WATCH THE EPISODE HERE Highlights & “Must-Listen” Moments * 0:00 — Amy’s food week: New iPad, spinach artichoke dip, and a Portland, Maine eating trip: Amy’s rocking a new-to-her iPad Pro with a suspiciously flattering built-in filter she has no intention of turning off. David (bravely) compliments her on how great she’s been looking. Amy’s her son Ollie is a high school senior, and Scott made her a video of his first 18 years for Mother’s Day that had her in tears in a quarter of a second. * On the food front: a spinach artichoke dip brought to a friend’s house for the (heartbreaking) Celtics playoff loss, brownies for a school play rehearsal from a beloved Betty Crocker Cookbook for Kids circa 1980–81 (butter + unsweetened chocolate, double boiler, no shortcuts), and a strawberry ricotta cannoli tart with a press-in shortbread crust that she’s calling her summer go-to. * 3:37 — Portland, Maine: Amy’s restaurant report: Ladyfish — a six-month residency pop-up from Jordan Rubin (Mr. Tuna) and New York chef Christine Lau — serving strikingly fresh seafood and a vermouth program Amy says will define her summer (”vermouth and soda with a squeeze of lemon”). Leeward: the restaurant where even the salad makes you want to fall out of your chair. Bread & Friends for breakfast. ZuBakery, a James Beard Award winner. The density of great restaurants in Portland remains unmatched. * 8:27 — David’s food week: A Swiss chard and leek tart, blueberry crumble, Amatriciana, and vinegar-glossed chicken: David attempted to wake at 7:30 and cook a tart, a crumble, prep a podcast, shower, make reservations to Greece (September!), and book doctor’s appointments — all before noon. ADHD-addled but determined. The tart: Swiss chard, leeks, and goat cheese in an herb crust with chopped rosemary and thyme, custard of cream and eggs and nutmeg, pre-baked, gorgeous. Served alongside the blueberry crumble from his website for French friends visiting from Roxbury, Connecticut. He also made Amatriciana again (guanciale, San Marzano tomatoes, red pepper flakes) and, for the first time since its publication, Lucinda Scala Quinn’s vinegar-glossed chicken from Mad Hungry — thighs started in a cold skillet, rendered low and slow, finished with a full cup of red wine vinegar, rosemary, and garlic until it becomes a syrupy glaze. Verdict: extraordinary. Next time, a touch of honey. * 9:28 — Introducing Fresh by Lisa Steele: Lisa Steele is a Maine-based backyard farmer, seasonal cook, and author of the Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook. She raises chickens, ducks, and geese on a rural farm and brings her Scandinavian heritage and New England roots to everything she makes. Her second cookbook, In Season: 125+ Sweet and Savory Recipes Celebrating Simple, Fresh Ingredients, just came out. She also hosted two seasons of Welcome to My Farm on American Public Television/PBS. Yankee Magazine featured the book in its March/April issue — thanks, Amy! * 10:49 — The family chicken legacy: Lisa grew up in central Massachusetts, where her grandparents ran a full commercial two-story, two-wing chicken barn. She was in 4-H and has been around chickens for most of her life. David’s husband remains unmoved after 30 years of lobbying — until Lisa offers the decisive argument: “There are many other potential husbands out there.” (Shouted into the kitchen. Received without comment.) * 13:30 — The quality of grocery store eggs, and what backyard eggs actually taste like: Lisa makes the case that the backyard chicken movement pressured commercial egg producers to raise their standards — fresher eggs, brighter yolks, more variety. And yes, you can manipulate yolk color by adding carotenoid-rich foods (leafy greens, paprika, marigold, alfalfa, xanthophyll) to feed. But nothing compares to an egg collected from your coop and baked with that same morning. * 16:50 — Why In Season is not a farm-to-table book (even though it kind of is): Lisa wanted to write another egg cookbook. Her agent said sequels don’t sell. Harper Collins bought “farm-to-table” immediately. Lisa hated the phrase, negotiated a full chapter on eggs, and eventually came around — because the seasonal structure actually forced her to write more versatile recipes. She even discovered she likes salads now, provided there are blackberries and feta on them. The words “farm to table” do not appear in the book. * 18:32 — The structure of the book — seasonal within categories: Chapters are organized by type (soups, salads, etc.), but within each chapter, recipes are sorted seasonally. So you’re not just looking for soup — you’re looking for a soup that belongs to this time of year. One Goodreads reviewer complained that what’s in season in Maine isn’t what’s in season everywhere. Lisa’s response: fair point, but she wrote it universally, not for Maine specifically — because if she had, there would be no spring chapter. * 19:44 — Lisa’s garden (and its honest current state): In Virginia, Lisa had a huge horse-pasture garden fertilized with manure — cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, everything thriving. In Maine, she took the Master Gardener program and learned that the very long summer days compensate for the short frost-free season (roughly 100 days). She’s grown sweet potatoes, watermelon, and corn. Today? A dedicated garlic bed, herb planters on the deck, and whatever tomato plant a friend hands her. She’s at peace with this. * 22:14 — Amy’s garden confession: Three blocks from the Boston city line, Amy has a small four-by-four raised bed. Last year she gave up on vegetables and grew flowers instead. This year: herbs. Lisa approves — fresh tarragon and dill are genuinely hard to source locally, and herbs are where home growing makes the most impact (looking at you, tomatoes). * 25:15 — Sweet deviled eggs — Black Forest and Piña Colada: The book has a chapter on sweet deviled eggs. The Black Forest deviled eggs came from a failed blueberry cheesecake deviled egg attempt (the yolk turned gray — a dead end). Lisa pivoted to chocolate and landed on something that tastes almost like chocolate pudding in an egg white. The Piña Colada version features coconut on top. If you serve enough margaritas alongside them, no one will even notice the eggs. * 27:05 — The case for steaming eggs (and against boiling them): David and Lisa are both committed steamers. The method: an inch or two of water in a pot, a bamboo steamer/colander/mesh strainer, add eggs once steam is coming through, cover, same timing as boiling (10–12 minutes for hard-cooked), then straight into ice water. Benefits over boiling: eggs peel perfectly every time (even fresh eggs), no cracking from bouncing in boiling water, no gray-green ring around the yolk (steaming is gentler heat), and that hot-to-cold shock does something sciencey that makes the shell release cleanly. No baking soda, no holes poked, no counter-popping required. David calls the pocked, dimpled result of boiled eggs “egg acne.” He has been cured for twelve years. * 33:38 — How to make creamy scrambled eggs: Fresh eggs only — they have enough moisture that you don’t need to add milk or water. Whisk really well (air = creaminess). Butter in a pan over low heat. Pour in, move for large curds or stir more for small. The key: take them off before they look done. They should still be wet and glossy. The enemy is overcooking, which leads to dry, weepy eggs with liquid seeping around the edges of the plate. * 35:24 — Poaching eggs in things other than water: Starting with the basic whirlpool technique, Lisa began asking: why are we limiting ourselves to water? The book includes eggs poached in maple syrup (served over buttered toast, it reads like a deconstructed pancake), beer, wine, and butter beer. The Avgolemono poached eggs — borrowing from the classic Greek egg-and-lemon soup — bring citrus brightness without extra salt or seasonings. * 37:31 — Scandinavian heritage in the book: Lisa’s grandparents emigrated from Finland to International Falls, Minnesota (cold and snowy, just like home, which they quickly reconsidered) before landing on Cape Cod and then Central Massachusetts. Lisa spent a year in Finland in sixth grade while her father completed his doctorate. The cookbook includes a Finnish Creamed Rice with Cranberry Soup — something between rice pudding and a floating island — with a thick cranberry sauce (standing in for Finland’s lingonberries) and whipped cream, re-created from memory of a great-aunt’s version because there was no recipe to inherit. * 40:30 — Maple brown sugar pot de crème with bourbon whipped cream and bacon bits: Maine means maple. Lisa tried variations on crème brûlée for years and kept finding that it’s too pure a dessert to mess with (she even objects to restaurant versions served with cookies and berries alongside — “it should just be it”). She pivoted to pot de crème, which is more forgiving and invites variations. * The maple-bacon version is spectacular. David makes his own espresso maple bacon — cured five days with maple and espresso powder, then smoked — which he describes as “breakfast in a bite.” * 42:22 — The Burnt Basque Cheesecake: Lisa included it before it went truly viral, when she felt it was still something most people hadn’t heard of. The appeal: no crust, much more forgiving than traditional cheesecake, deeply flavorful from the caramelization. (David makes a pomegranate molasses version.) The challenge of cookbook timing: you write a recipe thinking it’s a discovery, and by the time the book comes out two years later, it’s everywhere — or in some cases, something you created for a TV episode goes viral and you can never quite prove it. * 43:45 — The flight of jammy eggs went viral — and Lisa was doing it first: Lisa featured a row of varied jammy eggs on a wooden boa
