Cooking Issues with Dave Arnold

Dave and the crew cover a lot of ground this week, starting with geography confusion, regional slander etiquette, Jack’s post-New York cough, and a surprisingly heated discussion about whether former residents still have the right to talk trash about New Jersey. From there, the show dives into language drift, emoji fatigue, Bananagrams rage, and the ongoing battle between “less” and “fewer,” before pivoting into ramen noodles, heirloom wheat, kansui levels, nixtamalization, and the question of how alkaline is too alkaline.

Later, Dave gives a birthday recap defined less by celebration than by windshield replacement, flour sifting, and side-by-side extraction tests for bread baking. Nastassia reports back from an Elizabeth Falkner pop-up at Mozza, Jack checks in after taking Dr. Jessica Harris to Mŏkbar, and John gears up for Easter with spiral ham, biscuits, mac and cheese, and Eggs Benedict, prompting a full breakdown of ham reheating strategy, biscuit technique, and poached egg logistics.

In the listener questions, the team gets into frozen drink machine formulation, including ABV, sugar, acid, xanthan, methylcellulose, and polydextrose; preserving strawberry color during maceration; fixing uneven crème brûlée crusts; pasta dough silkiness, hydration, and yolk substitution; and pistachio sorbet ratios, nutritional databases, and the danger of bad pistachios. The episode closes with upcoming guest announcements and a grilling troubleshooting question that turns into a reminder that when Dave says high heat, he means truly absurd heat.
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The OG Cooking Issues crew are all in studio for the first time in ages ! Find out whether the BDX cocktail cube can handle shaken drinks, and why Dave’s new hood is somehow both excellent and maddening. There’s also an extended detour into apocalypse escape plans, emergency Zodiac boats, and why New York remains a terrible place to survive the end times.

Plus: Quinn reports back from yet another emu egg experiment—this time in the form of Spanish tortilla—prompting discussions of balut, giant deviled eggs, bird brains, and the general menace of cassowaries. Rounding things out are questions on pre-gelatinized starches, whether anyone should still be eating brains, what on earth to do with butter-flavored popcorn oil, how to break into bar prep work, and whether popcorn can be popped directly onto a decorative wire tree.
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This week, Dave is joined by writer and chef Ham El-Waylly to talk about his new book, Hello, Home Cooking, out March 24. The conversation bounces from book-tour fatigue and the strange rituals of cookbook promotion to Ham’s childhood in Qatar, censored video game magazines, and the eternal question of how much pronunciation flexing is too much.
From there: Brazilian hot dog parties, frozen pearl onions, pickled quail eggs, tostones technique, mashed potatoes cooked directly in milk, breakfast sausage without sage, tea as broth, and why sweet potato fries are still on thin ice. Ham also gets into the real mission of the book—helping people cook food that is actually achievable on a weeknight, without pretending every meal needs to be the greatest thing ever made.
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On this episode of Cooking Issues, Dave and the crew are joined in-studio by chef India Doris for a wide-ranging conversation on cooking across London, France, Spain, Scotland, and New York, learning to break down whole animals in a butcher shop, the realities of restaurant labor in the UK versus the U.S., and what it actually takes to open your first place. Along the way: haggis, black pudding, game birds, owner mentality, kitchen culture, staffing philosophy, and the financial tightrope of building a restaurant from scratch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave is back with a full crew (John, Nastassia, Quinn, and Jack) plus two guests with deep Momofuku roots: chef Paul Carmichael of Kabawa and Dennis Ngo of Di An Di. The conversation ranges from New York ingredient sourcing and Caribbean flavors to the mechanics of great bread and better sandwiches—banh mi rolls vs. po’boy loaves, what makes a steak sandwich fail, and why mayo choices matter more than people admit.

Quinn reports on cooking with emu eggs (carbonara, omelets, and what their texture suggests for custards and pasta), while Dave goes deep on soursop, why purées don’t compare to fresh fruit, and the necessity of having “a guy” for the good stuff. Dennis talks pho fundamentals—older stewing hens, keeping stock clean, holding aromatics late, and the unglamorous truth of moisture management (“squeeze that meat”). Paul breaks down laminated patties as a Haitian/Jamaican hybrid (dough technique vs. filling focus), plus WD-50-era lessons on why recipes are only guides without reps. Also: LA danger dogs, a surprisingly serious Disney-adjacent meal at Napa Rose, and a parting hot dog tip for NYC.
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