What's it Really Like to Be a Chef?

Happy Diwali! Jerry and Tanner Agar head into Indian food for the Festival of Lights. Like Bourdain, but with lower stakes: two curious eaters finding it out together, with some real experts to keep them honest.Tanner starts with an amuse booze, a Masala Chai Old Fashioned. (Also, “chai tea” just means “tea tea.”) Then eTalk host Sonia Mangat, whose new podcast Silk & Savage spotlights prominent South Asians, explains what Diwali means to Hindu and Sikh families. She covers why you should eat at a Sikh temple (cover your head, and no, a Jays hat doesn’t count), the one dish she won’t celebrate without, and the case for big multigenerational households.Next, Jerry and Tanner taste a pile of Diwali sweets their Indian friends picked out: jalebi, gulab jamun, laddoo, barfi, milk cake and more. One savory snack from "the twins" steals the show.Then celebrated Canadian chef Vikram Vij talks about opening Vij’s in 1994. He refused to serve butter chicken, told doubtful diners “if you don’t like it, I’ll pay for it,” and explains why it’s time to drop the word “authentic.”To finish, Tanner builds your first Indian restaurant order, from samosas and pakoras to paneer, biryani and naan, plus tips for your first visit.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

It’s actually Halloween, and Tanner and Jerry Agar are in full costume (Frankenstein and Little Bo Peep, for those listening on the radio) to dig into how Halloween, and its candy, went from homemade to store-bought.Tanner opens with the Stone Fence, an 1862 Jerry Thomas cocktail of rye, hard apple cider and bitters. Then we trace trick-or-treating from Celtic roots to popcorn balls to the 1954 Milky Way ad that made Halloween a candy holiday, and where the poisoned-candy panic really came from.Does candy taste worse than when you were a kid? Tanner gives four reasons it might: changing recipes, shrinking sizes, your own taste buds, and nostalgia. Plus the Canadian origin of Sour Patch Kids and the science of why sour candy hurts so good.To close, Tanner takes on the candies still made exactly like they used to be, from candy corn to circus peanuts, and how a chef would save them. (Mostly by melting them down. Except one: the wax bottles, which are beyond saving.) Happy Halloween. Don’t be the house that gives out raisins.Chapters:00:00 Happy Halloween from Flavorphiles00:52 Amuse booze: the Stone Fence02:00 Where trick-or-treating came from03:23 Popcorn balls and homemade treats04:07 The 1954 ad that made Halloween a candy holiday06:12 The poisoned candy panic08:24 How much candy is in that bucket?10:37 Does candy taste worse than it used to?12:11 Reason 1: Recipes change14:50 Reason 2: Shrinkflation and shapes17:23 Reason 3: Your taste buds grew up19:05 Reason 4: Nostalgia22:00 Why sour candy hurts so good28:23 Making sour candy at home31:48 Candies that need to change (and how to save them)40:58 The one candy that can’t be savedThank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

Most of what North America calls Mexican food barely scratches the surface. Tanner Agar, Michelin-winning chef and bartender, and broadcaster Jerry Agar go deeper. They start with pulque, the ancient agave drink older than tequila, and the spirits mezcal drinkers should know next: raicilla, bacanora, and charanda.From there, the dishes rarely seen north of the border: escamoles, huitlacoche, chapulines, sesos, nopales, and the moles beyond the black one. Chef Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman, three-time James Beard semifinalist and founder of Oh Hi Hospitality, joins to discuss cooking Mexican food in a Tex-Mex city, and why queso has no place on her menu.The episode closes with the tortilla: its history, the science of nixtamalization, and why it deserves the respect we give bread.0:00 Pulque: the drink older than tequila2:32 The 400 drunk rabbits5:35 Tepache vs. the health inspector7:02 Would tequila exist without the Spanish?7:43 Tejuino & pozol8:46 Charanda: Mexico’s rum10:17 Raicilla: the “little root” loophole11:38 Bacanora12:14 Would you eat this? Escamoles (ant larvae)14:20 Huitlacoche (corn fungus)16:04 Chapulines (grasshoppers)16:52 Sesos (brains)18:51 Chamoy20:18 Nopales (cactus)21:25 Beyond black mole22:36 Chef AQ: Mexican food in a Tex-Mex town29:20 Cal-Mex vs. Tex-Mex32:03 Why queso isn’t Mexican34:41 The truth about tortillas37:05 The giant burrito isn’t Mexican38:27 Nixtamalization explained40:52 Making tortillas at homeSubscribe to Flavorphiles for conversations on food, drink, and culture.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

Whatever happened to the dinner party? Have we gotten too busy, too intimidated, or just too comfortable ordering takeout to invite friends over for a proper meal?This week on Flavorphiles, Tanner and Jerry are bringing back the lost art of entertaining. First, they're joined by Toronto Star contributor Catherine Bradbury to explore why dinner parties have fallen out of fashion and what we're missing by not gathering around the table.Then, Tanner explains how to throw an incredible dinner party even if you can't cook. From clever shortcuts to the little details that make guests feel special, hosting doesn't have to mean spending all day in the kitchen.Next, former White House Chef John Moeller takes us behind the scenes of entertaining at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. After cooking for three presidential administrations, he shares what goes into a White House dinner party and answers the question we've all wondered: Do presidents and their families eat like the rest of us?Finally, Tanner and Jerry tackle the biggest dinner party mistakes, from questionable guest lists and kitchen disasters to the etiquette offenses that can ruin a perfectly good evening.Whether you're a seasoned host or haven't invited anyone over in years, this episode might just inspire you to set the table, open a bottle of wine, and bring the dinner party back.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

Baking looks simple until you actually try it.This week, Tanner and Jerry dig into why good cooks can be surprisingly bad bakers, and why baking rewards a completely different set of instincts. Tanner mixes up his signature Wake and Bake before they’re joined by Jen Hudson, contestant on The Great Canadian Baking Show, to find out what it’s really like inside the tent.Then it’s time to settle an important question: when should you buy it, use a mix, or make it from scratch? Brownies, croissants, pie crust, cake and more are all up for debate.Finally, Short Order Cooking returns with the baking questions everyone actually wants answered. Do you really need to preheat the oven? Does alcohol cook out? Do you have to sift flour? Is salted butter actually a problem? And does the 3:2:1 baking rule really work?Grab a whisk, ignore the dishes, and let’s bake.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

This week on Flavorphiles, Tanner and Jerry are back with a completely new Thanksgiving episode built for everything that happens after the basic advice runs out.First, we head to the Thanksgiving Emergency Room to tackle the disasters that can derail dinner. Frozen turkey? Broken gravy? Everything needs the oven at the same time? Tanner explains how to save the meal before anyone starts ordering pizza.Then it’s Thanksgiving Mythbusters. Do you really need to baste the turkey? Is the timing of turkey hard to get right? Should stuffing go inside the bird? We take on some of the most common Thanksgiving cooking advice and separate the useful tips from the traditions that refuse to die.Next, we look at ways to make Thanksgiving more interesting. From adding international influences, letting the kids cook, and maybe not making some of the staples. Thanksgiving doesn’t have to mean cooking the exact same meal every year.Finally, we deal with the best part: leftovers. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy aren't leftovers, they are the ingredients for your next meal. Think Shepard's Pie, enchiladas, and curry. It's about making a new meal that excites instead of reheating an old one.And if you still need the Thanksgiving basics, our original Thanksgiving episode covers hosting, guest etiquette, common Thanksgiving questions, and the dos and don’ts of Turkey Day. Find it wherever you’re listening to Flavorphiles.Happy Thanksgiving, and good luck with the turkey.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

What is it really like to be a chef?This week, Tanner and Jerry get into the reality of chef life, from the long hours and low pay to culinary school, repetition, passion, and why working in restaurants is often more of a lifestyle than a normal job.Then we talk about Tony, the Anthony Bourdain film, and ask how accurately it captures Bourdain’s life, what it gets right about being a chef, and whether the movie actually works.Tanner’s fiancée Grace also joins us to answer a different question: what is it like to date a chef? We talk unusual schedules, cooking for someone who cooks professionally, being the guinea pig for questionable food ideas, and Tanner’s inability to visit a restaurant without inspecting the plates and glassware.Finally, everyone thinks they could run a restaurant until the refrigerator dies, a huge table shows up late, or an important delivery never arrives. Jerry gets thrown into real restaurant disasters to see whether he can survive a night in the hospitality business.If you’ve ever thought about becoming a chef, dated one, worked in a restaurant, or wondered what actually happens behind the kitchen doors, this episode is for you.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

For Talk Like a Pirate Day, Tanner and Jerry dig into the surprisingly strange food and drink history of life at sea. We start with what pirates actually ate, why their diet could sometimes give them an advantage over the Navy, and how scurvy became one of the biggest threats aboard ship. That includes James Lind’s famous experiment testing cures ranging from cider and vinegar to seawater, citrus, and a truly questionable garlic-and-mustard concoction.Then we make a Bumbo and look at what pirates and sailors actually drank. Why was fresh water such a problem? Why did rum become so important? What exactly is grog, and why is it more closely connected to the Royal Navy than pirates? We also get into beer, wine, sugar, spices, and why the best treasure on a captured ship was not always gold.Next, Tanner breaks down the major styles of rum, what makes them different, and which bottles work best for Daiquiris, tropical drinks, spirit-forward cocktails, or drinking neat.Finally, Jerry gets tested on pirate history. Walking the plank, buried treasure, parrots, eye patches, pirate codes, Jolly Rogers, and all the other things movies have taught us about pirates. Which are real, and which are complete nonsense?Pour some rum, avoid the seawater, and find out what pirate life was actually like.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

Fall is farmers market season, but what does that actually mean when you live somewhere like Dallas?This week on Flavorphiles, Tanner and Jerry head into fall with a Harvest Highball made with applejack, an old-school American apple spirit, before turning the market into their own personal cooking competition. In Chopped: Flavorphiles Edition, they each surprise the other with mystery baskets of fall farmers market staples and have to figure out what they would actually make with them.Then we talk with the Director of the Dallas Farmers Market about what really happens when the market turns: how farmers prepare for fall, what shoppers misunderstand about seasonal produce, what changes in North Texas agriculture, and how the market gets ready for cooler weather, holiday shopping, and Thanksgiving demand.Plus, Tanner breaks down what “organic” really means, why some of the best produce at a farmers market may not be certified organic, which labels are worth asking about, and which terms are mostly marketing fluff. And finally, we meet the 10 people you always find at the farmers market.Watch the full episode now, and stream Flavorphiles on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeart.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.

Judging food is fun. Whether you’re ranking the best chefs on TV, challenging your friends to a ridiculous eating competition, or silently keeping score of everything a restaurant gets wrong, we all do it. This week, Tanner and Jerry are putting everything on the judging table.First, we look at food competitions you can actually do with your friends, from blind butter tastings to the kind of steak challenge that involves 72 ounces of beef and some questionable life choices.Then we rank the best food competition chefs on television. Who makes a great judge? Who makes a great host? And who would we actually want standing over us while we tried to cook under pressure.Next, MasterChef Canada judges Craig Wong and Hugh Acheson join us to talk about the new season, what they’re looking for from the competitors, and a major guest star making an appearance.Finally, Jerry unloads his biggest restaurant pet peeves, and Tanner has to decide which ones deserve defending and which ones are completely unforgivable.Food competitions, celebrity chefs, MasterChef Canada, restaurant complaints, and a lot of judging. Turns out, judging food really is fun.New episodes of Flavorphiles every Saturday. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and iHeart, or watch on YouTube.Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com. Follow on Instagram:Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/Follow on Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphilesAll episodes produced and owned by Tanner Agar. All rights reserved.