One Dish

British-Malaysian comedian Phil Wang joins Andi Oliver at the table to share his love of a classic Malaysian dish, Wat Tan Hor. It’s characterised by flat rice noodles, seafood and a gloopy egg gravy spiced with pepper. Phil thinks this dish might be visually unappealing to the uninitiated, but he urges us to see past its humble appearance to appreciate the savoury deliciousness within.

This dish has a real family connection for Phil - it reminds him of his Dad, who took it on himself to feed him up with it as a kid. He tells Andi about the strong and varied influences of Chinese, Malay and Indian food on Malaysian cuisine, paints a vivid picture of the unparalleled joys of a hawker market and explains how spotting a great Chinese restaurant is easier than you think.

Food Scientist: Kimberley Wilson

A Storyglass production for BBC Radio 4

Joining Andi Oliver this week is presenter, author and journalist Candice Brathwaite, and she's chosen a dish with a history that runs deep for her and her family - fried plantain. Candice loves plantain so much, she’d eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The plantain’s roots lie on the Pacific island of New Guinea, which comes as a bit of a surprise to Andi and Candice, who have spent their lives eating plantain as part of Antiguan and Jamaican meals respectively. They discuss how plantain’s story is inextricably linked to the transportation of enslaved people from Africa to the Caribbean, and also the deep connection and pleasure this food brings for them. Also, Andi reveals the specific way plantain should always be cut for maximum fried joy.

Food Scientist: Kimberley Wilson

A Storyglass production for BBC Radio 4

Chef, restaurateur and the internet’s unofficial King of Butter, Thomas Straker has the honour of being the first One Dish guest to actually cook at the studio. He’s making his signature dish of pici cacio e pepe for Andi Oliver. It’s a bit of a cheffy favourite at the moment but, as Thomas and Andi discuss, it’s becoming more well known with British home cooks thanks to its simple ingredients.

Food-loving comedian Jessica Fostekew is Andi Oliver’s guest at the One Dish table this week and she’s talking about an Austrian family favourite - schnitzel. Whether cold from the fridge or freshly bubbling and crispy from the pan, Jessica is always up for some schnitzel.

Andi and Jessica learn about the 1st century Roman gourmand who first recorded a version of this dish, and discuss the respective merits of other breaded cutlets (tonkatsu or parmo, anyone?) as well as how making schnitzel yourself can save your sad ends of stale bread from the bin.

Food Scientist: Kimberley Wilson

A Storyglass production for BBC Radio 4

Andi Oliver meets drag queen and star of RuPaul's Drag Race UK Cheryl Hole to discuss her favourite food - lasagne. Cheryl's a true diva who prefers to be cooked for, but she can still turn out a mean Essex lasagne, just as her mum did.

Andi and Cheryl learn about the greedy friar whose lasagne gluttony made it into a 13th-century Italian poem, get geeky about how swelling starch molecules hold the key to the perfect béchamel, and both Andi and Cheryl admit to some frankly shocking cold lasagne related behaviour.

Food Scientist: Kimberley Wilson

A Storyglass production for BBC Radio 4

In a new series about the dishes that mean the most to us, Andi Oliver meets cookery writer, presenter and GBBO star Briony May Williams to sample her home-made soda bread. Briony makes soda bread just as her incredible Granky did, using a recipe that's now over 100 years old.

Andi and Briony wonder how on earth anyone discovered that using ash from a fire makes a delicious risen loaf, get stuck into the science of acidulation and saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Andi has a bread-related brainwave which will transform the way you roast a chicken and will quite possibly change your life.

Food Scientist: Kimberley Wilson

Andi Oliver explores the science and history of of our favourite foods. The first episode drops on Friday, 13th May 2022.