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

Broadcast dates for this episode:August 11, 2007

Broadcast dates for this episode:August 4, 2007

Broadcast dates for this episode:July 28, 2007

This week it's the wonder and biology of honey and the bees that make it. Journalist and beekeeper Holley Bishop, a woman who fell for bees the way one might fall for a puppy, tells the story. Holley is the author of Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey, the Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World. Her Berry Striped Pops are the perfect icy snack for these dog days of summer.The Sterns are in Seattle where Jane says they've found "the best doughnuts in the world" at Top Pot Doughnuts. Wine Maverick Josh Wesson talks France's unsung whites. The good news is the bargain prices.It's a look at bottled water with New York Times reporter Julia Moskin. We want to know why we're spending nine billion dollars a year for what comes out of the tap virtually free. We join the Sterns in Seattle for adventures you can have on a tank of gas. Our guide is Hsiao-Ching Chou, food editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.It's the art and technique of competitive eating with many-times champ and hip hop artist Eric Badlands Booker. His latest cd is "Hungry and Focused II." Lynne shares her recipe for cool and refreshing French Greens and Melon Salad with Fresh Goat Cheese and takes your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:July 22, 2006 (originally aired)July 14, 2007 (rebroadcast)

This week it's contemporary food's most friendly wine: Riesling. We're in Germany on the fruity, classy little gem's home turf with our guest, award-winning Riesling master Dr. Ernst Loosen.The Sterns are multi-tasking in El Paso, eating Huevos Rancheros and Menudos while watching their car go through the cycle at H & H Car Wash. Smart cook Sally Schneider turns dross into gold with her smart saves for so-so vinegars. She leaves us her ideas for Vinegar Improvisations and a recipe for Peppery or Bitter Greens with Seasonal Fruits and Roasted NutsAmerican food historian, Andy Smith, takes us back to the birth of lunch. It was all about being a worker or a woman. Otherwise, you did "dinner."We have another round of our wildly popular refrigerator game, Stump the Cook, with guest Stump Master Christopher Kimball. Larry Wu, consumer strategist for Iconoculture, talks "conscientious consumption." He claims it drives our choices in the market. Lynne has recipes for A Classic Pesto of Genoa, and an Old Time Bar Lunch Sandwich in honor of Andy Smith's discussion of the beginnings of lunch in America. And in the second half of the show, the phone lines will be open for your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:July 8, 2006 (originally aired)July 7, 2007 (rebroadcast)

This week we journey to Monterey, California for an in-depth look at one of the culinary world's biggest issues: healthy and sustainable seafood. It's politics at the grass roots level as we examine how the fishing industry is influenced by what chefs choose to serve in their restaurants. The show was recorded live at the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Cooking for Solutions weekend.Be sure to check out Jennifer Dianto's Seafood Watch program at the aquarium. It's a valuable resource for making choices about seafood that are healthy for our oceans.Dr. Steve Palumbi, a marine biologist at Stanford University, has put together a short video of him and Lynne taking DNA samples from supermarket fish to find out what's really in the package.Broadcast dates for this episode:June 24, 2006 (originally aired)June 23, 2007 (rebroadcast)

Can you remember the last time you ate a peach so perfectly sweet, juicy and delicious it knocked your socks off? Probably not. In fact, why does most of our produce have so little flavor? For answers we turn to Russ Parsons, award-winning food and wine journalist for theLos Angeles Times. Russ has been tracking American agriculture for 20 years and explains what it means to farm for flavor. He leaves us a recipe forSugar Snap Peas and Shrimp with Chive Mayonnaisefrom his latest book,How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table.At last, the Sterns have found a Belgian waffle worthy of Michael's endorsement. Cheers are going up at Beside the Point Café in Akron, Ohio.Master griller John Willoughby, co-author of Let the Flames Begin, wants us to forget marinating and go for last-minute spice pastes. He says they're faster and better. His recipe for EZ-Style Adobo Pork Ribs with Molasses-Chile Barbecue Sauce proves his point.Travel & Leisure magazine's critic Anya Von Bremzen picks the best new restaurants in eight global food capitals. For the full list read her article "From Tokyo to Las Vegas" in the April 2007 issue of the magazine. Anya's latest books are The New Spanish Table and The Greatest Dishes: Around the World in 80 Recipes.Spice hunter Nirmala Narine is back and this time she's talking turmeric. It lends its brilliant yellow color and pungent flavor to Goan Vindaloo Fish Curry from her book Nirmala's Kitchen: Everyday World Cuisine.Broadcast dates for this episode:May 19, 2007

This week it's a scholarly look at junk food and fast food through the eyes of American food historian Andrew Smith. He tells how it all started and claims that between the Erie Canal and Ben Franklin our destiny had nowhere else to go. Mr. Smith is the author ofThe Junk Food Encyclopedia.The Sterns report from beautiful Manchester, Vermont where they're feasting on a curious mix of goodness called Wild Turkey Hash at Up for Breakfast.Lynne talks spring lamb and new potatoes in her simple and luscious recipe for Ninth-Night Lamb, a dish she first tasted at a guest farm in Italy's Puglia region.Food & Wine magazine's Senior Wine Editor Ray Isle shares some little known tips for finding Good Wines for $10 and Under.Botany professor Dr. Peter Gail wants us to rethink the vegetable garden—as in weeds are good! Dr. Gail leaves us his recipe for Dandelion Flower Cookies, just one of many from his repertoire.We'll have another round of our popular refrigerator game, Stump the Cook, with Lynne and celebrity Stump Master Christopher Kimball, and Molly Sullivan steers us to a good time in Vegas. She's a co-author of Las Vegas Little Red Book: A Girl's Guide to the Perfect Vegas Getaway.Broadcast dates for this episode:May 12, 2007

"Hunger is a country we enter every day, like a commuter across a friendly border," says nature writer Sharman Apt Russell. She joins us this week with a look at the subject through a new prism—hunger as art, hunger as power, and hunger as revelation. Ms. Russell's book is Hunger: An Unnatural History. The Sterns dine on succulent Italian roast pork sandwiches at Tony Luke's in Philadelphia.Darryl Beeson, American editor of www.wineontheweb.com, roams the globe reporting on wine, spirits, food and travel. He stops by to talk good values among the wines of Texas. It's a look at sustainable meat with Bill Niman, a rancher who turned a wild piece of coastline into a sustainable model. The recipe for Grilled Pork Tenderloin Salad is from The Niman Ranch Cookbook.It's flying Fritos or any other snack of your dreams from Washington, D.C.'s unique solution for midnight cravings: www.dcsnacks.com. Reporter Jule Gardner has the story. Nigel White, secretary of the British Cheese Board, reports on a study the Board has dubbed "Cheese and Dreams," and, as always, Lynne takes your calls.Broadcast dates for this episode:May 27, 2006 (originally aired)May 5, 2007 (rebroadcast)

This week it's vegetable gardening for the horticulturally challenged. Gardening expert Katherine Whiteside, author of The Way We Garden Now, stops by with short cuts to instant gratification (hard labor is not for her) and a recipe for Rhubarbaritas.Mike Colameco, host of Colameco's Food Show on New York's PBS Channel 13, is back with tips for picnics in New York City. Keeping to the theme, Lynne shares a recipe for Roasted Asparagus Potato Salad.Self-described pleasure activist Fred Plotkin, author of Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, returns to the show to talk what we don't know about Helsinki: the unforgettable seafood, the strawberries, those intriguing Fins!Broadcast dates for this episode:April 21, 2007