When Sam Ashworth apprenticed in a French Michelin-starred restaurant, it broke him after just one week. This week, he talks about his experience—which entailed cleaning squid for four hours a night—and why the French brigade system of training chefs and regimenting the cooking process has been so successful. Plus, Dr. Aaron Carroll explains the real environmental impact of eating beef; we talk about hangover cures from around the world; and we discover real Butter Chicken.

This episode is brought to you by Ferguson and Sleep Number.

Questions in this Episode:

“I have a friend who moved here from New Zealand. Any meat pie he’s had in Canada are not up to his standard so my new goal is to make a legit New Zealand meat pie. He says his main complaint of Canadian pies is the pastry. He says it is often too sweet and dessert-like. So my question is, how do I find, or make, pastry that is savory and flakey and up to New Zealand pie standard?”

“Do you know anything about the flavor compounds in maple syrup and maple sugar being affected by high heat during baking?”

“I'm not a cook in any way, but when I do try to make a meal, I rarely use a recipe. I tend to look up what temp and how long to cook something, then go from there. I'm wondering for liquid measurement, is there a something between a ‘glug’ and a ‘splash’? For dry ingredients, where does a ‘dash’ end and a ‘pinch’ begin?”

“I’ve noticed that some of your recipes call for salting and microwaving vegetables. I have a small kitchen, no microwave. What do I do?”

“I started grinding my own wheat berries to make fresh flour last year and have been using it to make homemade bread, muffins, pancakes, waffles, quick breads, cookies, etc. ever since. I’ve been happy with the outcome of everything... except my sandwich bread. It just turns out too soft and tender! Do you have any tips or advice?”