The Sporkful

When Food Network star Duff Goldman got into baking elaborate cakes, he was just trying to pay the bills while pursuing his real dream of rock stardom. So what happened? This week we talk with the Ace of Cakes host about his deep artistic roots, the risks he took as a teenage graffiti artist, and why he almost gave up on the food industry altogether.

During World War II, wherever American troops were sent, they left the canned meat known as SPAM in their wake. When American GIs landed overseas, they often tossed cans of SPAM out of trucks to feed hungry people. Producer Gabrielle Berbey of The Experiment podcast is familiar with that story: It’s how her grandfather first came to know and love SPAM as a kid in the Philippines.

André Hueston Mack is one of America’s best known sommeliers. But for most of his career, he’s felt like an outsider. In the rarefied wine world, he likes to wear Air Jordans and a Mickey Mouse watch.

Allie Rowbottom’s great-great-great uncle bought the patent to Jell-O from its inventor in 1899 for $450, then sold it in the 1920s for $67 million — nearly a billion dollars in today’s money. Lately, Allie’s been obsessed with how all that Jell-O money shaped America, and her own family. It’s funded generations of Rowbottom women, including Allie, but it’s also been a shadow they can't escape.

After two years of recording interviews from his basement, Dan is taking The Sporkful back on the road! Chef, YouTuber, and cookbook author J. Kenji López-Alt joins Dan on stage in San Francisco to celebrate the release of Kenji's new book, The Wok: Recipes and Techniques.

Many of us grew up with rules or customs around food. For Aymann Ismail, a practicing Muslim, that meant not eating pork. But as he got older, he became curious about why eating pork was a line that even less observant Muslims wouldn’t cross.

Do you actually need to heat the oil in the pan before adding onions? Are fresh vegetables always better than frozen? And what’s so special about a shallot?

When cascatelli first went viral, Dan heard from dozens of listeners who wanted to try it, but couldn’t because they were gluten-free. Well, challenge accepted: Dan sets out to make a version of cascatelli without gluten, a project that’s now nearly a year in the making. Along the way, he learns about the science of starch with an Italian pasta researcher; he cold messages pasta execs on LinkedIn; and he meets a kindred spirit pasta maker who tries to make his gluten-free dreams come true. If you thought regular ruffles were a challenge, just wait until you try to make them gluten-free.

Buy Banza cascatelli made from chickpeas here! 

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Johanna Mayer, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell, with help this week from Mary Diduch, Gianna Palmer, and Nora Ritchie.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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When cascatelli first went viral, Dan heard from dozens of listeners who wanted to try it, but couldn’t because they were gluten-free. Well, challenge accepted: Dan sets out to make a version of cascatelli without gluten, a project that’s now nearly a year in the making.

Why does eating alligator seem more manly than eating chicken? Is coffee more “masculine” than tea? This week, comedian Michael Ian Black talks with Dan about manliness.