Episode 116: Rice, Food Swaps, and Leanne Brown

LeanneBrown_highres_credit Jordan Matter
Leanne Brown, author of Good and Cheap

Recently, the food world learned that Mark Bittman, longtime scribe for the New York Times, was leaving journalism to join a tech start up, and now we know what it is. He’s now with vegan meal kit service, Purple Carrot. Joy and Marisa discuss.

Few simple foods are more vexing to cook than rice for whatever reason. Recently, Marisa tried a new Tiger rice cooker that takes all the guess work out of that job. Joy covets the Instapot, which is a rice cooker/slow cooker/pressure cooker in one. What do you think? Should she get one?

Have you ever been to a food swap? That’s a community event when home cooking fanatics get together to trade some of their stash of good eats for some of yours. Marisa co-organizes one in the Philly area, but if you are interested you can probably find one close to where you are. Find yours (or start one) here.

This episode features an interview with Leanne Brown, whose food-stamp-themed cookbook Good and Cheap has really struck a chord with people in all income brackets. We talked to her at the Philadelphia Free Library’s amazing Culinary Literacy Center.

Finally, we sang the praises of our favorite winter greens.

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Episode 110: Vegetable Soups, Kitchen Towels, Carolyn Alburger

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Today’s guest: Carolyn Alburger, Eater.com’s cities editor

Did you know there’s a nifty, new Thermapen? And it costs a hefty $99? Russ Parsons sung its praises in the LA Times and it made us want to talk about all the kitchen thermometers we’ve ever used.

Soup’s on! Fall is here and we both love to make it. In today’s show, we talk all about our favorite vegetable soups, sneaky vegan subs for dairy, and all the good garnishes.

Kitchen towels are another theme we tackled today. It was a surprisingly animated and opinionated conversation!

For our interview, we talked to Carolyn Alburger, Eater.com’s cities editor. She dished with us on food trends across the country and told us about Eater’s “Future Week.” You should  follow her on twitter.

We wrapped the show up with some talk about mushrooms–exotic ones, to be precise.

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Episode 102: Entree Salads, Immersion Blenders, and Joe Beddia

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Photo courtesy of Joe Beddia’s instagram, @pizzacamp

Onward to our second episode! Here are some of the things we talked over:

The LA Times published a story about recipes (Is Recipe Testing a Vanishing Art?), which piqued our interest given that we both develop recipes professionally. For the most tested and trustworthy recipes, Joy suggests investing in a Cook’s Illustrated membership, while Marisa likes Smitten Kitchen–especially for the blondies.

We recorded this one in the middle of a heat wave, and no-cook dinners were on both our minds. We swapped tips on entree salads. Here’s more about that shredded salad Marisa mentioned. And here are a few more salad tips (plus a vinaigrette recipe) from Joy.

Here’s the recipe (and video) that helped Joy master making mayonnaise with an immersion blender. (Public service announcement: Always unplug before even thinking about touching those blades!)

We talked to Joe Beddia about how he is feeling in the wake of his Pizzeria Beddia being named best pizza shop in America by Bon Appetit magazine. You will definitely want to hear his tips on making pizza at home.

Marisa sang the praises of local cantaloupes, and here’s her recipe for the jam she described.

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