Dinner SOS is the podcast where we answer your highly specific cooking conundrums. In every episode food director Chris Morocco and a rotating cast of cooking experts will tackle a caller’s kitchen emergency and present two solutions. The caller will pick one, cook through it, and let us know if we successfully helped rescue dinner.
This week Chris and Bon Appétit food editor Shilpa Uskokovic help Brooke in Amsterdam find dishes with ingredients available in her local market and that will work with her tiny oven. Listen now to find out how Chris and Shilpa put together their menus, which recipes the caller liked best, and how her event went. And if you have a dinner emergency of your own, reach out to Chris and the team at podcasts@bonappetit.com or by calling 212-286-SOS-1 (212-286-7071).
Subscribe to Dinner SOS here. You can also check out an excerpt of the podcast’s transcript below:
Chris Morocco: Shilpa, can I put you on the spot and have you give us the recipes you chose for this Thanksgiving dinner?
Shilpa Uskokovic: Let me kick it off with the drink. I chose something called a New England Express, which is made with apple cider and a little bit of thyme, simple syrup, and rum.
CM: Shilpa, can we just talk about like what a power move it is to just open things up with a drink?
SU: Is it a party without a drink? It’s a way to ease in. As for appetizers, I’m just like, open a bag of chips, put out a bowl of olives, get everyone a slightest bit drunk, it’s gonna be fine. Investing the effort into appetizers is—no one is paying attention anyway. Don’t do that to yourself. Moving into the mains, I have two choices for you. Both of which are braised meat. With something braised, you just cook it all the way through until it’s tender. Plus most braises are great when you make them ahead. My first choice was one of Chris’s recipes: Chris, your Baked Rice With Gingery Short Ribs. It’s a beautiful dish. And the other main was my Burnt Orange and Coriander Roast Pork. It’s an impressive hulking chunk of meat, and it’s a bit more traditional if you’re looking for a central piece of meat and things on the side—equally hands off with great flavors to really awaken the palate.
CM: Shilpa, before we move on, is there an ideal side or anything else you’re thinking of?
SU: I have options. One side that I had was Sweet Potatoes With Tahini Butter. I think sweet potatoes are very necessary for Thanksgiving. So this one is good because it’s steamed on the stove top, so it takes the pressure off of the oven.
SU: Chris, you’re up! Tell us what you’ve got in store.
CM: I’m looking like quite the B student compared to Shilpa, but anyhow, moving on. I’m looking at like my notes and apparently I just gave you two duck options. Like who does that? The first one is a Pomegranate-and-Honey-Glazed Duck With Rice from deputy food editor Hana Asbrink. She developed it this year for our Thanksgiving issue. This is just a delicious glazed duck: There’s the pomegranate molasses, there’s some soy sauce. You end up with a lot of super flavorful jus. A really fun one to play with. The other duck recipe, straight from the depths of the archives, is Dawn Perry’s Duck Confit With Spicy Pickled Raisins.