Ask folks in the world of food and cookbooks, “Who writes the best recipes?” and you’ll hear one name more than any other: Dorie Greenspan. "Dorie does rock solid recipes," says Chandra Ram, who judges the prestigious IACP Cookbook Awards. So what's Dorie doing that makes her recipes better than others? This week, we travel to her home in Connecticut to find out. We watch her test a recipe, and get a look at her butter fridge. We also hear how Julia Child helped shape her career.

Dorie's new book is Dorie's Anytime Cakes and her newsletter is XOXO Dorie. 

This episode originally aired on April 20, 2020, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Julia Shu, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O’Connell. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Kameel Stanley, Jared O'Connell, Morgan Johnson, and Jazzmin Sutherland.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

To say that hydration is an invention is only a slight exaggeration. Water bottles have become a crucial accessory — a status symbol. How did that happen? This week we bring you an episode from our friends at the Slate podcast Decoder Ring. They investigate how bottled water transformed itself from a small, European luxury item to the single largest beverage category in America. It took savvy marketing from brands like Gatorade and Perrier, who pushed the idea that dehydration was a pervasive problem to be solved. Today hydration is a wellness cure-all, but the science doesn’t exactly match the marketing.

This episode originally aired on July 12, 2021, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, and Jared O'Connell, along with Willa Paskin, Benjamin Frisch, and Cleo Levin of Decoder Ring. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, Jared O'Connell, Jazzmin Sutherland, and Morgan Johnson. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer.

Every Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at [email protected], and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On The Great British Bake Off, Paul Hollywood is known for his tough but fair judgments, his piercing blue eyes, and his handshake, which he offers to a contestant only when they really impress him. But before he was ever a TV judge, he was a baker. When he first started doing TV appearances, it was nothing more than “icing on the cake” of his baking career. But all that changed when he got the call from Bake Off. Paul tells Dan about apprenticing in his father’s bakery, how his famous handshake has evolved over the seasons, and why he has an uncomfortable relationship with fame.     

Paul Hollywood’s latest cookbook is Celebrate: Joyful Baking All Year Round. Sign up for our newsletter by November 3 for a chance to win a copy of the book! Open to U.S. and Canada entrants only. 

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When Nadiya Hussain competed on The Great British Bake Off in 2015, it seemed like all of Britain — from self-proclaimed #Nadiyators to the prime minister — was rooting for her. Since then, she’s hosted TV shows, written best-selling books, and become a household name in the UK. But the transformation we focus on in this conversation is the one that has taken place within her. She talks with Dan about growing up in a British Bangladeshi family where no one baked, developing recipes based on the food she ate as a child, and speaking up about racism and sexism in food media.

Every Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at [email protected], and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.

This episode originally aired on July 19, 2021, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Andres O'Hara, Emma Morgenstern, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rosie Grant was already obsessed with cemeteries when she came across her first gravestone recipe. The headstone was carved into the shape of an open cookbook with a cookie recipe on it. Rosie made the cookies, posted about it on TikTok, and overnight she became the gravestone recipes lady. She tracked down dozens more gravestone recipes, meeting the families of the deceased and cooking the recipes herself — then compiling it all into a new cookbook, entitled To Die For. Rosie explains why this project is so meaningful to her, and we talk with someone who put her mom’s cookie recipe on her headstone. Then we find a woman who put a recipe on her own headstone — and we talk to her. Spooky!

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Kameel Stanley, Jared O'Connell, and Morgan Johnson. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We open the phone lines to settle your most contentious food disputes this week. Eliza wants to wipe her oily hands on her bare legs — is her boyfriend Connor right to object? Then, Natalie thinks she’s entitled to half of what her husband Josh cooks, even though he’s generally hungrier. What’s the fairest way to divvy up meals? To answer these questions, Dan enlists the help of Drew Magary and David Roth, the extremely opinionated co-hosts of The Distraction podcast and co-founders of Defector Media. Roth also co-hosts the It's Christmastown podcast, and Drew writes books and a column for SFGate.

Every Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at [email protected], and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.

This episode originally aired on June 21, 2021, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Andres O'Hara, Emma Morgenstern, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are chicken tenders having a renaissance? Are lit candles in restaurants worth the risk of a few people’s hair catching on fire? And when Taylor Swift designs a signature cocktail…what’s in it? We cover all these questions and more in this edition of the Salad Spinner — our rapid-fire, roundtable discussion of all the biggest and buzziest food news of the moment. Joining us in the Spinner are bestselling author Jake Cohen, whose new cookbook is Dinner Party Animal, and chef Vivian Howard, host of the new PBS show Kitchen Curious. 

See Dan on the episode of Kitchen Curious that comes out next week on PBS stations and PBS online!

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ketchup started as a far different product from what’s on the shelves today. A lot of its evolution can be traced to an early government agency and a group there called “The Poison Squad” that tested the safety of different chemicals -- by eating them. We hear that story. Then a linguist explains why the name “rocky road” actually makes the ice cream taste better. This episode is a special collaboration with Science Diction, a new podcast from the folks at Science Friday about the science stories behind everyday words.

This episode originally aired on August 23, 2020, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, and Andres O'Hara, edited by Tracey Samuelson, and mixed by Jared O'Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Every Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at [email protected], and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Growing up as a Black kid in Chicago, Dr. Marcia Chatelain says she learned more about Black history from McDonald’s than from her fancy prep school. Now, she’s a professor of Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, Dr. Chatelain explores the role that McDonald’s has played in Black communities since its founding in the 1940s. In many places, McDonald’s has been a community hub and a pathway to business ownership for Black entrepreneurs. But it’s also been a tool for those seeking to preserve segregation. We dig into the chain’s complicated legacy. Plus, Dan and his family stop in at a very special McDonald’s on Long Island.  

Check out the story Dr. Chatelain is quoted in: “Red Lobster Is Betting on Black Diners With Its Brand Comeback.”

This episode originally aired on Jun 14, 2021 and was produced by Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O’Connell. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shabbat — the Jewish Sabbath – begins every Friday at sundown with a meal. But in all the years that Jews have been having Shabbat dinner, there’s no record in the rabbinic texts of it happening at the fast food chain Wendy’s. Until, that is, a group of seniors in Palm Desert, California, made it their weekly tradition. This week Dan joins in on the Friday night festivities, and the seniors tell him why this ritual is so important to them, how they're evolving it, and how they like their fries.

This episode originally aired on September 26, 2022, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, Aviva DeKornfeld, Gianna Palmer, and Dan Dzula. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Every Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at [email protected], and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.