Burnt Toast

Oil-packed or water-packed tuna? Can seafood be paired with cheese? Open- or closed-face?

Also, Molly and Declan call up our first winner of a year-supply of Cabot cheese!

Special thanks to our listeners for your questions—especially those who took the time to call in. Send your burning sandwich questions (not burning sandwich, you know what we mean) to [email protected]. 

How many meats is too many? What is provolone anyway? Is there an ideal lettuce-to-everything-else ratio?

Molly and Declan get to the bottom of what makes—and breaks—the Italian (aka grinder, aka hoagie, aka hero, aka sub). 

Special thanks to our listeners for your questions—especially those who took the time to call in. Send your burning sandwich questions (not burning sandwich, you know what we mean) to [email protected]. 

Sourdough or brioche? One cheese, two cheeses, three cheeses...four? Halved lengthwise or diagonally? 

Molly and Declan talk about the most incorrectly named sandwich, debate butter vs. mayo, augments vs. condimenti, and whether a grilled cheese without cheddar is one at all.

Special thanks to our listeners for your questions—especially those who took the time to call in. Send your burning sandwich questions (not burning sandwich, you know what we mean) to [email protected]. 

Strawberry or grape (or neither)? Creamy or crunchy? Is a PB&J really just a sweet dumpling?

Molly and Declan debate whether a sweet sandwich is a sandwich indeed, and if this is the one place for squish bread.

Special thanks to our listeners for your questions—especially those who took the time to call in. Send your burning sandwich questions (not burning sandwich, you know what we mean) to [email protected].

Referenced in this episode 

• Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Other Black Celebrations
• Nicole Taylor on Instagram

Genius-Hunter Extra Credit

• The Up South Cookbook: Chasing Dixie in a Brooklyn Kitchen

Have a genius recipe you'd like to share? Tell me all about it at [email protected].

Theme Music by The Cabinetmaker on Blue Dot Sessions

If you liked this episode, head over to The Sandwich Universe's show page to subscribe so you don't miss out on Molly and Declan tackling the many more sandwiches to come!

Molly and Declan figure out how to avoid the dreaded slip-sliding when building (oh, and solve that scratched-up-mouth problem). 

Thanks to our listeners for your questions, and we still need your help! Send your burning sandwich questions (not burning sandwich, you know what we mean) to [email protected]. 

Here’s a special preview of Not Lost, a new podcast about finding yourself in places you’ve never been from our friends at Pushkin Industries. Host Brendan Francis Newnam takes us around the world, learning about new places by getting invited to a stranger’s house for dinner. From Montréal to Mexico City, Brendan and his guests drink, dance, and eat, learning as much about themselves as the places they visit. In the preview you’re about to hear, Brendan and his guest Danielle Henderson visit Montréal and tour the Jean-Talon Market in search of dinner party provisions, and discover a local pastry known as nun’s farts.

You can hear more from Not Lost at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/notlost?sid=burnttoast

On this episode of Burnt Toast we're featuring an episode of one of our other podcasts, Play Me a Recipe, in which podcast producer, Harry Sultan, invites you into his kitchen - albeit, originally for another podcast - while he cooks through Jenny Rosentrach's and Andy Ward's Pork Shoulder Ragu, and you'll be right alongside him, every step of the way.

If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today. Go ahead and grab the ingredients below before starting the episode.

Recipe
Serves 6

• 2 pounds to 2 1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder roast (up to 2 1/2 pounds), tied with twine if there are any loose pieces
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small pat butter
• 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, with juice
• 1 cup red wine
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• 5 sprigs fresh oregano
• 1 Small handful of fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce, for smokiness (Andy used Trader Joe's Hot Chili Sauce, but Sriracha and Tabasco both work great, too)
• 1 pound Pappardelle
• 1 handful Freshly grated Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 325° F. Liberally salt and pepper the pork roast. Add olive oil and butter to large Dutch oven and heat over medium-high until butter melts, but does not burn. Add pork roast to pan and brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes in all.
2. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, wine, thyme, oregano, fennel, and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Cover, and put in oven.
3. Braise for 3 to 4 hours, turning every hour or so. Add more liquid (water, wine, or tomato sauce) if needed. (The liquid should come to about 1/3 of the way up the pork.) Meat is done when it’s practically falling apart. Put on a cutting board (remove the sprigs of herbs at the same time) and pull it apart with two forks, then add back to pot and stir.
4. Cook 1 to 2 pounds pasta according to package directions. When it’s is ready, put into individual bowls and top with ragu and lots of Parm. Alternately, toss the pasta with the ragu and a bit of pasta cooking water, as needed, and top with Parm.

Is there a recipe you'd like to hear us make? Tell us all about it at [email protected]!

Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Host Peter J. Kim is joined by content creator Carolina Gelen and author Irina Georgescu to talk about mamaliga, pickles, and Romania's super juicy sausages, as well as how communism shaped the family dinner table. Peter also discusses the musical influence of Romania's Romani people with Henry Ernst, manager of the energetic brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia.

First up: A food writer's reflection on loss and grief—and the untold power of a mother-knows-best birthday cake.

"I think food can serve so many important functions, specifically in grief. It is a way to nourish us, physically nourish us, at a time when we are just feeling so weak and so sad and so, maybe incapable of nourishing ourselves well." —Lisa Ruland

Referenced in this episode:

• A Chocolate Cake That Celebrates Mothers—Lost & Found (Food52)
• Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting recipe

Find more My Family Recipe episodes here.