The Recipe with Kenji and Deb

Nachos were invented in a Mexican border town for a group of American ladies who lunch, and now they are considered food for the beer-drinking, football-cheering everyman. They can come piled high with twenty ingredients; a plate of nothing more than chips with melted Velveeta are also considered nachos. Whatever floats your tortilla, Kenji and Deb discuss ways to optimize every bite. Also, our Executive Producer Audrey Mardavich gets advice on how to slay the Super Bowl potluck.Recipes mentioned: The Ultimate Fully Loaded Vegan Nachos (Serious Eats) Corn and Black Bean Weeknight Nachos (Smitten Kitchen) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Quiet luxury has been all the rage the past few years, but our girl Onion Soup has been out here epitomizing that s**t for literally hundreds of years. A bag of onions, some butter to sauté it in, beef broth are really all you need; throw in some stale bread and grated cheese, and you’ve got a million-dollar taste for ten dollars and change. (AND it doesn’t take as long as you think. Ask Kenji and Deb.)Recipes mentioned: Essential French Onion Soup (Smitten Kitchen) Short Rib Onion Soup (Smitten Kitchen) Pressure Cooker French Onion Soup Recipe (Serious Eats) French Melt (Grilled Cheese With Caramelized Onion and Comté) Recipe (Serious Eats) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There comes a point in every New Yorker’s life when they venture outside city limits and learn, to their horror, 24-hour access to breakfast sandwiches via bodegas spaced two blocks apart is not the norm in the rest of the world. When Deb and Kenji start breaking down each component, you will realize that it takes a lot of skill and discernment to a) choose the right ingredients b) prepare them all to perfection at the exact same time. You will never take the humble BEC for granted again.Recipes mentioned: Bodega-Style Egg and Cheese Sandwich (Smitten Kitchen) Fried Egg Sandwich with Bacon and Blue Cheese (Smitten Kitchen) Better-Than-McDonald's Breakfast Sandwiches (And More Work, Too!) (Kenji’s Cooking Show) Radiotopia’s fall fundraiser is here! Donate today to support The Recipe. Thank you! Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Congratulations are in order for Deb, who released the audiobook of Smitten Kitchen Keepers earlier this month. We are proud to share with you a little excerpt.Back in 2006, when she was just starting her food journey, she encountered a lot of dud recipes on the internet. (Haven’t we all?) This book is a collection of the ones you’ll want to return to over and over again, aka the keepers.You can purchase a hardcover version at our page on bookshop.org, and a portion of the sale will go towards supporting our network.The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening now! Donate today. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Deb and Kenji are taking a break this week. Please enjoy this classic episode from Home Cooking, our fellow Radiotopia show about food.****************************** According to our callers, a big part of Thanksgiving seems to be making food for your loved ones that you only kind of like yourself. But can we make these dishes a little better for the people cooking them?! We’re gonna try. Plus, Demi Adejuyigbe (@electrolemon), tells about his quarantine baking adventures.For recipes, transcripts, and more, visit homecooking.show/12. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Kids say the darndest things, and so do Deb and Kenji. “Nobody likes penne.” “Chiffonade is pretentious.” “I have honestly no idea what my recipe contains.” And they’re not the only ones. There are people out there who call baked ziti — get this — lasagna. While baked ziti may be universally loved as a workhorse of catered buffets, potlucks, and meal trains, Deb and Kenji’s takes on the dish are worlds apart.Recipes mentioned: My Old-Scholl Baked Ziti (Smitten Kitchen) Easy Skillet Baked Ziti With Sausage and Ricotta Recipe (Serious Eats) The Food Lab's No-Boil Baked Ziti Recipe (Serious Eats) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Deb: “This is the perfect sandwich.” Kenji: “This is my favorite sandwich of all time.” In fact, Kenji has gone way beyond just admiring and ingesting the Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato; as Isaac Newton captured the physical world with his laws of motion, Kenji has bestowed us with the 11 rules of the BLT. Deb has made her own significant contributions to the field of sandwich science, with the theory of seasonal variation of the summer BLT and "off-season" BLT.Recipes mentioned: Runny Egg BLT Sandwich (Smitten Kitchen under Five Egg Sandwiches) The Best BLT Sandwich (Serious Eats) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices