797: Melissa Clark’s Deep Dive into Salt & Crystal Wilkinson on her Kitchen Ghosts

The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

American Public Media

Food, Arts

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we talk to two award-winning authors about their latest work. First, The New York Times cooking columnist Melissa Clark talks to us about her deep dive into the world of salt. From exploring salt harvesting in France to the history and revival of artisanal salts, she walks us through different types of salt and their uses in cooking. She sticks around to answer your cooking questions. Melissa Clark's latest book is Dinner in One, and for a taste of her style, check out her recipe for Roasted Cauliflower & Potatoes with Harissa, Yogurt & Toasted Almonds. Then, award-winning author Crystal Wilkinson talks to us about her new memoir, honoring her maternal ancestors, her kitchen ghosts. She talks about feeling them deeply while cooking and realizing their presence in her life. Crystal's memoir is Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks, and she leaves us with her recipe for Indian Creek Skillet Cornbread.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

February 9, 2024 (originally aired)
February 14, 2025 (rebroadcast)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Splendium Table was supported by Vitamix. You know, there are some essential cooking tools that have spanned generations, cross continents, and found their way into kitchens around the world. I'm thinking of the cast iron pam, the rolling pin, the mortar and pestle. But all of those were innovations at one point, and the high-powered Vitamix blender takes its place in that pantheon.
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0:28.0	the sorbets, Vitamix blenders are built for versatility and endurance. Only the essential at Vitamix.com.
0:37.4	Support for this show comes from OnePassword.
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1:05.3	That's onepassword.com slash podcast offer, all lowercase.
1:13.2	Hey, it's Francis. This week, we're bringing back an episode we had last year about salt
1:17.7	and ghosts. We talked to our friend Melissa Clark about her globe-trotting adventures and learning
1:22.8	about salt from different places. And we talked to the amazing author, Crystal Wilkinson,
1:27.4	about her Appalachian food memoir, praise song for the kitchen ghosts.
1:31.5	Check it out.
1:35.5	I'm Frances Lamb, and this is The Splendid Table from APM.
1:47.8	Let me read you something really quick.
1:53.8	People are always surprised that black people reside in the hills of Appalachia.
1:58.6	Those not surprised that we were there are surprised that we stayed.
2:03.6	Those are the first lines of an absolutely gorgeous new book, a blend of memoir and cookbook by the wonderful writer Crystal Wilkinson,
2:08.6	the recent poet laureate of Kentucky,
2:10.6	who tells stories from five generations of her family
2:14.6	and praise song for The Kitchen Ghosts.
	...

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