Special Sauce with Ed Levine

*It is with much sadness that we acknowledge the passing of this week's guest on Special Sauce, Raghavan Iyer. Raghavan died just after we posted the second part of our extraordinary conversation. Iyer was a passionate, fierce advocate for Indian food and culture. As I mentioned in the episode he probably taught more Americans to cook Indian food than anyone else. And he faced his longtime battle with cancer with uncommon grace, courage, and determination.  This week on Special Sauce we continue our conversation with Indian food evangelist Raghavan Iyer. You'll hear more of Raghavan's insights on curry history, and we'll hear how living with his cancer diagnosis changed his outlook on food and life. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Raghavan Iyer has written 6 influential cookbooks on Indian food, including the all-time classic 660 Curries. On this episode of Special Sauce we’re going to hear about his own personal food journey, from the family table in Mumbai to a publishing lunch at Betty Crocker that changed his life. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce Kenji waxes (pun intended) poetic on the secrets to both seriously delicious french fries that taste just like McDonald's when they are fresh out of the fryer (that's when you have to eat 'em). He also gives some seriously helpful tips on roasting potatoes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce hilarious cookbook author JJ Goode is back to go into detail about why he insists he's "America's best worst cook." JJ explains why and how he's ruined innumerable grilled cheese sandwiches at home. And yet JJ insists that his cooking cluelessness makes him a better collaborator on chef's cookbooks. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce, we're revisiting my conversation with Joanne Lee Molinaro, AKA The Korean Vegan. When we last spoke Joanne had already gone from corporate litigator to writing the James Beard Award-winning ‘The Korean Vegan Cookbook’. Now less than two years later Joanne has become a social media superstar. Joanne's Youtube channel has over a million subscribers and she has over 3 million followers on Tik Tok. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we talk chef cookbook collaborations with the extraordinary James Beard Award-winning food writer JJ Goode. JJ has collaborated with everyone from Iron Chef Morimoto to Sam Kass, who cooked for the Obamas at the White House. JJ has accomplished it all in spite of physical limitations that might have held him back. JJ's essay in Gourmet magazine about trying to cook with only one arm was selected for The Norton Anthology of Nonfiction Writing. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When I interviewed Milk Bar co-founder Christina Tosi last summer we talked about her extraordinary journey from home baker to pastry chef to entrepreneur. Tosi had an inspirational story to tell, and we thought it was a story worth repeating. Of course the peripatetic businesswoman has hardly been resting on her laurels since then. Boxes of Milk Bar soft baked cookies are coming to a grocery store near you, as are pints of Milk Bar ice cream. Christina published All About Cookies: A Milk Bar Baking Book, in November of 2022. And just for good measure (pun intended) the second season of the baking competition show she hosts Bake Squad, is just out on Netflix. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce Kenji, The New Yorker's Helen Rosner, and I dig further into the first season of ‘The Bear’ and also muse about what we'd like to see in the second season of the show, which is coming to FX this summer. We're all rooting for Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) to find some peace so that Sydney (Ayo Edibiri) can do her thing without being driven crazy. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Kenji and The New Yorker's Helen Rosner reflect on the first season of the compelling TV show The Bear, now streaming on Hulu. J. Kenji Lopez Alt is of course the author of bestselling cookbooks like the Food Lab and the Wok and who cooks on-camera for his own YouTube series, Kenji's Cooking Show. He worked in restaurant kitchens in Boston for many years, and he did a silly thing and opened his own restaurant, Wursthall in San Mateo. The New Yorker's Helen Rosner has spent years writing about restaurants and food and chefs for Eater, Saveur, and Grub Street, among others. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week I decided to revisit my interview with the extraordinary Grace Young, Why? Well, for starters Grace, cookbook author, cultural anthropologist, and wok therapist, is a wonder, a Chinese-American treasure. And when someone else might be resting on their laurels Young, who has won every award a cookbook author can win, has embarked on a new career and quest as a Chinese-American community activist and advocate. And as you will hear Grace, who was named the James Beard Foundation's Humanitarian of the Year in 2022, is still at it combating Asian-American hate with a new social media campain. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices