Simmer

Today is all about Chinese food. I’m joined by Linda Huang of The Hummingbird’s Kitchen, where she teaches folks in Bozeman how to cook authentic Chinese food and hosts pop-up dinners. Today, Linda and I talk all things Chinese cuisine - from how she got her start in Bozeman, to the regional differences of the cuisine, to stories from Linda’s childhood of how her family ate in the days before refrigeration, and the best breakfast she ever had. Download Episode Links: Check out Linda's website and sign up for a cooking class: https://www.thehummingbirdskitchen.com/ Music: http://purple-planet.com Thanks for listening! Do you ever get hangry? You know, the thing that happens when you’re really hungry and your lack of food makes you angry?! I am well acquainted with this phenomenon, and I want to hear your stories! Send me your hangry stories, telltale signs of hanger, or prevention tips either in the comment section of this episode, or submit your story on the contact page. You may hear your story featured anonymously on a future episode of Simmer! Speaking of which, you can use this contact page to submit all kinds of things like inquiries about being on the show or comments and suggestions for future episodes.

Enjoy as Merrill Warren, dedicated lasagna lover, and I talk about her history with lasagna, learn together how to make lasagna noodles from scratch, and test out a new twist on the lasagna making method. Welcome to the third episode of the Noodle Project. Today I’m with my friend Merrill, and we’re venturing back to Italy to learn how to make lasagna noodles. I asked Merrill to give me five words that reminded her of lasagna, and she said: home, mom, burnt edges, and family. I think a lot of us can relate. Lasagna is a common household dish in many American families, so it’s not surprising that Merrill has such strong ties to it. The origins of lasagna are largely contested, with some claiming that it originated in Great Britain in the 14th century, while others trace the word “lasagna” from the Greek word “laganon” which they consider the first known form of pasta in Ancient Greece. Laganon was similar to lasagna only in that it was a layered pasta dish, and it didn’t use many of the traditional italian ingredients that we usually associate with lasagna, such as tomatoes. Regardless of who originally created it, it has since become a global dish. I asked Merrill what is typically in her mom’s lasagna. After discussing Merrill's family ties to lasagna, we set out to make the noodles for our own lasagna. Today though, I had a trick up my sleeve: grilled lasagna. We laid out all the layering ingredients on the kitchen table and formed a circular assembly system, moving around the table in circles together. We grilled each lasagna packet on a medium-hot grill for ten minutes, then topped with ricotta and a mixture of chopped tomato and parsley. Links How to make lasagna noodles Grilled lasagna Sources: https://mybravoblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/the-history-of-lasagna/ http://plaza.ufl.edu/amrauwc/history.htmlhttps://www.thepauperedchef.com/article/the-disputed-origins-of-lasagna http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Italian_Eritrean_cuisinehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asmara Music: http://www.purple-planet.com http://www.pond5.com Download Episode

Download Episode A few weeks ago on Simmer we talked about where the chili pepper comes from and how it spread around the world. If you haven’t listened to the chili pepper episode, I’d recommend heading over there for a listen before continuing - it’s pretty short and sweet. When I was doing my chili pepper research, I came upon a website called A Spicy Quest. The website’s creator, Nithin Coca, was just as shocked as I was to learn that chilies came from South America rather than Asia, and decided to dig deeper into the story. I got in touch with Nithin and he’s joining me today to share the story of “A Spicy Quest” - a global, multimedia project to discover the untold story of the chili pepper and it’s unprecedented spread around the world. Nithin's Website Listen to the Simmer chili pepper episode here Music: http://www.purple-planet.com

Today I have Tammy Czapp on the show, owner of Stella Goods in Bozeman, MT. With the dream of someday opening a bed-and-breakfast, she taught herself how to make jam and started Stella Jams - a small jam operation that she sells in local farmers markets around the area. Tammy arrived at a career in food a rather roundabout way, and her jam business is only the start. Stella Goods Music: http://www.purple-planet.com www.polkamadre.com/ Recorded on Rob Weisberg's show 9/6/2008, Licensed under Creative Commons nc-sa-3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ 3.0 http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Freak_Fandango_Orchestra/Love_death_and_a_drunken_monkey/06_-_La_Polka_Del_Amor_live_at_ScannerFm

Welcome back to The Noodle Project! Last time, Adam and I used a pasta roller to make very precise tagliatelle noodles with a thickness of 3/8th of an inch. Today I’m with my friend Heidi Rogers, and we’re going back to the basics and the opposite side of the spectrum with a hand pulled Tibetan noodle dish called Thenthuk. Thenthuk is a noodle soup that comes from high up on the Tibetan plateau enjoyed by nomads and other Tibetan communities to keep warm during the long winters. The word thenthuk translates from Tibetan as “hand-pulled noodles”, with “then” meaning pull, and “thuk” meaning noodles. This dish attracted me because of its simplicity - the noodles are literally torn strips that are quickly tossed into noodle broth, and it reminds me of the comfort food that is chicken noodle soup because every family has their own unique recipe and way of making it. When Heidi came over to make noodles on a grey March evening, the simplicity of tearing noodles by hand coupled with the warm comfort of soup was exactly what I wanted. Download Episode

Download Episode Today we’re diving into the story of one of the most versatile fruits that has made its mark on countless cuisines around the world - the chili pepper. And yes, I said fruit. I’m not sure how the chili pepper escaped the heated fruit or vegetable debate that tomatoes are so famous for causing, but like the tomato, chilies may be treated like vegetables but are indeed the fruits of flowering plants. So where did chilies get their start, and how and when did they spread to become one of the most commonly used ingredients in the world? Today on Simmer - stick around as we unpack the story of the mighty chili pepper. Chili peppers come in hundreds of varieties, from smoky chipotle to flaming hot habaneros, sweet bell peppers and tiny but heat packed bird’s eye chiles. Other chilies you may have never heard of include wrinkle 273, the wonder hot, and mundu - all of which are types of red chilies produced in India. Speaking of India, chili peppers seem right at home in all sorts of asian cuisine, whether it’s ground into curry paste, chopped and sautéed in a noodle dish, or dried and used as pepper flakes. It’s hard to imagine then, that chilies have only been in the Old World since the 1500s. In case it’s been awhile since your last World History class, the Old World refers to Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were the parts of the world known to Europeans before contact with the Americas. The New World then - you guessed it - is referring to the Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas. So, chilies have only been in Asia since the 1500s?! Crazy, right? It blew my mind, too. What did the cuisines of Asia possibly look like before Southeast Asia had the chili paste Sambal Oelek, or before kimchi incorporated red pepper flakes?! Before chilies started their worldwide journey, the main ingredients for spicy food were expensive spices such as black pepper and sichuan pepper - both species that are not related to the chili pepper. You might be wondering, why is both the spice and the fruit called a pepper, if they’re not even the same species?! More later on who to thank for the confusing linguistic mess of the pepper spice versus the chili pepper. We know that the chili pepper is from the Americas, but where and when did it start? And how did it make its way to global food fame? The chili pepper - known to many by its latin name capsicum - has been present in the New World pretty much as long as civilizations have existed. Botanists have pinpointed the origins of the chili pepper to be in the mountains of Brazil and Bolivia, although the exact location has yet to be determined. The first wild chilies were small, red, and round, preferred more by birds than humans. With the help of both birds and indigenous people, this wild predecessor to the domestic chili pepper spread throughout South and Central America. The wild chili pepper was domesticated as early as 3500 BCE at least five times by at least five different groups of people in South America, leading to the five original domesticated species of Capsicum. To give you some context, the Ancient Greek civilization emerged around 800 BCE, some 2300 years after. When European explorers began arriving in the Americas in the 15th century, so began the trade routes between the Old World and the New, and many foods became popular commodities overseas. Potatoes, squash, and corn are just a few examples of other New World crops that became integrated into Old World diets. Christopher Columbus may not have actually been the one to discover North America, but he is credited with introducing the chili to Europe, while the Portuguese trade routes played a big role bringing it to the rest of the Old World. In classic Christopher Columbus fashion, he attempted to draw a comparison with the black pepper from India and called capsicums “the pepper of the Indies.” When I was doing research for this episode I found a book with the title “Pepper,” which turned out to be a history of the black pepper plant, such has the confusion between these two different peppers lasted until today. Thanks, Christopher Columbus. The arrival of the chili in Europe and other parts of the world brought a much needed shift in the economics of spices. Until this time, spices were rare and expensive, largely coming from India and South Asia with the black pepper plant at the core of the luxury spice market. The use of the chili pepper was quickly adopted into cuisines all over the world as a much more affordable option than black pepper. The chili pepper truly was the spice of the people. By now, we have discovered where the chili came from, how it physically spread so quickly to the rest of the world thanks to trade routes, and that it was quickly adopted by many because of its affordability. But wait, there’s more. One of the other reasons the chili spread so rapidly was its medicinal properties and health benefits. English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper wrote in 1652 that cayenne was a violent fruit that could “help digestion, provoke urine, relieve toothache, preserve the teeth from rottenness, comfort a cold stomach, expel the stone from the kidney, and take away the dimness of sight.” Even today we still see cayenne being used for medicinal or health purposes - ever heard of the cayenne pepper and lemon cleanse? Yeah, it’s a thing. The magical compound that has given rise to the variety of uses for the chili pepper? It’s called capsaicin, and it is one of the most prominent health aspects of the chili pepper. Although it is an irritant that has wreaked havoc on anyone who has rubbed their eyes after chopping jalapeños, it is for the same reason that many enjoy chilies. The consumption of capsaicin releases endorphins, which explains the thrill we may feel when eating spicy foods. No wonder there are so many ridiculous spicy food challenges! Capsaicin is also often used in ointment and rubs used for muscle and joint pain associated with arthritis. This little miracle compound also has antibacterial properties, and food cooked with chiles has the potential to keep longer without spoiling! Chili peppers are also rich in vitamin C, and contain a variety of other essential nutrients. Today, a quarter of the world’s population in countries all over the globe enjoy chilies on a daily basis. Just let that sink in for a second - one person out of every four on the planet eats chilies every day. They are found in all sorts of cuisines including Mexican, Jamaican, Ethiopian, South African, Korean, Chinese, and many many more. India is currently the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of chilies. Although around 90% of India’s chilies are consumed in country, they still manage to export 80-100,000 tons of chilies per year. Chilies are packed with flavor, they created a cheaper way to spice up dishes, and they have a variety of health benefits and medicinal uses. It’s no wonder the chili pepper is so popular! Because there are so many varieties, there is a flavor and spice level for almost everyone! What are some of your favorite chili pepper dishes? Check out my list below. That’s all for today on Simmer, I hope you enjoyed the story of the chili pepper. Thanks for listening! If you like this podcast, share it with your friends! You can also head on over to itunes to rate Simmer, and leave a review while you’re there. Every review will help Simmer to grow. What food are you interested in learning about? Let me know on the contact page. Untiil next time, Simmer on! My favorite recipes with chilies: Kimchi stew Josh's (brother) Pulled Pork Tacos - Dishing Up Washington by Jess Thomson (sister) - blog here Butter Chicken Coconut Curry Noodle Soup Sources History http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmexican.html#chile Bosland, P.W. 1996. Capsicums: Innovative uses of an ancient crop. p. 479-487. In: J. Janick (ed.), Progress in new crops. ASHS Press, Arlington, VA. https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/V3-479.html#HISTORY http://www.chileplanet.eu/Origin-story.html http://www.legalnomads.com/history-chili-peppers/ Health Benefits http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/chili-peppers.html http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/chili-peppers.html India http://www.agrocrops.com/red-dry-chillies.php Are Chilies Fruits? http://www.pepperscale.com/what-is-a-chili-pepper/ Music: http://www.purple-planet.com

Download Episode Let’s talk about noodles. With the winning combination of flour and liquid at the core of every noodle, they show up in countless cuisines around the world. From the dozens of pasta varieties in Italy to rice noodles of Vietnam, to the soba and ramen noodles of Japan, it’s a wonder how something with such humble ingredients could take so many different forms! I recently read the book “On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta” in which author Jen Lin-Liu travels along the Silk Road, searching for the evolution of the noodle from east to west. After salivating at the turn of every page, I had an idea. What if I made 2017 my year noodles and learned about this versatile culinary creation in its many different forms? Better yet, what if I learned about and made each type of noodle with a different person?! Welcome to the Noodle Project. In this series, I will arm myself with a new noodle recipe each episode, invite a friend over, and we will learn about and make the noodles together. Simmer was created to discover the connection between food and people, and this year, The Noodle Project will explore the connections we have with each other and the world around us. For the first noodle, I wanted to start with something simple and relatively familiar. I decided on tagliatelle, a long egg noodle about a quarter to a third of an inch wide that originates in the Bologna region of northern Italy.There’s something so sexy about the rich yellow color and the silky texture of this type of pasta, and I was excited to try my hand at making it. I invited my friend Adam Paccione over to make tagliatelle with me. Adam is originally from New York state, but he moved to Bozeman a few years ago and now co-owns a popular pizza joint called Red Tractor. To learn more about Red Tractor go to http://www.redtractorpizza.com/ On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta: https://www.amazon.com/Noodle-Road-Beijing-Rome-Pasta/dp/159448726X Tagiatelle Recipe:  http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-fresh-pasta-from-scratch-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn- Bolognese Recipe: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Anna-Nannis-Ragu-alla-Bolognese Sources: http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/topic_id/16/id/20/7 https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2016/oct/11/spag-bol-and-other-crimes-against-ragu-alla-bolognese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagliatelle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolognese_sauce Music: http://www.purple-planet.com

Download Episode Welcome back to Simmer - Stories to chew on! I'm your host, Allison Howe. Each episode of Simmer will highlight a different story or theme centered around food, because food connects us all and everyone has a story. Today we'll hear from Bozeman restauranteur Steve Kuntz about his journey in the restaurant world and why he loves what he does. From bringing oysters and other quality seafood to Bozeman, Montana, to the endless quest for creating the perfect ceviche, Steve shares his thoughts on what food and eating mean to him. Steve is the co-owner of Feast Raw Bar and Bistro that opened up in Bozeman a little over a year ago. He’s on the podcast today to share his own food story in the restaurant world. Check out Feast here! Music: http://www.purple-planet.com

Download Episode Hi everyone, welcome to Simmer - stories to chew on. I'm your host, Allison Howe. In this podcast, we'll showcase different stories about food every episode, because food connects us all and everyone has a story. Thank you for joining me on this first episode of Simmer. I'm so excited to be starting this podcast! When I first came up with the idea to start a podcast, I knew I wanted to create a space to talk about what I love: food! I love cooking, eating, and the connection that comes with sharing food. The other night, I was having dinner with some friends and I challenged them to think of a popular food that they don't particularly care for, in other words, what food that is considered objectively delicious in your culture do you dislike? My answer was salad. To be fair, I'll eat salad, but I usually won't eat it at home, and I definitely need a hard sell to order it at a restaurant. I always get a pretty strong reaction when I announce my tumultuous relationship with salad, and I started to wonder why that is. Food choices can be incredibly polarizing, whether we're engaging in a vegetarian versus meat-eaters debate, or when the news of an allergy shocks us. Today, I wanted to start off by chatting with my good friend Kelly about this topic. My hope for Simmer is to start conversations about things that are of interest to me or that I'm curious about with regards to food. Kelly and I sat down the other night and managed to dig up some perspective on this question. Enjoy! Music: http://www.purple-planet.com