I won't pretend I haven't screamed in the kitchen

    If you like podcasts, I recommend The Dish Podcast (by Waitrose), hosted by Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett. At the end of a lighthearted interview with someone famous—conducted while they eat a terrific meal—Nick and Ange ask a series of "rapid-fire" questions. 

    What follows are more of those questions, adapted to American culture and customs. My original post in what may become a series, from last January, is here. 

 

poached egg

What is the scariest way to eat eggs? 

    poached. Eating eggs is an act of willful ignorance for me. In order to turn my brain off, I need to accept it as something less than what it really is; I can't look at the original format and think it's something that I'm supposed to consume. 

What is your favorite pie? 

    peach melba. I love fruit, and raspberries and peaches are among my favorites on their own. Together, they are tart-sweet and extra flavorful. When made properly, a good pie can keep them relatively intact, so the result is not a swirly pinkish mixture but two great fruits coexisting in a crispy crust.  

What is your favorite chocolate bar? 

Orecchiette

    Milky Way. Not usually my first choice if I'm buying a candy bar (which so rarely happens, anyway) but the one I enjoy the most when offered as an option.  

What is your favorite pasta shape name for a cat? 

    Fedelini (it's a very thin spaghetti, whose name means "little faithful ones") or Orecchiette (meaning "little ears") or maybe Pansotti ("big bellies")

What is your favorite drink to use to splash in someone’s face to show disgust? 

    purple Jesus 

When you’re away from home, what dish do you miss? 

grilled cheese

     hamburger gravy & mashed potatoes. It is the flavor of my childhood, an absolute and immediate comfort food, and just difficult-enough to make in small quantity that I rarely cook it just for myself. 

What is your favorite dish from childhood? 

    besides the above? Grilled cheese. 

What is your favorite toast topping? 

     on especially good bread, butter only. On regular bread, low-sugar strawberry jam.

What is your go-to pizza order? 

    Canadian bacon, fresh tomato, and either green pepper or green olive 

maple long johns

What is your favorite donut? 

    maple-frosted long johns, from the local place 

What is your favorite thing to barbecue? 

    I don't actually barbecue things, on my own. I've got a policy about working with fire, which is that I don't.

    I like things that have been grilled, but I'm super picky about it. Nothing charred, nothing stuffed, nothing with a bone. No barbecued hamburgers. I prefer my steak pan-fried in butter.

    After all that: I would choose a plain brat, on a white bun, with mustard and ketchup.     

 

[the title quotation is from Angela Hartnett]