Has cooking changed? Do we expect more out of recipes these days? That's our topic this week on KAXE's Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen.
Everyone has different approaches to their cooking: some do not deviate at all from a recipe while others are very comfortable winging it. From what we hear, not only is everyone different in their methods, but it matters WHAT you cook too. Baking is described as a science where improvisation may not only ruin your delicious pie, it may mean you never make it the same again. Savory leans a little more off-script with ingredients and methods.
This week Amy talks with Natasha Pickowicz, author of More Than Cake. She weaves 100 recipes with delightful and surprising recipes and stories to celebrate how baking can connect. We'll also talk about the cookbook she is currently working on about Hot Pot, and find out if savory recipes are different than sweet. We get to the bottom of why successful baking is more precise.
We also get a chance to meet Nick Torres. Nick is a food photographer and stylist who worked on Amy's first cookbook The New Midwestern Table. Currently living and working in Los Angeles, Nick shares a recipe from home in Ohio involving a man named Chewy and some giant coolers.
Each episode of Ham Radio includes listener calls and texts.
Last week we met a caller named Julie, who phoned in from the dock on Big Mantrap Lake. She asked, “Does anyone ever cook Muskies? My kids and grandkids catch tons of them, and we always throw them back, but I’m just wondering: are there recipes out there for Muskie?”
Here's the deal it's not the first time we have been asked about fish in Minnesota. On our 2nd episode of Ham Radio, we had a caller ask about using freshwater fish in sushi.
It's been bugging Amy ever since. She answered "sure why not" to the question, only to find out freshwater fish may have parasites, so it is ill advised. No fears though, Amy reminds us we always have Minnesota sushi - pickle and ham roll-ups.
Maybe we need a DNR fish expert for a cohost?
The musky question was an interesting one - it turns out muskellunge is in the pike family, including northerns and walleyes and are perfectly edible. But, in Minnesota, anglers can't keep a Musky under 54 inches long. That's two and a half feet! So essentially, Musky is a trophy fish. And eating a larger one puts you at risk as well -without knowing how old that fish actually is.
But that doesn't mean there wasn't a time where we cooked Muskies. Long before restrictions, Minnesotans did in fact eat Muskelkunge, and here’s the evidence: a recipe for a Ten-Pound Baked Muskellunge, from one of Amy's favorite cookbooks, Food on the Frontier: Minnesota Cooking from 1850 to 1900 by Marjorie Kreidberg. It comes highly recommended by Amy, and she described it as a brilliant book, full of unusual and interesting old ways of cooking.
Ham Radio Features original licensed music — "You Know How I Like It" by Jeremy Messersmith.
Made possible by the Minnesota Arts & Culture Heritage Fund. Support KAXE by becoming a member today: https://donate.nprstations.org/kaxe/donate
