Cream of Caroline

John Birdsall joins the Cream to talk about his forthcoming biography of James Beard, The Man Who Ate Too Much. We talk about Beard’s take on casseroles, life in the Village, his irrepressible style and pursuit of pleasure, and how both Beard’s gay community and his closeted public persona shaped his life and work.

Writer and béchamel enthusiast Hannah Selinger and I get granular about the creamiest of mother sauces: how to make it, how you can screw it up (and fix it!), what wines to drink with it, and all the ways you can use it to make a simple, delicious dinner. We also talk about nostalgic 90s snack foods, growing up with magazine cuisine, and what and who is important to support in the food world right now.

Jarry editor and cookbook author Lukas Volger and I discuss queer food culture and representation, James Beard (aka the first daddy of American cooking), casseroles from our 80s childhoods, and his latest book, Start Simple: Eleven Everyday Ingredients for Countless Weeknight Meals.

Chef Chris Shepherd joins me to talk about how he changed his business model overnight from dine-in service to stocking HEB grocery stores with take-home meals, including king ranch casserole and wagyu burger helper. Chris is also the co-founder of Southern Smoke Foundation, an organization that’s providing direct relief to restaurant workers who have been laid off in the Covid-19 crisis. The need is great. For the last month, I’ve been working with Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation to raise funds, half of which we’re sending straight to Southern Smoke. This episode is at the intersection of some of the things I care about most: restaurants, the hospitality professionals who make them special, and, of course, casseroles.

Indulge me as I transform commercial curds into a hot and heavy cottage cheese dip, courtesy of a vintage James Beard recipe. Editor Joe Sevier joins the show to give us an education on cottage cheese brands, curd size, and other technical terms in the dairy category. And Leah Hammerman and I talk about cottage cheese’s fairest partner: nacho cheese Doritos. If you don’t know, now you know.

Right before New York City shut down this spring, Clay Williams joined me for a casserole lunch to talk about his work as a food photographer, his history with the James Beard Foundation, and Black Food Folks, a group he formed last year with Colleen Vincent to support and bring together people in the black food community.

Chef Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli of Don Angie make one of the most elegant casseroles in the land: rolled lasagna. They joined me on the Cream to talk about developing hit dishes, the casseroles of their childhoods, and their favorite restaurants in New York City. I also learned the secrets of their lasagna technique (take notes). I, in turn, serve them a veal cutlet and noodle casserole that’s unlikely to appear on the menu at Don Angie anytime soon.

Season 3 of the Cream will explore James Beard’s 1955 The Casserole Cookbook. Beard is one of the most important figures in American food history, and he believed that casseroles and their potential for creative improvisation elevated cooking to an art. This season, I’ll make Beard's old school, odd, and classic casseroles, starting with a stuffed beef heart, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

In an exclusive interview with Santa, we discuss how 2019’s biggest news stories have impacted his work, and he tells the Cream what snack-beverage combo he actually wants after shimmying down the chimney. Plus, Santa gives me the dirt on whether a few Cream regulars made the naughty or nice list this year ... and what the naughty list really means. We also preview my favorite holiday meal: Christmas breakfast with the Schramm Fam Ham Thing strata and Saucy Eggs.

Cheese, it’s what’s for dinner. Beth Ann Coulton joins the Cream from Murray’s Cheese, an 80-year-old New York institution. We talk about all things cheese: how to build a cheese board with character, the ideal casserole cheeses, what Swiss cheese really means (and how it gets its holes), and how to make two over-the-top, cheese-laden casseroles, perfect for the holiday season.

This summer, I read Sarah Porwoll’s poem, “All I Want,” in The New York Times. It’s about the perspective she gained after surviving breast cancer, a diagnosis she received at age 32. Sarah and I first met in college in 2002 and reunited on the Cream for her to tell her story and share some of the surprises that treatment and her body had in store for her. We talk about love, casserole, self-checks, and guilt. She tells a great waxing joke and reads a poem that's part mantra, part prayer for appreciating all the boring, seemingly insignificant things that happen in life.

Ted Lee, one half of The Lees Bros., grew up as an expat New Yorker in Charleston, South Carolina. He and his brother Matt documented Southern food stories and sold boiled peanuts for the past 25 years. On episode 18 of the Cream, we discuss Ted’s food upbringing, his favorites casseroles and cookbooks, and the future and history of the South’s diverse and expanding cuisine.

Daniel Geneen is co-host of Eater’s Digest podcast. He’s also Canadian, which is why I invited him to the Cream to talk about America’s best eating holiday. We discuss green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, industrial meat production, dating apps, the NYC stand-up comedy scene, and more. We also play a round of Thanksgiving trivia and sit down to eat three casseroles and a turkey party ball.

Lezli Levene Harvell’s work in food has made her into an unexpected activist. She joins the Cream to talk about her life as a mom, pediatric dentist, entrepreneur, and founder of the Iconoclast Dinner Experience, a culinary event series that celebrates chefs of color. Luckily, Lezli is also on the keto diet and avoided a microwave cheesy chicken tetrazzini disaster.

Let’s talk rum, on the menu and as a job. Bridget Firtle, owner and distiller at Owney’s Rum, and I talk about what it takes to make premium booze and grow a small business in New York City. You’ll also learn about Prohibition-era rum running and get specs for the perfect daiquiri, rum-soaked baked beans, and rum-laced tomatoes.

We’re getting weird for the Cream’s inaugural Halloween episode. Five friends brought over one mystery ingredient each to make a Frankencasserole. There was drama, a near poisoning, and back-stabbing in the confessional booth. Body parts were offered up. And we all learned one very important lesson.

Meet Alan Gilmer, AIDS activist, cyclist, Weight Watchers celeb, #1 Oprah fanboy, carpet salesman, and so much more. Over mac and cheese and stuffed acorn squash, Alan and I talk about how he met O, why he rides, and how many bagels he can eat while training. He also shares his alter ego Banessa’s political ambitions: win the presidency and end AIDS.

Cocktail and spirits writer Kara Newman joins me to talk about her latest books, Nightcap and Cocktails with a Twist. We also discuss what’s on her home bar and the worse drink she’s ever tasted. I also head to the State Fair of Texas, where I try a not-your-average funnel cake bacon queso burger. And I make a quiche and broccoli salad—with a few twists, of course.

It's autumn, and casserole season officially is upon us. Chef JJ Johnson joins me to talk about his newest restaurant, Field Trip, where rice and culture are at the center of the plate. I'll bake a sausage-wild rice casserole from the 1983 Southern Living Annual Recipes cookbook, and when things don't go quite as planned, the Casserole Doctor steps in to diagnose the problem. 

Casserole culture didn’t die in the 60s. Join me for season 2 of Cream of Caroline as we fast-forward to the 80s and the Southern Living 1983 Annual Recipes cookbook. The book is chock-full of microwave friendly meals, aspics, pork chop dinners, pea casseroles, holiday casseroles, oyster casseroles, casseroles for busy nights. Casseroles for DAYS. To kick off the season, I make salmon Florentine to confront my fear of canned salmon and dig deep into the Google-sphere to find the recipe’s author, Janet M. Filer of Arlington, Virginia.

It’s about to get spicy. Andre Springer—artist, entrepreneur, and drag performer—is a one queen show. For episode 10, we’re going to pour his Shaquanda’s Hot Pepper sauce all over chicken divan and macaroni pie. We’ll also talk about Barbadian food culture, the birth of Shaquanda, and growing his small business. Cream regular Sean Kenniff and I take a moronic chile challenge, and Hip Torres stops by for lunch with his mom’s pastellon.

Some experiments are more successful than others. Jack Schramm joins me for the frozen episode, in which I thaw a lifeless casserole and attempt to resuscitate it in the oven. Schramm, who’s head bartender of Existing Conditions, will share his precise approach to crafting drinks, what he’s most excited about on the bar scene, and how you can make a perfect 50/50 martini at home. Miss Hannah Greener will close out the episode with her public singing debut.

Episode 8 takes me back to my South Georgia roots. I made a big pot of Brunswick stew for a fellow Georgia native, Mavis Jay Sanders, with whom I talk about food injustice in America and her work to fight it as Operations Director of Brownsville Culinary Community Center. I also visit 341 Antiques in my hometown to get a lesson in Pyrex history.

Get ready for your very own casserole party. Erin Kanagy-Loux, executive pastry chef of Union Square Events, dishes on cooking for parties of 12 to 4,000 and how being a mom has influenced and impacted her career. My hometown entertaining hero, Elaine Tuten, gives her top tips on how to throw a successful party at home, and an apartment-ful of our closest friends come over to enjoy chicken strata and other vintage recipes.

How does casserole culture translate to Chinese cooking? Chef Lucas Sin and I get close-ish to an answer in episode 6. We also talk about his fast-casual, Northern Chinese cooking at Junzi Kitchen, the future of Chinese food, and the near universal appeal of cream of mushroom soup. Pinch Chinese Sommelier Miguel de Leon offers wine pairing recs (Pét-Nat, chilled Syrah, and skin contact white), and Lisa Elbert and Micah Fredman join us for a dinner of Chopstick Veal and Rice.

I’m talking with Sarah Thomas, an advanced sommelier and the visionary behind Kalamata’s Kitchen, a book series and brand that takes kids and families on cool food adventures. Sarah is also the daughter of Indian immigrants, and we’ll discuss how words are weaponized in America and how it feels for Sarah to hear the phrase, “Go back to where you came from.” Lunch is hot chicken salad stuffed into a bell peppers, and Matt Renskers is back for his sophomore edition of casserole reviews.

Relationship Hero Dating Coach Maggie O’Brien-Pappalardo is here to tell you: never feel insecure about where you are in your relationship status. There’s always more to learn. Join Caroline and Maggie as they discuss optimizing your online dating profile, keeping the the spark alive in your relationship, and more. Caroline will also share a flawed recipe for a rice ring with creamed chicken, and drop into Nitecap, a cocktail bar and Tinder date hot-spot, for a martini and advice from Bartender Ari Daskauskas.

Chef Alvin Cailan is in the house. On this carbo-loaded episode, we’ll talk Costco and minivan nostalgia, burgers, fresh coconut milk, and how to make it as a young cook. You’ll also get the recipes for Cailan’s grandma’s famous carbonara, along with the Vienna Egg Salad Sandwich and the Seven League Pizza Burger. Plus, Karen the robot will read listener submitted MadLibs. 

Heritage breed animals make for a great dinner and even better conversation. Enjoy tenderloin noodle treat while I chat with Photographer Aliza Eliazarov about San Clemente goats, staring into bison eyes, and, naturally, turkey sex. Lots of it. Sommelier Kilolo Strobert will join the party, bring the juice, and help you get comfy with wine. 

Hot dogs, hot dogs, hot dogs. We’re talking frank-filled casseroles, ham loaf, and modern punishments for nonviolent crimes with NYC Charcutier Fred Maurer (aka Hot Dog Boyfriend). You’ll also hear from the world’s foremost casserole reviewer, Matt Renskers, and a few gentlemen who come over to enjoy the feast. 

Welcome to Cream of Caroline, the world's premiere casserole lifestyle podcast. In this preview episode, host Caroline Hatchett shares the vintage inspiration for the podcast and what to expect in the weeks ahead: interviews, stories, booze, a recurring cast of characters, and, of course, casserole. Thanks for joining us on this hot and bubbly journey.