Radio Kitchen
Thursdays at 2:34 p.m.
Every Thursday afternoon at 2:34 p.m. WYPR listeners are treated to a tasty serving of culinary advice on Radio Kitchen.
Hosts Al Spoler and Chef Jerry Pellegrino offer up-to-date advice on the best in local ingredients, cooking techniques, recipe ideas and gadgets for the kitchen. Jerry Pellegrino is currently owner of Strickland Hollow Farm, a cider apple farm, distillery and event space in Meridale, New York, tucked into the Catskill Mountains. Radio Kitchen is sponsored by Liberty Delight Farms.
Check out the gallery from our At The Table event
Latest Episodes
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Anyone with a backyard garden who has tried growing herbs is familiar with the love-hate relationship we have with mint. That tasty, useful little plant is so easy to appreciate… until is spreads like topsy and tries to take over your garden. But Chef Jerry Pellegrino reminds us, we are blessed to have access to such a prodigious herb. -
Long, long ago when I started saving money and making a few tiny investments I heard that people would invest in… get ready… “pork bellies”. I kid you not. I simply didn’t get it, but it was true. Then, much later I learned that the chefs on TV were cooking with… pork bellies. So, I asked Chef Jerry Pellegrino to explain what they’re talking about. -
I remember talking with the renowned food educator Anne Willan about getting people interested in cooking. Suppose you were, she said, somebody who never ever lifted up a rolling pin or a carving knife, you could start with something very basic and useful: making a vinaigrette. In retrospect Chef Jerry Pellegrino thinks she was 100% right. “I can’t think of a simpler recipe to make, and it has the benefit of being 100% usable right away, which means instant gratification.” -
There are times when we want our food to be hot and crunchy, and at other times nice and chewy. And then sometimes we want everything as creamy as can be. And how do we do that? We use crème fraiche… or yogurt… or ricotta… or other things. Chef Jerry Pellegrino explained the differences and when do we use which? -
They’re nobody’s first choice for a cooking ingredient, but they deserve much more respect. I’m talking about lentils, one of the very healthiest foods out there, and when well-prepared, one of the tastiest. And Chef Jerry Pellegrino was eager to tell us why he loves lentils. -
The first time I was in the South of France, I had the pleasure of visiting the huge food market in Avignon. Talk about a kid in a candy store! Cheeses, cured meats, artisan bread, legendary wine and barrel after barrel of more olives than I knew existed. And as Chef Jerry Pellegrino explains it, the story of olives is a very old one indeed. -
I don’t really intend to, but I’d say about half the dinners I eat are actually vegetarian. And for full-time as well as part-time vegetarians, Spring is a fabulous season. Chef Jerry Pellegrino will tell you the options are nearly endless. -
When I was a kid, I loved seeing the Three Stooges throwing pies in the face of innocent civilians. I really didn’t know what all the white stuff was on the pies, but it was many years later that I connected that wonderful stuff called meringue with that slapstick confection. Chef Jerry Pellegrino tells us it’s not too tough to make a good meringue? -
I think a lot of us have discovered how easy it is to make home-made pasta. In fact, I’ve got a nice pasta machine that rolls out thin layers of pasta, with the option of cutting it into fettucine or spaghetti. But as Chef Jerry Pellegrino points out, there’s one very good pasta shape that doesn’t involve machinery, but it does involve a hands-on approach and that would be gnocchi. -
When it comes to picking a starch for dinner, we usually vacillate between potatoes and rice. There seem to be a million ways to cook potatoes, but rice is a little bit more straightforward. The problem is, I rarely seem to get it just right. Chef Jerry Pellegrino has some ideas on how to prepare a good bowl of rice.
