We chat with Yotam Ottolenghi about keeping it simple. Also on this week’s show: recipes for a homemade Christmas with Yvette Van Boven; the secret of Taiwan’s beef noodle soup; how to make herb salts; and J. Kenji López-Alt on the science of vinaigrettes.

This episode is brought to you by King Arthur Flour, Master Class, Equal Parts and Ferguson.

Questions in this Episode

“I would like to challenge Milk Street to help me perfect a recipe that I have unsuccessfully tried many times. It is called Bienenstich and it comes from Germany! It is a pastry with a vanilla pudding whipped cream filling with an honey almond topping. The filling and topping are not a problem. However the pastry is. Since the flour is very different here than Europe, the pastry is too dry and tough. I hope that you will accept this challenge and can recreate this marvelous dessert.”

" I recently inherited my grandmother’s Guardian waterless aluminum roasting pan. I’m familiar with cast iron and feel comfortable with it, but when I look up waterless aluminum, I mostly just find videos of people making what appears to be a soggy roast chicken. I would love to know some tips on how to use it effectively and also how to clean it so that I don’t ruin it.

"The Scottish style sticky pudding you have listed on your website baked in a Bundt pan looks very interesting. I have a fine quality German steaming pan I have used for Christmas puddings in the past and would like to do the sticky pudding in it instead of the Bundt pan. Do I need to make any alterations to the recipe if I use my steaming pan instead of the Bundt listed in the recipe?”