The Amateur Gourmet Podcast

Kate McDermott is the author of two widely-celebrated books on pie (The Art of the Pie and Pie Camp; Publisher's Weekly called The Art of the Pie "one of the best books written on the subject") and teaches a regular pie-making workshop at her home in Washington State. Today she comes on The Amateur Gourmet Podcast to school me on all things pie: from judging fruit's ripeness with a refractometer to rolling the perfect circle, Kate not only talks technique, she also talks temperament. She believes that both you and the dough have to be chill for your pie to be successful, and that's just a small taste of the pie wisdom that she brings to today's talk. So gather up your rolling pins, put on your aprons, and let's talk pie! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What's the secret to writing a really good recipe? How do you make it unique while also making it simple enough for people to do at home? Enter Jessie Sheehan, celebrated baker, TikTok superstar, and author of the brand new cookbook, Snackable Bakes. In today's talk, we cover everything from coming up with the initial recipe concept, bringing it into the kitchen, testing it, and then freaking out that it's too close to somebody else's. We get into the nitty-gritty of weights vs. cups, how to find your voice in your cooking, when to employ outside testers, and how you know when a recipe is done. As a bonus, Jessie shares some of her favorite cookbooks and bakeries in New York, including Mah-Ze-Dar and L'Appartement 4F. If you like it, be sure to share it and/or leave a nice review! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This year's James Beard awards COMPLETELY shut L.A. out of the mix, awarding the country's second largest city zero citations for what is commonly considered one of the most vibrant, exciting, and relevant food scenes in the country. Here to talk us through the controversy is Farley Elliott, Senior Editor of Eater L.A., who has lots to say, not just on this subject, but on many others too. We cover everything from food trucks to fine dining, from Wolfgang Puck to Jordan Kahn, from Union in Pasadena all the way to Pasjoli in Santa Monica. If you want to eat well in L.A., this is the episode for you. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Before I got hit by Covid, I spent an hour talking to the delightful coffee expert Ever Meister — who I met at my first favorite coffee shop, Joe on Waverly in the early aughts — about all things espresso, cappuccino, and, most importantly of all, latte art. Meister's been something of a fairy godmother when it comes to my homemade coffee drinks. If you've been following me on TikTok, you can see my efforts at achieving a heart or rosetta pattern. In today's episode, Meister gives me point-by-point feedback, talking to me about microfoam, distribution, liquid dynamics, and all of the other elements that go into making a coffee shop-worthy latte. Know someone who's trying to make coffee shop-worthy drinks at home? Send this podcast their way. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Have I got a podcast for you! Well: it's for you if you're, like me, OBSESSED with collecting vintage Pyrex and bowls and plates and other kitchen doodads. My guest is a purveyor of all such things: Nicole Miller, who runs @Pyrexnplants on Instagram and has her own Etsy shop. Our conversation covers everything from how she got into all this in the first place, whether or not she's a hoarder, how her family feels about her collecting, what she looks for when she goes to estate sales, what it's actually like at an estate sale when someone just died, and — most dangerous for me — what to actually search for when you're looking for vintage kitchen goodies. Happy listening! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I was the perfect audience for my own podcast this week because Craig (my husband, in case you're new) is going to be back and forth to NY over the next five months to edit his movie, and I'll be visiting often, and — crisis! — I don't know where to eat. Add to that the fact that people still ask me: “Hey, Adam, I'm going to New York soon, what are the hot new restaurants?” As if I know! Enter Ryan Sutton. Not only is he the James Beard award-winning chief food critic at Eater NY, he's a born and bred New Yorker, who (like me) grew up on Long Island and is as passionate about his city as Billy Joel (who also, like us, is also from Long Island). In today's pod, Ryan wakes me up to the modern Korean Renaissance happening in NYC — with restaurants like Atomix, Attaboy, Cote — and weighs in on the whole Eleven Madison Park scandal vis-a-vis their new vegan menu. Know someone going to NY soon? Send this their way! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What a thrill to share this week's Amateur Gourmet Podcast: an episode dedicated entirely to Julia Child! We're lucky enough to have the creator of the show Julia (and an award-winning playwright) Daniel Goldfarb here to talk all about how the show came about, casting Sarah Lancashire as Julia, taking liberties with the biography, shooting in Boston, and whether they actually made all of that food on set. But first we have one of the most delightful people in the food world, and also one of the most accomplished, Dorie Greenspan — author of multiple cookbooks and now the essential XOXO Dorie Newsletter — here to talk about collaborating with Julia on the Baking with Julia cookbook. Dorie shares delightful stories about going to Julia's kitchen for the first time, how Julia felt about the various impressions of her, and the very first thing that they ate together. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's Mother's Day this Sunday! Do you know what you're cooking yet? Or what you want your family to cook for you? Please welcome Sarah Copeland to the stage. She's not only a prolific cookbook author (The Newlywed Cookbook, Feast, Every Day is Saturday, and her latest, Instant Family Meals), she also happens to be a mom. In today's episode, we talk about Mother's Day strategies (pancakes, waffles, polenta!), but we also talk about being a food-loving mother and how to get your kids to eat the kinds of foods that you yourself love to eat. When do you make exceptions about processed sugar? (Her Halloween story is hilarious.) Is it ultimately a good thing to give your kid a little Taco Bell? (I think yes.) Have a great Mother's Day, everyone! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

So excited to talk about my favorite subject — COLLECTING COOKBOOKS! — with none other than the founder of Stained Page News, one of the premiere destinations for cookbook news online: Paula Forbes. Paula and I are such cookbook geeks that this conversation sounds like it's sped up, but it's just us being super geeky and enthusiastic. Find out which cookbooks we're proudest to have in our collections, which ones we actually use, and which white whale cookbook is out there that Paula hopes to get her hands on some day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The late Pulitzer Prize-winning L.A. food writer Jonathan Gold once wrote about Kevin Bludso's BBQ: “The brisket that issues from those battered smokers is a paradigm of meat, beef that disappears so quickly that, if it weren't for a feeling of satisfying fullness, you might swear that you had less eaten it than dreamed it.” Kevin Bludso is a BBQ legend and now, with the help of my pal Noah Galuten (a James Beard-nominated cookbook author and co-host, with his wife Iliza Schlesinger, of Don't Panic Pantry on Instagram) he's authored a cookbook: The Bludso's BBQ Cookbook. The book is unique because, in addition to it's extremely useful recipes for making BBQ at home (and it's very doable: just listen to the podcast!), the book also tells Kevin's unique story of growing up in Compton and spending his summers in Corsicana, Texas. It's a beautiful portrait of his family and his community and it's as much a great read as it is a great culinary resource. I could go on and on, but I thin...