This Is TASTE

Today on the TASTE Podcast, we’re talking to Nisha Melvani, the author of Practically Vegan. Nisha is the creator of the website and Instagram account Cooking for Peanuts, a source for colorful, practical, no-nonsense plant-based recipes. We talk about how much range cashews have as an ingredient for creamy dishes, and about why tempeh has such a bad reputation (and how to make it taste truly delicious). We also discuss how using less salt can actually make you a much better cook.Also on the show, TASTE editors Anna Hezel and Matt Rodbard return with a Three Things segment. Matt is excited about two upcoming barbecue cookbooks and Anna discusses her tinned fish storage situ, while shouting out some favorite recipes from Caroline Schiff and Sohla El-Waylly.Check out Nisha’s book: Practically VeganAdditional Reading: Caroline Schiff’s Salted Honey Focaccia [TASTE] Yurrita Boquerones in Vinegar [Fresh Direct] Sohla El-Waylly’s Braised Lamb Shoulder with Dried Chiles and Dates [Serious Eats] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, we have a really fun conversation with the one and only J. Kenji López-Alt. As the author of The Food Lab, Kenji has been a guiding force in home cooking for over a decade. He’s back with a new book, The Wok: Recipes and Techniques, and we discuss creative ways to cook with one of the best tools around. We go all the way back to the heady days of early Serious Eats, a time when food blogging was starting to find its footing, and Kenji reflects on his time working at the scrappy start-up. We also talk about some of his favorite condiments and spices and what foods he enjoys most in the kitchen.Additional Reading:  A Lamb Stew With a French Onion Twist [New York Times] The Scientific Methods of J. Kenji López-Alt [Seattle Met] J. Kenji López-Alt says Seattle’s bagels are as good as New York’s [Seattle Times] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, we’re sitting down with longtime food writer and cookbook author Cathy Barrow. Cathy’s the author of Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry, Pie Squared, and When Pies Fly. Her most recent book, Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish, makes the case for bagels at home. As she points out, if you throw together the dough before bed and proof it in the refrigerator overnight, boiling and baking in the morning is a complete breeze. We discussed some of the biggest bagel myths and truths out there. It turns out that using New York City tap water isn’t really a necessity, but getting the right flour is.Check out Cathy’s book: Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish Pick up Some Ingredients for Bagels at Home: High-Gluten Flour Non-Diastatic Malt Powder Pumpernickel Flour Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the show we are speaking with one of the clearest and most singular voices in Italian cooking in New York City, Missy Robbins. In the episode, we turn back the clock to the heady days of Missy running two major NYC restaurants in the late aughts, as well as discuss her current hit Brooklyn restaurants Lilia and Misi. We also talk about her new cookbook, Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy’s Greatest Food, with Recipes, which she wrote with our former TASTE colleague and friend Talia Baiocchi. We find out about the duo’s extensive research and reporting, and how the book has taken off online since it was released last fall. Have you spotted folks stamping out pasta coins on the internet? We have.Additional Reading: 45 Pasta Shapes and Counting [TASTE] Recipe: Spaghetti alla Puttanesca [Pasta] Recipe: Spaghetti with Colatura and Bread Crumbs [Pasta] Buy the book: Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy’s Greatest Food, with Recipes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we’re sitting down with Mark Canha, the biggest food personality in Major League Baseball. Mark is an itinerant diner who documents his eating and cooking on Instagram as @bigleaguefoodie. We asked him about his pregame eating rituals, as well as some of the restaurants in New York that he’s most excited to check out as a new player for the New York Mets. We also talked about some untapped markets for Italian stadium food served in plastic souvenir helmet bowls.Later in this episode, hosts Matt Rodbard and Anna Hezel catch up about the most exciting things they’ve cooked and eaten in the last few weeks.Additional Reading: In Singapore, Lunar New Year is a Multicultural Feast [New York Times] Skillet Greens with Runny Eggs, Peas, and Pancetta [New York Times] NY Indonesian Food Bazaar [Facebook] Smorgasburg LA Danny Boy’s Famous Original  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the past year and a half, Daniela Galarza has written one of our favorite things on the internet: a four-day-a-week cooking column for the Washington Post food section, Eat Voraciously. In this episode, we hear about Daniela’s journey from pastry cook and private chef to holding down editorial jobs at LA Weekly, Eater, and the Post. We also talk about some of the great work she’s done as a writer for TASTE, particularly focusing on pastry and desserts. And she answers the burning questions of the day: What makes a great recipe, and what makes a great food newsletter? Additional reading: The Tart That Launched a Thousand Tarts [TASTE] Spain’s Burnt Cheesecake Breaks All the Rules [TASTE] Big Crisp Energy [TASTE] How do you like to cook your least favorite veggies? We’ve got ideas, too. [WaPo] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the show, we’re catching up with Gary Shteyngart, a New York Times best-selling novelist and food writer who has written memorable books including The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Super Sad True Love Story, and his most recent work, the rollicking pandemic satire Our Country Friends. In this episode, we talk about some of Shteyngart’s world travels, both as a hired gun and for fun, as well as what he’s eating and drinking in his Upstate New York home. We also remember New York City restaurants from the 1990s and early 2000s, including fond memories of the long-lost Meatpacking District bistro Florent, which plays a role in his most recent novel.Check out Gary Shteyngart’s recent book Our Country Friends.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of the podcast, we’re talking to Fany Gerson, the pastry chef mastermind behind La Newyorkina, Dough, and, most recently, Fan-Fan Doughnuts in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. In addition to making some of New York’s most legendary doughnuts, Fany has written extensively about the paletas, ice creams, and other sweets of Mexico, where she grew up. We talked about the secret ingredient that makes her yeasted doughnuts special, how the fan-fan (her signature eclair-like doughnut baton) came about, and some of the best, often-overlooked Mexican food in New York.Later on the show, hosts Anna Hezel and Matt Rodbard discuss the ever-present, ever-evolving world of fad diets.Additional Reading: Mexican Desserts and the Magical Can [TASTE] Inside Fany Gerson’s Brand-new Doughnut Shop [Grub Street] The Best Advice After Trying Every Fad Diet? Just Eat. [TASTE] When SnackWell’s Was the Flavor of Permissible Indulgence [TASTE] The Summer of Halo Top [TASTE] Buy Fany’s cookbooks: My Sweet Mexico, Paletas, Mexican Ice Cream Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the show, we’re talking to Hrishikesh Hirway, the musician behind The One AM Radio, the podcaster behind The West Wing Weekly and Song Exploder, and the host of Netflix’s adaptation of Song Exploder. In addition to collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma and interviewing musicians like Michael Stipe and Alicia Keys, Hrishikesh is also the cohost, with Samin Nosrat, of Home Cooking, which has quickly become one of our favorite food podcasts during the pandemic. We talked about the joys of savory oatmeal, lessons learned from hosting a call-in show about cooking, and a very special mango pie. We also got to hear about an exciting new EP that’s hot off the presses.Additional reading and listening: Accept Cookies [Substack] A Very American Mango Pie, Inspired by Indian Aunties [The New York Times] Song Exploder, The West Wing Weekly, Home Cooking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the show, we have a colorful conversation with Cara Nicoletti, a fourth-generation butcher, writer, and cofounder of the vegetable-centric sausage company Seemore Meats & Veggies. We’ve fallen hard for these sausages, which are made with 35 percent vegetables, and we wanted to have Cara on the podcast to talk about how she went from working at the legendary Meat Hook butcher shop in Brooklyn to disrupting the sausage game. We also talk about the many problems with the massive investment and growth of the plant-based meat megacompanies, and how TASTE readers can buy better at their local butcher shops.Also on the program, hosts Anna Hezel and Matt Rodbard discuss all things chicken soup: the many versions made around the world, and how the recipe is interpreted in some of our favorite recent cookbooks. Matt also remembers many a fine bowl of Detroit Lions’ loss chicken soup. Additional reading: Can Chicken Soup Save Us? [TASTE] Samgyetang: Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup [TASTE] Cooking At Home by David Change and Priya Krishna Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices