Al Spoler
Host, Cellar Notes and Radio KitchenAl Spoler, well known to WYPR listeners as the wine-loving co-host of "Cellar Notes" has had a long-standing parallel interest in cooking as well. Al has said, the moment he started getting serious about Sunday night dinners was the same moment he started getting serious about wine. Over the years, he has benefited greatly from being a member of the Cork and Fork Society of Baltimore, a gentlemen's dining club that serves black tie meals cooked by the members themselves who are some of Baltimore's most accomplished amateur cooks.
His most rewarding immersion in cooking came through his work as a television director at MPT. Spoler served as off-line editor and assistant director on two series featuring the legendary French chef Pierre Franey. He also worked with Mexican chef Patricia Quintana, and with Bed and Breakfast expert Gail Greco on her series "Country Inn Cooking". Al says traveling all over the US visiting country inns and taping recipes that they prepared in little makeshift television kitchens was an incredible education.
Spoler's tastes in cooking are influenced by regional tradition and contemporary casual French fare. Never slavish to recipes, he is never happier than improvising a Sunday dinner with whatever ingredients come to hand.
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If you haven't tried Brussels sprouts since you were a kid, you might want to change that. -
Zin is Al's favorite grape and he has found some wonderful examples.
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Here are some tips for navigating the many, many varieties of lettuce you may find at the grocery store or farmers' market.
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Whereas California cabernet sauvignon has set extremely high standards, you don't have to pay extremely high prices to get good quality.
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A look at a classic French technique for cooking fish in a parchment paper pouch.
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Duckhorn is a Napa pioneer, and their former second label Decoy is now a premier label in its own right, with good values.
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Poultry is very big business in Maryland, with huge industrial scale chicken houses covering the Eastern Shore. Poultry raising on that scale is a tad bit impersonal to say the least. At the other end of the scale—way on the other end—is the backyard hen house, an operation where the chicks are practically pets. And Chef Jerry Pellegrino, has looked into this idea.
