Podcast appearances and mentions of Francis Lam

What baking beliefs can you do without? Nicole Rucker rekindled her love for baking by tinkering with her favorite recipes and eliminating the fuss Gabriela Glueck visits the "Torture Orchard," where California's nut trees are pushed to the brink so they can withstand the curveballs thrown by climate change Nasim Alikhani spent decades working various jobs before realizing her calling — opening a restaurant to showcase the food of Iran Evan Kleiman recalls the crazy ride of the 1980s LA restaurant scene with Francis Lam, host of The Splendid Table Often overlooked among springtime greens, chef Dashiell Nathanson is anything but sorry to use sorrel in his cafe dishes Sign up for our weekly Good Food newsletter!

Hey Smash Boom Besties! Today we're bringing you an extra special episode from our sister podcast Forever Ago! You'll remember debater Joy Dolo from so many debates including the spooky Ghosts vs. Zombies and the hilarious Halloween Candy Grab Bag. Turns out, Joy also made an entire Forever Ago episode about her one true nemesis – MAYONNAISE! Joy faces down her least favorite food to learn about the origins of this very popular condiment, and co-host Maya calls in Splendid Table's Francis Lam to help Joy open her mind to mayo. Plus, a gloopy game of First Things First!We'll be back next week with a brand-new debate – Frankenstein's Monster vs. Frosty the Snowman. Until then, enjoy this special episode of Forever Ago!This week's sponsor:Help your kids learn to earn, save, spend wisely, and invest with Greenlight, the debit card and money app for teens. Visit Greenlight.com/inclined.Also… do you have your Smarty Pass yet? Get yours today for just $5/month (or $45/year) and get bonus episodes every month, and ad-free versions of every episode of Brains On, Smash Boom Best, Moment of Um and Forever Ago. Visit www.smartypass.org to get your Smarty Pass today. As an added bonus, your Smarty Pass will grant you access to a super special debate starring Sanden and Molly!

Host Joy Dolo loves the listeners of Forever Ago – but does she love them enough to do an episode about her nemesis MAYONNAISE??? Yes, yes she does. Joy faces down her least favorite food to learn about the origins of this very popular condiment, and co-host Maya calls in Splendid Table's Francis Lam to help Joy open her mind to mayo. Plus, a gloopy game of First Things First!This episode is brought to you by Greenlight! Help your kids learn to earn, save, spend wisely, and invest with Greenlight, the debit card and money app for teens. Visit Greenlight.com/inclined.

This podcast episode is part of Afar, A Retrospective. As part of Afar's 15-year anniversary celebration, this episode from our sister podcast, Travel Tales by Afar, was selected as one of our favorites. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do—and stay tuned for more archival Travel Tales episodes from September - December 2024. Explore more of our favorite stories over the years at afar.com/fifteen. A pet orangutan, a 106-year-old grandma, and a wedding where 10,000 guests were fed. When writer and host of NPR's The Splendid Table, Francis Lam, heard stories from his friend Azalalina Eusope about her life in Penang, Malaysia, he couldn't help but marvel at them.   But when the San Francisco-based chef (who has served Barack Obama and the Malaysian prime minister) invites Francis to come home with her after a decade away, he discovers the complex family dynamics that underpin her stories—and the ways that food can bind even the most complicated families.  Five Generations of Street Vendors  In this episode, explore: What it's like to visit street vendors in Penang, Malaysia   How a fine-dining chef recreates traditional Malaysian dishes    Some of the food traditions of the Mamak people in Malaysia  Remaking the Past with Laksa Don't miss these transformative moments:  [04:09] Star anise and curry: Rediscovering Malaysia's comforts.  [08:42] The sights, smells and salts of Penang's street food scene.   [10:04] “I felt so gross for having my notebook with me.” A bittersweet homecoming.  Time Travel Through Tripe Salad As a teen, Azalina Eusope vowed she wouldn't follow in the footsteps of the four generations of Mamak street vendors that came before her. In this episode, the San-Francisco based, Malaysian chef returns home with writer and host of NPR's The Splendid Table, Francis Lam. Together, they discover how cooking Malaysian dishes does more than preserve her culture—it grants her the power to reclaim it.  Resources:  Read Francis' original story on afar.com Follow Francis Lam on Instagram  Dine at Azalina's in San Francisco Check out NPR's The Splendid Table

The early registration discount for Design Your Life in Retirement ends on August 15th. Register here ______________________ If you're pondering early retirement, have you considered another option? For some people a sabbatical offers an an opportunity to recharge, reflect and to experience a new adventure. Steve Hoffman's book A Season for That details the experience of an extended leave with his family in a winemaking village in France. It may inspire you to imagine what a sabbatical experience may do for you. While your vision for a sabbatical may be quite different, you'll be interested in hearing what he learned from it - and how it's shaping his ideas about retirement. Steve Hoffman joins us from Minnesota. _______________________ Mentioned in This Episode The Sabbatical Project | Inspiration for the Experience of a Lifetime _______________________ Bio Steve Hoffman is a Minnesota tax preparer and food writer. When he dies, the tax-preparer-food-writer industry will die with him. He is a French speaker and shameless Francophile. His writing has won multiple awards, including the 2019 James Beard M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. He has been published in Food & Wine, The Washington Post, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Artful Living magazine. His first book, A Season for That: Lost and Found in the Other Southern France, published in July 2024, edited by Francis Lam. It is the story of his family's gradual (then precipitous) acceptance into a tiny winemaking village, of his bottom-up education in Mediterranean food and wine, and of a hard-won self-acceptance in mid-life. Hoffman shares one acre on Turtle Lake, in Shoreview, Minnesota, with his wife, Mary Jo, their elderly and entitled puggle, Jack, roughly 80,000 honeybees, and a nesting pair of sandhill cranes who summer in the back yard. _______________________ For More on Steve Hoffman A Season for That: Lost and Found in the Other Southern France Website _______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Practicing Retirement STILL – Mary Jo Hoffman Inward Traveler – Francine Toder PhD _______________________ Wise Quotes On Investments for Retirement "I would wish on behalf of my clients that they started spending their money a little bit earlier in a lot of cases. Money is a means not an end. It's very easy to slide that over into the 401k and you're watching that grow and it seems as if you're accomplishing something that's more or less automated. And there can be a form of losing sight of other important things that are really also investments, if you think about family, if you think about friendships, and if you think about skills that are outside of work. Those are investments too, and they have an ROI, and they pay off later and they require a certain amount of deferred gratification, but they're in many ways as important. But I do think that those other things are more intangible, they're harder to put a price tag on." On Seasons of Life "And when you live in wine country you realize not every vintage is better than the last vintages. There are good vintages and bad vintages, but they come around every single year, and you live your life there by saying, Okay, this is the season for the harvest, this is all we do right now, this is what this part of the world is offering us, and we have no choice but to do this because this is what the season tells us we need to do. And if that leads to a bad vintage, that's okay, you did your best. And then that same harvest is going to come around next year, and you're going to give it another effort. So I just found it a really refreshing way of looking at life. And then there is an additional element to that which is that there are sort of seasons of the year, but then there are seasons of a life. And there are times when you need to be a parent, and you can't do other things that you might like to...

Today, we're sharing an episode from our friends at “The Splendid Table.” “The Splendid Table” has been celebrating the intersection of food and life for more than two decades and is hosted by award-winning food writer Francis Lam.This week, the show features two guests that will get you excited about cooking and baking. First, New York Times food desk reporter Priya Krishna tells us about her food writing career, building connections through her stories and travels and her most recent book, Priya's Kitchen Adventures: A Cookbook for Kids. In her book, she draws recipes from different cuisines worldwide and tells us what working with kids as recipe testers was like. She leaves us with a recipe for Life Changing Udon. Then, Baker Yossy Arefi talks us through what it takes to make delicious and simple baking recipes. She talks about making desserts without occasion and finding freedom in combining flavors in her recipes, like her delicious Pink Cookie Bars with cardamom and almond cream cheese frosting. Plus, she sticks around to answer your baking questions. Yossy Arefi's latest book is Snacking Bakes, Simple Recipes for Cookies, Bars, Brownies, Cakes, and More.  If you'd like to hear more episodes of “The Splendid Table” you can learn more at splendidtable.org and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

In this bite-sized episode, we share delicious moments about the best things we ate this week to inspire each other – and you! You'll want to make this deeply flavorful caramelized scallion sauce and find out what to use it for, and you'll also discover a surprising gluten-free ingredient that shows up in a classic coffee cake recipe! Tune in for a quick dose of home cooking inspiration! ***Links to from this week's show:Caramelized scallion sauce by Francis Lam via NYT Cooking How to make crispy fried shallots from Hot Thai KitchenSonya's tahini coffee cake recipeGluten-free teff coffee cake coming soon to the Maskal Teff recipe library Teff flour from Maskal TeffWe love hearing from you — follow us on Instagram @foodfriendspod, or drop us a line at foodfriendspod@gmail.com! Sign up for Sonya's free Substack, or order her debut cookbook Braids for more Food Friends recipes!

Koreaworld is here! It's a new cookbook from Deuki Hong and TASTE's Matt Rodbard, and this week we are looking at the modern Korean food movement from all angles. To kick things off, we are catching up with Francis Lam, editor in chief of Clarkson Potter and host of The Splendid Table. Francis is Deuki and Matt's longtime editor, and he speaks about how they collaborated on the book. We also hear about Francis's journey through journalism, including working in TV, in radio, and at the legendary Gourmet magazine. It's great having Francis in the studio.The Koreaworld crew is hosting book release events in New York City (April 24), Los Angeles (May 4), San Francisco (May 10), and many other cities. Check out all the cities and dates. See you out there!Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Francis Lam hosts the 2023 pre-recorded edition of our popular Thanksgiving show. Francis is joined by special guests chef Kristen Kish, Top Chef's newest judge, Dan Pelosi aka “Grossy Pelosi” the exuberant author of Let's Eat, 101 Recipes to Fill Your Heart and Home, Michigan chef and award-winning writer Abra Berens author of Pulp, A Practical Guide to Cooking with Fruit, and Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby CakesBroadcast dates for this episode:November 23, 2023

The holiday shopping season kicks off this week with Black Friday, and American shoppers are expected to spend a record amount, particularly in online sales. Consumer spending keeps the U.S. economy humming, making up 70% of the country’s gross domestic product. But it wasn’t always this way. On the show today, Cornell economic historian Louis Hyman gives us a history lesson on how the American economy became dependent on the consumer, why that change has created serious environmental consequences, and whether there are alternatives to the consumer-driven economy we know today. Plus, what it all has to do with the Salem witch trials. Then, a federal appeals court decision could significantly weaken the Voting Rights Act. We’ll get into the economic implications of the ruling and how it could play out in the Supreme Court. Plus: Oh, how the mighty crypto kings fall. Later, we'll hear listener suggestions for signature state cocktails. And food journalist Francis Lam was wrong about what was on the menu at the first Thanksgiving. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Ringing in the holiday shopping season with low consumer sentiment” from Marketplace “A Brief History of Consumer Culture” from The MIT Press Reader “Frank Trentmann: How Humans Became ‘Consumers'” from The Atlantic “U.S. Economy Grew a Strong 4.9%, Driven by Consumer Spree That May Not Last” from The Wall Street Journal “Appeals court strikes down key tool used to enforce Voting Rights Act” from CNN Politics “Federal appeals court ruling threatens enforcement of the Voting Rights Act” from Politico “Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Agrees to Step Down, Plead Guilty” from The Wall Street Journal “What Was Eaten at the First Thanksgiving?” from History We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

The holiday shopping season kicks off this week with Black Friday, and American shoppers are expected to spend a record amount, particularly in online sales. Consumer spending keeps the U.S. economy humming, making up 70% of the country’s gross domestic product. But it wasn’t always this way. On the show today, Cornell economic historian Louis Hyman gives us a history lesson on how the American economy became dependent on the consumer, why that change has created serious environmental consequences, and whether there are alternatives to the consumer-driven economy we know today. Plus, what it all has to do with the Salem witch trials. Then, a federal appeals court decision could significantly weaken the Voting Rights Act. We’ll get into the economic implications of the ruling and how it could play out in the Supreme Court. Plus: Oh, how the mighty crypto kings fall. Later, we'll hear listener suggestions for signature state cocktails. And food journalist Francis Lam was wrong about what was on the menu at the first Thanksgiving. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Ringing in the holiday shopping season with low consumer sentiment” from Marketplace “A Brief History of Consumer Culture” from The MIT Press Reader “Frank Trentmann: How Humans Became ‘Consumers'” from The Atlantic “U.S. Economy Grew a Strong 4.9%, Driven by Consumer Spree That May Not Last” from The Wall Street Journal “Appeals court strikes down key tool used to enforce Voting Rights Act” from CNN Politics “Federal appeals court ruling threatens enforcement of the Voting Rights Act” from Politico “Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Agrees to Step Down, Plead Guilty” from The Wall Street Journal “What Was Eaten at the First Thanksgiving?” from History We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

If San Giving, aka Thanksgiving, isn't the mashiest American holiday of all, we'd be pressed to think of anything else that even comes close. It's when American culinary traditions (turkey, stuffing) combine with those of our families (kimchi, tortillas) to be that rare holiday that seems to belong to everyone. So as a nod to Thanksgiving and all the different ways we celebrate, we're revisiting a conversation we had in 2017 with our friend Francis Lam - cookbook editor and writer extraordinaire. It's a good one from the archives that reminds us that while some things may change, Thanksgiving's always the same. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Topic: Just a few days away from Thanksgiving festivities, we will share a few last-minute tips, dive into a Craig Claiborne Thanksgiving story, and share a conversation with Francis Lam - the host of Splendid Table and Turkey Confidential, which airs on MPB Thanksgiving morning at 9 am.Host(s): Malcolm White, Carol Palmer, and Java ChatmanGuest(s): Craig Claiborne, and Francis LamEmail: food@mpbonline.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Referenced in this episode:The Silkiest Pasta Sauce From Any Veg You've Got (Food52)Pasta With Silkiest Eggplant Sauce from Francis LamGenius  Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You CookGenius-Hunter Extra-Credit:Tune into Francis' various episodes on The Splendid Table PodcastSpecial thanks to listeners Devangi and Karen! Have a genius recipe you'd like to share? Tell us all about it at genius@food52.com.

Splendid Table's Francis Lam reveals what local dishes he's excited to try when he's in Hawaiʻi; Contributing Editor Neal Milner discusses the limits of a new drug approved to treat Alzheimer's disease; a Big Island abalone farmer discusses developing the local market; and a local author talks making chocolate in Hawaiʻi

Francis Lam is a James Beard Award-winning writer, cookbook editor, and the host of the radio show, The Splendid Table. This week we talk to him about the difficulty of putting words to the page, eating Chrissy Teigen's scalloped potatoes, and how he hosts his friends at home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Each week on Good Food, host Evan Kleiman speaks to experts in their field of food, interjecting with personal anecdotes. Francis Lam turns the tables and invites Kleiman to share her experiences — from her considerable shyness, hearing men talking about food other than barbecue for the first time on a train in Italy, and her beloved restaurant, Angeli Caffe, on Melrose. Evan Kleiman is Lam's guest on “The Splendid Table.” Also, market correspondent Ben Mims catches up with Francesco Lucatorto of Ceci's Gastronomia as he shops for Swiss chard.

Francis Lam has invited himself onto The One Recipe, and we're so glad he did! This week, he tells Jesse about what it felt like the first time his writing was published, why it's nice to not be beholden to tradition, and his One: Linguine with clams (and parsley, if you're up for it.)  Francis Lam is a journalist, the editor-in-chief at Clarkson Potter, and the host of The Splendid Table. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter @francis_lam. Help support The One Recipe, and shows from APM Studios that bring people together, with a donation of any amount today.

There are around 300,000 Thai Americans but almost 5,000 Thai restaurants in the United States. To understand how Thai restaurants became so ubiquitous in the US, we dive into the history of how Thai cuisine arrived in the US before Thai immigrants started to arrive in large numbers, and how Thai Americans capitalized on the popularity of their food to find their niche in the US economy. I'm joined in this episode by Associate Professor of Asian and Asian American Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Dr. Mark Padoongpatt, author of Flavors of Empire: Food and the Making of Thai America. Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Thai chef Salapirom Phanita, from Pattaya Marriot hotel catering, prepares food in the forward-deployed amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga's (LSD 46) galley during a cooking exchange with U.S. Navy chefs as a part of exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Thailand 2013. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Amanda S. Kitchner/Released).” Please consider a donation to the Thai Community Development Center. Additional Sources: “How Thai food took over America,” by Francis Lam, The Splendid Table, January 10, 2019. “The Surprising Reason that There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in America,” by Myles Karp, Vice, March 29, 2018. “Jet Tila on the Evolution of Thai Food in America,” by Gowri Chandra, Food and Wine, April 27, 2018. “Thai Food, Constructed and Deconstructed,” by Raegen Pietrucha, UNLV News Center, September 19, 2019. “The Decades-Long Evolution of Thai Cuisine in Los Angeles,” by Jean Trinhm KCET, December 12, 2018. “Thai Cusine's Right Time and Place,” by Mimi Sheraton, New York Times, May 20, 1981. “Pad Thai Diplomacy,” by Savannah Wallace, Medium, August 9, 2020. “You Call This Thai Food? The Robotic Taster Will Be the Judge,” by Thomas Fuller, New York Times, September 28, 2014. “The Oddly Autocratic Roots of Pad Thai,” by Alex Mayyasi, Atlas Obscura, November 7, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judith Jones of Knopf was one of the most legendary editors around. Not only did she shepherd Julia Child's masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, early in her career, but she also rescued The Diary of Anne Frank from the slush pile as a young assistant in the Paris office of Doubleday. Host Kerry Diamond talks to Julia's Fiona Glascott, who plays Judith, and Judith Light, who plays Judith's boss, the imperious Blanche Knopf. In the second half of the show, Francis Lam, cookbook expert, editor in chief of Clarkson Potter, and host of The Splendid Table, talks about the realities of being an editor today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Francis Lam hosts the 2021 pre-recorded edition of our popular Thanksgiving show. Francis is joined by special guests Cheryl Day, Pati Jinich, J.Kenji Lopez-Alt, David Chang, and Priya Krishna to answer your pre-recorded questions. Broadcast dates for this episode: November 25, 2021

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. Feel free to pause, jump back, or navigate the steps via the podcast chapters.If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today; go ahead and grab the ingredients below (Francis starts listing them at 3:17), and start the episode when you're ready to cook.Chinese American Thanksgiving Meatballs2 tablespoons vegetable oil1 bunch scallion, finely chopped7 cloves garlic, very finely minced1/4 pound stemmed fresh shiitake mushrooms, medium diceDiamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more as needed2 tablespoons oyster sauce1 tablespoon sesame oil2 tablespoons sugar1 bunch scallion, finely chopped7 cloves garlic, very finely minced1 pound ground turkey1/2 pound ground porkSauce3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil4 teaspoons peeled, finely minced ginger (from 1 1/2-inch piece)1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoesSear mushrooms: Heat the vegetable oil over high heat in a large saute pan. When the oil is shimmering-hot, carefully add the mushrooms and spread them out into one layer as best you can. Let sear, undisturbed, until richly browned, about 1 minute. Toss, spread out again, and let sear for another minute. Remove mushrooms from heat, season with salt to taste, and transfer to a medium bowl to cool. Mix marinade: In a small bowl, combine the oyster sauce, sesame oil, 4 teaspoons sugar, 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and the chicken stock. Mix aromatics: Add ½ cup of the chopped scallion and 3 cloves of finely minced garlic to the bowl with the mushrooms and stir to combine. Make meatball mixture: Place the turkey and pork in a large mixing bowl and gently fold them together with your hands to start to combine. Pour in the marinade. Hold the fingers of one hand apart, as if holding a softball. Using that hand, stir the meat in one direction to mix in the marinade, being sure to agitate all the meat. When the meat has absorbed all the liquid and the mixture has gotten a bit sticky or tacky, stop. Add the mushroom mixture and gently fold to combine. Cover and let marinate for up to 4 hours. Make sauce: Set aside 2 tablespoons of scallions for garnish. In a Dutch oven or other large, lidded braising pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until you see the first wisps of smoke. Add 4 cloves of minced garlic and stir until very aromatic, about 15 seconds. Add the ginger and stir until very aromatic, about 15 seconds. Add the remaining scallions and stir for 15 seconds. Add the can of tomatoes, bring it to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Season with 2 teaspoons sugar and salt to taste. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Form and cook meatballs: Meanwhile, use a large soup spoon to scoop up the meat mixture and using your hands, very lightly pat out 1 1/2-inch diameter meatballs. Set them on a plate. (You should have about 24 meatballs). After the sauce has simmered for 15 minutes, remove the lid and gently add the meatballs in one layer. Adjust heat to a bare simmer and cover the pot. Let poach / steam until the meatballs are just cooked through, 10-12 minutes. Serve: Garnish with the reserved scallions and serve.Is there a Food52 recipe you'd like to hear us make? Email it to us at podcasts@food52.com.Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. Feel free to pause, jump back, or navigate the steps via the podcast chapters.If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today; go ahead and grab the ingredients below (Francis starts listing them at 3:17), and start the episode when you're ready to cook.Chinese American Thanksgiving Meatballs2 tablespoons vegetable oil1 bunch scallion, finely chopped7 cloves garlic, very finely minced1/4 pound stemmed fresh shiitake mushrooms, medium diceDiamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more as needed2 tablespoons oyster sauce1 tablespoon sesame oil2 tablespoons sugar1 bunch scallion, finely chopped7 cloves garlic, very finely minced1 pound ground turkey1/2 pound ground porkSauce3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil4 teaspoons peeled, finely minced ginger (from 1 1/2-inch piece)1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoesSear mushrooms: Heat the vegetable oil over high heat in a large saute pan. When the oil is shimmering-hot, carefully add the mushrooms and spread them out into one layer as best you can. Let sear, undisturbed, until richly browned, about 1 minute. Toss, spread out again, and let sear for another minute. Remove mushrooms from heat, season with salt to taste, and transfer to a medium bowl to cool. Mix marinade: In a small bowl, combine the oyster sauce, sesame oil, 4 teaspoons sugar, 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and the chicken stock. Mix aromatics: Add ½ cup of the chopped scallion and 3 cloves of finely minced garlic to the bowl with the mushrooms and stir to combine. Make meatball mixture: Place the turkey and pork in a large mixing bowl and gently fold them together with your hands to start to combine. Pour in the marinade. Hold the fingers of one hand apart, as if holding a softball. Using that hand, stir the meat in one direction to mix in the marinade, being sure to agitate all the meat. When the meat has absorbed all the liquid and the mixture has gotten a bit sticky or tacky, stop. Add the mushroom mixture and gently fold to combine. Cover and let marinate for up to 4 hours. Make sauce: Set aside 2 tablespoons of scallions for garnish. In a Dutch oven or other large, lidded braising pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until you see the first wisps of smoke. Add 4 cloves of minced garlic and stir until very aromatic, about 15 seconds. Add the ginger and stir until very aromatic, about 15 seconds. Add the remaining scallions and stir for 15 seconds. Add the can of tomatoes, bring it to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Season with 2 teaspoons sugar and salt to taste. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Form and cook meatballs: Meanwhile, use a large soup spoon to scoop up the meat mixture and using your hands, very lightly pat out 1 1/2-inch diameter meatballs. Set them on a plate. (You should have about 24 meatballs). After the sauce has simmered for 15 minutes, remove the lid and gently add the meatballs in one layer. Adjust heat to a bare simmer and cover the pot. Let poach / steam until the meatballs are just cooked through, 10-12 minutes. Serve: Garnish with the reserved scallions and serve.Is there a Food52 recipe you'd like to hear us make? Email it to us at podcasts@food52.com.Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Francis Lam is a classically trained chef, long time food journalist and cookbook editor and has hosted the Splendid Table since 2017, for which he has won many awards including four James Beard Awards. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

“Literally all pasta shapes are wonderful except bucatini. Bucatini can go get effed.” Francis Lam's strongly-worded tweet inspired Dan to organize a live event in 2018, where he, Francis (host of The Splendid Table), and Evan Kleiman (host of Good Food) could debate the merits of various pasta shapes. It was called “The Bucatini Dialogues” — and yes, it was the night when Dan first announced his intention to invent a new pasta shape. But now, for the first time, we're airing the rest of that conversation. We cover a range of shapes and tackle the tough questions, like: Why would you ever use a penne without ridges? Is there a time and a place for overcooked pasta? And what's the best approach to eating a bowl of ramen? // Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL). Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Referenced in this episode:The Silkiest Pasta Sauce From Any Veg You've Got (Food52)Pasta With Silkiest Eggplant Sauce from Francis LamGenius  Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You CookGenius-Hunter Extra-Credit:Tune into Francis' various episodes on The Splendid Table PodcastSpecial thanks to listeners Devangi and Karen! Have a genius recipe you'd like to share? Tell us all about it at genius@food52.com.

After months of revisions, Dan thinks he’s got his shape. But he’s been working on this for so long, he’s not sure he knows what’s good anymore. So he brings in an all-star panel of taste testers, including Sohla El-Waylly, Francis Lam, Dorie Greenspan, Christopher Kimball, Claire Saffitz, Jet Tila, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Then J. Kenji López-Alt, Justin Warner, and Samin Nosrat help Dan pick a name for his shape before, finally, it’s production day!  The shape is on sale right now! Get it at Sfoglini, and use promo code SPORKFUL for 15% off your whole order.  Want to see photos and videos from Dan’s journey? Follow @thesporkful on Instagram! // Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL). Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Our friends a Transmitter Media have a body-positive and unapologetically food-positive show that is about breaking up with diet culture. Host Virgie Tovar talks to amazing ‘rebel eaters’ who will change the way you think about food and your body. Their second season just launched and features great conversations with guests like Francis Lam from The Splendid Table, as well as fascinating stories about why we eat what we eat. Listen now in your favorite podcast app or at rebeleatersclub.com

Virgie and Francis explore the connections between diet culture and food shame for immigrants to the US, and Virgie discovers what the Chinese Exclusion Act, chop suey palaces, and Chinese-owned laundromats have in common. Join the club by visiting rebeleatersclub.com to download your starter pack!

Carla Capalbo traveled extensively throughout the nation of Georgia gathering stories and recipes for her gorgeous new book, Tasting Georgia. She explains to Francis Lam the many dishes you're likely to find on a Georgian feast table, and some of the rituals you can expect to take part in. The French dish of pot au feu is an easy, homey one-pot dish that can be made while hosting a party or doing other chores around the house. Justin Spring is the author of The Gourmands' Way; he talks with contributor Melissa Clark about the homey dish, and how it can be stretched into a full week of meals. Rev. Bill Golderer expounds upon the life-affirming power of an invitation. Lisa McManus is the head of ingredient and equipment testing for America's Test Kitchen; she tells us about some of her favorite kitchen tools for home cooks taking a cue from restaurant kitchens. Plus, in this week's new video, Lynne Rossetto Kasper discusses the five foods that define her as a cook and curious eater. Broadcast dates for this episode: December 8, 2017 (originally aired) December 21, 2018 (rebroadcast) December 11, 2020 (rebroadcast)

Francis Lam hosts the 2020 pre-recorded edition of our popular Thanksgiving show. Francis is joined by special guests Samin Nosrat, Chef Michael Solomonov, Jacques Pépin, Nora McInerny, and Sohla El-Waylly to answer your pre-recorded questions. Broadcast dates for this episode: November 26, 2020

On Play Me A Recipe, hear your favorite cooks slice, stir, and sauté their way through a recipe—and you'll be right their with them, every step of the way. First up: The Splendid Table host Francis Lam makes turkey meatballs inspired by his Chinese American upbringing, teenage angst, and Pizza Hut.Subscribe here so you don’t miss out.  

On Play Me A Recipe, hear your favorite cooks slice, stir, and sauté their way through a recipe—and you'll be right there with them, every step of the way. First up: The Splendid Table host Francis Lam makes turkey meatballs inspired by his Chinese American upbringing, teenage angst, and Pizza Hut.Subscribe here so you don’t miss out.  

Inspired in part by Cantonese tomato-fried eggs, teenage angst, and Pizza Hut, Francis' turkey meatballs are seasoned with oyster sauce and sesame oil,  mixed until bouncy, and poached in a ginger-garlic-scallion (aka G.G.S.) sauce. Here's the recipe: Chinese American Thanksgiving Meatballs.Is there a Food52 recipe you'd like to hear us make? Email it to us at podcasts@food52.com.

Play Me a Recipe is hosted by a rotating cast, including Food52 co-founder Amanda Hesser, Genius hunter Kristen Miglore, editorial lead Brinda Ayer, and senior editor Arati Menon. To kick the show off, we're passing the spatula to eight special guest-hosts so they can share the recipes that have been special to them and their families each holiday season.

Francis Lam and guests explore the cuisines of the Black Sea, Thailand, Haiti, Milwaukee, and beyond.

Francis Lam, a writer and host of NPR's Splendid Table, discovers the island’s multicultural flavors when he joins a Malaysia-born San Francisco chef for a bittersweet homecoming. Like what you hear? Please rate and review the podcast! It helps other travelers find the show. If you want to dine with Azalina, order takeout at Azalina's or Mahila tonight. Though COVID-19 has stalled many travel plans, we hope our stories can offer inspiration for your future adventures—and a bit of hope. Find more information at afar.com/traveltales.

This week is all about bees. We talk to Thor Hanson, author of Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees, about the importance of bees to our food supply, as well as their connection to the evolution of plants and humans. Francis Lam gets the story of Brooklyn’s red bees and other urban tales of beekeeping from Andrew Coté. Bridget Lancaster, host of America’s Test Kitchen, has flavorful tips for cooking with honey. And bee researcher Bernardo Niño discusses what makes a healthy bee colony and takes us inside the mysterious of colony collapse disorder. Francis also talks with listeners about using and preserving habanero peppers, and why cocoa powder is often included in Sicilian caponata recipes. Broadcast dates for this episode: August 24, 2018 (originally aired) August 16, 2019 (rebroadcast) August 07, 2020 (rebroadcast)

Francis Lam takes on tofu, unsalted butter, jam pies, and more with Carla Lalli Music (Bon Appétit) and Andrea Nguyen (Vietnamese Food Any Day).

The founding host of The Splendid Table joins Francis Lam to talk about what she’s been up to since retiring and answer some great listener questions.

Best-selling author Alison Roman and James Beard award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi join Francis Lam to take your calls.

Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello discuss what listeners are not missing during lockdown; author and blogger Samantha Irby settles some household disputes in the "Live Wire Court;" Francis Lam, food journalist and host of The Splendid Table podcast, offers tips on how to elevate a grilled cheese sandwich; and singer-actress Mandy Moore is joined by her husband Taylor Goldsmith to perform "If That's What It Takes" from her latest album "Silver Landings."

Baking expert Christina Tosi (Milk Bar) and veggie whisperer Bryant Terry (Vegetable Kingdom) join Francis Lam to take your calls.

Melissa Clark (The New York Times) and Pati Jinich (Pati's Mexican Table) join Francis Lam to consider your quarantine cooking questions.

Samin Nosrat (Salt Fat Acid Heat) joins Francis Lam to answer some of your self-isolation cooking questions.

Francis Lam and renowned chef Michael Solomonov get to the soul of Israeli food, swap disaster stories and tag team calls from listeners.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora This episode features an in-depth conversation with one of the food world's most beloved and compelling personalities, Nigella Lawson. Nigella has hosted cooking shows and written 11 books including her breakout best-seller How to Eat. While our host Francis Lam has been reading her work for his entire career, he just recently had the chance to talk with her in-person when she came to the U.S. to tour for her new book, At My Table. During their conversation, Lawson explained why she has to defend the honor of home cooking, how snobbery ruins everything, and why her cookbooks feel like conversations.   Broadcast dates for this episode: May 18, 2018 (originally aired) May 10, 2019 (rebroadcast) November 29, 2019 (rebroadcast)

Francis Lam hosts the 2019 edition of our popular Thanksgiving call-in show. He fields two hours of calls from listeners and is joined by guests Melissa Clark, Kwame Onwuachi, Samin Nosrat and Shauna Sever. Looking for something specific you heard on the show? See this page for a full rundown of questions and topics from this year's phone calls. Broadcast dates for this episode: November 28, 2019

Francis Lam spends a fascinating hour with René Redzepi, the groundbreaking chef of Copenhagen's Noma. His book, The Noma Guide to Fermentation, is a master tome on the technique that he believes is the future of the way we cook.  Francis and René talk about Noma's influence on the global palate, where Redzepi finds inspiration, and how he achieves an enjoyable work/life balance. America's Test Kitchen's Dan Souza (no slouch in the fermentation world either!) brings us an amazingly simple recipe for cultured butter to make at home. We also have clips from a video interview with René Redzepi and David Zilber, the director of Noma's fermentation lab, in which they two do more in-depth on the role of fermentation at the restaurant and suggest a few projects for beginners. Broadcast dates for this episode: November 2, 2018 (originally aired) October 25, 2019 (rebroadcast)

First up, we get an update on a controversial plan for the future of ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore. Then, we chop it up about food and culture with The Splendid Table's Francis Lam. And, from Audiograph, one man shares his talent in an unlikely place.

How could you ever decide between two foods so scrumptious? Today’s judge is eleven-year-old Paige Goehner, the winner of Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship. The Sporkful’s Dan Pashman serves up a platter of facts for Team Cheese. And the Splendid Table’s Francis Lam tries to sway our judge with the delicious decadence of Team Chocolate. Who do you think won this foodie faceoff? Cast your vote at smashboom.org. This episode is sponsored by Candlewick Press, publisher of Judy Moody Book Quiz Whiz, available wherever books are sold, and Mathnasium (mathnasium.com/boom or call 855-912-MATH.)

As the host of The Splendid Table, a cookbook editor and food journalist, Francis Lam has explored cuisines from all around the world. That may be one reason he’s not at all disconcerted by St. Louis’ method of slicing bagels as if they were loaves of bread.

It’s the TASTE Podcast series finale! For the past year and a half, we’ve brought some of our friends and heroes into the studio, and we wanted to relive some of our favorite conversations, including candid and sometimes hilarious talks with Ruth Reichl, Pete Wells, Helen Rosner, Dorie Greenspan, Julia Moskin, and Francis Lam.We also talk about all the exciting things in the works for TASTE, including our upcoming cookbook, Lasagna, and a bunch of other projects. This is not goodbye. This is see you on the Internet, or in person, very soon. You can follow us on Twitter at: @HezelAnna and @MattRodbard. And of course, visit TASTE online: tastecooking.com.

This week we talk to chef Martin Morales about his book Andina: The Heart of Peruvian Food. While many people know Peruvian cuisine for its seafood and coastal influence, Morales says to get to the soul of the country's food, you need to head for the mountains. We also visit with Keith Dresser from Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen to learn how to make Peruvian fish ceviche. Francis Lam goes to El Compadre in Philadelphia, a restaurant famous for its barbacoa and its immigrant rights driven chef Cristina Martinez. And our friend Doc Willoughby tells about cooking with boniatos, one the most popular potatoes in the Caribbean and South America. Plus, Francis talks with listeners about using plantains and jícama in the kitchen, how to make tough goat meat more tender, and he takes a Twitter question about deep-frying at home. Broadcast dates for this episode: June 15, 2018 (originally aired) June 7, 2019 (rebroadcast)

Smash Boom Best is back on June 6th! In 16 new episodes, our debaters tackle epic match-ups like chocolate versus cheese! Aliens versus robots! And unicorns versus dragons! This season, we have a challenge for you: If 150 people make a donation to support the show by June 30th, we’ll make a bonus episode featuring host Molly Bloom as a debater for the first time ever! Everyone who donates will receive a link to listen. Plus, donating automatically makes you a member of our brand new Debate Club. We have Debate Club pins, t-shirts, a card game and more as thank-you gifts. You can even get a special recording made just for you, by Molly and some of our all-star debaters. Click here to donate and join. Season 2 features a star-studded line-up of debaters, including Story Pirates’ Lee Overtree and Peter McNerney, the Splendid Table’s Francis Lam, and NPR’s Sam Sanders. And all of the debates are judged by listeners like you. So who will be crowned the smash boom best? Find out June 6th when our season kicks off with two new debate battles.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora The food scene in Philadelphia is booming and we're taking you there for an event recorded live at WHYY. Francis Lam talks to three of the people at the forefront of the culinary scene in Philly: award-winning chef and writer Michael Solomonov of Zahav, chef Eli Kulp from Fork and High Street on Market, and Malaysian chef Ange Branca of the James Beard Award-nominated Saté Kampar. And, because who can resist a controversy? America's Test Kitchen takes a stand on what sandwich is really the sandwich of Philadelphia! Broadcast dates for this episode: May 4, 2018 (originally aired) April 26, 2019 (rebroadcast)

RuffageBy Abra Berens Intro: Welcome to the Cookery By The Book Podcast with Suzy Chase. She's just a home cook in New York City, sitting at her dining room table, talking to cookbook authors.Abra Berens: My name is Abra Berens. I am the chef at Granor Farm and author of Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables.Suzy Chase: Vegetables can be exciting, delicious, and the star of the plate. In the introduction of Ruffage, Francis Lam wrote, "Yours is a smart way of cooking. A curious, thoughtful way of cooking, but most of all, a cooking of good spirit." What a lovely compliment.Abra Berens: Yeah, so I was lucky enough to meet Francis my final year of college at the University of Michigan. There is a program at U of M called NELP, which is the New England Literature Program. A handful of students go and you study transcendentalism while living in the place where it was written. It's a very immersive course, and so you're at this camp and you're cooking together and reading together, and there's a physical rigor combined with it.Abra Berens: The very first day that I arrived, you know, well before I was ever a cook in any sort of real setting, I of course found my way into the kitchen of the camp, and Francis was there making something for dinner. I just introduced myself and I was like, "What is that?" It was this beautiful red stem with the kind of purple green leaves that chard can have sometimes, and I had never seen Swiss chard before. I was like, "What is that?" He just gave me a taste of it. I distinctly remember saying something along the lines of like, "Oh, it's like if celery and spinach had a baby." Then he was like, "Yeah, pretty much."Abra Berens: I was like, "Okay, see ya. I got to go jump in the lake now," because one of the things the very first day that you get to NELP, spoiler alert for any future NELP-ers, is you have to so this swim test, which is really, like, a preposterous situation, because it's one of their kind of made up challenges where you arrive in this camp in Maine and then are immediately told you have to jump in this lake and do a swim test, and it sort of mimics the discombobulation that you feel at sort of being sort of plopped into this new environment. That whole day just kind of felt like a wonderland. I will always remember Francis just calmly being in the kitchen and feeding me fresh chard, yeah.Suzy Chase: In 2009, you started Bare Knuckle Farm in Northport, Michigan with your friend Jess. At the end of your first year of farming, you were as poor as you'd ever been, but you were eating some of the best meals of your life. Describe this.Abra Berens: You know, I'm sure anybody that started their own business can attest to the fact that, without securing outside capital, you're really putting all of your own resources in, and that includes time and money and emotional energy, all that stuff. By the end of the season, it was kind of this really quiet time. I had taken a side job just for some extra cash, and so I had a couple of weeks where I had committed to them before going back to Chicago, because we were done with the farm for the season and I was going to move back. I had always been based in Chicago, and then would move up to Northport for six months and then farm all summer, and then move back to Chicago and cook in the winter.Abra Berens: Yeah, I really just didn't have any money. We had some carrots that were still in the ground. We had planted these kale plants that had lived all summer, but then got super aphid-y in the fall, so we had cut them down to the nubs, but all the energy that was stored in those deep roots were putting up these little tiny baby kale leaves every day. We had some chickens that year, but they had moved to my business partner's wife's farm for the winter, but I still had some eggs left before they moved, and all those things.Abra Berens: It was really, you've got quiet nights, it was super cold in the cabin where I was living, but the meals were so great. It was, you know, every night, the carrots would get frosted over, so they would get sweeter and sweeter. It was kind of there that I realized, I was making all of these different meals, and so it never felt redundant even though it was the same primary ingredients.Abra Berens: For me, it gets to a little bit of this conversation about the value of food versus the worth of food, and how those are really simple ingredients, but the meals felt very celebratory each night. Maybe it's because they were the event of the day. I was just kind of doing other sort of closing up the farm tasks during the day, or kind of puttering around or reading, so it felt like an activity and it was such a nice time, despite being on the outside very underwhelming in terms of my financial time.Suzy Chase: I think all home cooks need to hear this. Ingredients can be repetitive, but meals need not be. In Ruffage, you have 100-plus recipes and 230-plus variations. Talk about not being redundant.Abra Berens: Again, it comes from seasonal eating in the northern Midwest, and the way that that sort of started for me was realizing there is a trajectory for the season that we go through every year, whether you're farming or just eating seasonally or just you have any sort of connection to the outdoors in this part of the country, and I think that's mirrored in other parts of the country as well. The point is that, every spring you get asparagus, and it's the same asparagus every year, but the ways that you present it can change and feel very new. It's really about having sort of creativity, with a slightly more limited palate.Suzy Chase: Give us some tips to change our thinking surrounding vegetables. In the book, you talk about equating decadent foods with sinfulness, and vegetables with moral fortitude. I know growing up in Kansas, I have a hard time changing my mind about vegetables.Abra Berens: I think there's two ways to think about that. One, the bit in the book about equating, there's a false equivalency between rich foods and decadence and, you know, piousness with vegetables, I think part of that is we live in a culture that is really full of shoulds right now. Like, you should eat that, you shouldn't buy this, that thing should give you heart disease, or something like that. I think that that's a lot of noise. That's well intentioned noise, but noise nonetheless.Abra Berens: I think there's an element of people choosing to eat a salad when they really want fried chicken because they think it'll make them feel better. I would say that it depends on the situation. You know, like, if you've been working outside all day, the reason fried chicken tastes better to you is because you have burned through those calories. At the same time, if I've had rich meals, a salad actually makes me feel better. I think it's about being honest with yourself about what you really want in that moment, and not feeling bad about your choices. Just make the best choices that you can, and kind of putting the shoulds on a shelf.Abra Berens: The other point that you were talking about is changing your perception of vegetables. I think that the Midwest still, for better or for worse, has sort of a meat-starch-veg plate. I think that's what a lot of people are still eating. I still cook that way, I still eat that way sometimes. I think that the way that things changed for me with vegetables was by both recognizing what each one had to offer, and then sort of letting go of that everything on one plate mindset, and taking inspiration from other cuisines that have vegetables more at the forefront.Abra Berens: Maybe instead of having three things on a plate and it feels like there's no star if there's not a meat based protein or an egg based protein or something like that, or even just a really fancy vegetable. I think that you can kind of decentralize the stars of the plate. If you have three, or really extravagantly five dishes, you're not doing any more work than you would do to have three things on a plate, but you're having three different textures. You could have like, a spinach salad with bacon and egg is a pretty classic spinach combination, at least around here. Then some roasted veg, like a big pile of roasted carrots with a slick salsa verde or something like that over the top.Abra Berens: What else would I put with that? Probably something really creamy, like a squash puree, or maybe in the summertime like, a creamless corn puree, and that gives you some richness and those [inaudible 00:09:15] to pair against the brightness of the greens. I think that it's that inter-play, to me, that has started to become more interesting than the excitement of a big piece of meat. But, don't get me wrong, I still cook big pieces of meat and I still eat meat and I like it. But, I think it's about kind of appreciating those different characteristics and what each ingredient is showing and letting it live its best life on your table.Suzy Chase: This cookbook is so easy to navigate. Talk about how it's laid out.Abra Berens: Yeah, it was really important to me to have Ruffage organized alphabetically, and there's a couple reasons for that. One, is that I really wanted it to be a reference book, and I find it confusing in books when things are organized like appetizers, main courses, sides, soups, all the different things, because my brain just doesn't work that way. I wanted it to be a way for people to kind of invert the way that they think about a dish, which parallels the inversion that happened for me when I was cooking at Bare Knuckle, which is look at your ingredients and then find something that you want, a recipe that you want to use to showcase your ingredients.Abra Berens: If that means that you're going to a farmer's market and you're super excited about the kohlrabi that's there, then buy the kohlrabi and know that you have some resources at your back to turn that into something. Or, if it means that you're tight on money and that asparagus is on sale in January and that's what's best for the family, buy that and know that you have these resources at your back. I wanted to kind of take the sourcing issue out of it a little bit. Then, also make it easier for people to find the recipes to link back to those ingredients.Abra Berens: The other reason I wanted to organize it alphabetically, I have a ton of respect for books that are organized seasonally, but I also remember the very first time I was reading, I think it was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which is a great book, but Barbara Kingsolver was talking about having asparagus in early April or late March or something, and I remember being like, "Well, good for you. We don't get asparagus until June in northern Michigan." May, if we're lucky in Chicago and southern Michigan. I didn't want anyone to feel left out, and I think a lot of people think about the Midwest in terms of our winters, and people always say like, "Oh, you can't eat locally in the winter," and that is not really the case anymore.Abra Berens: In addition, I was just visiting some friends in Florida, and right now which is mid-April, it's the height of their tomato and strawberry season, and they were talking about their frustration that when all of the tomato recipes come out in the food magazines, their tomato season is over. By the middle of summer, they have okra and peppers and eggplant, and that's it. Fresh greens are gone, even corn isn't really there. Their winter squash season is like, I can't remember now exactly, but I think it's like, in May or something.Abra Berens: It's a funny thing, seasonality, because it doesn't account for the regions. While this book is Midwestern-based, because I am, I didn't want it to be Midwestern exclusive. I wanted to be sure that people in Florida or Arizona or the UK or Montreal could all find use in it.Suzy Chase: One of the best things about this cookbook is that you can either swap ingredients in and out from the base recipe, or you can evolve the original recipe into a totally new meal. For example, let's say a big squash. What are some variations on a big old squash?Abra Berens: When I was thinking about the variations, I wanted to really showcase kind of two primary branches of how to vary it. One is, if you take the ingredient and prepare it the same way, and then just swap out the flavor accessories, is it presents a very different dish. For me, the beet factor really represents that the best, where you've got steam roasted beets and the recipe is for a salad with smoked white fish and sour cream and sunflower seeds, and it's very classic eastern European. Then, the variations are you take the same steam roasted beets, and put them with oranges and feta and some mint, and that takes it to a very different place. Or, you could put it in a very Midwestern fall dish with apples and cheddar and walnuts and parsley. Those dishes present very differently, even though the structure is the same.Abra Berens: Then, the other way to look at that is how to use the same thing and make totally different meals with it. The beet puree or the squash puree that we were mentioning, you know, you're making this base of a puree. Then the recipe for that will be one thing. Like, for the beets, it's you take pasta and dress it in the beet puree. It makes this beautiful bright red beet pasta with pickled raisins and poppy seeds. Again, very eastern European. Or, you can take that same puree and blend it with white beans and a little bit of olive oil, and then make it like a beet hummus and put it with a crudite platter, like, a veggie platter.Abra Berens: Or, you could take that and cook risotto, and then bind the risotto with it and makes this beautiful pink risotto that is really lovely. I can't remember what the toppings are for that, but if I were making it today I would put walnut oil and some Parmesan and maybe a little bit of orange, because beet and walnut and orange go really well together. Or, you could thin it down and make a soup with it and make kind of a play on borscht. All of those things, and the same is true for squash. The same is true for any of the celery root puree, the cauliflower puree, all of those things. It's a little bit of a deeper dive into batch cooking, like, large batch cooking, which I think everybody has done the thing where they make a gallon of lentil soup, and by the end of the week they're like, "If I have to eat lentil soup one more time I am going to cry."Suzy Chase: Yeah, exactly.Abra Berens: Wanting to say like, you can dial that back a little bit and make it less specific of a prep, and then have more options. Maybe instead of making the gallon of lentil soup, you can cook up four quarts of lentils, and then you can make a soup with some of the lentils or you can add them to a salad or you could would do with lentils. You know, crisp them up in the oven to make like, crispy lentils for snacking, all those things. That was kind of the point of the variation.Suzy Chase: Let's talk about the word glug, G-L-U-G. This shows up quite a bit in the cookbook. Talk about the word glug.Abra Berens: Well, it's a little bit of a funny thing, because my first interaction with the word glug was my mom cooking from my grandmother's recipes and being so irritated by the word glug. It was literally, a glug is when you pour, often it was like a glug of milk in a batter. A glug was like, how long it took to tip the gallon of milk and have it literally go "glug" as it came out before it would hit the top and it would stop or whatever. My mom, it made her crazy because she's a very scientific person and so she like, measured out. She's like, "If you have a full gallon of milk a glug is much smaller. If you have a very empty jug of milk, it's much larger because it takes more time for it to hit the top of the container," or whatever.Abra Berens: For her, it was like, a quarter cup, that's what she would translate it to. In some ways, I wanted to return to that phrase, mostly to indicate that a lot of times measurements don't have to be super exact. I think there are certain realms of the cooking and baking world where you do need to have very strict proportions, and all of the recipes in Ruffage are very, very flexible in that way. The glug is sort of representative of that. Saying like, you're just trying to get some oil in the pan, so that's where glug comes from. It's been amazing to see how some people find it very liberating and some people find it moderately infuriating. Maybe that's how things should be.Suzy Chase: I love it. I found it liberating. I used it on my Instagram story on Saturday when I was making your peas.Abra Berens: Nice. Yeah, how'd the peas come out, by the way?Suzy Chase: Oh my gosh.Abra Berens: Were they okay?Suzy Chase: They were amazing. I made your recipe for peas with parsley, thyme, butter, and onions on page 319. They came out so sweet, and the butter gave kind of like a hint of saltiness and creaminess, and the herbs, and I had it again last night for dinner, I mean, as a side dish for dinner. It's so good.Abra Berens: I'm so glad, because one of the funny things about the book is, there's a handful of recipes that seem very, very simple, and I was like, "Are these too simple to go into a cookbook?Suzy Chase: No, it's really good. But, you don't like peas, do you?Abra Berens: Yeah, I know, I don't really like peas. It's funny, Francis told me that his first draft of the forward for the book was simply about berating me for not liking peas, and then he decided to go a different direction, thankfully. I feel like everyone loves them. They sort of infuriate me, because it's really difficult to know when they're ripe, because each variety shows differently, and they'll present differently on the plant.Abra Berens: You'll have from the same plant, one that is perfectly ripe, and then also one that's under-ripe and one that's overripe, and they all look exactly the same. Then you pick them, and there's such a short time period for when the sugars that are in the pea, for it to convert to starch. You basically have to pick them in the morning before market, which, when your market starts at 8:00AM means you have a very early day. Or, you have to pick them in the afternoon and then get them into cold store.Abra Berens: It's just this, I find them to be a very fickle plant. I love pea shoots and I really love frozen peas, because that, I think, is one of those times where the industrial model, especially the organic industrial model can work to our benefit. Where, they're being harvested. They're probably all harvested at the appropriate time of ripeness. They're immediately flash frozen. They're super reliable. They're really dependable, all of those things. I know, peas, I want someone to teach me how to like them more, but it hasn't happened yet.Suzy Chase: Those darn peas. What's your favorite vegetable?Abra Berens: Cabbage I think is, by far and away, and again, that's again a reliance on the sort of every day hardworking vegetable in my kitchen, as opposed to some of the "she-she-ier" darlings, you know, that are only around for a little bit of the time. I mean, I love tomatoes and I love sweet corn and all of those things, but cabbage is the vegetable that is in my fridge 90% of the time, and makes such different meals.Abra Berens: I really rely on purple cabbage in the winter to be eating something that's colorful. I really love making the version of golumpki, which are the Polish cabbage rolls. Unfortunately, I trimmed a bunch out of that cabbage chapter, just because the book is long enough as it is. Some of those slower cooked cabbage recipes or the cabbage rolls and stuff like that didn't quite fit into the structure of the book at that point. But yeah, she's such a versatile friend and I rely on cabbage a lot, so that makes her my favorite.Suzy Chase: I love cabbage too, but here's my problem with cabbage. I live in New York City, and I don't have the largest refrigerator. Cabbage always takes up so much room.Abra Berens: Kind of greatest strength/greatest weakness. There's so much food in those heads of cabbage, but then greatest weakness, there is so much food in those heads of cabbage and it takes up a lot of space, yeah. I mean, cabbage does hold up if you cut it and then store it in a plastic bag or something. Eventually, it'll start to brown on the cut side, so I generally leave it whole and just cut a little wedge off when I need it, but yeah, it can be a big beast.Suzy Chase: Now to my segment called my last meal. What would you order for your last supper?Abra Berens: Oh, wow.Suzy Chase: Peas?Abra Berens: Yeah, one last shot. In terms of the last meal that is the most representative of my life would probably be some sort of weird salad that I tend to make when it's just me home for dinner, and I eat it straight out of the mixing bowl, that I find a lot of comfort in. That would be something like Swiss chard that has some warm green lentils over the top, and then like, shaved cauliflower and roasted beets. Maybe some tuna mayo with that, or something like that. Something that's really representative of the food that I really truly enjoy and rely on on a daily basis.Abra Berens: But, if it's like a celebratory last meal, probably fresh pasta. You know, like a fresh pasta with maybe like a million different types of fresh pasta, like a filled pasta, a hand cut noodle with a really nice ragu and slow cooked sauce. I mean, I just got the chance to eat at Misi, Missy Robbins' restaurant.Suzy Chase: Yeah.Abra Berens: The pastas were so, so delicious. I've been really fixated lately on these daily luxuries, these things that, you know, like we were talking about living on a pretty tight budget means that I have kind of turned to find luxury in some of these more simple things, and a really beautiful plate of pasta is certainly one of those.Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media?Abra Berens: Every thing is @abraberens, which is A-B-R-A B-E-R-E-N-S. My website has the most up to date information in terms of book events and the dinners that we're doing at Greener and information about the cookbook. Then social media, I don't really use Twitter that much that I'm there, I guess. Then, Instagram is my preferred platform.Suzy Chase: Speaking of book events, I am so excited for our live cookbook chat at LizzYoung Bookseller in Brooklyn on Thursday, May 2nd from 6:00 to 8:00PM. I can't wait.Abra Berens: Oh, it's going to be so fun.Suzy Chase: Yes, and you can find all the details on my Instagram. Thanks, Abra, for coming on Cookery By The Book podcast.Abra Berens: Thank you so much for having me. Truly, it means a ton that you've enjoyed the book and I hope that your listeners will too.Outro: Follow Suzy Chase on Instagram @cookerybythebook, and subscribe at cookerybythebook.con or in Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening to Cookery By The Book podcast, the only podcast devoted to cookbooks, since 2015.

The morning after a wedding—any big party—is usually a little groggy. It’s not necessarily unpleasant, especially if it’s February in Thailand and the air is a little bit cool and very humid, and you’re kicking around in a quiet village along the Ping River with someone like Francis Lam. Francis, besides being a classically-trained chef, former New York Times columnist, lauded cookbook editor at Clarkson Potter, and host of The Splendid Table on American Public Media is also one of the truly good people in the world of food and letters. So, Nathan was pleased, not just to get some good stories from his time in Thailand, but also to be able to annoy the living shit out of him with one very trashy word—a portmanteau, really—near the end of the show. Nathan may not be an adversarial news magazine reporter any more, but it’s good to know that he can still piss an interview subject off for business or for pleasure. Episode 31 Show Notes: If you’re not already listening to Francis Lam’s weekly radio show, what are you doing with your life? Head over the The Splendid Table. Influential chef Andy Ricker’s roster of Thai restaurants: Pok Pok Check out the lovely Khun Narata's Instagram. Bangkok-based Austin Bush's book dives into the cuisine of northern Thailand: The Food of Northern Thailand Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The morning after a wedding—any big party—is usually a little groggy. It’s not necessarily unpleasant, especially if it’s February in Thailand and the air is a little bit cool and very humid, and you’re kicking around in a quiet village along the Ping River with someone like Francis Lam. Francis, besides being a classically-trained chef, former New York Times columnist, lauded cookbook editor at Clarkson Potter, and host of The Splendid Table on American Public Media is also one of the truly good people in the world of food and letters. So, Nathan was pleased, not just to get some good stories from his time in Thailand, but also to be able to annoy the living shit out of him with one very trashy word—a portmanteau, really—near the end of the show. Nathan may not be an adversarial news magazine reporter any more, but it’s good to know that he can still piss an interview subject off for business or for pleasure. Episode 31 Show Notes: If you’re not already listening to Francis Lam’s weekly radio show, what are you doing with your life? Head over the The Splendid Table. Influential chef Andy Ricker’s roster of Thai restaurants: Pok Pok Check out the lovely Khun Narata's Instagram. Bangkok-based Austin Bush's book dives into the cuisine of northern Thailand: The Food of Northern Thailand

For all the bad news in our world today, we're happy to report there is some good news on the food front. In this episode, we consider some of the positive things that are happening. In her book, Big Chicken, journalist Maryn McKenna says the chicken industry is largely to blame for our enormous overuse of and exposure to antibiotics. But, as she explains to Francis Lam, she's found real reasons for hope for the future. Forager Pascal Baudar talks with contributor Russ Parsons about the restorative result of recent destructive California wildfires on some of his favorite wildcraft spots. Barton Seaver is an award-winning chef whose work now focuses on sustainability in the fish and seafood industries. He talks with Francis about how certain species of fish come in and out of favor with fisherman and cooks. The increasingly popular beet salad gets an upgrade thanks to Molly Birnbaum from America's Test Kitchen. And restaurant owner Alpana Singh was the youngest woman to pass the Master Sommelier exam when she did so in her mid-20s. She talks with Shauna Sever about the struggles going on in her life that made passing the exam essential to her livelihood. Broadcast dates for this episode: March 2, 2018 (originally aired) March 1, 2019 (rebroadcast)

You might know him from the Eat column in The New York Times, for which he went into dozens of restaurants, home kitchens, and church basements to report on some of the untold food stories from New York’s many immigrant communities. Or you might know him as the voice you hear when you tune into The Splendid Table, interviewing everyone from activist Cecile Richards to chef Jacques Pépin. But I was especially excited to talk to Francis Lam about his work as a book editor at Clarkson Potter, collaborating and conspiring with hilarious, colorful personalities like Christina Tosi, Tyler Kord, and Chrissy Teigen.In this episode, Francis talks about why he thinks it’s important as an editor to let your authors be a little bit weird. We also look back on some of his writing for the Times and talk about why he misses reporting so much more than he misses writing. Oh, and he tells the story of the time he hung out with Chrissy Teigen’s mom and she wouldn’t stop feeding him.Also on this episode, Matt catches up with Lisa Lillien, the founder of Hungry Girl—a project started in 2004 that has ballooned into a hugely popular magazine, podcast, and series of cookbooks. They look back at the early days of blogging, before cauliflower rice, Instagram, and rainbow everything.

This week, we celebrate summer and present to you our 2018 Summer Faves. From tech to treats, tunes to TV, and of course, summer looks, we make some recommendations to help you live your best life in these warmer months. Special thanks to James McCombe of Maple Street Creative and Taylor Wizner for remote recording support.Discussed this week:Native Land app (by Victor Temprano, 2015)"Mission: Impossible — Fallout" (directed by Christopher McQuarrie, 2018)"Vida" (Starz, 2018)"Freeway of Love" (Aretha Franklin, "Who's Zoomin' Who?", 1985)"Lucid Dreams" (Juice WRLD, "Goodbye & Good Riddance," 2018)"Afro-Harping" (Dorothy Ashby, 1968)"The greatest five-minute tomato pasta on earth" (Francis Lam, Salon, 2010)"A burger, but better" (Samin Nosrat, The New York Times Magazine, 2018)

Luke and Andrew get together over a sizzling grill to celebrate one of America's most beloved and most ridiculed foods: The Hot Dog. They also head to Safeco Field to find out what people are putting on their hot dogs at the ball park, and Splendid Table host Francis Lam joins them to justify dedicating one hour of public radio airtime to cased meats.

Our knives are drawn and ready to mince and dice our way through the science of chopping. In this episode we'll find out what happens to that carrot you're chopping on a molecular level (spoiler alert: the knife never actually touches it!). We also visit a knifemaker's studio and talk to Splendid Table host Francis Lam to get his chopping tips. This is the third in a five part series on the science of cooking, made in collaboration with America's Test Kitchen Kids. For more recipes and information for young chefs, head to americastestkitchen.com/kids to sign up for their newsletter. And to to make a donation to Brains On, visit brainson.org/donate.

We're thrilled to have one of Soleil's food icons on the podcast this week! Francis Lam, host of The Splendid Table and food writer extraordinaire, joins Soleil for a conversation about telling the food stories that aren't "glamorous." They also talk about media gatekeepers, food as an entree into more difficult issues and how to be better allies. But before all that grand philosophizing, Zahir and Soleil celebrate the podcast's second birthday AND important James Beard Award wins for the POC food community.  A couple of announcements: Applications are now open for the 2019 Vilcek Creative Promise Prizes in Culinary Arts until June 11. Learn more about the prizes and eligibility requirements here. There's just a little under a week left to raise money for the "Family Style Zine: An AAPI Food Anthology" on Indiegogo. The creators hope to connect their audience to the diverse histories of AAPI food through writing and beautiful artwork. Check it out and consider donating! Produced by Stephanie Kuo and Juan Ramirez. Music by AF the Naysayer and Blue Dot Sessions. 

It's a Big Listen smörgåsbord! We'll meet Francis Lam, new host of The Splendid Table, taste chocolate with The Slow Melt and hear which food podcasts New York Times food writer Kim Severson favors. Plus: Lauren enters brunch hell with Brendan Francis Newnam.

It's a Big Listen smörgåsbord! We'll meet Francis Lam, new host of The Splendid Table, taste chocolate with The Slow Melt and hear which food podcasts New York Times food writer Kim Severson favors. Plus: Lauren enters brunch hell with Brendan Francis Newnam.

Felix Salmon of Fusion, Slate Moneybox columnist Jordan Weissmann, and political risk consultant Anna Szymanski are joined by Teddy Goff of Black Tap, and Francis Lam of the Splendid Table for their live show to discuss: Restaurant buzzVegetarianismThe cookbook industry In Slate Plus: We answer a few audience questions from the live show. If you’d like to leave us a voicemail for our December call-in show, ring us at (347) 960-6314. Check out other Panoply podcasts at panoply.fm. Email: slatemoney@slate.com Twitter:@felixsalmon, @Three_Guineas, @JHWeissmann Production by Daniel Schroeder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felix Salmon of Fusion, Slate Moneybox columnist Jordan Weissmann, and political risk consultant Anna Szymanski are joined by Teddy Goff of Black Tap, and Francis Lam of the Splendid Table for their live show to discuss: Restaurant buzzVegetarianismThe cookbook industry In Slate Plus: We answer a few audience questions from the live show. If you’d like to leave us a voicemail for our December call-in show, ring us at (347) 960-6314. Check out other Panoply podcasts at panoply.fm. Email: slatemoney@slate.com Twitter:@felixsalmon, @Three_Guineas, @JHWeissmann Production by Daniel Schroeder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Thanksgiving table? Banchan and mashed potatoes—from the box. Thanksgiving is a day for Mash-Ups to test out what being American tastes like to them. With brilliant foodie Francis Lam of The Splendid table and writer Nishta Mehra. We are grateful for you, fam! Visit mashupamericans.com for more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our Thanksgiving table? Banchan and mashed potatoes—from the box. Thanksgiving is a day for Mash-Ups to test out what being American tastes like to them. With brilliant foodie Francis Lam of The Splendid table and writer Nishta Mehra. We are grateful for you, fam! Visit mashupamericans.com for more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What’s going to happen if I get hurt or sick? That’s what many people are asking themselves as the Trump administration attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. But a group you don't often hear from on this issue is farmers—and they are very worried about how they’ll be able to afford to take care of themselves. That’s bad news for the future of the nation’s farms—and eaters. On today’s episode, Politico food and agriculture reporter Helena Bottemiller Evich explains why. Then, Splendid Table podcast host Francis Lam gives Tom a brilliant idea for what to do with summer tomato surplus.

Celebrity chef Dale Talde (Top Chef) invites host Francis Lam into the kitchen of Talde Brooklyn to discuss his three go-to meals: a perfect steak, fried chicken, and fried rice. They team up to prepare the recipe for Talde's popular King Crab Fried Rice.

Francis Lam is a James Beard Award-winning writer, cookbook editor, and the host of the radio show, The Splendid Table. This week we talk to him about the difficulty of putting words to the page, eating Chrissy Teigen’s scalloped potatoes, and how he hosts his friends at home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After more than 20 years of digging in to the world of food as host of The Splendid Table, Lynne Rossetto Kasper is retiring this week. Francis Lam, Top Chef Masters judge and award-winning The New York Times Magazine columnist, will become the new host of the program this week. Today we'll talk with Lynne about the two decades she spent at the head of one of the world's most beloved radio shows and where her next culinary adventure might take her. We'll also preview the launch of the 2017 Virginia Arts Festival with festival founder, Rob Cross.

Amanda Cohen, aka “The Vegetable Whisperer of New York, “ shares her key 3 dishes with host Francis Lam: an easy soup, risotto, and a leftover sandwich.

Many of the stories we hear and tell about food are positive—food’s power to nourish, to comfort, to bring people together. But it also has the potential to cause shame, fear, disgust and a whole host of other uncomfortable emotions. Today on Gravy: personal stories around food that aren’t so sweet. These are the kinds of stories Francis Lam wanted to explore for a presentation he gave at the Southern Foodways Alliance’s annual Symposium. Francis is an editor at large at Clarkson Potter Publishers and a New York Times Magazine columnist. He’s also someone who’s spent a lot of time eating in the South and writing about it. (You can check out some of his SFA oral histories about Biloxi, Mississippi’s shrimping industry here.) Francis was curious about the food stories that often go untold because they deal with topics we’d prefer not to talk about.

Francis Lam’s cookbooks always do more than dinner. The editor and writer has ushered some of the best and most inventive cookbooks of the last few years to publication, all of which stand out as better than just a list of recipes — for their introspection, research, and often their humor. Lam dropped by the Eater Upsell studios to talk about the immigrant experience, the writer-editor relationship, and how to spend three perfect hours in the Atlanta airport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Special Sauce, Lam and I discuss how he tends to "go for the cheeks" and why his parents are proud of him for doing so. He also talks about how normal it is for writers to hate writing—but why he still encourages aspiring authors to explore their passion for the craft. Finally, Francis and I have a spirited discussion about cultural appropriation and sensitivity in the American food culture.

I chat with Francis Lam at the Terroir Symposium in Toronto about his childhood food memories, his appearances as a judge of TV food show ‘Top Chef Masters’ and his unusual, delicious rendition of ratatouille.

Many of the stories we hear and tell about food are positive—food's power to nourish, to comfort, to bring people together. But it also has the potential to cause shame, fear, disgust and a whole host of other uncomfortable emotions. Today on Gravy: personal stories around food that aren't so sweet. These are the kinds of stories Francis Lam wanted to explore for a presentation he gave at the Southern Foodways Alliance's annual Symposium a few months ago. Francis is an editor at large at Clarkson Potter Publishers and a New York Times Magazine columnist. He's also someone who's spent a lot of time eating in the South and writing about it. Francis was curious about the food stories that often go untold because they deal with topics we'd prefer not to talk about. So, he asked a handful of people: tell me about a time when you felt tension in your emotional life of eating.

Listen to writer Francis Lam talk about home, social justice, food writing, and immigrant cuisines.

This week on Eat Your Words, host Talia Ralph gets into the meat and grits of Southern food with Francis Lam, Top Chef judge, food writer, and the editor of Cornbread Nation 7, an anthology of the best southern food writing in recent years. From its hazy geographic boundaries to the wealth and layering of cultures and tastes, the Southern United States is more than just a spot on the map. Lam — himself a self-described honorary Southerner, hailing from New Jersey — addresses some tough questions about the Dixie and its foodways. He also shares his own misguided preconceptions and stories about Southern hospitality. Is Virginia the south? Is Miami, Florida? Are you still Southern if you’ve lived in New York for the last 10 years? Yes, yes and yes, according to this expansive collection of writing. Curious? Craving some good quality barbecue talk? Tune in to this episode for more! This program was brought to you Edwards VA Ham. “The idea of what it means to be Southern is in a lot of ways is the idea of what it means to be American – rightly or wrongly!” [05:00] “I’ve intellectually come to realize you can’t just broadly paint stereotypes of people and be comfortable with them. If you told me who I thought I would meet in Mississippi when I was 16, I’d be so embarrassed with what my 16 year self would say.” [12:00] “I think Southern food has become the national regional cuisine. We like the idea that it’s a regional cuisine because it makes it seem more real. The fact that the South is perceived as being tradition minded feeds into that idea.” [29:00] –Francis Lam on Eat Your Words

Ep. 100 - We did it!!!  100 episodes... and what better way to celebrate than by finally getting chef/writer/food show host/TV sitcom creator Eddie Huang to come on and shoot the shit about music with us (among other things.)  Back on episode #35 w/ Francis Lam, we promised you Eddie and it only took us 65 episodes to deliver on that promise! In addition to asking EH about his first albums and first concert, we also ask him what it was like to eat ribs with 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell and he cops to being completely awestruck by Cam'ron. There was also a lot of hip hop talk, 19% of which Zach understood. Our friend Jeff Miller from Thrillist steps in as guest host.  Eddie has his own podcast called Monosodium Glutamate, his MTV show "Snack off" debuts July 10th, and he has a sit-com coming soon to ABC called "Fresh off the Boat"- which is based on his memoir of the same name.  

Ep. 35 - Top Chef Masters judge and food writer Francis Lam stops by Bronson Island to talk food and music with Zach & Chuck. Food as art, the problem with Korean BBQ restaurants, and how Biggie inspired him in his food writing is discussed.  Plus they also ask him about his infamous discussion with Chef Eddie Huang about whether or not Chefs should cook the food of cultures that aren't their own, and how it relates to the music world.  Follow him on twitter @francis_lam 

Today on The Food Seen, Michael sits down with Michael Laiskonis, executive pastry chef at Le Bernardin. The two talk about the art of dessert and the various artistic approaches to discussing it. Then, Salon.com's Francis Lam calls in to discuss the challenges of making dessert with a message and to say what he thought of dessert at Le Bernadin. This week's episode brought to you by Tekserve. For more information visit tekserve.com Photos: Dessert creations from Michael Laiskonis