Remember those sour mixes in your parents’ home bar? And bartenders used them too. Those mixes gave sours a bad name. We talk to Philip Greene, the author of the new book, Sours: A History of the World’s Most Storied Cocktail Style, about this and other things Sour. Phil is one of the founder’s of the Museum of the American Cocktail, and has written a number of books about the cocktail. Listen. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Philip Greene

You can read the story of the Lion of Baltimore cocktail on page 130 of Sours. Here is the recipe for the cocktail created by Phil Greene. Make the drink, and sip it while you read the story.

2 ounces Jamaican dark rum (such as Smith & Cross or Appleton)

1 ounce sweet vermouth (Dolin or Martini work well)

3/4 ounce fresh lime juice

1/4 ounce orgeat

2 or 3 dashes Dale DeGroff’s pimento bitters

Combine all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Carrie Helms Tippen sees the stories in cookbooks. Her interest in the cookbooks of the American south is very broad and very deep. Her latest book is Unpalatable: Stories of Pain and Pleasure in Southern Cookbooks. We talk about

finding the meaning in recipes and headnotes. This follows on the heels of her book, Inventing Authenticity: How Cookbook Writers Redefine Southern Identity, which is also about cookbooks.

Listen it’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Instagram: @carriehelmsphd

This is an encore presentation of this podcast. In yesterday’s ComplEAT Kitchen I wrote about my meal at Pasta Night, Renato’s restaurant in Brooklyn. I thought that listening to this podcast again, where he speaks about his new restaurant, would be fun.

If you eat breakfast in Brooklyn you have probably eaten at Ciao, Gloria. Italian baking and lots more. Renato Poliafito’s 5th book, Dolci! American Baking with an Italian Accent is out and it makes you want to bake and eat everything. We talk to Renato about baking, Italian food, and so much more. Listen, it’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Discussion about this episode

There are fusion restaurants everywhere. Sometimes they are contrived, and frankly the fusion doesn’t happen. Usually they work best when the people involved have a foot in the food culture of the place where the restaurant is and in the culture of the source of fusion. There are no rules. But you know when it is successful, just as you might recognize something that isn’t.

Koi Asian Fusion works. We speak with General Manager, Eric Li, about the work and thought that went into the restaurant - work regarding the look and feel of the place, the food and its connection to real people who know the food, and the work at restaurant principles, like fresh seafood and wonderful ingredients and methods. And yes, even the cocktails are thoughtfully crafted.

Listen. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Next time you are in Shreveport, Louisiana, this is a must stop. When you are up to your eyeballs in Cajun, Creole, and north Louisiana food that people claim is authentic, and you want something else that is really delicious, pop into Koi Asian Fusion for a palate cleansing. It will make your taste buds zing.

Food and food culture does not observe political boundaries. Thus some important state foodways may be overshadowed by more well-known or more highly marketed foodways. In Louisiana, most people identify the food of south Louisiana when they think about the state’s foodways. Chef Hardette Harris wants to encourage us to remember the wonderful foodways of the northern part of the state, a place abundant with game and fresh water fish.

She has established an organization called Us Up North to keep these foodways front and center. We talk to Chef Hardette Harris. Listen. It’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Chef Hardette Harris

There is lots to say about food writing and how it has changed. Dianne Jacob is right on top of it all. She is the author of the multiple award-winning book, Will Write for Food, which is now 20 years old and in its 4th edition. She is a writer herself, a writing instructor, and a writing coach. She has a newsletter on Substack.

Dianne is unlocking her article with Emily Weinstein next week. You can read it here, Recipes Need a “Lightbulb Moment.”

Dianne Jacob

The first cover of Will Write for Food

Rachel Hope Cleves has written a book full of sex and transgression. The book is all about food, the development of restaurants, and how we left some of the prejudices about good food and sex behind us in the world of foodies. Today we think of healthy eating as our path to good sex.

You can also find Rachel on Blue Sky.

If this podcasts interests you, I recommend a conversation that Rachel and I mentioned on this podcast. A conversation with John Birdsall about his book The Man Who Ate Too Much.

Do remember Saveur magazine from the 1990’s? Well, it’s back. Kat Craddock, who grew up reading and admiring the magazine, who found her first dream job working there in the test kitchen, is now the Editor and CEO.

We talk to Kat about Saveur and its new incarnation. Listen, it’s on Tip of the Tongue.

Kat’s New Book written with Dr. Marie Pierre St. Onge