Podcasts · The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

834: Fall Cooking and Bitter Flavors with Genevieve Ko and Alexina Anatole

18 Sep 2026 · 50 min

This week, we’re diving into fall cooking and the beauty of bitter flavors. First, Genevieve Ko, deputy editor at New York Times Cooking, joins Francis to take your fall cooking questions. From freezing smart to cabbage makeovers, Genevieve shares practical advice for making the most of fresh produce and tackling leftovers. She also shares the NYT Cooking piece 15 Ways to Make a Head of Cabbage Dinner and her Pumpkin Meringue Pie recipe. And check out her Cinnamon-Toast Graham Crackers from the last time she joined us to talk about Better Baking. Then, London-based cookbook author Alexina Anatole shares the inspiration behind her debut book, Bitter. She makes the case for bitterness as an essential flavor, one that brings depth, intrigue, and balance to our cooking. Alexina reminds us how bitterness touches so many of our favorite foods and she leaves us with her recipe for Stout Sticky Toffee Pudding, a perfect example of sweet meeting bitter in harmony.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

• September 19, 2025 (originally aired) • September 18, 2026 (rebroadcast)

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Links in the notes 5

• https://cooking.nytimes.com/article/cabbage-recipes
• https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024813-pumpkin-meringue-pie
• https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2017/02/15/cinnamon-toast-graham-crackers
• https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2025/09/19/stout-sticky-toffee-pudding
• https://support.americanpublicmedia.org/ST-POD