The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

This week, we get deep into Indian Street food with James Beard Award-winning chef Meherwan Irani. Meherwan brings the addictive energy and tastes of Indian street food into your kitchen. He walks us through some of his favorites, like vada pav (spiced potato croquette in chickpea batter) and pani puris (hollowed crisp shells filled with spiced potatoes and tamarind chutney). Meherwan Irani, the author of The No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World. He left us with his recipe for Roadside Hakka Noodles.

Then, legendary actress Ming-Na Wen joins us to talk about her cookbook, Have You Eaten Yet: Family Recipes from a Restaurant Daughter. It's a memoir of sorts of growing up in her family’s restaurant. The conversation is packed with restaurant memories, tastes, and recipes that she’s made her own. She left us with her recipe for her Baba’s Clam Chowder.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

October 23, 2026 (originally aired)

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This week, we’re diving into Italian cooking, from the Pacific Northwest to the Bronx. First, chef and author Joshua McFadden joins us to talk about Six Seasons of Pasta, his love letter to everyone’s favorite food. Known for his hit cookbook Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, Joshua brings that same seasonal sensibility to pasta, pairing local produce with traditional Italian technique, and shares his recipe for Nut Ragu. Then, Bronx-born chef Christian Petroni takes us into the heart of Italian American cooking with his debut cookbook, Parm to Table. From chicken cutlets to clams casino, he celebrates the cozy red-sauce dishes that define Sunday dinners across America and leaves us with his Chicken Scarpariello recipe.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

October 17, 2025 (originally aired)
October 16, 2026 (rebroadcast)

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This week, we go from a mindful kitchen to maybe a neurotic one? First, legendary chef Eric Ripert visits us in the studio to talk about practicing mindfulness and how he learned to bring it into his cooking. He talks about his visits to monasteries, learning about temple foods in Korea and making the most out of flavorful vegetables and delicious plant-based foods. Eric Ripert is the chef of Le Bernardin in New York City and the author of many cookbooks, most recently Mindful Cooking, Simple Recipes for Nurturing Body and Soul. He shared his recipe for Southern's France's delicious Socca Niçoise.

Then, New Yorker cartoonists Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein join us in Francis' kitchen to talk about their latest book, about the mysteries that reside in the kitchen. Which includes an on-the-spot inspection of Francis’ kitchen junk drawer! Roz and Jason are the authors of The Two Saddest Kitchens: A Comics Conversation.

Head to our YouTube channel and watch this extended cut of our interview with Eric Ripert. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Broadcast dates for this episode:

October 9, 2026 (originally aired)

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This week, we’re celebrating new fall cookbooks that belong on your kitchen counter. First, Aleksandra Crapanzano, author of Chocolat: Parisian Desserts and Other Delights, takes us from Marie Antoinette’s early “truffle” to the French art of baking at home. She leaves us with her Chocolate Ganache Tart with Raspberries. Then, Anna Ansari explores the delicious connections across cuisines in Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey, tracing flavors from Baku to Beijing and shares her recipe for Shivit Oshi (Khivan green noodles with beef stew). Finally, creator and Next Level Chef alum Cassie Yeung brings big, weeknight-friendly energy from Bad B*tch in the Kitch, including her 30-minute Beef & Broccoli.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

October 3, 2025 (originally aired)
October 2, 2026 (rebroadcast)

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This week, we’re diving into the everyday food of two of the world’s best food cities, Hong Kong and New Orleans. First, chef Lucas Sin joins us to talk about the iconic dishes found at a cha chaan teng, a casual Hong Kong-style food diner. Dishes like scrambled egg sandwiches, delicious milk teas, and golden rice, all born from limited pantry ideas and reinvented with kitchen hacks and techniques. Lucas Sin is the author of Cha Chaan Teng: Comfort Food from Hong Kong's Iconic Diners. He left us with his recipe for the Hong Kong classic, Baked Pork Chop Rice.

Then, we turn to the origins of the food scene in one of America's great food cities, New Orleans, with historian Dr. Ashley Rose Young. She walks us through the history of the public markets, tells us about New Orleans’ most iconic street vendors like Mr. Okra, and how street food shaped New Orleans’ culture and cuisine. Dr. Ashley Rose Young is the author of Nourishing Networks: The Public Culture of Food in New Orleans.

Head to our YouTube channel and watch this extended cut of our interview with Lucas Sin. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Broadcast dates for this episode:

September 25, 2026 (originally aired)

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