846: Hello, Home Cooking with Ham El-Waylly and Obsessed with the Best with Ella Quittner

This week, we amp up your home cooking with nostalgic dishes, perfect recipes, and pro cooking techniques. First, we talk with Chef Ham El-Waylly about his favorite dishes that were inspired by his wildly international upbringing and what draws him to comfort foods. From his mom’s cheesy empanadas to his riff on cinnamon toast cereal, he gets imaginative with recipes like his Tahini Roasted Swordfish . Ham El-Waylly is the author of Hello, Home Cooking: Do-Able Dishes for Every Day. Then we dive into the brilliant mind of food writer Ella Quittner, who shares her obsessive search for the perfect techniques to make the very best recipes. She traveled the world to learn how to make buckwheat soba noodles and find the secret to getting the best flavor in tsukune, Japanese chicken meatballs. Ella Quittner’s latest book is Obsessed with The Best , and she left us with her recipe for Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Insurance Cheese.

You can listen to 846: Hello, Home Cooking with Ham El-Waylly and Obsessed with the Best with Ella Quittner online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

846: Hello, Home Cooking with Ham El-Waylly and Obsessed with the Best with Ella Quittner is an episode from The Splendid Table by American Public Media.

This episode is 00:50:17 long.

This episode was published on Mar 27, 2026.

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