This week, we’re all about community and coming together for the holidays. First, we talk to Lisa Kyung Gross, founder of The League of Kitchens, a unique cooking school where women from all over the world, welcome you into their homes and teach you how to make one of their family recipes. She talks about the delicious recipes she has collected in her new book, The League of Kitchens Cookbook: Brilliant Tips, Secret Methods & Favorite Family Recipes from Around the World. She leaves us with an Afghan recipe for Cake Jawari, a delicious yellow cake with rosewater and cardamom. Then, The New Yorker’s food writer Helen Rosner stops by the studio with treats and ideas for your last-minute gifts.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

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• December 20, 2024 (originally aired)

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This week, we’re all about discovering the secret of cooking—and exploring an iconic French Dish. First, Award-winning food historian Bee Wilson talks to us about her latest book, The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen. She talks about how to find the joy in cooking with real-world advice, from embracing your favorite kitchen tool to considering cooking as a remedy. She left us with her recipe for Magic Pasta with Mushrooms, Garlic Cream, and Wine. Then, food writer Sylvie Bigar takes us through an amazing culinary journey, exploring the history and culture of cassoulet and why she became so obsessed with the iconic French dish. Her book is Cassoulet Confessions: Food, France, Family and the Stew That Saved My Soul, and she left us with her recipe for Gateway Cassoulet.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

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• December 8, 2023 (originally aired)

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• December 13, 2024 (rebroadcast)

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It’s the holiday season, and we’re kicking it off this week with some sweet treats. First, food editor and recipe developer Ben Mims joins us with his latest project, covering over 300 cookie recipes from Asia to the Levant to Scandinavia to the Caribbean. The varieties are astonishing. We get into cookie styles, the fascinating ingredients in regional cookies, and the hundreds of flavor combinations. Ben is the author of Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World. And he left us with a recipe for Guava-Filled Butter Cookies from Brazil. Then, we step into the world of wild chocolate with Rowan Jacobsen. We hear about the new breed of cacao farmers and the amazing flavor profiles found in wild chocolate and meet some of the farmers who are making it. Rowan is the author of Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao’s Soul.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

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• December 6, 2024 (originally aired)

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