With no shortage of veggetti puns, Dave Arnold celebrates his 44th birthday in style on a brand new episode of Cooking Issues. The radio team is sipping on Proesecco and laughing their heads off this week. Tune in for a fun-filled episode of the best food science podcast in the world! This program was brought to you by MolecularRecipes.com.

“It’s tomato stew until you add the cumin. Without cumin, its not chili.” [6:30]

“When you fire a tandoor for the first time you protect the clay from later thermal shock, but you have to put a seasoning on it.” [13:00]

“Traditionally, most hams were sliced the way a spanish ham was, the long way or horizontally. This produces a much chewier piece of meat and gives you a longer slice. The crosscut we have now came into vogue only after Van Berkel’s invention of the meat slicer.”

–Dave Arnold on Cooking Issues