raskin, food editor and critic for The Post and Courier, collaborates with t...

As the world continues to cope with the emotional shock felt since learning last week of the death of Anthony Bourdain, we at The Splendid Table wanted to offer a tribute to Tony. We produced this special episode in which we hear from both host Francis Lam and retired host Lynne Rossetto Kasper, who'd interviewed Tony many times over the years. The show also features a special interview from our a...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our mini-podcast where we share the interviews that inspired us or just made us better cooks. A lot of people consider Philadelphia home of the cheesesteak. That is obviously not wrong, but there's an impressive vegan scene happening in the city as well in large part because of Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau. They're the owners of three restaurants in the city: Wiz...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our mini-podcast where we feature great discussions about the joy of making and sharing good food. This episode of Selects features an appetizing conversation with The New York Times food writer and cookbook author Melissa Clark about cooking from the bounty of vegetables and herbs available in the springtime. She talks with Managing Producer Sally Swift about th...

Host Francis Lam pulls apart some common food myths with Doc Willoughby from America’s Test Kitchen. We learn about the Scandinavian idea of hygge and how this concept of coziness influences the region's food with Copenhagen chef and writer Trine Hahnemann. Contributor Melissa Clark talks to Desmond Tan and Kate Leahy about Burmese cuisine and the tea-eating culture of Myanmar. And Ole G. Mouritse...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our mini-podcast where we feature great discussions about the joy of making and sharing good food. This episode of Selects features a lovely conversation between the legendary Patti LaBelle and our contributor Shauna Sever. We all know Miss LaBelle is an iconic singer, but what you might not know is that she is nearly as passionate about cooking as she is about m...

Host Francis Lam talks to food historian Jessica Harris about her life among African-American icons in 1970s New York City, part of her new memoir My Soul Looks Back. We head into the kitchen of Talde with chef Dale Talde for another in our ongoing segment The Key 3 . America’s Test Kitchen’s Jack Bishop brings us the interesting results of a bagged popcorn taste test. And we look at "trash cookin...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our mini podcast where we share the interviews that inspired us, taught us something new, or just helped make us better cooks. A few shows back we visited the taco historian Gustavo Arellano, author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America . And if you didn’t catch it, he came on basically to defend the honor of the flour tortilla . He also clarified that...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, where we pull together some of our favorite conversations that shine a light on the many cuisines found in the United States and around the world. In this Splendid Table Selects, we learn about a very special food city. In 2015, Tucson, Arizona, became the first U.S. city to be named a City of Gastronomy in the Creative Cities Network by the United Nations Educat...

In this episode of The Splendid Table, host Francis Lam takes a look at what it means to feed your family. Molly Wizenberg and Matthew Amster-Burton, from the podcast Spilled Milk, muse about why we take what our kids will eat so very personally. We talk to Pableaux Johnson, a man who has been cooking red beans and rice in his house for guests every Monday night for more than 15 years. Self-confes...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, where we pull together some of our favorite converations that prove to be especially useful in the kitchen. In this Splendid Table Selects, we're featuring a new interview with Dan Souza, Editor-in-Chief of Cook's Illustrated for America's Test Kitchen. He and our Managing Producer Sally Swift talk about the importance of three sauces that are essential to Asian...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, our spin-off podcast that highlights interviews and stories that we find particularly important to our larger discussions about food. This episode, we're focusing on fat. Fat is one of those ingredients that tends to get a pretty bad rap, but it really shouldn't. Fat is essentially responsible for the flavor, appearance and texture of many of the dishes we love t...

Chef Amanda Cohen is an outspoken critic of food media and sexism in the food industry. She and Francis Lam discuss the changes that need to be made in the restaurant industry to order to get more women excited about and active long-term in professional kitchens. Food writer and journalist Hanna Raskin introduces the groundbreaking women who made American food writing before anyone called it "food...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects, where we pull together some of our favorite interviews -- from the past and present -- to showcase conversations that surprised us, illuminated something new in our world, or have proven to be especially useful in the kitchen. In this Selects, contributor Noelle Carter talks with Col. Chris Hadfield, an astronaut who was the first Canadian commander of the Intern...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects. This is where we pull together some of our favorite interviews -- from the past and present -- to showcase conversations that surprised us, illuminated something new in our world, or have proven to be especially useful in the kitchen. The first time that travel writer Tim Neville smelled cheese fondue, he did not even want to try it; he says the aroma was dreadfu...

Francis Lam celebrates his first full episode as the new host of The Splendid Table with the return of The Key 3 and great guest interviews. Francis visits with historian Adrian Miller, who shares stories of the influence and support that African-Americans have provided throughout American history by way of the White House kitchen. His new book is The President's Kitchen Cabinet. Pho may seem like...

Welcome to Splendid Table Selects. This is where we pull together some of our favorite interviews -- from the past and present -- to showcase conversations that surprised us, illuminated something new in our world, or have proven to be especially useful in the kitchen. In this Selects, we talk with Michael Cimarusti, a chef considered to be the king of Southern California seafood for the last 20-p...

For almost 30 years, Jimi Yui has designed kitchens for chefs like Eric Ripert and Masaharu Morimoto. He tells Francis Lam about one of the most important tools to successful designing -- knowing how to listen. Writer and reporter Lisa Napoli has been obsessed with the lives of Ray and Joan Kroc, and how the couple created one of the world's most recognizable restaurant brands. Contributor Russ Pa...

Host Francis Lam talks with Azalina Eusope, a fifth-generation street vendor from Malaysia setting the San Francisco food scene on fire. Vegetarian food writer and filmmaker Anna Thomas explains why colorful, nutrient-rich green soups are the perfect antidote for the wintertime blues. Bridget Lancaster, host of America’s Test Kitchen, has been investigating sourdough starters in her kitchen and pr...