Random Questions With: Gail Simmons

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

You're listening to ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR and WNYC. I'm Ophira Eisenberg, and with me is our one-man house band, Jonathan Coulton and our puzzle guru, Art Chung. And joining us right now is our very important puzzler - culinary expert, food writer and "Top Chef" judge, Gail Simmons.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Welcome.

GAIL SIMMONS: Thank you.

EISENBERG: This is sort of a different kind of challenge for you I understand.

SIMMONS: I feel good about it. I paid them all to do that by the way, so...

EISENBERG: Oh yeah?

SIMMONS: They're on my team, yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: And you are a fellow Canadian, hello.

SIMMONS: Hello.

EISENBERG: I joked around at the top that you have an adventurous palate because of your job. But you grew up in a household where that was kind of cultivated by your mother.

SIMMONS: I did, I did. I had a mother ahead of her time, truly. She was a food writer and a culinary teacher. She actually ran a cooking school out of our home for the first 10 years of my life, and our kitchen was actually built as a cooking-teaching kitchen. And so I spent, you know, my whole life watching her cook. And she really was an extraordinary cook - still is - and so we ate well and ate really interesting food all my life.

EISENBERG: Did your friends at school like coming over to your house for lunch?

SIMMONS: No, they hated it actually. And even more than that, I was never invited anywhere for lunch because everyone's mother was scared to cook for me because they thought that what we got at my house and what I wanted to eat was always really fancy and they were getting, like, hot dogs and mac and cheese. And when you're eight years old, all you want to eat are hot dogs and mac and cheese and my mom never let us eat hot dogs. We had to eat, like, leek quiche and duck pate.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

SIMMONS: So I couldn't wait to get out of my own house for lunch. And now it's this kind of weird self-fulfilling prophecy because no one invites me for dinner, so - I know, feel bad for me. It's terrible, I'm starving.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: So you're on this amazingly popular cooking show that is a franchise, it has many spinoffs.

SIMMONS: I know. It's funny, ridiculous.

EISENBERG: This is something that has become really, I would say popular, like, in the last decade; it just skyrocketed. Why do you think right now we are so into cooking competition games, like, why?

SIMMONS: I think that food and competition sort of hits on everything that people like in the world. There's food - and whether you like it or not, you have an opinion about it because whether you like it or not, you have to eat it many times a day to survive, so that's one thing. Everybody has something to say about food, whether you call yourself a foodie or not. And I think people like to watch other people fail, so those two things combined are really compelling.

EISENBERG: Yeah. Someone doing radio, I have to be very conscious of describing anything visual that goes on for our listeners. When you're doing television and deal with food, you have to communicate smells and tastes.

SIMMONS: We do.

EISENBERG: What kind of training did you get to communicate that?

SIMMONS: You know, I like to say that we're the taste buds for our viewers...

EISENBERG: Yeah.

SIMMONS: ...Because they obviously can't taste the food. And people ask that of me a lot. They're always like, I don't understand why your show is successful because we can't taste the food, and so why does anyone watch food TV? It doesn't make any sense. But the truth is, I think you're right, that is our job to describe food to make you want to eat it. And the best compliment people can give me is that they have to eat while they're watching the show because it makes them hungry and that is, you know, our point. But also, I think that it's escapism, you know, it's a fantasy. You know, we take in all the calories, we do the dishes - well, a fleet of PAs do the dishes actually, it's kind of extraordinary - and you can sit back and watch and you don't have to worry about it. It's this decadent sort of, you know, fantasy.

EISENBERG: Right, you have, like, the best people cooking for you...

SIMMONS: Yeah.

EISENBERG: ...And it's just - you're a part of it. And you also have a new show, "The Feed..."

SIMMONS: Yes.

EISENBERG: ...Where you are kind of part of the competition - or you guys - there's three of you guys and you dare each other...

SIMMONS: Yeah, I mean, it's not - it's a loose competition. "The Feed" is really just a fun, silly, absurd exploration of food from three very different perspectives. It's me and a chef, Marcus Samuelsson, from "The Red Rooster" in Harlem, an incredibly acclaimed and talented chef, and a comedian named Max Silvestri, who is a really funny comedian and he knows a lot about food. So the three of us sort of just challenge each other - more like dare each other - to do crazy things in the food world that are of the moment right now. You know, talk about trends, you know, we do a lot of the triple, you know, Black Label ice cream, salted smoke stuff and making fun of ourselves. And not taking food too seriously because I think in my other role, I have to be very serious and this allows me to be myself a little more.

EISENBERG: And the Canadian thing comes up a few times...

SIMMONS: A lot.

EISENBERG: ... In the show, so Canadian to Canadian, and, you know, I said poutine is our national dish. And if you don't know what poutine is, it is french fries, gravy and cheese curds, and we relate too on this, they must be squeaky.

SIMMONS: Must be squeaky.

EISENBERG: If they don't squeak...

SIMMONS: Fresh.

EISENBERG: ...In your teeth, they're not the right cheese curds.

SIMMONS: That's right.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

SIMMONS: No shredding cheddar.

EISENBERG: No. And when is the best time to eat poutine?

SIMMONS: 3 a.m.

EISENBERG: Exactly.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: OK, we are going to find out more about your food preferences, so our contestant is on the line. Hello, you're on ASK ME ANOTHER.

CHRISTIN MICKLASH: Hi, this is Christin Micklash from Indiana.

EISENBERG: Oh hello, Kristin. How are you?

SIMMONS: Hi, Christin.

MICKLASH: I am very well, thank you. I'm very excited.

EISENBERG: Christin, do you eat while you watch "Top Chef?"

MICKLASH: I do. I like to eat Ramen noodles and vanilla ice cream while I watch "Top Chef."

SIMMONS: Oh my God, that is amazing.

MICKLASH: It's true.

SIMMONS: That's fan - I might have to do that when I get home.

EISENBERG: Sounds good.

SIMMONS: I get it though, the crunchy and the creamy.

MICKLASH: I actually - well, I don't put them together. They're not in the same bowl.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMMONS: I'm putting them together. Well, you said, you know, Ramen noodles and vanilla ice cream, so I'm putting them together.

MICKLASH: And that's the trouble, if you say you to do it, I'm going to try it next time.

EISENBERG: So Christin, here's what we're going to do. So you - since you're a "Top Chef" watcher, you know the spinoff show "Top Chef Duels."

So two chefs battle it out and one emerges victorious. We've given Gail some hypothetical battles between two foods or trends and you have to tell us which one Gail said was her favorite. OK, here we go. Molecular gastronomy or farm to table? What do you think Gail said is her favorite?

MICKLASH: Oh, goodness. Despite my deep love of Richard Blais, who is the person who introduced me to molecular gastronomy on "Top Chef," I would guess farm-to-table.

EISENBERG: Gail.

SIMMONS: You're correct.

EISENBERG: Nice.

MICKLASH: Yay.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: And why? Why farm-to-table?

SIMMONS: That's not to say that I don't believe in science - well, OK, let's be clear.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMMONS: I don't believe in - no - all cooking is science. That's the first thing. Molecular gastronomy as it's often known, but I think it's easier to just call it modernist cuisine - modernist cooking...

EISENBERG: Yeah, I like that.

SIMMONS: ...I think serves a very important purpose. Without people forging our industry forward, we would all be in caves around a fire, like, sticking sticks with pieces of meat on it. So I do believe in progress and in change and in experimentation, it's just not how I want to eat everyday. I like to use my hands when I cook. And I like to use my hands when I eat, and, you know, I don't crave hyper- modernist food.

EISENBERG: Does that resonate with you, Christin?

MICKLASH: I think that pretty well wraps it up, more or less.

SIMMONS: We're seeing eye-to-eye here. I like you, Christin.

EISENBERG: All right, here's your next one - home brewing or home pickling, which I think one begets the other, but anyways.

MICKLASH: I don't know how to say that I probably have the right answer without sounding like a suck up. The truth is that I read Gail's book once upon a time and I remember that her dad made really, really good pickles, so I think that that would probably be my guess.

SIMMONS: I mean, yeah, my dad is a major pickle maker.

EISENBERG: Really?

SIMMONS: So yes, I believe in the home pickle.

EISENBERG: Yeah, me too, delicious.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: It's OK to come from a point of knowledge. I think that...

SIMMONS: She's done her research. I wrote this book. It took a year of my life and it sucked out my soul, so I'm glad that someone bought it, that's important. No, it's true, she's right. My father does not cook. My mother spoiled him rotten and I'm not certain he can boil water. But he made three things growing up - chocolate cream of wheat on the weekend mornings so that my mother could take a rest and he made applesauce, really amazing applesauce, every fall and he, still to this day, makes the best full sour pickles that he keeps down in our basement. And they're good for like years, sealed in mason jars. I am not kidding you, his pickles really are award-winning.

EISENBERG: All right, and this is your last question - breakfast for dinner or leftovers for breakfast? Christin, what do you think Gail prefers?

MICKLASH: Goodness. This one's a wild guess, no sucking up, I'm going to have to go with my own preference here, which is breakfast for dinner.

SIMMONS: I am concerned that you are reading my mind. Yes, breakfast for dinner. I'll eat eggs anytime of the day. In fact, I got my job on "Top Chef" because of breakfast.

EISENBERG: Really?

SIMMONS: Yes, it's true. Christin knows the story, I'm sorry if I'm boring you, Christin. When I went to Bravo to - I had to get a screen test, Food & Wine sent me to Bravo. I did not know what a screen test was at all and I was totally worried about the whole situation. And they put me in a little room with a man and a camera, which can be sort of scary if you think about it for a lot of reasons. And he - one of the questions he asked me was what was your worst restaurant experience ever? And I told him a story about how I had gone to a diner and ordered an omelet, and I'm very particular about my omelets, and they brought it overcooked. And I sent it back and they brought it raw and I burst into tears. And they had never at Bravo met anyone who had cried over eggs before. So they were like that girl needs to be on television. And the rest is history.

EISENBERG: Awesome. Right, you've got to be specific.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: All right, congratulations, Christin. You've done it; you have won your very own ASK ME ANOTHER anagram t-shirt.

MICKLASH: Thank you.

SIMMONS: Thank you, Christin.

EISENBERG: And thank you, Gail Simmons. We will see you later on in the show for your own challenge.

SIMMONS: Can't wait.

EISENBERG: Are you starving to be a contestant on ASK ME ANOTHER? Can you just taste your trivia challenge? All you have to do is give us a morsel of your sharp wit by completing our computer contestant quiz. Send an email to askmeanother@npr.org. And we'll see how you fare once we put you on the puzzle chopping block.

(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.