This week, we are all about getting you ready for your Thanksgiving feast! First, cookbook author Amy Thielen sets us up with tips on keeping the holiday stress-free and enjoyable. She shares her remarkable thinking around “turkey secrets,” talks us through some of her favorite techniques for stuffing and starters, and leaves us with her amazing alternative to mashed potatoes, Fun House Baked Potatoes. Her latest book is Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others. Then, Chef Eric...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora This week, we talk about comfort food around the world. First, Yotam Ottolenghi tells us about his latest book, which is filled with recipes for his favorite comfort foods. He talks about what it is about specific dishes that evoke emotional reactions, from taste to texture to memory like his recipe for “Thousand” Hole Pancake. Yotam’s latest book is Ottolenghi Comfort written with his collaborators Helen Goh, Verena...

When it comes to cooking, do you follow a recipe to a T, or do you do a little improv? This week, we learn a lot about cooking by feel with the star of the Peabody and Emmy-award-winning show A Chef’s Life, Vivian Howard. She talks to Francis about how she “deprogrammed’ herself from precision cooking and started thinking outside of a written recipe. Plus, she sticks around to help answer your cooking questions. Vivian’s latest book is This Will Make It Taste Good. Then, we take advice from...

Cookbook season is back, and we talk to the authors of some of our favorite picks. We're joined by Carolina Gelen, who talks to us about learning how to cook, her favorite Romanian dishes, and how she comes up with her signature recipes like Butter Beans alla Vodka, a fast, one-pot dish inspired by the famous vodka pasta sauce. Carolina is the author of Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Sharable, Everyday Recipes. Then, Sonoko Sakai tells us how to “wafu” our food! Wafu means Japanese in...

This week, we dedicate the hour to the fabulous Dorie Greenspan. We talk about her start in food, from burning her kitchen down when she was a pre-teen to her love for project baking early in her career and becoming the iconic writer and cookbook author we know today. She shares stories about meeting Julia Child, working alongside high-level pastry chefs, including France’s Pierre Hermé, and her highly- creative process for writing recipes. Dorie is the author of 14 Cookbooks, including the...

This week, we sit down with two chefs at the top of their craft. First, we talk to legendary baker Richard Hart about the inspiration behind his new book, Richard Hart Bread: Intuitive Sourdough Baking. He fills us in on why he thinks that humble bakers are the best bakers, how he really is just a simple “yeast farmer” and he shares his realistic thoughts on how to keep a sourdough starter. Check out his amazing recipe for Rye Wrapped in Fig Leaves. Then, we talk with chef Ashleigh Shanti...

This week, we dive into the new spice trade, its history, and two specific companies' commitment to their farmers and direct trade. First, we talk to Sana Javeri Kadri, founder of Diaspora Co. She talks about her research on what the spice trade should look like today and what inspired her to base her business on the stories of spice farmers worldwide. Check out this recipe for Almond Turmeric Potatoes to put your turmeric to work. Then, we talked to Ethan Frisch, Co-Founder of the direct...

This week, we sit down with Evie McGee Colbert to talk about her latest book, co-authored with her husband, Stephen Colbert. She tells us about the dynamics in her family’s kitchen, the joys and challenges of cooking together during the pandemic, Charleston food traditions, and we take a listener question from one special caller! Evie’s latest book with her husband, Stephen Colbert, is Does This Taste Funny?: Recipes our Family Loves. She leaves us with her recipe for Salt and Pepper Wings....

This week we’re sharing an episode of Food Network Obsessed, the official podcast of Food Network. On each episode, host Jaymee Sire welcomes your favorite chefs, food influencers and Food Network personalities to talk about how they started their food careers, who inspires them and what it’s like to cook on Food Network. On this episode, Jaymee is joined by Food Network Star winner and Outrageous Pumpkins personality, Damaris Phillips. She talks about her Kentucky upbringing in a family of...

We sit down with Dorie Greenspan to talk about her newest book, Baking with Dorie. She tells us about her "sweetheart" recipe collection, how she stays inspired after publishing 14 books, and how she dared makeover her famous World Peace Cookies. She left us with a delicious Caramel Apple Crisp recipe, perfect for the season and sticks around to answer your cooking questions. Later, our dear friend Abra Berens joins us to talk about her new book Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains,...

This week, we talk with two incredible chefs about their culinary connections to their homes. First, chef Nini Nguyen talks about growing up in New Orleans and her connection to her tight-knit Vietnamese community. She shares the delicious Vietnamese foods she grew up eating and talks about how that upbringing shapes her cooking today, Nini is the author of Đặc Biệt: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook, and she leaves with her recipe for Grilled Rice Paper. Then, we head to Ukraine with chef...

This week, we dive into the world of apples and agave. First, we talk with apple historian Diane Flynt, author of Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South, about what makes apples so magical and the connection apples have to people. She also teaches us the history of apples in the South and tips on what makes a good cider. Then, we turn to the world of Agave spirits with authors Gary Paul Nabhan and David Suro Piñera, where we get an understanding of agave as...

This week, we talk about cuisines from opposite ends of the world. We start by diving into the first, traditionally-published cookbook about Salvadorian cuisine with Karla T. Vasquez. She collected traditional recipes and techniques while documenting stories from the hands that made the dishes. Karla is the author of The SalviSoul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes and the Women Who Preserve Them. She left us with her recipe for a delicious Salvadoran Quesadilla. Then, we explore Southern Thai...

This week, we take a deep dive into pizza with the co-author of the voluminous Modernist Pizza, Nathan Myhrvold. We get into the history, culture, and techniques behind great pizza. We hear stories from his worldwide travels and deep dives into pizza cultures and traditions. Plus, we hear about the culinary lab research devoted to making the best pizza ever, and he sticks around to answer your pizza-making questions. He is the founder of the Modernist Cuisine Lab. Then, we tune into our...

This week, we’ve got delicious cooking ideas to brighten your summer. First, author Jess Damuck talks to us about her vegetable-forward food inspired by the 1970s health-food culture. She talks about revamping 1970’s health-food classics and re-working recipes with a modern eye to make them taste great. She leaves us with her recipe for Lentil Loaf. Jess Damuck’s latest book is Health Nut: A Feel-Good Cookbook. Then, we head to North Carolina to catch up with Chef Ashley Christensen.  She...

This week, we have stories centered around food, love, and legacy. First, we talk with author Michaele Weissman about meeting her husband's family for the first time, tasting his mother's bread, and later learning its significance and how it represented her husband's life. Her latest book is The Rye Bread Marriage: How I Found Happiness with a Partner I'll Never Understand. Then, we sit with Barkha Cardoz to remember her husband, the late Chef Floyd Cardoz. We talk about their meeting in...

This week, we take a close look into what makes a national cuisine. Anya von Bremzen talks about her most recent book, National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home. We get into the history, culture, and theories behind the popularization of dishes, from researching the “correct” way to make pot-au-feu in France to looking at the “pizza effect” and the role of borsch in her family’s history. She shares her mom’s recipe for Super-Quick Vegetarian Borsch....

This week we have everything you need for summer. First up, it’s Stacey Mei Yan Fong with her new book, 50 Pies, 50 States. Stacey decided to commemorate all 50 states in the most American way she could imagine-through their pies! Everything from fruity to savory to salty pies, and she left us with her take on the Minnesota state pie, a Corn Dog-Hotdish Pie with Savory Funnel-Cake Topping. Then we talk to comedian and writer Jamie Loftus about her cross-country hot dog adventure. She takes a...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora This week, we talk about life and food in Southern France. First, we sit down with Steve Hoffman to talk about his latest memoir, A Season for That, about his journey from Minnesota to the South of France with his entire family to live a romanticized French life.  It turned out to be a complete culinary and culture shock that ended up inspiring his appreciation for the local food culture and its winemaking traditions....

This week, we're talking about the unique cuisine of Greece. Diane Kochilas, author and star of the public television show, My Greek Table joins us from Athens to talk about Greek regional cooking and explore the history and cuisine of the Greek American community. She also lets us in on her favorite dishes to prepare from her garden. Then, we sit with Tara Q. Thomas, who tells us all we need to know about Greek wine, from her favorite producers to the evolution of the pine resin in retsina...

This week, we're all about two summer traditions. First, we meet photojournalist and documentarian Kate Medley to talk about her decade-long project documenting gas stations all across the South.  She has stories about the amazing cast of characters, their diverse selection of foods, and their impact on their communities across the South. Kate Medley is the author of Thank You Please Come Again: How Gas Stations Feed & Fuel the American South. Then, we talk to the chefs behind Kismet, an...

This week, we're exploring the history of women and beermaking. First, Theresa McCulla, curator of The Smithsonian's American Brewing History Initiative, explains why beer is a great lens to examine American history and shares the story of Patsy Young, an early American brewer and fugitive from slavery. Then, Atinuke Akintola Diver talks about her feature-length documentary This Belongs to Us, which follows Black women brewers in the American south and finally, beer Journalist Stephanie Grant...

This week, we look at modern food and culture from two popular cuisines. First, we sit down with acclaimed food writer Khushbu Shah to talk about her debut cookbook, which is all about Indian home-cooked dishes. She shares ingenious hacks and delicious Indian-inspired recipes that can come together in a pinch using everyday pantry items, and teaches Francis how to make her Chili Cheese Toast.  Khushbu Shah is the author of Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora. Then, we are...

This week, we talk to two award-winning food writers about how to make the most of your vegetables and leftovers this summer. First up, award-winning vegetarian writer Hetty Lui McKinnon joins us to talk about her latest book Tenderheart, A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds. She talks to us about her father’s influence on her early life and how it inspired her vegetarian cooking career. She walks us through some of her favorite Chinese-inspired dishes made with a...