Good Food
'The Gefilte Manifesto,' Christmas pickles, holiday cookies
Laura Avery learns about Japanese turnips and other legumes de saison, and author Dorie Greenspan gives us a nibble for the cookie-obsessed. Editor Jane Lear hangs up the Christmas pickle, and we dive into The Gefilte Manifesto. Trine Hahnemann serves up Scandinavian comfort food for the soul. Plus, Celia Sack’s annual holiday cookbook gift guide and Jonathan Gold’s top 10 dishes for 2016.
By Evan Kleiman • • 56m ListenPhoto: Legumes de saison (Camellia Tse)
In this episode
7 storiesJapanese turnips
Laura Avery sneaks a peak into chef DJ Olsen's shopping basket this week at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market. He's inspired by chef Tony Esnault's legumes de saison at Spring in Downtown LA. Esnault's signature dish is a medley of seasonal vegetables that calls for cooking each one separately "to bring it to its fullest expression."
Read the story6 minA little nibble for the cookie-obsessed
Dorie Greenspan 's prodigious new cookbook is Dorie's Cookies . This isn't a regular cookie book. It's a tome: an encyclopedia of one baker's obsession with the cookie, featuring over 300 different recipes to suit every craving or occasion imaginable. "Once you start thinking of a cookie as having infinite possibilities, it just comes to you."
Read the story10 minHanging up the Christmas pickle
There are plenty of traditions surrounding the holiday season, but perhaps one of the most obscure is the Christmas pickle. Jane Lear , the executive editor of CURED , traces back the possible provenance of the holiday dill and its curious placement among the rest of our fancy Christmas tree trimmings.
Read the story7 minScandinavian comfort food for the soul
The Danish have a word, "hygge," which chef and food writer Trine Hahnemann describes as "trying to find all the little moments during the day where you can relax and feel good about yourself and the people around you. And it often involves something to drink and something to eat." Sounds good to us.
Read the story8 min'The Gefilte Manifesto'
Before gefilte fish was sold on supermarket shelves, jarred in its own jellied aspic, it was a labor-intensive dish prepared at home in the name of Ashkenazi tradition.
Read the story9 minCookbook picks and trends for 2016
Each December, we head north to Noe Valley in San Francisco, where we find the ever-helpful Celia Sack behind the counter of one of our favorite independent bookstores, Omnivore Books . Sack joins us again to talk trends and share this year's picks for every foodie, eater, baker or cook on your holiday gift list.
Read the story8 minJonathan Gold's Top 10 dishes for 2016
From Chengdu-style noodles at Mian in San Gabriel to chef Tony Esnault's legumes de saison at Spring and LASA 's Pinoy-Californian version of pancit at the Far East Plaza in Chinatown, LA Times food critic Jonathan Gold has been busy eating his way across town. He joins us in studio this week to present his top 10 dishes for 2016.
Read the story7 min
