Melissa Gray
Melissa Gray is a senior producer for All Things Considered.
Gray got her start at Member station WUGA in Athens, GA. From there, she went on to report on arts and cultural stories for Peach State Public Radio in Atlanta. She joined NPR in 1999.
Years later, her determination to "learn how to really bake a damn good cake" led her to experiment on the All Things Considered staff. You can read all about it in her cookbook, All Cakes Considered. Melissa lives by this motto: "We have to make our own fun. Nobody else will make it for us."
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Slow-cooking expert Stephanie O'Dea shares the story behind her KFC-inspired chicken: It was an attempt to recreate the Colonel's secret recipe so that her daughter, who has celiac disease, could experience a taste most Americans take for granted. In a twist, O'Dea also wanted to cook the chicken in a Crock-Pot. -
Maria del Mar Sacasa, author of Winter Cocktails, says eggnog can, and should, be done right. After playing with milk-to-booze ratios and spice combinations, she believes she has the perfect recipe for basic eggnog. -
Made from prunes, walnuts, honey and shredded coconut, the bite-sized sweets can be served up with dark chocolate. This recipe, which belonged to a Russian Jewish family living in China, has made its way to a cooking group in Sydney, Australia. -
After careful consideration, gnashing of teeth and cleansing of palates, we have a winner in the Found Recipes Taste of Summer contest. Listeners wrote in, and NPR staff sampled recipes from the three finalists. -
Jim Ledvinka grew up outside of Chicago watching his grandmother make ketchup from scratch once a year. As a kid, he hated the stuff. As a man — and now a grandfather — he became desperate to re-create it. That's where All Things Considered's Found Recipes project comes in.
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Food writer Ellen Brown has enlivened this often-maligned, yet much-beloved hot dish with dried porcini mushrooms and mozzarella cheese in a new book. -
Beef heart, once a common dish for the poor, has been rediscovered by chefs and eaters of all ages. All Things Considered speaks with cookbook authors Jody Eddy and Christine Carroll about the stories behind their recipes. -
Expert pickler Marisa McClellan recreates a listener's lost pickle recipe, and explains why her grandma's pickles are saltier than many modern-day versions. They're fermented, like a true kosher dill pickle. -
An Italian food expert delves into her collection of cookbooks to find a historical recipe for spinach and rice ravioli that was nearly identical to the one an NPR listener wants to re-create. And it turns out the secret to success is in the cheese.
