- EP 74 Finding “Joy” in My Pantry with Tex Mex Migas
Join us on a journey of unexpected joy found right in Kim’s pantry, all thanks to the timeless culinary companion, "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma Rombauer. In today's episode, Leigh and Kim dive into the story of finding the inspiration to transform some stale tortilla chips and a forgotten can of green chiles into a delicious Tex Mex dish, and why Joy has earned its place as a culinary classic.
Feeling a bit discouraged by a half-bare pantry after a long week, Kim turned to "The Joy of Cooking" in hopes of finding some cooking inspiration within its 6,000 recipes - after all, its original cover artwork depicts St. Barbara, the purported Patron Saint of Cooking, deftly defying the Dragon of Cooking Drudgery. Surely the Rombauer clan could help summon some kitchen inspiration.
While thumbing through the extensive section on Egg cookery, Kim stumbled upon the perfect solution for several odd, leftover ingredients - Tex Mex Migas. Utilizing some stale tortilla chips, some eggs and cheese, a leftover can of green chiles, and some fresh chorizo - we had a tasty breakfast that, while perhaps not an original Joy recipe, made sensible use of ingredients, saved food from becoming waste, and became a joyful culinary experience.
Tracing the history of "Joy of Cooking" from its 1931 origin as Irma Rombauer's financial endeavor, we reflect on a poignant excerpt from Irma's preface before delving into the drama surrounding the 1997 edition's revisions, with an irascible book editor shifting Joy’s warm, collegial tone into newer (and trendier) health-conscious territory.
We wrap our episode debating whether a cookbook like "Joy" should be seen as a historical artifact or a practical kitchen tool. Drawing parallels with struggles in adapting recipes from older cookbooks, such as "The Women’s Suffrage Cookbook" and "The Settlement Cookbook," we ponder the role of a cookbook in reflecting its time versus being a timeless guide for preparing and serving food.
FOOTNOTE:
Kim did make the Pimento-Cheese Bread, and while she struggled with some of the chemistry of baking, the loaf was delivered and served to her colleagues. One said, “oh, I thought it was store-bought!” which had her wondering whether that was a compliment or whether she needed more practice.
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
A Heaping Cupful of Conflict - Los Angeles Times
Does the World Need Another ‘Joy’? Do You? - The New York Times
Episodes that we Recommend
Episode 20: Grain Empires: The Wheat Belt, American Innovation, and A Kitchen Confidante
Episode 35: What’s in Your Pantry? Food Label Dates and Major Grey’s Chutney
Episode 55: Refinding Home: Edna Lewis, The Taste of Country Cooking, and Me
Episode 56: Beef A Là Mode: A recipe to bring you home
Episode 59: Bon Appétit! How Julia Child Made America Fall in Love with French Food
Episode 60: Coq au Whatever: Mastering an Iconic French Provincial Dish
Episode 61: How to Cook and Eat in Chinese: Dishing up Culture
Episode 62: Unveiling the Rich Tapestry of Chinese Cuisine with Red and White Cooking
Recipes You Really Need to Try
Migas With Scrambled Eggs, Tortilla Chips, & Chiles - Serious Eats
Transcript
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations31m | Nov 28, 2023 - Thanksgiving Bonus: Revisiting Episode 32 Pies
While we take a holiday break, we wanted to share a past episode that we hope will inspire your pie making endeavors for the Thanksgiving holiday.
We return to the origins of pie specialties as Leigh surveys the ingenuity of pie bakers and cooks who built empires on fairly basic pie recipes originating in Western Europe.
Next, Kim speaks on how the thrifty utilization of excess egg white plus a fictional culinary character led to one of the most favorite pies in American history - lemon meringue - and how a massive hurricane shifted Florida’s production of pineapple to its globally-known key lime, inspiration for the key lime meringue pie.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations28m | Nov 21, 2023 - EP 73 From Grief to Joy: A Cookbook that became A Family Affair
Some of the books on our cookbook shelves wander in because they are or were all the rage, some are there because we’re interested in a particular cuisine. But some of there as part of our legacy of cooking and have become iconic. Join us as we discuss one of America’s iconic cookbooks. A cookbook that’s in its ninth edition and spans over nine decades of guiding home cooks from the oven to the table.
Transcript
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations35m | Nov 8, 2023 - EP 72 Dine Like a Hero: Crafting Smoked Sausages and Kraut with Dwarven Mustard
In this episode, we dive into the world of Dwarven cuisine with the 'Smoked Sausages and Kraut with Dwarven Mustard' recipe from 'Heroes' Feast.' Discover how this hearty dish comes to life, and follow our culinary journey bridging the gap between imagination and reality. Join us in celebrating the magic of food and the connections it weaves in our lives.
Transcript
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations17m | Oct 24, 2023 - EP 71 Eat Like a Hero: Game-Based Cookbooks Feed More than Appetites
Cookbooks take many approaches to inspiring readers to try new foods or to revisit familiar ones as a way to find common ground, especially amongst people with a shared fandom. In this episode, Kim and Leigh discuss “Heroes’ Feast,” the official cookbook for the popular Dungeons & Dragons game as an example of how fandom-based cookbooks blend food and immersive storytelling to unite communities and strengthen family bonds.
Transcript
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations27m | Oct 10, 2023 - EP 70 EP 70 Creating American Culture in a Casserole: The Settlement Cookbook
It would be ridiculous to suggest that one dish can represent all the mystery and majesty of human civilization, but inspiration can be a powerful force. In this episode, a single dish from the 1903 edition of The Settlement Cookbook sparked a deep conversation about the transformative power of food and its role in shaping civilizations, from the bustling immigrant communities of the late 19th century to modern-day.
Exploring the Foundation of Civilization
Inspired by her experience cooking up “Steak in Casserole” from the 1903 edition of The Settlement Cookbook, Kim finds a whole recipe as a lens through which to examine the foundations of civilizations.
We begin with a snapshot of early 20th-century America, marked by post-Civil War reconstruction, industrialization, and a wave of immigration that transformed cities into diverse, bustling hubs. To address the challenges of rapid urbanization, a progressive movement centered on settlement houses aims to help immigrants navigate life in their new world. These houses not only provided better living conditions but also nurtured a sense of community by sharing knowledge, culture, and domestic skills.
Food and Identity
The Settlement Cookbook, also known as "The Way to a Man's Heart," was originally published in 1901 from the Settlement House in Milwaukee. Organized as a series of lessons in cooking, nutrition, and food service, the cookbook aimed to modernize traditional Jewish recipes with American ingredients and techniques, promoting assimilation without forsaking cultural heritage.
Kim takes a novel approach to recipe selection by asking her partner to pick out a dish they wanted to eat. Confronted with a recipe and a dish with which she is largely unfamiliar, she realizes that food is not just sustenance; by selecting, cooking, and sharing food, we form both an individual and collective concept of who we are.
The Cultural Significance of Cooking and Dining
From here we reflect on the idea that food and its preparation are deeply cultural, and that the act of cooking and the rituals surrounding meals are essential components of civilization, and that by embracing the culture of the host country while preserving one's own traditions contributes to the evolution of a dynamic society.
Episode Transcript
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations22m | Sep 26, 2023 - EP 69 Cooking Up Integration: The Settlement Cook Book
From a culinary guide with the goal of assimilation to a symbol of cultural recognition, we’ll dive into a cookbook that bridged cultures and funded social programs. This cookbook taught immigrant women to cook American dishes and became a cultural talisman passed down generations. It’s a story that showcases how one cookbook became a powerful tool for integration and resilience.
The changing of the seasons sets the stage for our discussion of the third wave of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a massive wave of European immigrants hit the shores of the United States, personal, economic and social challenges crashed into established communities.
We focus on one Mid-Western community, a social service agency, and a cookbook that was much, much more than a collection of recipes.
Listen in as we discuss share the history, the impact, and our thoughts on Mrs. Simon Kandor’s The Settlement Cook Book, the way to a man’s heart.
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
The Settlement Cookbook: 116 Years and 40 Editions Later
This 20th Century Jewish Immigrant Cookbook Inspired the Ultimate Dinner Party, Hey Alma
Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America, by Mayukh Sen
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America, by Mayukh Sen
The Settlement Cookbook, by Mrs. Simon Kander
Transcript
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We would love to connect with you
AsWeEat.com, on Instagram @asweeat, join our new As We Eat community on Facebook, or subscribe to the As We Eat Journal.
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Review As We Eat on Podchaser or Apple Podcast. We would like to know what you think.
As a member of affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you stories, history, and personal musings about food, cuisines, traditions, and recipes
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations25m | Sep 12, 2023 - EP 68 Sowing Traditions with Three Sisters Mash
Food uniquely bridges our history and culture, bearing stories of resilience, connection, and sustenance across generations. Today, we dive into the flavors and heritage of The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen through a recipe that spotlights three indigenous ingredients woven into a rich tapestry of ancestral foodways.
Hey there, it's Leigh, and I'm excited to dive into a really remarkable culinary journey with you. You know, food is so much more than sustenance; it's a vessel for stories, culture, and history. Today, my amazing co-host, Kim Baker, and I are exploring the recipe that I chose to create from "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen" cookbook. This recipe isn't just about cooking; it's about embracing the flavors and heritage of three indigenous ingredients, and we're about to share how it deeply touched us.
Rediscovering Indigenous Foods:
As I flipped through the pages of "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen," one recipe leaped out—the Three Sisters Mash. It struck a chord because I'd learned about companion planting in school, and these sisters were familiar to me. This led me to ponder the remarkable awareness of Native Americans who recognized this planting synergy centuries ago. It's almost like they knew the secrets of nature's harmony.
The Three Sisters: A Sacred Story
The Three Sisters, corn, squash, and beans, which work together symbiotically in the garden to support and protect each other. This story serves as a beautiful parable, emphasizing the power of collaboration and the creation of something greater than ourselves.
Chef Sean Sherman's Three Sisters Mash brings this ancient planting wisdom to life. This isn't just gardening; it's a dance of support and collaboration that echoes through the ages.
The Journey of One Bean
I stumbled on the unique story of one of the sisters while in Arizona, the tepary bean.These beans were vital to the Tohono O'odham culture, but their story remained a mystery to me. Curiosity got the best of me, and I dug deeper, uncovering a tale of resilience, loss, and reclamation.
The Power of Intentionality
Alright, let's get cooking! Armed with intention, I embarked on the Three Sisters Mash recipe. Harvesting cedar for braising and selecting ingredients thoughtfully, I crafted a dish that felt like a tribute. The textures, flavors, and the surprising combination of sage and mint created a delicious dish that truly pays homage to indigenous food traditions.
Kim's Insights on Authenticity
Enter Kim, my co-host, and a discussion on authenticity unfolds. We muse about the blurred lines between authenticity and intentionality. How do we respect traditions while embracing modern adaptations?
Embracing Indigenous Foodways
Our conversation takes us deeper into the movement of reclaiming indigenous foodways. We uncover businesses like Indigenous Eats and All All Cafe, champions of preserving indigenous cuisines. It's a reminder that curiosity unveils treasures beyond our imaginations.
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
- Tastemakers, Ramona Farms
- Indigenous Eats, Spokane, Washington
- alalcafe, Seattle, Washington
- Off the Rez, Seattle Washington
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
- The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, Sean Sherman & Beth Dooley
Recipes You Really Need to Try
Transcript
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We would love to connect with you
AsWeEat.com, on Instagram @asweeat, join our new As We Eat community on Facebook, or subscribe to the As We Eat Journal.
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Review As We Eat on Podchaser or Apple Podcast. We would like to know what you think.
As a member of affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you stories, history, and personal musings about food, cuisines, traditions, and recipes
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations25m | Aug 29, 2023 - EP 67 Much Ado about Sioux: (Re)discovering America’s indigenous foods with Chef Sean Sherman
It seems that the faster and more urban our lives grow, the more we seek ways and means to “return” to our roots - including the foods we eat. Realizing that he knew very little about the foodways of the Oglala Sioux community where he was raised, Chef Sean Sherman began the task of researching and sharing the ways and means of food indigenous to North America. In this episode, Kim and Leigh reflect on how his 2018 award-winning cookbook The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen directs our focus to the foods and foodways that have been long overlooked.
Time spent with the Huichol people near Jalisco, Mexico inspired Chef Sean to examine his own Native heritage and curiosity about the foodways of his familial heritage of the Oglala Lakota of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. After nearly two decades in the food industry, Chef Sean felt he knew more about the popular cuisines of Europe, but none of what and how indigenous people ate before European culture spanned the continent.
His research, and subsequent cookbook, mark a turning point - even a starting point - in a long overdue conversation about the actual indigenous foodstuffs of North America - the flora and fauna that sustained people before the introduction and dietary inculcation of wheat, sugar, and beef.
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
About The Sioux Chef
Full Moon Ceremony & Teachings | Ontario Native Women’s Association
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman and Beth Dooley
New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian by Freddie Bitsoie and James O. Fraioli
tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane M. Chartrand
Recovering Our Ancestors' Gardens: Indigenous Recipes and Guide to Diet and Fitness (At Table) by Devon Abbott Mihesuah
Recipes You Really Need to Try
Corn Husk Bread from The Sioux Chef
Sean Sherman’s 10 Essential Native American Recipes from The New York Times
Owamni Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Chile Crisp from Food & Wine
Transcript
🎧 Click here for the full, interactive transcript of this episode 🎧
We would love to connect with you
AsWeEat.com, on Instagram @asweeat, join our new As We Eat community on Facebook, or subscribe to the As We Eat Journal.
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Review As We Eat on Podchaser or Apple Podcast. We would like to know what you think.
As a member of affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you stories, history, and personal musings about food, cuisines, traditions, and recipes
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations23m | Aug 15, 2023 - EP 66 United Tastes of America: A Treasury of Regional Recipes in “How American Eats”
As We Eat continues its exploration of seminal cookbooks with tried and true attempts at some of the recipes from Clemtine Paddleford’s “How America Eats.” This monumental volume (Kim’s revised edition weighs in at 500 recipes and nearly 900 pages!) chronicles Clementine’s journey around the United States to gather stories of real people and the recipes of what they love to eat, making it a unique and fascinating cookbook worth discussing.
Published in 1960, How America Eats draws what is perhaps the first culinary roadmap of its kind, capturing the diverse flavors and traditions of American cuisine from coast to coast, from city to country. The cookbook emerged during a significant moment for food in post-World War II America when prosperity and hunger for new culinary experiences were abundant. Unlike many contemporary cookbooks, "How America Eats" focused on whole ingredients in a proto-farm-to-table manner, reflecting a prevailing attitude about food that primarily featured ingredients largely available within the communities where they were collected.
For her recipe trials, Kim selected dishes reflecting the unique food cultures from her former home state of Ohio. With rich immigrant and settlement stories of people coming from Western and Eastern Europe as the Northwest Territory takes shape and Ohio achieves its statehood and African-American and Black “Great Migration” from the southern United States, Ohio becomes a veritable “melting pot” of food traditions.
It was Clementine's visit with the Dorcas Women’s Guild of the Magyar Evangelical and Reformed Church in Elyria, where she encountered Hungarian immigrants who preserved their culinary traditions while blending them with the new American influences, that inspired Kim to attempt Stuffed Cabbage, Chicken Paprikas, and Nokedli, which was met with certain challenges and some wild success!
We conclude this episode with a vivid discussion about how Clemtine’s efforts with "How America Eats" not only showcased the vast array of American dishes but also celebrated the people and communities eating this food. The cookbook offered a glimpse into the mid-century American culinary landscape, which we conjecture may someday inspire a scholarly interest in mid-century menus.
Sources & Books We Found Helpful for this Episode
How America Eats by Clemetine Paddleford, first edition
Recipes You Really Need to Try
Chicken Paprikash with Nokedli - my nokedli looked NOTHING like this!
Transcript
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We would love to connect with you
AsWeEat.com, on Instagram @asweeat, join our new As We Eat community on Facebook, or subscribe to the As We Eat Journal.
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Review As We Eat on Podchaser or Apple Podcast. We would like to know what you think.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations28m | Aug 2, 2023 - EP 65 How America Eats: Voices of the People who Satisfy our Hometown Appetites
Giving voice, using our voice, and listening are key to community building. Leigh and Kim explore how the art of sharing recipes can give voice to a nation, as they discuss how Clementine Paddleford documented the voices that satisfy hometown appetites in her seminal cookbook, How America Eats.
All Who Wander…
Join us on a journey with Clementine Paddleford and her seminal cookbook, How America Eats. Kim and Leigh discuss how sharing recipes can give voice to a nation, by highlighting Clem’s remarkable achievement of collecting regional recipes through her extensive travels - 800,000 miles of travel!
To both of us, How America Eats is a culinary masterpiece that deserves a place on every American cookbook shelf. Though sadly, due unfortunate events and dare we say poor timing she has been overshadowed by other prominent food writers like Julia Child, M.F.K. Fisher, and James Beard.
From a small town, teenage journalist to Paddleford's successful career as the food editor of the New York Herald Tribune where her weekly column reached an estimated readership of 12 million people, we discuss her accomplishments, codification of regional cuisine, and impact on food writing.
Authenticity v Accuracy - yep, that topic again
If you’ve listened to any of our podcasts, you know that this is a food touchstone topic for both of us. And this episode is no different. Clementine gives us some great fodder to engage in a thought-provoking discussion about the concept of authenticity versus accuracy in cooking. We explore how cooking at home and experimenting with different cuisines may not always prioritize strict authenticity. Instead, we believe that home cooks are more concerned with satisfaction, enjoyment and maybe a bit of entertainment as well as exploring new flavors and relishing the cooking process.
To that end, we ask a thought provoking question about authenticity and accuracy when it comes to cooking.
In the End
What we would really love for you to do after listening to the podcast is go out and get this cookbook. Let’s all celebrate the accomplishments of Clementine Paddleford by listening to the voices that she so thoughtfully recorded as she documented How America Eats.
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
Hometown Appetites by Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris
Clementine Paddleford: The Badass Lady Pilot Who Revolutionized the Art of Food Writing
Clementine Paddleford’s ‘How America Eats’ Chronicled the Tastes of a Nation
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
How America Eats by Clementine Paddleford
A Flower for my Mother by Clementine Paddleford
Hometown Appetites by Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris
Recipes You Really Need to Try
Episodes We Think You’ll Like
EP 43 Food Pioneers: Life and Career Highlights of People Who Make Food Great
EP 55 Refinding Home: Edna Lewis, The Taste of Country Cooking, and Me
EP 64 Recipes for Cookouts and Culture Identity
Transcript
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations27m | Jul 18, 2023 - EP 64 Recipes for Cookouts and Culture Identity
Kim and Leigh explore two recipes from Nicole Taylor’s cookbook Watermelon & Red Birds that not only give a glimpse into a culture’s culinary history, but look into future culinary explorations of black culture and influence.
Episode Transcript
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We would love to connect with you
AsWeEat.com, on Instagram @asweeat, join our new As We Eat community on Facebook, or subscribe to the As We Eat Journal.
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Review As We Eat on Podchaser or Apple Podcast. We would like to know what you think.
As a member of affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you stories, history, and personal musings about food, cuisines, traditions, and recipes
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations26m | Jul 4, 2023 - EP 63 Time to Eat: Food Traditions, Summer Celebrations, and Rethinking Red
Summer is full of reasons to celebrate - either for our personal victories of graduation or fatherhood but also on a more profound scale with federal holidays like Independence Day. In this new episode of As We Eat, Kim and Leigh explore how one author is not only bringing attention to the food traditions of Black celebrations like Juneteenth, but also challenging readers to look again at tradition.
Food & Celebration
For the month of June, we decided to focus on food and celebration, and to us there was no better choice than a relatively new title - "Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations” by James Beard-nominated food writer Nicole A. Taylor. It was the premise of this book that really caught Kim’s interest as it is the first broadly published cookbook to focus on the foods of Juneteenth. What we found is not only a collection of recipes, but a sincere effort to explore culinary traditions that connect food-centric celebrations to a rich heritage while also making room for those traditions to bend and accommodate change.
A Bridge Between Tradition and Culinary Evolution
In this space, Taylor aims to bridge the gap between traditional African American dishes and the evolving culinary landscape of the twenty-first century, encouraging readers to engage in conversations about Black American contributions to the country while celebrating their own cultural heritage.
While Taylor's own culinary journey began at a young age, she came into her celebration of Juneteenth as a young adult and it fueled her interest in documenting the DIY and urban food scene around her home in New York. Her debut book, "The Up South Cookbook," aimed to help home cooks recreate Southern cuisine in the North.
A critical element in Taylor’s approach is her theory that food belongs to everyone, not just professionals, and by capturing the cadence and culture of Black celebrations in her cookbook, we are offered a gateway to American history and Black American traditions. What we perceive as traditional may have evolved over time, and she invites readers to explore flavors, food, and techniques that may be either familiar or unknown, and in doing so foster discussions about how culinary traditions - especially Black food traditions - might evolve while remaining rooted in their origins.
Episode Transcript
🎧 Click here for the full, interactive transcript of this episode 🎧
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
- Nicole A. Taylor | Southern Foodways Alliance
- Nicole A. Taylor's cookbook puts a spin on traditional African American food
- Nicole A. Taylor's 'Watermelon & Red Birds' Is an Ode to Black Joy
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
- The Up South Cookbook: Chasing Dixie in a Brooklyn Kitchen by Nicole A. Taylor
- Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations by Nicole A. Taylor
Recipes You Really Need to Try
- Nicole A. Taylor’s Recipe for Weekend Sweet Potato Hash @ The Splendid Table
- Nicole A. Taylor's Black Pepper Strawberry Slab Pie @ Dash of Jazz
- Nicole A. Taylor shares her Juneteenth recipes for Black celebrations @ Los Angeles Times
- Juneteenth Recipes Curated by Nicole Taylor @ NYT Cooking
We would love to connect with you
AsWeEat.com, on Instagram @asweeat, join our new As We Eat community on Facebook, or subscribe to the As We Eat Journal.
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Review As We Eat on Podchaser or Apple Podcast. We would like to know what you think.
s a member of affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you stories, history, and personal musings about food, cuisines, traditions, and recipes
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations25m | Jun 13, 2023 - EP 62 Unveiling the Rich Tapestry of Chinese Cuisine with Red and White Cooking
In this episode, we continue As We Eat’s journey exploring "How to Cook and Eat in Chinese" by Buwei Yang Chao, an esteemed author who invited readers to experience what it means to both cook and eat Chinese food. As we continue our dive into the world of Chinese cooking, we peel back the layers of stereotypes that have often misrepresented this diverse and complex culinary tradition.
As We Eat Episodes Mentioned
EP 48 Dumplings Around the World: Pan Asian Dumplings from Chinese Medicine to Dim Sum
EP 49: Dumplings Around the World: European Dumplings from Saints to Holy Justice in Just One Bite
EP 50 Dumplings Around the World: The Great American Dumplings Showdown
EP 51 From Temple to Table: How Rice Built Communities Around the World
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by Buwei Yang Chao
How to Order and Eat in Chinese to Get the Best Meal in a Chinese Restaurant by Buwei Yang Chao
Autobiography of a Chinese Woman by Buwei Yang Chao
Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America by Mayukh Sen
Other Sources
FOOD; Chinese Characters (with recipes) by The New York Times
Red-Cooked Meat and Table Manners: Decoding How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by The Margins
The Forgotten Chinese Chef Who Taught America to Stir-Fry by Mother Jones
Transcript
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations26m | May 30, 2023 - EP 61 How to Cook and Eat in Chinese: Dishing up Culture
Today we’ll journey through a fascinating cookbook whose purpose was to inform, educate and break through ingrained stereotypes. How to Cook and Eat in Chinese is a cultural road map into Chinese culture through its food and culinary traditions with some humorous and personal twists and turns along the way.
From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship, Kim and Leigh discuss the political and social constructs that informed the creation of, if they do say so themselves, a spectacular piece of culinary literature.
How to Cook and Eat in Chinese is so, so, so much more than a book filled with recipes for Peking duck, spring rolls, and congee. It’s guide book through Chinese culture and tradition.
Written in Chinese by a Tokyo-educated female women’s doctor, translated by her English-speaking daughter, and edited by her Boxer-Indemnity-Scholarship educated husband, this book, as you might expect, is rife with multi-generational and cultural perspectives. And in the case of the footnotes, familial banter.
Buwei and crew brilliantly set the table to aid in understanding a culture through the lens of its food. As Mrs. Chao reminds us, “a little thinking and and little willingness to experiment will go very far.” Oh, what wise words!
Resources we found helpful for this episode
How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by Buwei Yang Chao
Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey by Anne Mendelson
Autobiography of a Chinese Woman by Buwei Yang Chao
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), National Archives
Red-Cooked Meat and Table Manners: Decoding How to Cook and Eat in Chinese
Books we think you should read
How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by Buwei Yang Chao
Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey by Anne Mendelson
Autobiography of a Chinese Woman by Buwei Yang Chao
Episodes We Think You’ll Like
EP 59: Bon Appétit! How Julia Child Made America Fall in Love with French Food
Episode 60 Coq au Whatever: Mastering an Iconic French Provincial Dish
Episode 41 Brothers in Spoons: Odd Intersections of Food, Military, and War
As a member of affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you stories, history, and personal musings about food, cuisines, traditions, and recipes
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations33m | May 16, 2023 - EP 60 Coq au Whatever: Mastering an Iconic French Provincial Dish
Grab your favorite glass of Burgundy and settle in as Leigh and Kim discuss what Leigh learned about making an iconic dish that epitomizes the warmth, hospitality, and culinary traditions of French culture. Leigh even shares what she discovered about herself when making coq au vin from Mastering the Art of French Cooking while Kim talks about the traditional wine used in making this dish.
Cook with any wine you have
We’ve talked at length about how Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a cookbook based on technique. Techniques that make the art of French cuisine and cooking available to the general public. And though there are prescriptions for iconic dishes, there is also some freedom granted by Julia and Co.
Coq au vin - rooster in wine - is traditionally made with red wine, but I love the fact that in the introduction of the recipe Julia notes that you can use whatever wine you cook with. This comes from a lady who painstakingly tested, re-tested, and re-tested all of the 524 recipes in the book. She understood that in order for people to cook these dishes, it was important to grant some ownership in the creative process.
On being intentional
This recipe is not for the faint of heart. Within the recipe for Coq au Vin there are an additional 3 recipes for ingredients used. But rather than look at the recipe with trepidation, I chose to recall a visit to France where I learned to understand the importance and intention that the culture places not only on ingredients but meal-times and community.
This is a country where businesses and schools shutter for two hours each day during lunch so that citizens can enjoy a meal with family and friends. Where suppers last well into the late evening hours. And where conversations are considered entertainment.
So, to dedicate a full day of intentional cooking wasn’t a hardship. It was a pleasure. A pleasure that elicited some interesting revelations about some of my cooking habits and one of the most delicious meals we had all week.
What about the wine
Although Julia and Co. indicate that you can use “whatever wine you use for cooking,” traditionally, coq au vin utilizes a wine that is local to the region, Burgundy. Kim takes us on a little tasting tour of this earthy wine made in the region since the Romans annexed this area into their empire.
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck
My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck
My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme
Recipes You Really Need to Try
Episodes We Think You’ll Enjoy
Episode 14 Casseroles: Tuna Noodle, Green Bean, and Gleaming Vessels
Episode 38: Fire & Ice: Two Modern Kitchen Technologies that Changed Our Kitchens and Diets
Episode 59: Bon Appétit! How Julia Child Made America Fall in Love with French Food
Transcript
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Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations28m | May 2, 2023 - EP 59 Bon Appetit! How Julia Child Made America Fall in Love with French Food
It’s no secret that Leigh and Kim are fans of Julia Child - a culinary icon who revolutionized the way Americans think about food and cooking. Julia Child made cooking accessible and fun, and her legacy lives on today through her timeless recipes, television show episodes, her cookbooks, and through the work of the many chefs and food lovers she inspired.
For todays’ episode, we take a good look at Julia Child’s fascinating life and the start of her storied culinary career - the 1961 publication of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," co-authored with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle.
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian Institute
Julia Child Biography from National Women’s History Museum
FOOD: Transforming the American Table at the National Museum of American History
Julia Child Video Collection at PBS
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
"Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (1961) with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle
"The French Chef Cookbook" (1968)
"From Julia Child's Kitchen" (1975)
"Julia Child & Company" (1978)
"The Way to Cook" (1989)
"In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs" (1995)
"Baking with Julia" (1996)
"Julia's Kitchen Wisdom" (2000)
"My Life in France" (2006) with Alex Prud’homme
Recipes You Really Need to Try
Transcript
🎧 Click here for the full, interactive transcript of this episode 🎧
As a member of affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you stories, history, and personal musings about food, cuisines, traditions, and recipes.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations21m | Apr 18, 2023 - EP 58: Waterlily Eggs: a convenient recipe for unexpected company... and woman suffrage
Today, Kim shares her experience with a recipe intended to ease the strain of entertaining and leave time for more important matters, like gaining votes for women.
We would love to connect with you
AsWeEat.com, on Instagram @asweeat, join our new As We Eat community on Facebook, or subscribe to the As We Eat Journal.
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Review As We Eat on Podchaser or Apple Podcast. We would like to know what you think.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations28m | Apr 4, 2023 - EP 57 The Right Ingredients: How the Woman Suffrage Cook Book Stirred Up the Movement
You may know that the woman suffrage movement played a significant role in winning women the right to vote. But are you aware that an important tool that they employed to educate, persuade, and build community was cookbooks?
Kim and Leigh discuss how one of the movement’s self-published community cookbooks would serve as a testament to the suffragettes’ commitment to their cause and their desire to build a better world for themselves and their families.
No Ordinary Cook Book
The Woman Suffrage Cook Book is not your ordinary cookbook. Published in 1886, edited by Hattie A. Burr with recipe contributions by suffragettes, supporters, and women across America it served as a tool for fundraising, with proceeds supporting the movement. But it served an even greater purpose. It was a way to educate the public regarding the suffragettes’ goals and aspirations. By sharing family recipes and offering tips on household management and care of the sick and infirmed, it demonstrated that they were not just political activists but also wives, mothers, and homemakers.
The recipes provide a glimpse into the food culture of the time and serve as a reminder that food is more than sustenance. It can build community, shape culture, and be a catalyst of social change.
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
All Stirred Up, Laura Kumin
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
All Stirred Up, Laura Kumin
The Woman Suffrage Cook Book, edited by Hattie A. Burr
The Woman Suffrage Cook Book, edited by Hatties A. Burr PDF version
Transcript
🎧 Click here for the full, interactive transcript of this episode 🎧
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations18m | Mar 15, 2023 - EP 56 Beef A Là Mode: A Recipe to Bring You Home
Today, Leigh shares her experience with a recipe that embodies the feeling of home: Edna Lewis' Beef a là Mode from A Taste of Country Living.
The recipes in this auto-biographical cookbook are full of warmth, flavor, and nostalgia, and Beef a là Mode is no exception. This classic comfort food was a favorite of Edna’s family during the winter months in Freetown and was often served for special occasions.
Listen as Leigh shares personal experience with the recipe and how a dish can connect us to our past, our community, and our sense of home.
Books we think you'll enjoy
A Taste of Country Cooking, Edna Lewis
Other episodes we think you'll like
EP 43 Food Pioneers: Life and Career Highlights of People Who Make Food Great
EP 45 Cookbooks: Guardians of Culture and Cuisine
We would love to connect with you
AsWeEat.com, on Instagram @asweeat, join our new As We Eat community on Facebook, or subscribe to the As We Eat Journal.
Do you have a great idea 💡 for a show topic, a recipe 🥘 that you want to share, or just say “hi”👋🏻? Send us an email at connect@asweeat.com
Review As We Eat on Podchaser or Apple Podcast. We would like to know what you think.
As a member of affiliate programs, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you stories, history, and personal musings about food, cuisines, traditions, and recipes
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/as-we-eat8938/donations28m | Mar 7, 2023
