This Is TASTE

If you’ve checked out Instagram lately, chances are you’ve spotted one of Hannah Ziskin’s slab cakes, princess cakes, and fruit custard tarts making the algorithm rounds. Hannah is the co-owner and pastry chef at Echo Park’s Quarter Sheets Pizza in Los Angeles. She runs Quarter Sheets with her partner, Aaron Lindell, and on this episode, we talk about the unlikely marriage of pan pizza and sheet cake. We also find out what it’s like running one of LA’s buzziest restaurants, and how she gets it all done with such a tiny staff. We really loved getting to know Hannah on this fun episode.More from Hannah Ziskin: Pastry Chef Hannah Ziskin Seasons Her Sweets Like Salads [TASTE] How LA cake virtuosos learned to thrive on Instagram [LA Times] House of Gluten [IG] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a joy it is to have Claudia Fleming live in the studio. Claudia is the executive pastry director of Union Square Hospitality Group and the author of the new cookbook Delectable: Sweet and Savory Baking. But many listeners may know Claudia best from her iconic (and once out of print) first cookbook, The Last Course. In this episode, we dive into Claudia’s long career working in New York City restaurants and writing books. We find out how the pandemic brought a great opportunity to write Delectable, a book that I think should be considered a modern baking classic. I also pick her brain about some of life’s biggest baking mysteries. It’s so cool getting to know Claudia Fleming a bit better. Also on the show, we catch up with the cofounders of the amazing food magazine Cake Zine. Aliza Abarbanel and Tanya Bush talk about the theme of their latest issue and what makes their partnership so sweet. It’s a great talk with two rising stars in food media.More from Claudia Fleming: The Tart That Launched a Thousand Tarts [TASTE] A Legendary Pastry Chef Returns to New York City [Food & Wine]    Rekindling the Flame at Danny Meyer’s Ci Siamo [The New York Times] How the Budino Craze Swept Across America [TASTE] Buy: Cake Zine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Helen Rosner returns to the TASTE Podcast, and we couldn’t be happier. Helen is a journalist, Twitter commentator, and staff writer covering food at the New Yorker. We wanted to have Helen into the studio to talk about some of her recent stories, including writing about roasting duck at home, the Chicago-style hot dog, and the busy fall cookbook season. We also discuss the epic Twitter thread, bursting with wisdom and common sense, that she wrote on her 40th birthday. But we mostly just wanted to catch up with one of our oldest friends from food media. More from Helen Rosner: Things I’ve Learned [Twitter] The Unbreakable Rules of the Chicago Hot Dog [The New Yorker] Sunday Reading: The World of Helen Rosner [The New Yorker] Food Is Stupid [Substack] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was with great anticipation, and some unknowns, that we spoke with George Saunders, the author of many works, including the Booker Prize–winning Lincoln in the Bardo. This is a really great conversation that switches gears often. We talk about pizza and Italian delis on the South Side of Chicago, as well as lunch in the Texas oil fields. We talk about success in the kitchen and how intuition crashes together with luck. We talk about food in the year 2300. We talk about the near future and mustard collections in a short story from his new work, Liberation Day. We talk about perfectionism, Santa Cruz coffee, and time traveling to find out how dinner has been prepared over thousands of years. The great George Saunders is on the show. Enjoy it.More from George Saunders:  Ghoul [The New Yorker] Story Club with George Saunders [Substack] Eat, Memory: The Absolutely No-Anything Diet [New York Times Magazine] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yes, Gideon Glick joined us in the studio for one of our favorite conversations in recent memory. Gideon is a prolific actor, having starred in memorable roles on Broadway (including in Little Shop of Horrors, in To Kill a Mockingbird, and in the original Broadway cast of Spring Awakening) and on television, including the mysterious magician Alfie on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, currently filming its final season. Gideon is the coauthor of the excellent new cookbook Give My Swiss Chards to Broadway: The Broadway Lover's Cookbook, and we talk about the art of creating a great theater-themed recipe pun. We also talk about the food situation on set and during the marathon-like eight-shows-per-week Broadway schedule. Having Gideon join us in the studio was such a ray of sunshine, and we hope the theater lovers out there enjoy this conversation with a living legend.Also on the show we catch up with Brian Noyes, author of The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook and a certified pie master.More from Gideon Glick: The Queer, Half-Deaf Actor Redefining the Idea of a Leading Man [New York Times] ‘Spring Awakening’ Cast Reunites at Tony Awards [TV Insider] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Genevieve Ko is a deputy editor of New York Times Cooking and the Food section, as well as a prolific cookbook author and collaborator. Here we have such a great time catching up about all things cookbooks, food media, and what it’s like to help run one of the best, and most popular, sections at the New York Times. We talk about Genevieve’s collaborations with chefs like George Mendes, Pichet Ong, and many others. We also discuss the problem with calling an ingredient “trendy” and share some thoughts on the recipe reply guy. I really loved catching up with Genevieve, and I hope you enjoy this talk.Read more from Genevieve Ko: Pulled Pork Is Easier Than You Think [New York Times] The Irresistible Thrill of Kung Pao [New York Times] The Endless Torment of the ‘Recipe?’ Guy [New York Times] Read: My Portugal: Recipes and Stories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tokyo-based journalist Craig Mod is part journalist, part ethnographer, and part performance artist, and we’re really happy that he stopped by the studio for a lively chat. While he may not be a household name (yet), those in the know about such topics as digital book publishing, Japan, and multiday walks around Japan respect Craig’s incredible body of work. This is a wide and deep conversation about food trends in Japan, where you should visit in the country outside Tokyo, and Craig’s unique style of publishing—all based around his Special Projects membership program. It was such a pleasure to get to know Craig Mod, and we hope you enjoy this conversation. And subscribe to Craig’s latest walk around the Kii Peninsula, taking place October 4-17.More from Craig Mod: Electric Bike, Stupid Love of My Life [official] I Walked 600 Miles Across Japan for Pizza Toast [Eater] The Life of One Den [Ridgeline] A Long Walk in a Fading Corner of Japan [New York Times] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reem Assil’s cookbook, Arabiyya, shows that great hospitality is easy to pull off—as long as you have enough pomegranate molasses to go around. In this lively episode, we talk to the Bay Area chef and activist about her inspiring career, which has taken her between the kitchen and the community—and sometimes to the poker table. Yes, Reem is a hell of a poker player, and we dive into that. We also talk about her zaatar hookup and how she is crystallizing  a “Pali-Cali” (that would be Palestinian-Californian) style of cooking. Get to know Reem Assil a little better on this fun episode.More from Reem Assil: Sumac Spiced Chicken and Muhammara [Today Show] Reem’s California [official] Telling the Story of Arab Home Cooking, from Beirut to the East Bay [TASTE] Ramy [Hulu] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s not often that we get to speak with an NBA legend on the show, but Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler is no average NBA legend. He’s a coffee geek, just like us, and we talk about his exciting new company, BIGFACE, and what inspires Jimmy’s love for all aspects of coffee, including the farming, cupping, and barista work. We also talk about food in the NBA and hear about the coffee orders of some of his Heat teammates. Also on the show, we catch up with Ashley Rodriguez. Ashley is the boss barista behind the popular podcast and newsletter Boss Barista, and we welcome her to the show to talk about all things coffee. We learn about Ashley’s long history working in coffee—as a writer and leader in a movement toward education and equality. We talk about the idea of “sweetness” in coffee, and together we go through her method in tasting and grading coffee. We also tackle the big topic of espresso. Is it a net positive for coffee? I loved catching up with Ashley and hope you learn a little bit more about one of the world’s most popular beverages.More from Jimmy Butler and Ashley Rodriguez: Jimmy Butler Wants to Sell You a $100 Cup of Coffee [Fast Company] Loyalty Isn't Real [Boss Barista] How to Actually Taste Coffee and Forget About Those “Notes of Blueberries” [TASTE] The Coffee Issue [TASTE] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve long been fans of cookbook author and creative thinker Molly Baz, and many of you have, too. With a signature voice and absolutely wild recipe development skills (as well as years of professional cooking under her belt), Molly has won over millions of fans worldwide. Her book Cook This Book was a New York Times Best Seller, and we talk about some of the many things she’s been up to since its release a little over a year ago. We find out about her move from New York to the West Coast, as well as what it was like growing up in New York’s Hudson Valley. We really enjoyed catching up with Molly on this really great episode.Also on the show, contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel joins Matt to talk about what’s on their minds: Quarter Sheets, late-summer apples, samgyetang roasted chicken, A24 merch, the great B. O. Boys podcast. They also play a game involving Chex Original Party Mix and ASMR. More from Molly Baz: The Club by Molly Baz [official] Hit the Kitch [Youtube] Baz to Basics [TASTE] Into It With Sam Sanders [official] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices