Mr. Piercy with co-host Jenny Williams in the Opulent Appalshop Kitchen Complex

So WMMT’s very own Jonathan Piercy trekked up to Cincinnati recently for the 5B (Believers in Better Beer, Bites, and Blogging) Conference to represent WMMT and the world’s only live radio cooking show that we know of, What’s Cookin’ Now!  Jonathan gave a presentation about the show at the conference, and has been good enough to include the text of his speech on the ever-fantastic WCN! blog.

The whole speech is definitely worth a read; it amounts to a sort of existential treatise on cooking, live radio, why they do the show, and hits on some highlights from over the years.  Here’s a great excerpt:

3A: When you’re tired of your existing limitations, make some new ones up.

My favorite shows that we’ve done have been ones where we imposed external limitations on ourselves. For instance:

• The stove in the Opulent Appalshop Kitchen Complex was down for a while. We eventually moved production to my house for a few months, but before that we did a show called “Oh, Crap! The Kitchen is Broken!” where we cooked without a stove. We used the microwave, a blowtorch, and did sous vide steaks with a beer cooler and an electric kettle.
• All of us like to camp, so for one show we dragged the microphone out into Appalshop’s backyard, brought a fire pit and a campstove, and cooked in the outdoors. I think we all consider that one of our favorite shows.
• We love doing shows with Mystery Baskets. Twice last year we had the ladies from Grow Appalachia at the Pine Mountain Settlement School bring us a basket of fresh local produce, and we brought a slew of basic pantry ingredients and cooked on the fly. (I almost hate to call this a limitation since the produce they bring us is always so gorgeous.) Next month we’re doing the same thing with the folks from Old Homestead Farm and a meat mystery basket.

Many thanks to Jonathan for representing us so well. To hear streaming audio of recent WCN! programs, check out our streaming archive, and see y’all next month!

What’s Cookin’ Now – 1/9/12

For those of you who missed the live broadcast this past Wednesday, we offer up here the latest installment of WMMT’s What’s Cookin’ Now!, the world’s only live radio cooking show (that we know of).  Hosts Jonathan Piercy and Jenny Williams (with assistance, as always, from Fifth Beatle Tamara) descended once again upon the Appalshop kitchen for a special New Year’s edition of the program, creating a hearty, delicious feast in honor of the morning after, that longtime marker of the end of the holiday season that finds many exhausted and recovering from a serious and unexpected case of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Says Jonathan on What’s Cookin’ Now!‘s brand-new blog: “It was agreed that this was no time for health food, and an excellent time for sugar, grease, and bold flavors to show your gullet who’s boss.”  To this effect, our hosts served up a rice bowl (sticky rice topped with sauteed greens and a fried egg), sweet potato-andouille hash browns (which this author can attest were nothing short of greasy and delightful), a three-hole chocolate cake (which even includes crushed-up candy canes, which is a much more productive use than putting them back in the closet for next year, as my family is wont to do), as well as several succulent ways to taste the hair of the dog.

For more on What’s Cookin’ Now!, including recipes from the dishes served up on the program, photos, stories, insights, what-have-yous, witticisms and repartee, do check out their new blog at www.whatscookinnow.org, there’s a lot of great material already.  And do listen back in on February the 1st, as Jenny and Jonathan once again transform the Appalshop kitchen from an Unassuming Breakroom into an Opulent Culinary Paradise.  Their February show will honor Black History Month by featuring poems and recipes from Affrilachian poets–it should be an excellent time.  In the meantime, more episodes can be heard at WMMT’s streaming archive.  See you next month!