The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

This week, we get deep into Indian Street food with James Beard Award-winning chef Meherwan Irani. Meherwan brings the addictive energy and tastes of Indian street food into your kitchen. He walks us through some of his favorites, like vada pav (spiced potato croquette in chickpea batter) and pani puris (hollowed crisp shells filled with spiced potatoes and tamarind chutney). Meherwan Irani, the author of The No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World. He left us with his recipe for Roadside Hakka Noodles.

Then, legendary actress Ming-Na Wen joins us to talk about her cookbook, Have You Eaten Yet: Family Recipes from a Restaurant Daughter. It's a memoir of sorts of growing up in her family’s restaurant. The conversation is packed with restaurant memories, tastes, and recipes that she’s made her own. She left us with her recipe for her Baba’s Clam Chowder.

Photo Credit: Tim Robison | Riker Brothers

Broadcast dates for this episode:

October 23, 2026 (originally aired)

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This week, we’re diving into Italian cooking, from the Pacific Northwest to the Bronx. First, chef and author Joshua McFadden joins us to talk about Six Seasons of Pasta, his love letter to everyone’s favorite food. Known for his hit cookbook Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, Joshua brings that same seasonal sensibility to pasta, pairing local produce with traditional Italian technique, and shares his recipe for Nut Ragu. Then, Bronx-born chef Christian Petroni takes us into the heart of Italian American cooking with his debut cookbook, Parm to Table. From chicken cutlets to clams casino, he celebrates the cozy red-sauce dishes that define Sunday dinners across America and leaves us with his Chicken Scarpariello recipe.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

• October 17, 2025 (originally aired)
• October 16, 2026 (rebroadcast)

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This week, we go from a mindful kitchen to maybe a neurotic one? First, legendary chef Eric Ripert visits us in the studio to talk about practicing mindfulness and how he learned to bring it into his cooking. He talks about his visits to monasteries, learning about temple foods in Korea and making the most out of flavorful vegetables and delicious plant-based foods. Eric Ripert is the chef of Le Bernardin in New York City and the author of many cookbooks, most recently Mindful Cooking, Simple Recipes for Nurturing Body and Soul. He shared his recipe for Southern's France's delicious Socca Niçoise.

Then, New Yorker cartoonists Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein join us in Francis' kitchen to talk about their latest book, about the mysteries that reside in the kitchen. Which includes an on-the-spot inspection of Francis’ kitchen junk drawer! Roz and Jason are the authors of The Two Saddest Kitchens: A Comics Conversation.

Head to our YouTube channel and watch this extended cut of our interview with Eric Ripert. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Broadcast dates for this episode:

October 9, 2026 (originally aired)

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This week, we’re celebrating new fall cookbooks that belong on your kitchen counter. First, Aleksandra Crapanzano, author of Chocolat: Parisian Desserts and Other Delights, takes us from Marie Antoinette’s early “truffle” to the French art of baking at home. She leaves us with her Chocolate Ganache Tart with Raspberries. Then, Anna Ansari explores the delicious connections across cuisines in Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey, tracing flavors from Baku to Beijing and shares her recipe for Shivit Oshi (Khivan green noodles with beef stew). Finally, creator and Next Level Chef alum Cassie Yeung brings big, weeknight-friendly energy from Bad B*tch in the Kitch, including her 30-minute Beef & Broccoli.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

• October 3, 2025 (originally aired)
• October 2, 2026 (rebroadcast)

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This week, we’re diving into the everyday food of two of the world’s best food cities, Hong Kong and New Orleans. First, chef Lucas Sin joins us to talk about the iconic dishes found at a cha chaan teng, a casual Hong Kong-style food diner. Dishes like scrambled egg sandwiches, delicious milk teas, and golden rice, all born from limited pantry ideas and reinvented with kitchen hacks and techniques. Lucas Sin is the author of Cha Chaan Teng: Comfort Food from Hong Kong's Iconic Diners. He left us with his recipe for the Hong Kong classic, Baked Pork Chop Rice.

Then, we turn to the origins of the food scene in one of America's great food cities, New Orleans, with historian Dr. Ashley Rose Young. She walks us through the history of the public markets, tells us about New Orleans’ most iconic street vendors like Mr. Okra, and how street food shaped New Orleans’ culture and cuisine. Dr. Ashley Rose Young is the author of Nourishing Networks: The Public Culture of Food in New Orleans.

Head to our YouTube channel and watch this extended cut of our interview with Lucas Sin. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Broadcast dates for this episode:

September 25, 2026 (originally aired)

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This week, we’re diving into fall cooking and the beauty of bitter flavors. First, Genevieve Ko, deputy editor at New York Times Cooking, joins Francis to take your fall cooking questions. From freezing smart to cabbage makeovers, Genevieve shares practical advice for making the most of fresh produce and tackling leftovers. She also shares the NYT Cooking piece 15 Ways to Make a Head of Cabbage Dinner and her Pumpkin Meringue Pie recipe. And check out her Cinnamon-Toast Graham Crackers from the last time she joined us to talk about Better Baking. Then, London-based cookbook author Alexina Anatole shares the inspiration behind her debut book, Bitter. She makes the case for bitterness as an essential flavor, one that brings depth, intrigue, and balance to our cooking. Alexina reminds us how bitterness touches so many of our favorite foods and she leaves us with her recipe for Stout Sticky Toffee Pudding, a perfect example of sweet meeting bitter in harmony.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

• September 19, 2025 (originally aired)
• September 18, 2026 (rebroadcast)

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Fire up your ovens because this week, it’s all about Southern and Midwestern baking. First, we catch up with the inimitable Carla Hall about her latest projects, including her one-woman show and her first-ever baking book that brings her love for baking and savory cooking together. She walks us through practical tips to help you feel comfortable in the kitchen, from pre-prepping pancake batter to investing in a scale and making the most of her ingredients, as she does for her “Black-ish cake” and Chocolate Focaccia. Carla Hall is the author of Carla Bakes: Sweet, Savory, and from the Heart: A Baking Book. She left us with her recipe for Savory Parmesan Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Tomato Basil Cream Cheese. Then we head to the Midwest to talk with Martin Sorge, author and winner of the Great American Baking Show, about his love for baking. He walks us through his love for whole grain flours and how to put them to good use in your baking (hint: buckwheat for flavorful shortbreads, rye for gooey brownies and chewy cookies!) and his technique for fluffy cakes. Martin Sorge is the author of Great Bakes: Modern Classic Bakes From the Midwest, and he left us with his recipe for Coconut Caramel Brownies.

Head to our YouTube channel and watch this extended cut of our interview with Carla Hall. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Broadcast dates for this episode:

September 11, 2026 (originally aired)

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This week, we’re turning peak-season produce into bold, flavorful dishes. First, we talk with Rick Martínez, author of Salsa Daddy: Dip Your Way into Mexican Cooking, about transforming simple ingredients – think tomatoes, onions, garlic, and chilis – into salsas that sing. Rick explains why salsa is its own food group and leaves us with his family-inspired peach-and-pecan Salsa Tejana recipe. Then, we visit New York chef Sunny Lee of Sunn’s, a restaurant devoted to banchan, Korea’s iconic side dishes. Sunny teaches Francis how to elevate fresh vegetables into inventive, season-forward sides, including her recipe for Tahini Pickled Mushroom banchan.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

• September 5, 2025 (originally aired)
• September 4, 2026 (rebroadcast)

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When you shop using our links, we earn a small commission. It’s a great way to support public media at no extra cost to you.

This week, former bartender turned culinary historian Bobby Hicks joins us to talk about his passion for retro cooking. He gives us a history lesson on how recipes evolved thanks to industrial advances, and explains the thinking behind his redos of post-World War II-era recipes, like his carrot croquettes. Bobby Hicks is the author of Retro Recipes: Vintage Dishes with a Modern Twist, and he left us with an amazing recipe for Tomato Aspic. Then, we turn to the science behind human taste with Italian scientists Davide Risso and Gabriella Morini. They talk about distinguishing taste from flavor, how humans use a combination of senses to taste, how preferences change over time, and how understanding the fascinating taste preferences of animals (mosquitoes!) helps us understand taste in humans. Davide Risso is a molecular biologist with a PhD from the University of Bologna, and Gabriella Morini is a professor of taste and food sciences at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, Italy. They co-authored On Taste in Humans and Other Animals.

Subscribe to @TheSplendidTable on YouTube for full podcast episodes and full-length video interviews!

Broadcast dates for this episode:

August 28, 2026 (originally aired)

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This week’s stop in our road trip series is Thailand: We’re revisiting an episode from a couple of years ago where we talked to Salvadoran chef Karla T. Vasquez and food journalist Austin Bush, author of The Food of Southern Thailand.