February 18, 2012

This week, we play another round of Stump the Cook with Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi. We meet Erin Byers Murray, author of the memoir Shucked, Life on a New England Oyster Farm, and we look at low-alcohol wines with Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, author of Drink This, Wine Made Simple.

Episode Rundown

01:15 – 8:55 Shucked

Why would a woman with a cushy job, reporting on the good life in Boston, quit to stand ankle-deep in freezing water, nursing a bunch of oysters? Erin Byers Murray answers that in her new book, Shucked, Life on a New England Oyster Farm.

Book: Shucked
Website: Erin Byers Murray
Recipe: Classic Creamy Oyster Stew

08:56 – 14:27 Salt Harvesting

KQED reporter Lisa Morehouse follows the salt harvest of Bob La Mar, who believes his product has a unique ocean flavor (or merroir).

Website: La Mar's Mendocino Seasoning Company Website: Lisa Morehouse

14:40 – 21:42 Low-Alcohol Wines

Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl says high-alcohol "fruit bombs" do well in tastings but not at the table paired with food. She brings three low-alcohol alternatives into the studio for a tasting with Lynne.

Book: Drink This: Wine Made Simple
Website: Real Food Magazine

Wines Tasted:
La Fiera Moscato (NV, non-vintage), 8% alcohol, $9
Fragrant as a flower garden (or six flower gardens, really), this gem of a charmer is delicious and light and lovely. Not too sweet, although it is appropriately sweet. Pair it with fruit, cheese or your patio on a warm day.

Heinz Eifel Riesling Kabinett 2009, 8% alcohol, $13
The classic low-alcohol option, Riesling is often low-alcohol because some sugar is left in the wine. That is, not converted to alcohol, to balance the wine's acidity. This Heinz Eiffel is a beautiful, affordable example. Nice grounding minerality, pretty lilt and a whole bouquet of pear, apricot and assorted orchard fruit scents.

Già Langhe Rosso 2010 (Fontanafredda); 10.5% alcohol, $20 (for a one liter bottle)
This great Italian red table wine is made of a blend of traditional Italian grapes -- Nebbiolo, Dolcetto and Barbera -- all of which unite to make a perfect table wine. It's got great cherry fruit, but it's not fruity, per se. It's nicely dry but not overly tannic. It's got good acidity, which makes it a good seasoning for food, in the same way a squeeze of lemon improves the flavor of fish. But it's not too tangy. All in all, this is the sort of wine you can enjoy the way you enjoy food: robustly, and all through dinner.

22:00 – 29:10 Stump The Cook

Actress, writer and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi joins Lynne (and Steve from Omaha) as the stumpmaster. The five ingredients for the challenge are Fuji apples, raspberry-chipotle BBQ sauce, salami, pannetone bread and Kraft Singles.

Archive: Stump The Cook
Website: Padma Lakshmi
Website: Top Chef

29:15 – 34:00 The Sterns

Jane and Michael Stern are in Exira, Iowa, at Red Barn.

Location: Red Barn
Website: Roadfood
Book: 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late
Book: The Lexicon of Real American Food
Event: New Orleans Roadfood Festival

35:26 – 44:44 Calls

Lynne takes your calls about what to do with too many oranges, and what a man in Holland should ask of his American friends.

44:55 – 49:13 Stumping and Eating

Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie is a professor of history and foodways at Babson College. He is also the show's new political food analyst.

Website: Food as a Lens
Book: Black Labor Migration in Caribbean Guatemala, 1882-1923
Book: Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America

This Week's Recipes

Creamy Oyster Stew

Images from This Episode

Erin Byers Murray
Shucked, Life on a New England Oyster Farm, by Erin Byers Murray
Creamy Oyster Stew
Bob La Mar, 3 miles off the Mendocino Coast, pumping saline-rich sea water into his boat.
(Photo: Lisa Morehouse)
Salt flakes after baking, letting out moisture.
(Photo: Lisa Morehouse)
Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl
Drink This: Wine Made Simple, by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl
Padma Lakshmi
Frederick Douglass Opie
Black Labor Migration in Caribbean Guatemala, 1882-1923, by Frederick Douglass Opie
Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America, by Frederick Douglass Opie
Jane and Michael Stern

Jane and Michael Stern: Exira, IA

Red Barn

South of Audubon on a country road across from a row of feed silos, the Red Barn is a Roadfood gem that serves breakfast, lunch, and supper and is a gathering place where locals come to chat over coffee between meals. It's a tiny place, about the size of a house trailer with a third of its interior occupied by the kitchen. There are four tables, two with seats for six, so it is common, especially at lunch, for different parties to share space with one another. Nearly everyone who eats at the Red Barn knows everyone else, but as strangers we felt completely welcome and at ease.