The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

Historian John T. Edge take a look back at one of America's great food treasures, Craig Claiborne, the Sterns share their pick of great public markets on both coasts and wine writer Paul Lukacs from Wine Review Online introduces to the wines of Priorat.Broadcast dates for this episode:August 29, 2009

This week it's the domestic goddess of the British Isles, TV star and author Nigella Lawson talking those oh-so-evocative summer fruit dishes of England - from fools to flummeries to an unusual take on raspberry jam. Nigella's latest book is Nigella Express. It's burnt ends sandwiches at LC's Bar-B-Q in Kansas City, Missouri for Jane and Michael Stern. Wine wizard Joshua Wesson says we need to be putting a chill on some of those reds. He'll tell us which ones. Chad Ward, author of An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives, has advice for getting the best knives for your money, and Dave Broom has some surprises from the World Whisky Awards.Broadcast dates for this episode:August 23, 2008 (originally aired)August 22, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week we're meeting one of the pioneers in America's artisan cheese movement, our very own Steve Jenkins author of The Food Life: Inside the World of Food with the Grocer Extraordinaire at Fairway. Jane and Michael Stern are at Halibut in Portland, OR and we look at the Southern way with picnics, with Jean Anderson author of A Love Affair with Southern Cooking: Recipes and Recollections.Broadcast dates for this episode:August 16, 2008 (originally aired)August 8, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week's guest claims that without fruits we'd still be swinging from trees eating bugs. Fruit-obsessed journalist Adam Leith Gollner joins us for a look at the fruit leggers and their stories as told in his book The Fruit Hunters: The Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession. The Sterns experience a religious moment at the church of heavenly barbecue - Louie Mueller's in Taylor, Texas. Wine maverick Joshua Wesson talks cool wines for steamy days, and food scientist Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, explains what's really going on with those color-enhanced steaks in the meat case.Broadcast dates for this episode:July 26, 2008 (originally aired)July 25, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week we're celebrating the Fourth of July and the start of high summer. Gourmet magazine's John Willoughby talks smoke roasting, a much-ignored technique worthy of revival for its easy and succulent results. John's latest book, Grill It!: Recipes, Techniques, Tools, co-authored with fellow grilling guru Chris Schlesinger, is hot off the press. The Sterns feast on only-in-America fried clams and onion rings at Champlin's Seafood Deck in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Sally Schneider, author of The Improvisational Cook, has ideas for summer coleslaw. Gary Nabhan, co-author of Renewing America's Food Traditions, looks at America's endangered foods, and David Rosengarten, creator of The Rosengarten Report newsletter, talks burger bliss.Broadcast dates for this episode:June 28, 2008 (originally aired)July 4, 2009 (rebroadcast)

All those people talking about a wine's "terroir", meaning the place the grapes come from. Can we really taste it? We get the scientific last word from Harold McGee author of the seminal On Food and Cooking. Jane and Michael Stern are at Woodyard Bar-B-Que in Kansas City, KS, and novelist Nicole Mones tell us about the time in Chinese culinary history which she used as a framework for her latest novel, The Last Chinese Chef.Broadcast dates for this episode:June 2, 2007 (originally aired)May 24, 2008 (rebroadcast)June 27, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's the seeds and bark that changed the planet. We're talking spices, the stuff of wonderment and avarice in the medieval world with Paul Freedman, author of Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. It's a St. Augustine, Florida special for Jane and Michael Stern at Saltwater Cowboy's. We talk with Peter Shafer, our Gastrosexual for the month of June. Tea purist Bill Waddington, proprietor of St. Paul's TeaSource, has summer in a glass — iced teas for the lazy at heart, and culinary improv artist Sally Schneider has a brief on the wallflower of the farm stand… the beet.Broadcast dates for this episode:July 12, 2008 (originally aired)June 20, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's the making of a wine merchant with Neal Rosenthal, one of the wine world's most respected importers. We'll hear the story of how he learned his craft and much more. His book is Reflections of a Wine Merchant.It's world class chili with the Sterns at Joe Roger's Chili Parlor in Springfield, Illinois; and we're eating on the cheap abroad with Anya Von Bremzen. Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones, has secrets for flourishing well into our tenth decade, and we'll hear about a new kind of eatery in Denver named So All May Eat.Broadcast dates for this episode:June 21, 2008 (originally aired)June 6, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a look at the American kitchen—from the sanitized scientific outpost of yesteryear to today's family-oriented center of cherry cabinets, granite countertops and culinary toys galore. Our guest is Steven Gdula, author of The Warmest Room in the House: How the Kitchen Became the Heart of the Twentieth-Century American Home. Who but the Sterns would have found a snack cake worth a journey? It's the Twinkie of Michael's dreams at Bette's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley, California.Wine expert Joshua Wesson is back and he's talking Grüner Veltliner, the centerpiece of Austria's wine industry. Greg Patent tells how he tracked the great recipes of America's immigrant families while researching his latest book A Baker's Odyssey. He shares a recipe for Fatayar, a Lebanese lamb and onion pie.Professor of German Chris Wickham fills us in on Food in the Arts, a symposium of academics from around the world at the University of Texas at San Antonio. We'll hear the story of New Orleans jazz man Kermit Ruffins and his band called the BBQ Swingers, and Lynne shares the seafood websites that keep her in the loop about environmental and health concerns and fish that's okay to eat.Broadcast dates for this episode:February 23, 2008 (originally aired)May 30, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a look at the noodle foursome that's the heart of Japan's beloved noodle cuisine: udon, somen, soba and ramen. Our guide is Chef Takashi Yagihashi, author of Takashi's Noodles. He talks noodle cooking, noodle etiquette, and the Japanese way with noodles that may even outflank Italy.Jane and Michael Stern are forking into some of the most sublime banana cream pie anywhere at Betty's Pies on Minnesota's North Shore.Indian food expert Raghavan Iyer has the fastest, lustiest breads you'll ever make. Forget the oven; for this quick bread you need to fire up your grill. Raghavan's latest book is 660 Curries: The Gateway to Indian Cooking.American Public Media commentator and dad John Moe tells of a little experiment in dinner table politics. Parents of picky little eaters will want to tune in!Brendan Newnam takes an off-center approach to the dinner party and it all starts with a joke. Then poet Nikki Giovanni reads her poem "So Enchanted with You" from her book Bicycles: Love Poems.Broadcast dates for this episode:May 23, 2009

This week, it's a fashionista in the kitchen. We'll talk with designer Isaac Mizrahi, who has some strong opinions about cookbooks and some "issues" with entertaining.For the Sterns it's the cream of the cremas (and pastries) at Crema in Portland, Oregon. Produce maven Russ Parsons talks how to find the ever-elusive great strawberry, Lettie Teague is back with new trends in house wines, we'll play a new round of Stump the Cook with celebrity stump master Christopher Kimball, and Richard Wiles has a shoppers guide for avoiding pesticides in produce.Broadcast dates for this episode:June 7, 2008 (originally aired)May 16, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week we're looking at the wine cork controversy with journalist George Tabor, author of To Cork or Not to Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science and the Bottle for the Wine Bottle. Jane and Michael Stern are taking us to upstate NY to raise our "hot dog consciousness" at Ted's in Tonawanda, NY, and the Wine Spectator's Matt Kramer introduces us to his favorite white wine, reisling. Broadcast dates for this episode:May 31, 2008 (originally aired)May 9, 2009 (rebroadcast)

Today we are learning how to build a curry with award-winning teacher Raghavan Iyer, author of 660 Curries. Jane and Michael Stern have found pecan pie worth the trip at the Texas Pie Company in Kyle, TX. Joshua Wesson brings us wines for the picnic basket and we look the misunderstandings behind MSG with The New York Time's Julia Moskin.Broadcast dates for this episode:May 18, 2008 (originally aired)April 18, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a look at the golden age of Islamic food and conquest with guest Charles Perry, historian of Arab cuisine. Mr. Perry authored the foreword to Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes.It's clam chowder Rhode Island style for Jane and Michael Stern at Kitchen Little, just over the border in Mystic, Connecticut.Baking authority Dorie Greenspan talks the one and only Paris macaroon — a local obsession — and leaves us a recipe for Chocolate Macaroons.Lynne and Mannaging Producer Sally Swift bring us round two of "Back to the Table" — with the basic rules of the stir-fry.Kim Adams, one of seven Detroit area wine crazies who created the website Gang of Pour has a beginner's guide to making your own vinegar from leftover wine.Professor Henry Petroski chats about the toothpick, the latest ordinary object to catch his attention and the focus of his latest book, The Toothpick: Technology and Culture; and, as always, the phone lines will be open for your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:March 1, 2008 (originally aired)April 4, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a look at the fat we hear so much about—Omega-3—and why it's gone missing from our diet. Science writer Susan Allport joins us with ideas for replacing this endangered "good" fat. She is the author of Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them.The Sterns claim the folks at Skylight Inn Bar-B-Q in Ayden, North Caroline make the world's best and purest whole-hog barbecue. We'll have a report. Russ Parsons of the Los Angeles Times is back talking the glory of spring peas, including the overlooked fresh fava. He shares a recipe for Sugar Snap Pea Soup with Parmesan Cream from his book How to Pick a Peach.It's a look at the battle for Barolo with Food & Wine magazine's Lettie Teague. Experts are turning themselves inside out over the controversy. Lettie tells all. Freelance writer Julie Hauserman has a tale of little nippers and an addiction, and software developer Thunder Parley talks life as the in-house critic for Google's eighteen employee restaurants and cafes.Broadcast dates for this episode:March 22, 2008 (originally aired)March 21, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a look at why we buy. What drives us to purchase nonsense, even when we're watching every penny? Branding consultant Martin Lindstrom examined this behavior with neuroscientists at Oxford University. The findings convinced him that mysterious forces we aren't even aware of propel us to open our wallets for things we don't need or want. His book is Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.The Sterns have been wandering the Louisiana bayous, where they found great eats at Mosca's, a vintage Italian roadhouse in Avondale. Wine maverick Josh Wesson gives American Riesling its due. It's the perfect wine for how we eat today. We check in with Chef Gabrielle Hamilton at Prune in New York City. She shines at her restaurant stove, but feeding two toddlers at home is another story.Then it's to the opposite coast and Portland, Oregon where little money gets you brilliant feasting at the city's food carts; and New York Times reporter Julia Moskin reveals the hottest new cooking tool you'll never find on the equipment sites and in the cookware stores.Broadcast dates for this episode:March 14, 2009

This week it's a different look at the seemingly simple and innocent banana. It's played a role in building regimes, toppling governments, partnering with the CIA and even gave Elvis his legendary grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich. Our guest is Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World.The Sterns have found five-star Mexican food at Rosita's in the small Great Plains town of Scottsbluff, Nebraska.Sally Schneider is back talking savory ideas for lemons. Try her recipe for Risotto with Dry Sherry and Lemon from her book, The Improvisational Cook.Reporter Guy Hand tells of the morphing of the tater tot. From the ridiculous to the sublime, it's the story of what happened to those crispy little nuggets that started out as cattle feed in the Pacific Northwest and ended up in trendy bars all across America.Lynne and Christopher Kimball of Cook's Illustrated fame play another round of Stump the Cook with Chris from St. Louis.Professor Jessica Harris, the first scholar-in-residence to hold the chair endowed by Ray Charles at Dillard University, talks about the musician's great generosity, how he loved to eat, and his support of African-American culture.Broadcast dates for this episode:March 15, 2008 (originally aired)March 7, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a peek into the life of a waiter at one of the world's most demanding restaurants. It's a profession and high craft, and not for the faint of heart. Our guest is Phoebe Damrosch, former waiter at Chef Thomas Keller's acclaimed Per Se in New York City. Phoebe tells all in her book Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter.The Sterns are at Grove Café in Ames, Iowa, where they're forking up pancakes true to their name-huge, pan-size disks of thick and fluffy deliciousness.Cheesemonger Steve Jenkins is back with a look at the cheeses of the Pyrenees. Improvisational cook Sally Schneider talks the theory and practice of meat loaf and shares her recipe for Lamb Meat Loaf with Cumin, Coriander and Fennel.Pierre Laszlo, Professor Emeritus of chemistry at the University of Liege in Belgium, tells the story of what happened when a group trying out Utopia in California wrote a letter to the USDA. Professor Laszlo wants us to try his recipe for Tarte au Citron from his latest book, Citrus: A History.Streit Matzo, the last family-owned matzo factory in the country is moving from its long-time home on New York's Lower East Side. Fourth-generation family member Aaron Gross explains why.Broadcast dates for this episode:February 16, 2008 (originally aired)February 21, 2009 (rebroadcast)

This week it's the one recipe that can make all the difference: stock. Author Michael Ruhlman guides us through the steps to creating that essential elixir that, when well made, can turn a new cook into a good cook, or a good cook into a great one. His recipe for Basic Brown Veal Stock gets us started. Michael's new book is The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen. Jane and Michael Stern chomp down on the "Pastraminator" at the All-Star Sandwich Bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One person says yams, another says sweet potatoes, one of them is wrong. Los Angeles Times food and wine journalist Russ Parsons, author of How to Pick a Peach cracks the confusing codes behind yams and sweet potatoes and leaves us his recipe for Sweet Potato Puree with Hazelnut Soufflé Top. Historian Ken Albala talks beans-all 18,000 varieties in all their confounding glory. Ken is the author of Beans: A History. Zak Rosen celebrates 100 years of Faygo pop, the beloved quirky beverage from Motown. Susanna Short, author of Bundt Cake Bliss, talks the come-back gâteau and shares her recipe for Pine Nut and Chili Bundt with Chili Glaze.Broadcast dates for this episode:January 26, 2008 (originally aired)January 31, 2009 (rebroadcast)

We are taking a look at our Locavore Nation project. 15 adventurous souls took on the challenge to eat a sustainable, local diet for a year. We will weigh in with the results. Locavore novelist Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable. Miracle: A Year of Food Life joins us for a commentary on the results.Broadcast dates for this episode:January 17, 2009

Our guest this week is Padma Lakshmi, host of TV's reality show, "Top Chef." Her famous line is "please pack your knives and go." Padma packed her knives, cooked her way around the world, then came home to write her new book Tangy Tart Hot Sweet: A World of Recipes for Every Day. Her food, including Two Hens Laughing, is some of the most alluring to come along in some time.Great smoked fish lured Jane and Michael Stern to Duluth, Minnesota (in the winter, no less) and the Northern Waters Smokehaus. Also in Duluth, the Damiano Center is feeding hundreds of folks every day with perfectly good food that stores, restaurants and farmers throw away. It's the kind of good-news story we love.Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg stop by to tell us how we can make our own artisan bread in five minutes a day (no kidding). Five-Minute Artisan Bread is from their book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking.Christopher Kimball of Cook's Illustrated fame is back for another round of Stump the Cook, and David Wallechinsky, author of The New Book of Lists, reveals the one he claims isn't yet complete.Broadcast dates for this episode:December 15, 2007 (originally aired)December 27, 2008 (rebroadcast)

Broadcast dates for this episode:December 13, 2008

This week it's the story behind the wine world's most revered and feared critic. One bad review from him can take a wine down. He's Robert Parker, Jr. and his power is both rare and absolute. We'll find out what shapes and informs his legendary palate. Look for the 7th and latest edition of his classic Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide in bookstores now.Who but the Sterns would go for apple pancakes with potato pancakes on the side? They're at the Northside Grill in Ann Arbor, Michigan.Christopher Kimball of America's Test Kitchen stops by with this year's crop of top kitchen gadgets just in time for holiday gifting.Food scientist to the pros and award-winning author Shirley Corriher is back and she's talking cookie control - what we need to know for successful baking that no one else tells us. Her wonderful book, BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking, is hot off the press.Tea merchant Bill Waddington shares some interesting tea customs, and Hillary Carlip (www.hillarycarlip.com), author of A la Carte: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers, lets us in on an unusual kind of culinary collectible.Broadcast dates for this episode:December 6, 2008

This week it's a cooking lesson with a virtuoso. Violinist Joshua Bell has received every accolade imaginable in his career, including a Grammy for his stunning performance in the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning film The Red Violin. Now he's creating his first home and he wants to learn to cook. He and Lynne met up at the stove in his New York City kitchen where Tagliatelle with Caramelized Oranges Almonds was the lesson of the day.The Sterns are in Cleveland where they're eating Wiener Schnitzel and Dobos Torte at Balaton. Sally Schneider, author of The Improvisational Cook, returns with a cold weather cooking technique you will love.Food scientist Harold McGee, author of the seminal On Food and Cooking, explains those ever more confounding scientific contortions coming out of restaurant kitchens these days. And We'll hear from the United States Oyster Shucking Champion.Broadcast dates for this episode:November 10, 2007 (originally aired)November 29, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week it's Jeff Henderson, "Chef Jeff" of the Chef Jeff project on The Food Network, Jane and Michael Stern are at Enstrom's Toffee in Grand Junction, CO. And we visit with Dorie Greenspan author of Baking, From My Home to Yours, and Gourmet magazine's John Willoughby.Broadcast dates for this episode:November 22, 2008

This week we have a homage to all things porcine, and the story of family life in a rural French village from French chef Stéphane Reynaud, author of Pork & Sons, Jane and Michael Stern have found the "krunkest" fish in Nashville at Eastside Fish, and Kim Marcus of The Wine Spectator brings us up to date on the wines of Portugal.Broadcast dates for this episode:November 3, 2007 (originally aired)October 25, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This weeks it's the intersection of food and international relations with Chris Fair, author of Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations. Jane and Michael Stern are eating cream puffs at Butler's Donuts in Somerset, MA and Gourmet Magazine's John Willoughby brings us their picks of America's legendary restaurants.Broadcast dates for this episode:October 18, 2008

This week we peek at the fantasy life of a house in Tuscany with Michael Tucker, author of Living in a Foreign Language, A Memoir of Food, Wine and Love. Sally Schneider author of A New Way to Cook gives us a fresh take on pears, and Seattle chef Tom Douglas explains the trials and tribulations of becoming a "gentleman" farmer.Broadcast dates for this episode:October 3, 2007 (originally aired)October 11, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week we talk to journalist Julia Flynn Siler author of The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. Jane and Michael Stern are at Kumback Lunch in Perry, OK. David Rosengarten looks at the origins of ramen noodles. And for an interpretation of an epicurean's take on happiness we turn to philosopher and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think is Right is Wrong.Broadcast dates for this episode:September 8, 2007 (originally aired)September 27, 2008 (rebroadcast)

We're looking at global seed banks with journalist John Seabrook, author of The New Yorker article, Sowing For the Apocalypse. Jane and Michael Stern are at Short Sugar's BBQ in Reidsville, NC, wine wit Joshua Wesson takes us to Italy's premier wine event, Vin Italy, and Jill Carle, co-author of College Cooking: Feed Yourself and Your Friends, has ideas for breaking out of the popcorn and noodle cup rut.Broadcast dates for this episode:September 15, 2007 (originally aired)September 6, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week we're talking to distinguished nutritionist and food activist Marion Nestle about who should really be responsible for our food supply. She is the author of What To Eat. The Stern's are at Standard Baking on the Portland, ME waterfront and Sally Schneider author of the award-winning The Improvisational Cook gives us a new view of the kitchen staple, the egg.Broadcast dates for this episode:June 9, 2007 (originally aired)August 9, 2008 (rebroadcast)

We're taking a look at sushi-what we never knew about it, that the way we eat it is probably all wrong, and that its birthplace in not Japan. Our guest is journalist Trevor Corson, author of The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket. The Sterns are in Colorado where they're tucking into cinnamon rolls the size of dinner plates at Johnson's Corner in Loveland.Middle Eastern food authority and historian, Claudia Roden, brings us something new to grill: kafta, the ground meat kebabs that every country in the region makes its own. She leaves us her recipe for Moroccan Kebabs from her beautiful new book Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, & Lebanon. Whisky maker John Glaser of Compass Box Whisky Company has been dubbed a maverick by the trade for his new-style blends of Scotch. He stops by with samples for Lynne.French chef and national treasure Jacques Pépin talks the small simple things he's created over a lifetime of cooking that make sensational eating. He leaves us his recipe for Fromage Fort from his latest, and perhaps most personal, book, Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook. Carolin Young, author of Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver: Stories of Dinner as a Work of Art, fills us in on her Paris walking and dining tours; and, as always, the phone lines will be open for your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:June 30, 2007 (originally aired)August 2, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week we meet the charming Spanish wunder chef Jose Andres, host of PBS's Jose's Made in Spain. The Sterns are in Sacramento, CA eating Squeeze Burgers at The Squeeze Inn, and Lynne puts veggie burgers to a taste test in her kitchen.Broadcast dates for this episode:July 19, 2008

This week we talk to journalist Dave Plotnikoff about his hike from the Mexican border to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail and the food that ended up being the touch point of the trip. He is the author of "Hungry Man" from the July 2007 issue of Saveur Magazine. Jane and Michael Stern are eating planked whitefish and ice cream "Thunderclouds" at Juilleret's in Harbor Springs, MI, and Russ Parsons, author of How to Pick a Peach explains the rules about produce and the refrigerator.Broadcast dates for this episode:July 21, 2007 (originally aired)July 5, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week we have the story of Mother Noella Marcellino who found her calling in a Benedictine abbey and the cheese caves of France. The Stern's are at Clanton's in Vinita, OK eating chicken fried steak. Wine wit Josh Wesson introduces us to the delicious and overlooked sparkling red wines of summer. Marian Burros of The New York Times recommends sources for grass fed beef, and attorney Cameron Stracher, author of Dinner with Dad: How I Found My Way Back to the Family Table, tells the tale of what happens when a working dad takes over dinner for a year.Broadcast dates for this episode:June 17, 2007 (originally aired)June 14, 2008 (rebroadcast)

We are looking at the foods of the Philippine's this week with Amy Besa, author of Memories of Philippine Kitchens: Stories and Recipes from Far and Near, Jane and Michael Stern are at Prince's Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville, TN and Sally Schneider author of the award-winning The Improvisational Cook gives us a cooking lesson for spring.Broadcast dates for this episode:May 26, 2007 (originally aired)May 10, 2008 (rebroadcast)

We're looking at the education of a wine rookie with Lettie Teague and her student, movie critic Peter Travers. Lettie is the author of Educating Peter, How I Taught a Famous Movie Critic the Difference Between Cabernet and Merlot or How Anybody Can Become and (Almost) Instant Wine Critic. Jane and Michael Stern are in the Mississippi Delta at Rhoda's Famous Hot Tamales and we look at the advent of a new dining trend, one-pot meals served in private homes.Broadcast dates for this episode:April 28, 2007 (originally aired)May 3, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a special one-hour program recorded in Hawaii. Aloha! This week we're bringing you a special one-hour program recorded in Hawaii. It's a look at the food and culture of Honolulu and its island of Oahu that few tourists see. You won't want to miss this show. Famed chef Alan Wong gets us started with a short history lesson, laying out the role immigrants played in the origins of island foods. Then we're off on a whirlwind tour around the island of Oahu, sharing ideas for where to eat and where to shop along the way. We'll talk the local food revolution with farmer Dean Okimoto, visit the Honolulu Fish Auction, tour Chinatown with Joan Namkoong, author of Food Lover's Guide to Honolulu, and stop for shrimp and shave ice on Oahu's north shore.Keona Mark tells how a native organization is taking taro beyond the infamous poi, and we'll eat from high to low. Along the way we gathered recipes to share, including Hamakua Springs Tomato, Beet and Avocado Salad from the legendary Alan Wong's Restaurant, and a Korean Marinade from Yummy Korean Barbecue in Honolulu's Makai Market.Broadcast dates for this episode:February 17, 2007 (originally aired)April 19, 2008 (rebroadcast)

We're still celebrating! This week it's Part Two of our 10th anniversary special recorded in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. This is the region of Italy that Italians consider their culinary jewel, the land of prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano.Enjoy A Holiday Feast from Ferrara, a menu of recipes handpicked by Lynne for wonderful holiday celebrations.Learn more about this beautiful country in Lynne's Go-To Guide to Emilia-Romagna and enjoy Lynne's memories and thoughts of Villa Gaidello. (See photos of Lynne in Italy in a slideshow as well.)Join us for this very special broadcast of intimate armchair travel with one of Italy's greatest fans, Lynne Rossetto Kasper.Broadcast dates for this episode:October 15, 2005 (originally aired)October 21, 2006 (rebroadcast)March 3, 2007 (rebroadcast)April 12, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week we're celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Splendid Table® with the first of two shows recorded in Lynne's beloved Emilia-Romagna. This is the region of Italy that Italians consider their culinary jewel, the land of prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano.Lynne takes us behind the scenes as no one else can - into balsamic attics and kitchens of legendary country restaurants. She takes us to a town where people still set a place at table for the composer Verdi and his music spills out into the street.Lynne's Go-To Guide to Emilia-Romagna takes us from a salumeria in Parma to a barrista in Bologna, stopping along the way for a pasta class and a visit with an eel fisherman. A Rustic Celebration Supper from the Hills of Parma and Piacenza features a menu and recipes for a casual celebration supper selected by Lynne.Join us for this very special broadcast of intimate armchair travel with one of Italy's greatest fans, Lynne Rossetto Kasper.Broadcast dates for this episode:October 8, 2005 (originally aired)October 14, 2006 (rebroadcast)April 5, 2008 (rebroadcast)

Thomas Jefferson was the first American to make a serious study of wine. He not only collected and drank it, he toured vineyards, learned first hand, and took copious notes. John Hailman, author of Jefferson on Wine, spent 30 years studying the writing of a man way ahead of his time. He joins us this week with the fascinating story.The Sterns take a detour from road food to feast on old time San Francisco seafood at Sam's Grill in the financial district. Hide the Velveeta and dump that block of mozzarella. The always-opinionated Steve Jenkins is back with new finds that will get us out of a cheese rut.We have a story of newlyweds that asks an interesting question: can true love overcome Spam? Christopher Kimball plays another round of Stump the Cook, and we'll talk eating and emotion (as in popcorn at the movies.) Lynne shares recipes for Easter Lamb with Red Wine and Black Olives and Soffritto of Tomato and Fresh Herbs with Penne and, as always, takes your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:February 24, 2007 (originally aired)March 29, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a story of growing up in Delhi, told by Indian food authority and actress Madhur Jaffrey. She came of age at a wrenching time in India's history, in a large family both privileged and conflicted. It's all evoked through Madhur's taste memories and chronicled in her new book, Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India. Her recipe for Everyday Cauliflower is from the book.The Sterns are in upstate New York, noshing on Sauceburgers, "Michigans," and fries at McSweeney's in Plattsburgh. Food and Wine magazine's Senior Editor, Ray Isle, stops by to sort through the glut of American Pinot Noir on the market these days and picks the best buys.Former home-cook-turned-chef at New York City's Prune, Gabrielle Hamilton, tells a story which begins, "It's All Fun and Games Until ..." excerpted from How I Learned to Cook: Culinary Educations from the World's Greatest Chefs. Tune in to find out what happens next. Judith Hoffberg, creator of the International Edible Books Festival, reveals how you can eat your own words and everyone else's, too, and Lynne takes your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:March 17, 2007 (originally aired)March 8, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week it's a look at the life of a culinary innovator. Cecilia Chiang was a pioneer in bringing regional Chinese food to America with the opening of The Mandarin, her San Francisco restaurant. It became a culinary landmark and Cecilia became a leader in the city's food community. Her book, The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco tells her story. Cecilia's recipe for Lion's Head, a Shanghai specialty, is from the book.It could be the ultimate corned beef sandwich for Jane and Michael Stern at Tucson's Feig's Kosher Foods. Baking authority Dorie Greenspan is back from "Chocolate University" and stops by with tips for a chocolate tasting. She leaves us her recipe for Gooey Chocolate Cakes from her fabulous book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.Tea expert Bill Waddington joins Lynne for a tasting of new old teas—two varieties treasured in China but unknown here. Ethan Lowry has the scoop on Urban Spoon, a wonderfully innovative source for good eats in cities across the country. And, as always, the phone lines will be open for your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:February 9, 2008

Those tangibles of the American food revolution — take-out sushi at the gas station, salads of organic baby lettuces and obscure herbs, star chefs, restaurants as Mecca — are no coincidence according to our guest David Kamp, author of The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation. He believes a parade of freewheeling originals — from Julia Child to Michael Pollan — led us out of the culinary dark ages. We have the story.The Sterns unveil a transcendental sweet potato pancake at Nashville's Pancake Pantry. Deborah Krasner talks culinary vacations and what you need to know before you hand over the credit card. Her new book The New Outdoor Kitchen: Cooking Up a Kitchen for the Way You Live and Play is due out in February.It's the New York City burger war with Mike Colameco, our go-to guy in the Big Apple. Singer Alex Kapranos of the Franz Ferdinand band takes us on tour for a look at a rocker's road food. He's the author of Sound Bites: Eating on Tour with Franz Ferdinand.Eli Winkleman tells the story behind Challah for Hunger, a national student organization addressing humanitarian issues in a unique way. Lynne shares her Homage to California Cuisine: Garlic Bread, Green Bean and Tomato Salad and a recipe for Carrots with Apricots and Pistachios. And the phone lines will be open for your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:January 13, 2007 (originally aired)February 2, 2008 (rebroadcast)

This week we're cooking and eating the vegan way with our guest Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. It's less about tofu and more about dynamite vegetables and inventive cooking. Her recipe for Asparagus Quiche with Tomatoes and Tarragon is a delicious introduction.For Jane and Michael Stern it's that great southern triumvirate—biscuits, ham and sweet tea—at the Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. David Rosengarten takes us to Hyderabad, the Indian city where the rich and regal food of the north meets up with the zing and zap of the cuisines of the south.Aaron Woolf, director of King Corn, tells the back story behind the new feature documentary about two guys from Boston, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. We'll meet up with Laura Solorio, the first of the 15 "locavores" to participate in our year-long project called Locavore Nation. James Villas, the southern gentleman of the food world, stops by to talk one of those guilty pleasure foods—bacon—and leaves us his recipe for Bacon and Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles from his new book The Bacon Cookbook.Broadcast dates for this episode:January 19, 2008

Science writer Jennifer Ackerman joins us this week for a scientific take on how our bodies use food and drink. What really controls our appetite and hunger? We'll have some answers. Jennifer's new book is Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body. The Sterns' fondness for prison gift shops led them to some great hush puppies and shredded pork sandwiches at Hocutt's Carolina Barbecue. It's right across from the Big House in Moundsville, West Virginia.Culinary improviser Sally Schneider, author of The Improvisational Cook takes the intimidation out of the soufflé. Her cheese soufflé recipe is a step-by-step guide to perfect results. Wine writer Natalie MacLean is always game for a new wine experience. When she became a restaurant sommelier for a night she came away with some good tips to share. Natalie is the author of Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass.Professor Steven Kaplan, a man who has French bakers shaking in their shoes, stops by to talk French bread. We'll hear about an oyster shell recycling program from Sabrina Varnum of the North Carolina Department of Marine Fisheries, and, as always, Lynne takes your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:January 12, 2008

This week we take a look at what controls our eating. Is it real hunger or something more complex? We'll have answers from our guest, Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Laboratory. His new book is Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. It's an endangered species for the Sterns — an old-time American chili parlor that's alive and well at Mike's Chili Parlor in Seattle.Food writer Francine Maroukian shares her idiosyncratic approach to building a cookbook library and shares some favorite titles from her own shelves. Then Lynne weighs in with some sources to check when starting or adding to a cookbook collection. That brilliant culinary trickster, Chef Michel Richard, has tips that make the new kitchen technology doable for home cooks. The recipe for Low Carb-O-Nara is from Chef Richard's book Happy in the Kitchen: The Craft of Cooking, the Art of Eating.Celebrity Stump Master Christopher Kimball returns for another round of Stump the Cook, we have a report on bottled waters, and the phone lines will be open for your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:January 6, 2007 (originally aired)January 5, 2008 (rebroadcast)

Writer and Director Nora Ephron, author of the best-seller I Feel Bad About My Neck, joins us this week with observations on life and the American food scene, including a provocative take on how the duo of the birth control pill and Julia Child shaped the social history of the late 20th Century.The Sterns report that the endangered chicken in a pot bubbles proud and free at the Chutzpah in Fairfax, Virginia. Sally Schneider, author of The Improvisational Cook, has her usual effortless take on great hors d'oeuvres, including her recipe for Pancetta Tartines. It's gifts for wine geeks from a master geek himself, The Wine Spectator's Matt Kramer. His latest book is Matt Kramer's Making Sense of Italian Wine.Fred Plotkin, our pleasure activist and author of Italy for the Gourmet Traveller, talks Vienna, the perfect winter destination, and lines up the must-do coffeehouses. We'll take a look at the new nanny nutrition dilemma, and, as always, Lynne takes your callsBroadcast dates for this episode:December 16, 2006 (originally aired)December 29, 2007 (rebroadcast)

Broadcast dates for this episode:December 22, 2007

This week it's a look at the pivotal cookbooks of our time with Judith Jones, the woman who brought them to print. She didn't set out to edit cookbooks. Then she discovered Julia Child, Marcella Hazan and a clutch of other "greats." The rest is history. Judith's recipe for Frenchified Meatloaf is from her latest book, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food.Jane and Michael Stern stop by with their report on Lupie's in Charlotte, North Carolina. They say the squash casserole is worth a trip.Consummate cookbook author and baker Dorie Greenspan simply cannot resist testing kitchen gadgets. It's led to some great stocking stuffers. Gail Monaghan, author of Lost Desserts, takes a look at antique desserts. Her recipe for Red Wine Jelly is a stunner no one has seen for at least a century.We have the story of Will Scott, one of California's last African American farmers, and the chef who carries on his cultural and culinary traditions at Farmerbrown restaurant in San Francisco. Author and photographer Melanie Dunea tells us about a perfect gift for all the chef groupies on your holiday shopping list: her book titled My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals and, as always Lynne takes your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:December 8, 2007