When a youngster misreads cooking instructions, the slash mark in the notation for the fraction 1/4 turns out to be a recipe for confusion. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Forward Slash Mishmash” We’ve talked...
The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook (Bookshop|Amazon) by Niki Segnit features delicious writing about combinations of foods and spices to inspire culinary creativity. This is part of a complete...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski puts on his toque and serves up a quiz about kitchen spices. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Kitchen Spices Word Quiz” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how...
Is it cheating to say you’ve read a book if you only listened to it on tape? Over the centuries, the way we think about reading has changed a lot. There was a time, for example, when reading silently was considered strange. Plus, what do you...
What’s in YOUR spice rack? Say you’re cooking up a pot of chili, and you need to add more of that warm, earthy, powdered spice. Do you reach for a bottle of KOO-min? KYOO-min? Or are you going to add KUMM-in? The pronunciation given in...
Cumin, the earthy spice in many chili powders, has a dictionary pronunciation that surprises plenty of cooks: many dictionaries give a form that rhymes with comin’. Older spellings such as cummin help reinforce that, but everyday kitchen...

