Special Sauce with Ed Levine
370 episodes - English - Latest episode: 15 days ago - ★★★★ - 336 ratingsSerious Eats' podcast Special Sauce enables food lovers everywhere to eavesdrop on an intimate conversation about food and life between host and Serious Eats founder Ed Levine and his well-known/famous friends and acquaintances both in and out of the food culture.
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Episodes
Dumpling Master Helen You's Inspiring Story
April 07, 2017 00:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBYou probably won't be able to hear it, but I was moved to tears by my interview with dumpling queen Helen You on this week's Special Sauce. Helen is the owner of Dumpling Galaxy, the finest dumpling shop in NYC, and the coauthor of The Dumpling Galaxy Cookbook, written alongside former Serious Eats editor Max Falkowitz. Her dumplings, as good as they are, weren't what got to me, though—it was her remarkable personal story. I won't reveal any more of it here, but my guess is you'll b...
Mario Batali on the Joys of Pig Jell-O
March 31, 2017 00:15 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MB"Hot pig Jell-O" may not sound like a draw to most people, but that's exactly how Mario Batali describes the headcheese that he got me to try—and even like!—more than 20 years ago. How he managed that feat, his nose-to-tail approach to cooking (though not exclusive to him), how he hires so many people who start out as line cooks and end up as chef-partners, and what he regrets about giving author Bill Buford an all-access pass for his terrific book Heat are just some of the many tid...
Mario Batali's Advice to Young Chefs: Study Liberal Arts First
March 24, 2017 01:46 - 28 minutes - 19.8 MBI have been dying to get Mario Batali, whom I have known for more than a quarter century, on Special Sauce since I first dreamed up the idea for our podcast, more than a year ago. And, when all you serious eaters listen to Mario on this week's episode, you'll know why. The man is funny, smart, hyper-articulate, and both thoughtful and thought-provoking. Mario has so many interesting things to say—enough that we had to make this interview a two-parter. Next week, we'll delve into his...
Craig Kanarick on Life After the Tech Bubble
March 17, 2017 02:00 - 57 minutes - 39.4 MBMany serious eaters know the pleasures associated with ordering something delicious from the online food retailer Mouth.com. But not many people know the fascinating backstory of Mouth's cofounder Craig Kanarick. That's where this week's episode of Special Sauce comes in. How Craig went from telling Fortune 500 companies what to do at Razorfish to finding the next great jam-maker at Mouth is a terrific story of risk and reinvention, and you can hear every detail on this episode of...
Missy Robbins on Not Worrying About Stars
March 10, 2017 01:00 - 30 minutes - 20.6 MBI call part two of my interview with Missy Robbins "The Comeback Episode," because we learn what happened when Missy returned from her self-imposed hiatus from her career as a chef. Missy delves into how the time away helped shape her personal philosophy and, inevitably, the development and opening of Lilia, her much-lauded Italian restaurant in Brooklyn and her first as a chef-restaurateur. Contrary to prior emphasis on garnering accolades and critical acclaim, Missy says she wante...
Missy Robbins on the 20-Year Journey to Opening a Place of Her Own
March 03, 2017 01:00 - 37 minutes - 25.6 MBOn this week's Special Sauce I chat with Missy Robbins, the chef and owner of Lilia in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Missy describes her 20-year journey to opening her own place with such sharp clarity that after we finished recording, I was unable to think about anything else for hours. And when we tried to edit our conversation down to one episode we found that we couldn't, so this week's episode is just part one.
Frank Bruni on What Makes a Good Restaurant Critic
February 17, 2017 01:00 - 25 minutes - 17.6 MBIn this first of a two-part interview with The New York Times Op-Ed Columnist and former restaurant critic, Frank Bruni, we delve into everything from his earlier days as Rome bureau chief for that same paper, why it feels as if readers of his memoir, Born Round: A Story of Family, Food, and a Ferocious Appetite, have "essentially been in bed" with him, and what he feels are the true qualifications for a restaurant critic.
Ivan Orkin on Slurping, the State of Ramen in the U.S., and More
February 10, 2017 01:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MBOn this week's Special Sauce, I continue my far-reaching conversation with great cook and ramen master, Ivan Orkin, aka Ivan Ramen. What is his recommendation on the best way to eat ramen, how did he make it as an American ramen chef in Tokyo, why did he return to the U.S. after so much success in Japan, and what non-noodle project does he have in the works in New York City? You'll just have to tune in to find out.
Ivan Orkin on Love, Loss, and the Tastiest Chicken Bits
February 03, 2017 01:59 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBIn this first part of a Special Sauce double-header, Ivan Orkin, of Ivan Ramen and Slurp Shop in NYC, talks about life before he became a celebrity in Japan as a gaijin (foreigner) ramen chef: the Orkin family table growing up on Long Island, NY, how a high school job working as a dishwasher in a local Japanese restaurant helped first develop his palate, his early years teaching English in Tokyo, the restaurant cooking experiences in the U.S. that shaped his philosophy on hospitalit...
Chef Bill Telepan on Neighborhood Restaurants and School Food
January 27, 2017 01:00 - 53 minutes - 36.5 MBThis week's guest on Special Sauce is chef and school food activist Bill Telepan, who is now at the helm of New York's Oceana Restaurant. Bill shares some particularly insightful observations about why chef-driven neighborhood restaurants across the country are struggling, his mother's reaction to his decision to drop out of college and attend cooking school ("You're kidding, right?"), and why young cooks at a restaurant should think twice before suggesting new dishes for the menu....
Marcus Samuelsson on Fried Chicken, Russian Invasions, and Jazz
January 20, 2017 01:00 - 19 minutes - 13.7 MBIn part two of my conversation with Marcus Samuelsson, we chat a little about the profound Russian influence on everyday Swedish cuisine, the driving inspiration and ethos behind opening his Harlem restaurant, The Red Rooster, and how he was able to stop obsessing over creating a technically perfect fried chicken recipe and embrace it as "an emotional endeavor"–with a little tough love from a famous singer. Who was that singer, what does jazz have to do with the way he approaches ...
Marcus Samuelsson's Story Will Move You To Tears
January 13, 2017 01:00 - 24 minutes - 16.9 MBThis week's Special Sauce features Chef Marcus Samuelsson, whose restaurant, The Red Rooster, is arguably ground zero of the Harlem food and drink renaissance. I found Marcus's story so inspiring and moving that I decided it merited two episodes. In fact, this is the first interview I've done for the show that has brought me to tears. There's so much to Marcus's remarkable story, so tune in to part one of this extraordinary interview.
Daniel Rose on Finding Joy at the Table
January 06, 2017 01:00 - 58 minutes - 40.4 MBChef Daniel Rose of Le Coucou, the best new restaurant in New York City, reflects on his career and kitchen philosophy.
Call Special Sauce: BraveTart on Bake Sale, Pie Anxiety, and Danger Brownies
December 23, 2016 01:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBOur first Call Special Sauce with Stella Parks was so nice, we decided to do it twice. Leah from DC wanted to come up with ideas for baked goods that "would just really light people on fire" at her daughter's school's bake sale table—in a metaphorical sense, that is. Both Carol from Connecticut and Kelly from Massachusetts had holiday pie questions, which Stella deftly handled, advising on blind baking, the best fat to flour ratio to keep moisture at bay in a dough, and highlighting...
Call Special Sauce: BraveTart, Trashy Snacks, and Holiday Baking
December 16, 2016 01:00 - 45 minutes - 31.6 MBLet's face it: One of the main reasons we look forward to the holiday season is the copious amount of baked goods we get to make and eat. So, with that in mind, I invited our pastry wizard, Stella Parks (aka BraveTart), to take calls on a special holiday baking episode of Call Special Sauce. And I strongly urge serious eaters everywhere to take a listen. Why? Mostly because Stella is so knowledgable and unpretentious. But it's also because no matter what she's talking about–whether ...
Call Special Sauce: Ed and Kenji on Boats, Galleys, and Unintentionally Aged Foods
December 09, 2016 01:00 - 50 minutes - 34.7 MBOn today's episode of Special Sauce, Kenji and I fielded a wide variety of potentially vexing questions about cooking on a boat (Mike in Cyprus), preparing acidic foods in cast iron cookware (Julia in New York), making the most of small kitchens (Andrew in New York), marinades vs. brines (Kevin in DC), and leaving out food overnight (Philip in Pittsburgh). This episode was truly all over the map, and we loved every minute of it. I hope you will, too. By the way, don't miss the ho...
Ruth Reichl on Gourmet's Demise and the Future of Food Journalism
December 02, 2016 01:00 - 31 minutes - 21.9 MBIn a million years, I would never have guessed Ruth Reichl's guilty pleasure: "Onion rings," she told me during part two of our conversation on Special Sauce. "I can't resist a good onion ring." That's not the only surprising answer you'll hear on this week's episode from the woman I call the first rock star food journalist. Take a listen to hear her take on the digital revolution in food journalism or her unique choice of guests at her last dinner on earth–you won't regret it. ...
Call Special Sauce: Ed and Kenji Take Your Thanksgiving Questions
November 18, 2016 01:00 - 43 minutes - 29.6 MBIn this week's episode of Special Sauce, Kenji and I field our listeners' call-in questions, and tackle the pressing concerns that plague Thanksgiving cooks (and their guests) around the country. We trust that our listeners and questioners will be thankful for the thoughtful (and hopefully amusing) answers we provide. We know we're thankful that millions of people trust Serious Eats to make their food lives better. Happy Turkey Day, everyone.
Ruth Reichl on the Birth of a Food Revolution
November 11, 2016 01:00 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MBIf you've ever read one of Ruth Reichl's restaurant reviews, let alone one of her books, then you know what a wonderful, natural storyteller she is. Great storytellers and great stories are the heart and soul of Special Sauce, so when Ruth emailed me to say that she could record an episode with us, our crew scrambled to make it happen. Her episodes (yes, there will be a part two, taking us through her Gourmet years to the present day) don't disappoint.
How Rob Kaufelt Built Murray's Cheese From the Rind Up
November 04, 2016 00:00 - 57 minutes - 39.5 MBI like to call this week's Special Sauce guest, Rob Kaufelt, the cheese whisperer. Finding and selling great cheese seems to be what Rob was put on this earth to do. Over the years, the Murray's Cheese Shop owner has brought serious cheese to millions of Americans–his current empire includes two New York storefronts; an eponymous, cheese-centric restaurant; a fast-growing mail-order business; and a whopping 350 Murray's Cheese counters stationed in Kroger's supermarkets around the t...
Einat Admony: From RV Park Chef to Budding Falafel Magnate
October 28, 2016 00:00 - 43 minutes - 29.8 MBThe background of this week's guest on Special Sauce—chef, restaurateur, and aspiring falafel magnate Einat Admony—isn't that of your typical chef. She grew up in Israel, learning how to make couscous from her Moroccan neighbor, and, while in the army, quickly switched from driving a jeep to cooking for officers in the air force. Einat then spent four years bumming around Germany, living in an RV and cooking for all her neighbors in the RV park. (I kidded her about being the first a...
Lidia Bastianich: From Refugee to Culinary Star
October 21, 2016 00:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBConsidering her many restaurants, books, and television shows, plus her involvement in the gourmet Italian marketplace Eataly, Lidia Bastianich might seem like a known quantity to serious eaters all over America. But take a listen to this week's Special Sauce and you'll realize just how extraordinary a woman she is, and what an incredible life she's led.
Serious Eats Culinary Director Daniel Gritzer Sings for His Supper
October 14, 2016 00:00 - 50 minutes - 34.7 MBDaniel Gritzer, Serious Eats' culinary director, is in many ways our not-so-secret weapon. To learn more about the surprisingly nonlinear career path that landed him at Serious Eats (which involved two stints herding sheep in Europe), and about the martial art he practices (one he describes as physical, real-time chess), you're just going to have to listen.
Alex Guarnaschelli on Cooking for Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Prince
October 07, 2016 00:00 - 37 minutes - 25.4 MBThis week's guest on Special Sauce, Alex Guarnaschelli, is constantly juggling the roles of TV chef (she's a regular judge on Chopped), working chef (at the two Butter locations in Manhattan), and mom (to one beautiful daughter). When you're faced with all those demands, it probably doesn't hurt to be whip-smart and funny as hell, which Alex most definitely is. What more could a podcast host ask for?
Jane and Michael Stern on the Origins of Roadfood
September 30, 2016 00:00 - 44 minutes - 25.6 MBSerious eaters who have been around awhile, like me, know that the idea of driving across America in search of the best regional food originated with Roadfood authors Jane and Michael Stern, not Guy Fieri: They published their first edition of the guide in 1977–one of 30 books they've written to date, including 10 editions of Roadfood–decades before Guy started tooling around in his convertible on TV. Along with Calvin Trillin, the Sterns have been my greatest inspirations, so I jum...
Paulie Gee on the Fear and Joy of Quitting Your Day Job
September 23, 2016 00:00 - 52 minutes - 59.9 MBPizza lovers know Paulie Gee, a.k.a. Paul Giannone, this week's Special Sauce guest, as the owner of the eponymous pizzeria founded in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. But as good as his pies are, and they're damn good, his unlikely path to pizza entrepreneur–there are now Paulie Gee's outposts in Columbus, Ohio; Baltimore; Chicago; and Miami, each opened with the help of pizza-obsessed locals–is even more impressive.
Call Special Sauce: "Taste Is Fabricated In Our Brain"
September 16, 2016 00:00 - 33 minutes - 23.3 MBIn our latest call-in episode of Special Sauce, Kenji and Ed address listener concerns over how to rebuild a pantry and how a food’s appearance affects taste. And, of course, we make some time for good-natured ribbing, too.
Kenji and Ed Tackle Listener Questions of Authenticity and More
September 09, 2016 00:00 - 46 minutes - 32.1 MBIn this third episode of Call Special Sauce, Kenji and Ed wrestle with tricky questions from Serious Eaters on food allergies, electric stovetops, and authenticity.
Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman on Why Failure Is the Key to Success
September 01, 2016 21:27 - 54 minutes - 37.4 MBThe arts of making French charcuterie and its Italian cousin, salumi, are two of the highest forms of the craft of cooking. So when I heard that chef and cooking teacher Brian Polcyn and journalist Michael Ruhlman, the authors of the two definitive books on those subjects, had come out with an app for lovers of charcuterie and salumi everywhere - and there are a lot of them; their book Charcuterie has sold more than 200,000 copies - I knew they had to join me on Special Sauce.
Dinosaur BBQ's John Stage on His Unlikely Path to Pitmaster
August 25, 2016 23:10 - 43 minutes - 29.7 MBOn this week's Special Sauce, John Stage, founder of the insanely popular barbecue mini-chain Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, reveals the unusual way he discovered his calling. Growing up, Stage had a soft spot for his mother's Italian-American cooking, especially her lasagna; his father, Stage tells us with a chuckle, was the one who taught him to drink. But he didn't take an interest in cooking for a living until he ran afoul of the law at age 18.
Pastry Wizard Stella Parks (BraveTart) on Iconic American Desserts
August 19, 2016 00:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MBSerious Eats' pastry expert, Stella Parks, a.k.a. BraveTart, is so disarmingly charming as our guest on Special Sauce, you'll undoubtedly fall in love with her the way all of us have. After attending the Culinary Institute of America, working in restaurants in Lexington, Kentucky, and living in Japan, Stella now has her hands full with testing and writing Serious Eats' dessert recipes while she finishes her upcoming cookbook, titled BraveTart after her online moniker.
Danny Meyer Tells the Shake Shack Origin Story
August 11, 2016 21:43 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBIn the middle of part 2 of Danny Meyer's interview on Special Sauce comes a shocking admission. In 2001 the first incarnation of the enterprise that became the global phenomenon Shake Shack was a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park that was part of an art project featuring two taxi cabs. Did Meyer have any idea that that hot dog cart would eventually become a publicly traded global phenomenon? On this episode you'll also hear about the origins of Blue Smoke, and how he has managed t...
Danny Meyer Talks Hospitality and Comfort Food
August 04, 2016 20:10 - 38 minutes - 26.8 MBIn this week's episode of Special Sauce-the first of two parts-we talk about how Meyer came to see the pursuit of restaurant-experience perfection as anathema to his own business, and take a look at his five founding principles of hospitality. I could tell you what they are here, but then you might not listen to this extraordinary episode.
How Roy Choi Plans to Change the World
July 28, 2016 21:47 - 33 minutes - 76.8 MBOn this week's Special Sauce, Roy Choi told me that his new California-based fast food concept, LocoL, is merely trying to change the world, one mostly-meat burger at a time.
Ed and Kenji Take Your Calls (Part 2)
July 21, 2016 22:18 - 55 minutes - 127 MBThis week's especial Special Sauce episode (I know that's redundant, but it rolls off the tongue) again features my runnin' and eatin' partner, Kenji López-Alt, Serious Eats' managing culinary director and the author of the New York Times best seller The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. Together, we answered some great questions from curious callers. Can someone learn to love calf's liver? (Maybe with a little liver therapy, administered by phone.) How can you get you...
Ed and Kenji Take Your Calls (Part 2)
July 21, 2016 22:18 - 55 minutes - 127 MBThis week's especial Special Sauce episode (I know that's redundant, but it rolls off the tongue) again features my runnin' and eatin' partner, Kenji López-Alt, Serious Eats' managing culinary director and the author of the New York Times best seller The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. Together, we answered some great questions from curious callers. Can someone learn to love calf's liver? (Maybe with a little liver therapy, administered by phone.) How can you get your homema...
Extra-Special Sauce: Ed and Kenji Take Your Calls.
July 14, 2016 21:02 - 45 minutes - 84.7 MBThis week's episode of Special Sauce is, well, special. Inspired by Car Talk, one of our all-time favorite radio shows, we did a call-in session featuring Kenji López-Alt, Serious Eats' managing culinary director and the best-selling author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. We tried to answer the thoughtful questions of three passionate, discerning cooks with humor (you'll hear how Kenji once made me duck testicles in one of his many cast iron pans), humility, ...
Eric Ripert on the Making of His Memoir and What Inspires Him
July 07, 2016 21:26 - 52 minutes - 120 MBI used to think of Le Bernardin chef-restaurateur Eric Ripert as a smart, impossibly charming and handsome chef's chef. But between interviewing him for Special Sauce and reading his moving and evocative memoir 32 Yolks, I've since realized that there's a lot more to the man than what we see on Top Chef and his own Emmy Award-winning show, Avec Eric.
Eric Ripert on the Making of His Memoir and What Inspires Him
July 07, 2016 21:26 - 52 minutes - 120 MBI used to think of Le Bernardin chef-restaurateur Eric Ripert as a smart, impossibly charming and handsome chef's chef. But between interviewing him for Special Sauce and reading his moving and evocative memoir 32 Yolks, I've since realized that there's a lot more to the man than what we see on Top Chef and his own Emmy Award-winning show, Avec Eric.
Tom Douglas on the Moral Imperative of Livable Restaurant Wages.
July 02, 2016 17:31 - 51 minutes - 118 MBThe multiple-Beard-Award-winner and proprietor of 19 Seattle restaurants is whip-smart, even though his mother has never forgiven him for being the only one of her eight children not to go to college. Tom's also funny, opinionated, and generously spirited. What more could a podcast host ask for in a guest? In this episode, Tom explains why he's never opened a restaurant outside Seattle (it's not for lack of opportunities), why he opted to pay his employees a living wage long before ...
Russ & Daughters on How to Keep a 100-Year-Old Family Food Business Fresh
June 24, 2016 00:52 - 1 hour - 138 MBFamily businesses are hard. Family food businesses that have lasted four generations, like the New York appetizing emporium Russ & Daughters, are practically unicorns. So, when I had a chance to have Niki Russ Federman and Joshua Russ Tupper on Special Sauce, I jumped at it.
Jessamyn Rodriguez on Hot Bread Kitchen, NY's Bakery Incubator
June 17, 2016 02:30 - 48 minutes - 111 MBEd Levine first met Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez eight years ago, when he happened upon her and her mother selling handmade tortillas at a tiny farmers market in West Harlem. Even back then, he could tell that Jessamyn was a force to be reckoned with. She embraces her life's work with equal parts humanity, passion, and focus. In recent years, Jessamyn's nonprofit and bakery, Hot Bread Kitchen, has been preserving baking traditions from around the world by hiring immigrant women to ma...
Jim Lahey on the Accident of No-Knead Bread
June 10, 2016 05:56 - 55 minutes - 128 MBThis week's Special Sauce guest, bread baker extraordinaire Jim Lahey, is a man of strong opinions, provocative ideas, and many talents. He's not on the fence about anything. So I figured that if we just gave Jim a mike and let him rip, serious eaters would be in for a treat. It turned out I was right. You'll hear about how Jim came to bread baking after suffering through 37 bad jobs; how he started his baking business by setting up a folding table in New York's Greenwich Village a...
Roy Blount Jr. on Saving Room for Pie
May 26, 2016 19:58 - 38 minutes - 88.2 MBRoy Blount Jr. is one of the funniest writers on the planet. And he loves to eat, and talk about what he's eaten, so he's a made-to-order guest on Special Sauce. On this week's episode, you'll hear Roy wax poetic about the dangers of eating foam (he's "anti-abstract and pro-substantial" when it comes to food) and why we should all save room for pie, which, not so coincidentally, is the name of his new book.
Special Sauce: Chris Ying on the Best and Wurst of Lucky Peach Life
May 19, 2016 19:49 - 48 minutes - 66.6 MBWho knew, in an age of huge magazine companies being sold off like rusty used cars, that you could create a quarterly, delightfully idiosyncratic food magazine and get more than a hundred thousand people to pony up $28 a year to subscribe? On this week's Special Sauce, editor in chief of Lucky Peach, Chris Ying, joins us to discuss food, life, and his remarkable career success.
Special Sauce: Dominique Ansel on Why He Doesn't Take Advice From Anyone
May 13, 2016 01:51 - 52 minutes - 71.8 MBIn this episode, we discuss how Dominique Ansel went from army KP duty to the kitchens of Fauchon in Paris (where he arrived in a clunker he bought for $400), to being the pastry chef at New York gastronomic palace Daniel. We also talk about what inspires him to do the impossible in the face of doubt, and why his gut is the only thing he trusts when it comes to running his business. The dessert master also tells us why he considers great vanilla ice cream one thing you're hard-press...
Special Sauce: Sweetgreen’s Nicolas Jammet on His Secrets to Success
May 05, 2016 16:52 - 46 minutes - 106 MBThe Sweetgreen team has watched their business grow over the past nine years from a single 500-square-foot storefront location in DC's Georgetown, which they opened when they were still college students, to what will be 60 restaurants nationwide by the end of 2016. How did they pull it off? Jammet tells us that and more in this episode of our podcast.
Special Sauce: Dan Pashman on Arguing for Fun and His Mother's Fajita Obsession
April 28, 2016 19:49 - 36 minutes - 83.3 MBIn this episode, we get into some Sporkful-inspired debates about the purpose of hot dog buns and the ideal shape of pie. We discuss the divide in the podcasting world, as well as what makes his often contrarian—and always funny—show great.
Special Sauce: Francis Lam on American Identity and Chrissy Teigen's Mac and Cheese
April 21, 2016 21:11 - 57 minutes - 131 MBIn this episode of Special Sauce, Lam and I discuss how he tends to "go for the cheeks" and why his parents are proud of him for doing so. He also talks about how normal it is for writers to hate writing—but why he still encourages aspiring authors to explore their passion for the craft. Finally, Francis and I have a spirited discussion about cultural appropriation and sensitivity in the American food culture.
Special Sauce: Brooks Headley Wants You to Call Your Mom. Really. Right Now.
April 14, 2016 21:08 - 50 minutes - 117 MBBrooks Headley, the punk-rocking, vegetable-whispering owner of Superiority Burger in NYC, says he's "almost insistent upon only being in bands with extremely volatile characters, myself included." In this week's episode of Special Sauce, I talk with Headley, the author of Fancy Desserts, about food and music—the connection between the two obsessions goes way back for him, though he doesn't allow any music in his restaurant kitchen.