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

This week, we bring delicious island flavors and home hacks to your kitchen. First, Puerto Rican home cook Omi Hopper joins us to talk about her love letter to Puerto Rico and the journey that started it all. She teaches us her secrets, aka the key seasonings to delicious traditional Puerto Rican dishes like her Mofongo, mashed plantains with garlic and pork cracklings. Omi’s latest book is Cooking con Omi: A Love Letter to Puerto Rican Home Cooking. Then, we take a trip to another island with Top Chef finalist Sheldon Simeon to explore the global flavors of Hawaii. Sheldon shares his favorite home cooking hacks and the family recipes he learned from his dad. He leans on everyday pantry items to create family-style meals that are easy to whip up and delicious, like his over-the-top Loaded Mandoo recipe. Sheldon is the author of Cook Real Hawai’i, and his latest book is Ohana Style: Food from Hawai’i, for Your Family.

Subscribe to @TheSplendidTable on YouTube for full podcast episodes and full-length video interviews!

Broadcast dates for this episode:

August 14, 2026 (originally aired)

Your support is a special ingredient in helping to make The Splendid Table. Donate today

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Music | YouTube

You’re listening to a collection we’re calling road tripping! This week, it’s a journey to monasteries, temples, and other sacred spaces around the world to find their amazing food with Jody Eddy, author of Elysian Kitchens.

This week we’re joined by some unusual thinkers on the art of the cookout. First, we get a lesson on barbecue etiquette (who knew) with our favorite duo, Nick Leighton and Leah Bonnema, Hosts of the podcast Were You Raised by Wolves? We get all kinds of tips, from the right way to ask for a family recipe to taking a house tour only if offered by your host. Then, Chefs Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich share their techniques and ideas for cooking over live fire. Their latest book is Chasing Smoke, Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant, and they left us with their recipe for Grilled Peaches with Almond Tahini and Charred Endive. Then, it’s pitmaster Pat Martin talking about the whole hog barbecue culture in West Tennessee and how that whole hog style and tradition of BBQ may be on the path to extinction. His latest book is Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit Cooked Barbecue, the Grill, and the Smokehouse. You can find his recipe for Grilled Green Beans with Memphis Dry Rub.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

July 29, 2022 (originally aired)
July 28, 2023 (rebroadcast)
August 7, 2026 (rebroadcast)

Celebrate kitchen companionship with a gift to The Splendid Table today.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Music | YouTube

You’re listening to The Splendid Table's special podcast series, Road Tripping. This week, we are off to Korea with Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard on how Korean cuisine has taken the world by storm.

This week, we turn up the ovens and test our baking skills with two incredible bakers. First, we talk to LA-based cookbook author and star baker, Nicole Rucker, on why summer is peak pie season, the fruit and flavor combinations that elevate her pies (imagine toasted fig leaves!) and making the best out of her leftover cookies for pie crusts. Nicole's latest book is Fat and Flour: The Art of the Simple Bake, and she left us with her Strawberry White Chocolate Cream Pie recipe. Then, Iowa's champion baker Eileen Gannon, talks to us about her surprising baking techniques for cakes, from making moister cakes, fillings vs frostings, and her buttercream preferences. Eileen is the winner of over 600 state and national baking awards and the founder of Sunday Night Foods Sauces.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

August 8, 2025 (originally aired)
July 31, 2026 (rebroadcast)

Generous listeners like you make The Splendid Table possible. Donate today to support the show.