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

Latest Episodes:

Anthony Bourdain Remembered Jun 14, 2018

Show notes

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 archives, from 2004, when Lynne interviewed Tony Bourdain alongside his friend and colleague Chef Thomas Keller. The show can be heard using the audio player above. See this page for full transcript. Below you'll also find a collection of our interviews with Tony.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

June 14, 2018

Vedge on Veganism Jun 12, 2018

Show notes

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 Kid, V Street and Vedge – as well as Fancy Radish in Washington, DC. Host Francis Lam met up with the husband/wife chef team in the kitchen of Vedge where they talked about the ever-expanding world of vegan food.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor Bob's Red Mill featuring nutritional yeast, a vegetarian dietary supplement with a pleasantly cheesy flavor. People typically use it in sauces and scramlbes, or just sprinkled over vegetable or popcorn.

[Ed. note: Francis Lam also asked Jacoby and Landau about their three essential vegan dishes for the home cook. Hear them discuss recipes for Summer Corn Custard, Shiitake Dashi, and Chickpea "Tuna" Salad in our Key 3 segment.]

Broadcast dates for this episode:

June 12, 2018

Cooking & Eating in Spring May 29, 2018

Show notes

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 the recipes for three wonderful dishes: Green-Poached Eggs with Spinach and Chives, Crushed New Potatoes and Pea Salad with Mustard Seed Dressing, and Shaved Zucchini and Avocado Salad with Green Goddess Dressing.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor Bob's Red Mill featuring both Red and Golden Bulgur. Use their quick-cooking whole grain in Melissa Clark's bonus recipe for Bulgur "Pilaf" with Swiss Chard and Dried Apricots.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

May 29, 2018

Food Myths May 25, 2018

Show notes

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. Mouritsen joins us to talk about an often overlooked element of cooking - mouthfeel. Francis also answers listener questions about roasting frozen vegetables and scaling down a recipe for super-sized gooey cinnamon rolls.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

June 2, 2017 (originally aired)
May 25, 2018 (rebroadcast)

Patti LaBelle in the Kitchen May 15, 2018

Show notes

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 music. She found the kitchen to be a magical place ever since she was a small child, learning to cook and bake alongside her parents. As a well-traveled superstar, she now shares her culinary experience and knowledge with the world by way of a series of cookbooks and recipes including her world-famous sweet potato pie.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor Bob’s Red Mill featuring Organic All-Purpose Flour, premium baking flour freshly milled from organic hard red wheat. You can use it in all kinds of baking goods: yeast breads, quick breads, biscuits, muffins, cookies, cakes and pie crust.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

May 15, 2018

Jessica Harris May 11, 2018

Show notes

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 cooking" with Scraps, Wilt + Weeds cookbook authors Mads Refslund and Tama Matsuoka Wong. Plus, Francis answers listener questions about using garden-fresh vegetables to complement homemade pasta, and what it means when a sauce recipe calls for cooking "until the sauce breaks" and whether that's a good or bad thing.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

May 19, 2017 (originally aired)
May 11, 2018 (rebroadcast)

Flour Tortilla Road Trip May 01, 2018

Show notes

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 yes, flour tortillas are Mexican in origin. That conversation made us so hungry for authentic flour tortillas that we invited Gustavo back for a follow-up conversation. Think of it as a flour tortilla road trip. Visit our new Selects interview page to see a list of Gustavo’s flour tortilla picks and check our past conversations we’ve had with him. Now that you've got all things tortilla on your mind, check out our Corn Tortilla Recipe & Tutorial from Alex Stupak and Jordana Rothman.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor Bob’s Red Mill featuring Organic Masa Harina Corn Flour.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

May 1, 2018

Tucson: America's First City of Gastronomy Apr 17, 2018

Show notes

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 Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Contributor Von Diaz wanted to find out what makes Tucson such a unique food city, and what influences shaped the community there. She talked with Gary Nabhan, an educator, agricultural ecologist, and ethnobotanist who lives south of Tucson, near the U.S./Mexico border.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor Bob’s Red Mill for their support of this Splendid Table Selects podcast series.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

April 17, 2018

Feeding Family Apr 13, 2018

Show notes

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-confessed cork dork Bianca Bosker delivers a commentary on the family she found within the deeply-obsessed world of sommeliers. And David Leite joins us to discuss his struggles and triumphs with food and family from his new book, Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love and Manic Depression. Francis also answers listener questions about using raw and cooked asparagus in the kitchen, and he gives suggestions on how to use saffron.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

April 21, 2017 (originally aired)
April 13, 2018 (rebroadcast)

Essential Asian Sauces Apr 03, 2018

Show notes

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 cuisine: oyster sauce, fish sauce, and hoisin sauce. They discuss how the sauces are made, used in cooking, and the winner of each sauce category in a recent taste test. Dan also shared a recipe with us for a Vegan "Fish Sauce." You can use your favorite oyster, fish or hoisin sauce on one (or more) of the many recipes we've linked below.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor Bob’s Red Mill for their support of this Splendid Table Selects podcast series.

Broadcast dates for this episode: