Lidia Bastianich grew up under Tito's communist rule, escaped to a refugee camp in Trieste and finally made it to Queens, where she learned to love Spam, Jell-O and Wonder Bread. She talks about the early years on her grandmother's farm, where she slept on a corn-husk mattress, ate pig's blood sausage and fresh fig jam, and realized that the secret to happiness is having less, not more. Plus, we discover turkey skin ice cream with Salt & Straw's Tyler Malek; discuss the ethics of cooking lobsters; and whip up molletes, Mexico’s take on grilled cheese.

This episode is sponsored by the New England Culinary Institute and King Arthur Flour.

Questions in this Episode:

“What’s your favorite meal for a Sunday afternoon?”

“I get so much waste when peeling an onion. Do you have any tips or tricks on how to be more efficient?”

“I have a propane torch that I use for Crème brûlée. What else can I use it for?”

“I have to use a good deal of flour on my peel in order to get the pizza to slide off the peel and it starts to burn at such high heat. Any tips for preventing the pizza from sticking to the peel without filling my kitchen with smoke from the burning flour?”