Dear listeners,
When you record a podcast, you start with a sound check. In the days before COVID, producers would induce guests to test their microphones with prompts like “tell me how you got to the studio.” But now that everything has gone virtual, the dominant question is “what did you have for breakfast today?” This often leads to an absurd situation where the guest pauses and says nothing, trying to remember what he or she ate for breakfast, even though it doesn’t matter — the response doesn’t need to be accurate, it just needs to be audible. Go ahead and tell us you had 72 eggs; so long as you speak into the microphone and it sounds good, we can proceed to the interview.
That said, I thought you might be interested to know what I had for breakfast before Central Air this week. We roll tape at 11am and talk for nearly two hours, so a hearty breakfast is important, and I find there’s no better way to get myself in the podcasting mindset than eating like I’m a guest at some fancy French hotel.
This week, I made a wonderfully savory omelette. I sautéed one large chopped shiitake mushroom cap in a 10” nonstick pan with salt and really good olive oil, then added half a chopped shallot, chopped marjoram, coriander1, and more salt. Meanwhile, I beat three eggs with a quarter teaspoon of Kosher salt, a tablespoon of Pecorino Romano cheese, and a teaspoon of Calabrian chili paste.
The key to a good omelette is not letting it cook too hot. Add the eggs to the pan over medium heat and let them set for about a minute. Once they’re solid enough to slide a spatula under, lift the omelette at its edge and tilt the pan to let the liquid eggs run under and make contact with the hot pan surface. Repeat this action, proceeding around the pan, until very little liquid egg is left. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pan for 90 seconds. When you lift the lid, the whole omelette should be solid and brilliant yellow, and you can roll it out of the pan onto your plate.
Breakfast should have vegetables, and I had some leftover balsamic vinaigrette from the prior night’s dinner, so I made a simple salad with spring mix and those “flavor bomb” tomatoes that are good all year. I also cooked two slices of bacon in the microwave, and I toasted a bit of bread, but not too much, since Whole Foods has raised the price of a Pain d’Avignon baguette to $4.79 from $4.50 in recent weeks (thanks, Trump!). Add two or three cups of coffee with lots of half and half, and you’re ready to make a podcast.
This week’s episode is fun. We joined in the discourse about whether dog owners have gotten too big for their britches. (Dogs are sycophants, I say — at least cats have self-respect.) We discussed the wisdom of New York’s proposed tax on fancy pied-à-terre apartments. Axios reporter Alex Thompson, who caused a bit of consternation at last year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, joined us to talk about whether there should even be a White House Correspondents’ Dinner. And we even discussed a controversy that’s literally about air conditioning.
We hope you enjoy the episode. If you have any comments about how I’m absolutely right about dogs, please leave them in the comments section below.
Best,
Josh
A quarter-teaspoon of coriander seeds ground to order in my little mortar and pestle — fresh grinding takes ten seconds and will get you lovely citrus aromas that are lost in the pre-ground stuff.
