We're off to Manhattan's Lower East Side, one of the Big Apple's great culinary neighborhoods with our guide Ben Watson, co-author of The Slow Food Guide to New York City. From street pickles and lox to bialys and gelato, it's all about small businesses making exceptional foods in old-fashioned ways.
This week it's Christmas with England's Nigella Lawson, the lustiest, yet pragmatic, cook we know. She'll talk the feast, with ideas for taking the pressure off and having some fun. She leaves us her recipes for Bread Sauce and Easy-Action Christmas Cake from her latest book, Feast.
Lynne talks with Harold McGee, the man who took food science from the laboratory into home kitchens. He recently updated his classic tome from twenty years ago: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. He fills us in on the discoveries contained in the 21st century edition.vIt's crawfish and zydeco in the back woods of Louisiana for the Sterns. They're partying at D.I.'s in Basile.
Diana Kennedy, one of the food world's great trailblazers, takes us on a tamale tour of Mexico. Ms. Kennedy has spent her career tracking every nuance of regional Mexican food and her books are in-depth explorations of that country's fascinating cuisine. She shares her recipe for Tamales Filled with Poblanos and Cheese from her latest book, From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients.
It's our annual Thanksgiving show and we're doing the big bird, big time. Famed San Francisco chef Judy Rodgers, author of The Zuni Café Cookbook, shares a Thanksgiving Menu that's at once modern and homey. For those who prefer reservations on Thanksgiving, the Sterns have turkey three ways, in three states!
Renowned architect Sarah Susanka, whose latest book is Not So Big Solutions for Your Home, believes houses should be designed for how we really live, not how we think we should live. She joins us this week with practical ideas for putting this philosophy to work in our kitchens.
We're bringing you the show we recorded live on stage at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City to kick off the second annual Gourmet Institute weekend. Our guests include John Willoughby, executive editor of Gourmet, and Chef David Pasternak of Esca talking The Big Apple's food scene.
Spain is where to go now to experience the latest culinary evolution. In restaurants where the country's top young chefs preside over the kitchen, new meaning is given to "cutting edge," and the food looks and tastes like nowhere else. Global restaurant critic Anya Von Bremzen has been tracking the developments for a decade and joins us with a report. Her recipe for Paella Valenciana comes from her new book The Greatest Dishes!: Around the World in 80 Recipes to be published in 2004.
Renowned Mexican chef Rick Bayless and his daughter Lanie join us this week with a multigenerational take on food and cooking. Their book, Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures, is hot off the press. The recipes, like Moroccan Meatballs in Tomato Sauce, reflect their worldwide travels.
Some of the world's most intriguing cooking comes from a place where the living hasn't always been easy. It's Scandinavia, and Norwegian food authority Andreas Viestad, author of Kitchen Light, takes us there. He shares his recipes for Spicy Gravlaks with Aquavit and an interesting "Mock" Aquavit.
This week it's all about sweets. We'll take a look at the great candy civilizations—ancient India and Persia—and their contribution to our modern day sweet tooth. Our guest is Tim Richardson, author of Sweets: A History of Candy.
This week it's food and the sexes. Naturalist Susan Allport, author of Primal Feast, examines how gender shapes food behavior for humans and other animals. It's an interesting take on food, foraging, and sex in the animal world.
This week it's class warfare in the California wine country. We'll take a look at growth and development versus local culture as new money from the Silicon Valley threatens what's left of the rural lifestyle in the Napa and Sonoma valleys. Our guest is Alan Deutschman, author of A Tale of Two Valleys: Wine, Wealth and the Battle for the Good Life in Napa and Sonoma.
It seems that salt has taken on a life of its own these days, now that we can choose the sea we want it from and even the color. We'll take a look at this "white gold" and its relationship to power in America with our guest, Professor Pierre Laszlo, author of Salt: Grain of Life.
This week it's a guide to easy summer entertaining with Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmetmagazine. Ruth is an expert hostess and former caterer who believes it's all about beginnings and endings. She leaves us with the only menu we'll need for a season of successful parties: A Lazy Front Porch Supper.
This week it's the story behind Greens, the first eatery to turn vegetables into serious, fabulous eating. Today, some twenty years later, the San Francisco restaurant founded by a group of Buddhists is still going strong. Lynne talks with Chef Annie Somerville, the guiding force behind this American classic and author of Everyday Greens: Home Cooking from Greens, the Celebrated Vegetarian Restaurant. Fire up your grill and try Annie's recipe for Grilled Fingerling Potato Salad with Corn and Cherry Tomatoes.
"We're taking a look at the groundbreaking culinary revolution that blasted onto the scene in the 1970's, sending foodies of that era into fits of rapture. It was called California Cuisine and it was so new, so hot, and so chic. Our guest, California chef Jeremiah Tower, was front and center in the movement that put fresh-from-the-field, locally grown food onto restaurant dinner plates and, ultimately, our tables at home. His new book, California Dish is a memoir of that moment in time. Lynne did some reminiscing herself and came up with her homage to California Cuisine: Garlic Bread, Green Bean and Tomato Salad.
This week we'll hear how Buddhism and karma shape the most sophisticated cooking in Southeast Asia. Our guest, David Thompson, calls it "the cuisine that takes no prisoners." He shares a recipe for Thai Grilled Chicken from his book, Thai Food.
Food historian Patrick Faas, author of Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome, takes us back to a time when flamingo tongues were finger food and boiling water signaled a decline in your morals. Patrick leaves us with an unusual recipe for Soft-Boiled Eggs in Pine Nut Sauce.
"We're fat, we're sick, and it's all your fault!" was the essence of a lawsuit brought by two teenagers against McDonald's. They denied it. Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock set out to find the truth by eating three meals a day for a month at the Golden Arches and documenting the process in his movie Supersize Me. He tells us what he learned.
We're taking a look at fungi, organisms that can feed you, make you crazy, take down your house, devour flesh, and save your life. Our guest is Nicholas Money, author of Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard: The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds and Mycologists and an expert on fungus growth and development. In keeping with the theme, Lynne shares her recipe for Portobello "Steaks" with Holy Oil.
Lynne talks with Chuck Williams, the creator and vice chairman of the Williams-Sonoma retail empire. Back in the 1950s, when the pressure cooker was sophisticated cookware, Chuck was promoting French copper, couscous pots, and kitchen equipment from Europe. It was all so exciting and new. Nowadays, high-quality professional gear is virtually mainstream and cooks can thank Mr. Williams for his vision.
The gin craze in eighteenth-century London was a 30-year reign that both elevated and devastated an era. We'll hear the story from Jessica Warner, author of Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason.
We're taking a look at vegetarian meat substitutes—things with names like tempeh, seitan, and textured soy protein—that make cutting back on animal products easier for beginning vegetarians. Our guest, Crescent Dragonwagon, author of The Passionate Vegetarian, is a long-time vegan and expert chef. Her Deep December Ragoût of Seitan, Shiitakes, and Winter Vegetables is rich and hearty. Who needs beef?
This week it's an eater's guide to the port city of Marseille with Daniel Young, author of Made in Marseille: Food and Flavors from France's Mediterranean Seaport. Calamari, the great Marseille passion when it comes to food, is featured in Chez Etienne's Pan-Fried Calamari with Parsley and Garlic.
Dust off the TV trays. We're partying with Oscar and the stars! Movie buff and food historian Francine Segan shares "Best Picture Menus" to pair with this year's nominees. Penne with Saffron Cream Sauce, Three P's Salad andLemon Cake from Francine's book Movie Menus add culinary drama to Oscar night.
This week it's global politics at the grocery store when our guests Anne Marie Ruff and Kevin Knox examine two sides of the controversial fair trade coffee issue. The Sterns will make vegetarians happy with sensational Southern veggies at Café Atchafalaya in New Orleans and a recipe for Shockingly Sweet Stewed Tomatoes. Wine wizard Joshua Wesson talks bargain Port-style wines. And techno-musician Moby tells why his music is never played in Teany, his New York City restaurant.
When your career involves chowing down on things like fries cooked in bacon fat with a steak chaser, what do you do when your health hits the wall? John Hodgman, food and drinks columnist for Men's Journal, found out. He stops by to tell the funny story of how he navigated the bumpy road to healthy eating.