New Favorite Thing: Hidden Kitchens Podcasts

I haven't done a plain old-fashioned passionate rave for a while, so it's probably about time.

Now, I admit, sometimes I'm slow to catch on to stuff. "Hidden Kitchens," a terrific NPR mini-show that sometimes appears buried within Morning Edition broadcasts, is sort of a case-in-point.

I'd heard a few of the shows in the past, but I just never got around to subscribing to the podcast. Silly me!

In the mere minutes each episode contains, the Kitchen Sisters plunge a listener into worlds that contain so much more than cooking and food.

Peppered with music and history, voices and visions, "Hidden Kitchens" adventures range from the past to the present, from Outer Space to a Louisiana prison.

Do yourself a favor and check out some of the audio on the website. Everything from 2004 onward is archived. The stories are fascinating and the recipes are beguiling...

I'm looking forward to trying out the allspice-spiked lamb stew recipe from a recent episode on Basque sheepherders.

Cheers!