All Of It with Alison Stewart

Kenji López-Alt wears many hats. He's a chef, chief culinary advisor for the popular food blog Serious Eats, best-selling cookbook author, and also has a YouTube channel with over 1 million subscribers. Today is the release of his newest cookbook, The Wok: Recipes and Techniques. López-Alt joins us to discuss the cookbook, talk about the best techniques for using and preserving a Wok, and take your calls.

Mapo Tofu (excerpt)

This is it. My favorite dish in the world and the grandmother of Sichuan cuisine. Translated literally as “pockmarked grandmother’s tofu,” its totally apocryphal origin story is identical to a half dozen other food origin stories: it starts with hungry crowds and a cook with few ingredients but plenty of creativity. The result is an inexpensive stew that uses simple ingredients—soft tofu, ground meat (traditionally beef, but frequently pork), fermented chile bean paste, a handful of Sichuan peppercorns, and plenty of red-hot chile oil—to create simple, soul-satisfying fare.

SERVES 4

1 tablespoon (8 g) red Sichuan peppercorns

2 tablespoons (30 ml) peanut, rice bran, or other neutral oil

1 teaspoon (3 g) cornstarch

1 tablespoon (15 ml) cold water

4 ounces (120 g) ground beef or pork

2 teaspoons (5 g) minced garlic (about 2 medium cloves)

2 teaspoons (5 g) minced fresh ginger (about ½-inch segment)

2 tablespoons (30 g) fermented chile bean paste (doubanjiang)

2 tablespoons (30 ml) Shaoxing wine

1 teaspoon (5 ml) dark soy sauce

2 teaspoons (10 ml) light soy sauce

¼ cup (60 ml) homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock or water

1½ pounds medium to firm silken tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes

¼ cup (60 ml) homemade (page 310) or store-bought chile oil

3 scallions, sliced

Steamed rice, for serving

1. Heat half of the Sichuan peppercorns in a large wok over high heat until lightly smoking. Transfer to a mortar and pestle. Pound until finely ground and set aside.

2. Add the remaining Sichuan peppercorns and the oil to the wok. Heat over medium-high heat until lightly sizzling, about 1½ minutes. Remove the peppercorns with a spider and discard, leaving the oil in the pan.

3. Combine the cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl and mix with a fork until homogenous. Set aside.

4. Heat the oil left in the wok over high heat until smoking. Add the beef and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the chile bean paste and cook until the oil starts to turn red, about 30 seconds. Add the wine, soy sauce, and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Pour in the cornstarch mixture and cook for 30 seconds, until thickened.

5. Add the tofu and carefully fold it in, being careful not to break it up too much. Fold in the chile oil and half of the scallions and simmer for 30 seconds longer. Transfer immediately to a serving bowl and sprinkle with the remaining scallions and the toasted ground Sichuan pepper. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

Producer, screenwriter, and director Greg Daniels joins us to discuss the number of projects he has in the works, including the second seasons of "Space Force" on Netflix and "Upload" on Amazon Prime, as well as the new reality show he developed with his daughter, HBO Max's "My Mom, Your Dad."

For her final column, the New York Times' Dorie Greenspan wrote about how mistakes in the kitchen can sometimes produce the best outcomes, in a piece titled, "Mistakes Happen. In the Kitchen, That Can Be the Best Thing." She joins us to talk about her favorite recipes, her newsletter xoxo Dorie and reflect on her column and career.

In 2017, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni suffered a rare kind of stroke, which damaged the optic nerves in one of his eyes forever and left him functionally blind in that eye. Doctors warned that the same could happen to the other eye as well. Bruni writes about this experience in his new memoir, The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found. He joins us to discuss.

In 2021, Tamara Lindeman, who performs as The Weather Station, released the climate-focused Ignorance, one of the year's most acclaimed albums. Thirteen months later, she is releasing a companion album, How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars. She has described the new release as "the moon to [Ignorance's] sun." Lindeman joins us for a Listening Party.

Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino returned in 2021 with a new film, this time a semi-autobiographical exploration of coming-of-age in southern Italy. "The Hand of God" tells the story of a young teen in 1980's Naples as he finds his passions, struggles with immense loss, and learns how he was inadvertently saved from a freak accident by soccer legend Diego Maradona. Sorrentino joins us to talk about the deeply personal film, which has been nominated for Best International Feature Film at this year's Academy Awards.

We air highlights from Gangstagrass's interview and performance during our February "Get Lit with All Of It" book club event. This month's book was Hell of a Book by Jason Mott.

[REBROADCAST FROM December 9, 2022] The latest film from writer-director Sean Baker (“The Florida Project”) tells the story of a former pornographic star who returns to his hometown in Texas. It stars Simon Rex, actor and former MTV video DJ, who also has some personal experience with the adult film industry. Baker and Rex join us to discuss their film, “Red Rocket.”

[REBROADCAST FROM July 1, 2022] Writer and director Janicza Bravo joins us to discuss her acclaimed film, "Zola," co-written by playwright Jeremy O’Harris. Zola is a Detroit waitress who befriends one of her customers, Stefani, who convinces her to join a weekend of dancing and partying in Florida.

The novel Hell of a Book won the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction. Author Jason Mott joins us to discuss the novel, which was our February Get Lit with All Of It book club selection. The story follows a troubled author on book tour, haunted by a ghostly presence called The Kid, and by his own traumatic past.