Mary Giuliani, the author of catering tell-all “Tiny Hot Dogs,” falls in love with Alec Baldwin, raises a murderous turtle and has a solution for any and every party disaster. Plus: We visit a Bhutanese Senior Lunch in Vermont; Adam Gopnik sells the role of coffee in civilization; and we dig into Soupe au Pistou from Provence.

Questions in this Episode:

“I was recently in Barcelona where I had a wonderful ricotta gelato. The flavor I had was orange-chocolate. Can you help me figure out how to recreate this at home in North Carolina?”

“Why use cast iron vs. enamel coated cast iron (Dutch oven)? Is the only advantage the buildup of flavor? I feel like there is so much care and seasoning involved with cast iron, it’s a lot easier to just grab a Dutch oven.”

“I have been using my Instant Pot and organic chicken to make hearty strong chicken stock. My issue is that the cooled stock has great gelatinous quality, but the fat does not separate into a top layer for removing. The fat seems to stay emulsified in the stock. I would think this has to do with the long cooking time under pressure, but the same thing does not happen if I duplicate the process using cheaper grocery store poultry. Any idea why this happens?”

“I make sourdough pancakes. My question is comparing the sourdough pancakes to regular pancakes. With regular pancakes (or muffins or quick breads), you do the minimum of stirring to not develop the gluten. With my sourdough pancakes, I stir the first starter mixture thoroughly and then in the morning I stir in the other ingredients with no concern about gluten. Why do I worry about gluten in regular pancakes and not in sourdough pancakes? Or should I be making my sourdough pancakes differently?”

This episode is sponsored by King Arthur Flour.