Episode 189: Food Journalism

Award-winning journalist Russ Parsons, food editor of the Los Angeles Times, joins us to explain what goes into making a leading newspaper food section and shares three simple tips to make life in the kitchen easier. His new book, How to Read a French Fry, explores the science behind basic cooking techniques and includes recipes, such as his Seafood Rice Salad, that illustrate cooking principles.

Jane and Michael Stern have found licorice coal and chocolate hairdryers at Mootz's in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Wine wizard Josh Wesson suggests good sipping from unlikely places, chef Jerry Traunfeld talks bay leaves and gives us his recipe for Bay Leaf Crème Brûlée, and we'll hear the saga of six convicts and the bologna sandwich that was their undoing.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

• September 22, 2001 (originally aired)

• October 19, 2002 (rebroadcast)