Salt & Fat

On this, the ultimate Salt & Fat episode, Jim and Neven offer a few tips on feeding a hungry crowd of sports watchers, recommendations for Mexican and Thai cookbooks, and whether a certain piece of kitchen gear really resembles a hash pipe. In a sincere note, as this is our last episode, we'd like to thank the fine folks at Mule Radio for hosting us and all of you for listening. We love Salt & Fat and can't wait for even more new and different things. Onward!

In this, the first episode of the new year, Jim and Neven talk about taking time to clean out and stock up your kitchen. They also talk about ambitions for the coming year and an announcement about the future of Salt & Fat. Call in with questions and comments (260) 225-7258 or email at saltandfat@muleradio.net

It's the last show of the year, so Neven and Jim reflect on some of what they've learned in 2012. Plus some tips on working your way through a style of cuisine or a cookbook.

It's a holiday tweener special! Neven and Jim do a quick Thanksgiving debriefing and then get into the art of food-as-gifts as we approach the end of the year holiday season.

From babymaker lasagna to planning for the holidays, we've got your big meals covered this week. We take our first call-in question about the merits of brining and offer an apology to everyone disappointed that we didn't know Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles is a real place.

Nothing spooky about this Halloween edition where Jim and Neven discuss potentially embarrassing ingredients in their pantries, from plastic lemons to boxed wine, and offer their justification. Plus, we've got a couple of announcements about some new things we've been working on. Bonus! We finally get to the latest in our Eating with Quentin series with Jackie Brown.

Neven's been busy perfecting his recipe for a Mexican mother sauce, the mighty mole, which leads to a discussion about "authentic" cuisine and recipe research. And, inevitably, the pressure of being the guy with a food blog.

Jim is back with stories of food in Portugal and has become addicted to a sweet custard pastry. Meanwhile, Neven has tips for better straining -- the liquid and sauce kind, not your back or ankles.

Neven, having recovered from the XOXO conference flu, is back and happy to be eating real food again. They briefly talk thoughtfulness in cooking before diving into the myriad things you can do with a bowl of pasta.

Our friend Amy Gruber sat down with Jim for a chat about food allergies. Amy's son Jonas has a severe dairy allergy and she's raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years to help raise awareness about food allergies. We use awesome words like *anaphylaxis* and talk about the horror of a room full of 8-year-olds churning butter.

Here's the dilemma: you're hosting a dinner party, you want your guests to be impressed with your meal, but you don't want to spend the entire night running back and forth to the kitchen. Jim and Neven have some tips on how to accomplish this seemingly Herculean task. Plus, cheating with sous vide and gumbo thickening.

Get ready for the weekend breakfast, that lazy Saturday or Sunday starter we as a society have collectively decided to call brunch. Neven and Jim discuss brunching strategies, from avoiding lines, alternatives to the standard American, to dealing with all those glasses. And they even discuss making their own, where any food can be breakfast-ized by putting an egg on it. If that's not enough, they coin two new maxim's, Mrgan's Law and Jalkut's Razor.

What's your reaction when you eat a great meal at a restaurant? Neven and Jim share tips on how to attempt to recreate those in your home kitchen, secret ingredients, and the "peripheral vision" of cooking. Also, Neven finds himself in need of a tortilla whisperer.

This week, we dedicate an entire episode to our latest installment of Eating with Quentin Tarantino, specifically *Pulp Fiction*. We'll talk about mayonnaise on fries, what's on a Big Kahuna Burger, five dollar shakes, gourmet coffee and pop tarts. You'd dig it the most.

This week is all about your *meez* -- how to get ready before you even step foot in your kitchen. *Mise en place*, or putting in place, is all about how you organize yourself and your kitchen. Also, Jim promises to make an effort to clean as he goes