Kate Bittman

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Smoked Fish and Scrambled Egg

This is a scrambled egg, so the whole process takes about 10 minutes (five if you like your eggs chunky), and despite being healthy, this is a very decadent-feeling, and filling, dish to sit down to.

Things We Like: Let’s Make Some Tsukemono

Welcome to our biweekly roundup of our favorite things. We’ll only ever recommend things that we personally have tried and enjoyed. This week: Mark’s new favorite hobby, making old school OJ, and a baking book that wows.

Food with Mark Bittman: Arnold Myint

The Nashville-based chef talks to Kate and Mark about how and why he finally feels recognized, how his drag has served as both a crutch and a hindrance—in the food world and elsewhere, and the priceless support he grew up with from his hippie parents (and why so much of what he does comes from that).

Food with Mark Bittman: Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji

The mother and son duo—co-authors of Heartland Masala—talk to Kate and Mark about what it was like to tour to more than 40 cities together (and, specifically, why it was so wonderful); “mock” authenticity and further thoughts on the authenticity conversation in general, especially as it relates to second-generation immigrants; and “fusion” versus “traditional.” Plus: deep thoughts about butter chicken. 

Question Mark: I Need That Recipe

We love hearing from our community, and there’s nothing better than sparking real conversations around your questions. This week: a silky smooth chicken liver mousse, pasta quantities, and “protein oats.”

Things We Like: An Awesome—and Cheap!— Bread Knife

Welcome to our biweekly roundup of our favorite things. We’ll only ever recommend things that we personally have tried and enjoyed. This week: your new bread knife, a team-tested air fryer, and a cozy cookbook.

Food with Mark Bittman: Kyle MacLachlan

In this revisiting of an excellent episode from 2022, the actor (and Tiktok’s favorite dad) talks to Kate and Mark about his least favorite body part, go-to meals, and making cappuccinos for the cast of Blue Velvet. Plus: the question Mark’s “been meaning to ask” him for 30 years.

Food with Mark Bittman: Nancy Matsumoto

The James Beard Award-winning writer talks to Kate and guest co-host Kathleen Finlay about how women are uniquely equipped to tackle and repair our broken food system; why cooperation over competition is so effective; the constant throughline when talking with only female producers; and how you can support efforts—both as a buyer and as an activist.

Food with Mark Bittman: Lyndsay C. Green

The Pulitzer finalist and James Beard award winning journalist talks to Kate and Mark about how restaurant critics have to “split themselves”; being “accidentally anonymous” and how she became comfortable with telling that story; chasing curiosity; and how she went from a born and bred New Yorker to loving Detroit.

The Play-By-Play: 2025

We’ve put together a recap for you of just a few of the foods and topics we experienced together this year—maybe you’ll find a podcast episode to listen to in these final days of 2025, maybe you’ll make some sweet potato fritters for New Years Eve, maybe you’ll finally understand just what the hell to do with your leftover frying oil. Maybe you’re not even checking email—good for you! We’ll see you next week. Happy New Year—we are so glad for another year spent with you.

Want a Project?

Ten cozy “project” recipes for us all to consider. Some of them are recipes that would normally serve well as a weeknight dinner, but with twists that make them extra special—a traditional chicken soup but made with homemade egg noodles, for example—and some are just things you wouldn’t really choose to make on any random night, like homemade falafel with fixings and zhug.

Things We Like: BREAD

Thank you to everyone who has already ordered ​Bittman’s​ bread. We’ve been genuinely overwhelmed by the enthusiasm—and by the thoughtful feedback coming in. We still have a few loaves left—here’s a little bit about each one, straight from the people who love them the most.

Notes on Fancy Ships and Nepotism

The Bittman team hosted a special event and luncheon on a ship before it sailed off to parts unknown (just kidding, it was headed to the Caribbean). Thirty lucky Bittman Project subscribers joined us for a meal, plus a tour of the ship, tons of champagne, and a fireside chat between Kate and Mark—with lots of thoughtful audience questions.

Food with Mark Bittman: David Nayfeld and Aliza Sokolow

Even if you don’t have kids, surely you can see, objectively, how interesting it is…

Question Mark: It’s a Wild, Wild Rice

We love hearing from our community, and there’s nothing better than sparking real conversations around your questions. This week: replacing nonstick with cast iron (really?!), the actual wildness of wild rice, and clever ways to use popcorn.

Food with Mark Bittman: Leslie Soble

Impact/Justice’s Leslie Soble, an internationally recognized voice on the carceral eating experience, talks to Kate and Mark about what eating in prison is really like. The three discuss food as an active form of punishment, the deep connection between the critical problems of hunger and food waste, creative things incarcerated people do to stay nourished, and the good work that select organizations are doing to bring better food to prisons.

Things We Like: A Few More Cookbooks, From Kate

Welcome to our biweekly roundup of our favorite things. We’ll only ever recommend things that we personally have tried and enjoyed. This week, Kate shares three cookbooks that she deems particularly giftworthy.

Food with Mark Bittman: Pyet DeSpain

The chef and host of PBS’s Spirit Plate talks to Kate and Mark about the moment she realized she didn’t feel connected to the food she was cooking—and what she did to fix that, a dinner party that changed everything, why and how her conversations about food and culture with Native American youth around the country are so important, and one of her favorite Indigenous food traditions—cooking with rocks.

This Is Why You Think I’m a Good Cook

I’m a good cook, I’ll give myself that, but I’m not extraordinary. I think my food is good because I know how to salt, and believe me or not, I also think that many people just aren’t used to salting their food as they cook. Here’s a brief explainer of some of my favorite salts—along with recipes that’ll put each type to good use.

Food with Mark Bittman: Nick Hartanto

The director—and the first Indonesian-American filmmaker to qualify for an Oscar!—chats with Kate and Mark about his new autobiographical short film, Daly City. Nick talks about what his parents thought about the film, why the biggest challenge of making the film was finding the actors, and the themes within—notably the internal conflict of the model minority and the bittersweet nature of the American dream.