It's the last Cooking Issues of 2012! Tune in to hear Dave Arnold and Nastassia Lopez answer your cooking questions. Listen in to hear Dave offer advice about adding color to red velvet cake, and talk about the right reasons for going to culinary school. Dave mediates a listener debate about knife sharpening; what's the best sharpening system for your application? Dave talks about his favorite kitchen gadgets, and why people always cook a turducken wrong. Hear Dave's newest french fry recipe! Can you carbonate solidified fruit juice gelatin? What's the best way to cook a venison leg? Find out on this episode of Cooking Issues! This episode has been sponsored by Fairway Market.

"If you expect to expect to go and pay a huge amount of money (for culinary school), and then make that back as a line cook, then I don't know if that's necessarily money well spent." [16:15] -- Dave Arnold on Cooking Issues

U Look Hungry is here this week to drop some knowledge about Mardi Gras, and no it's not just one day long! Host Helen Hollyman is joined by renown New Orleans bartender Chris Hannah who works at the legendary French 75 bar at Arnaud's Restaurant. He gives us the scoop on all the classic Mardi Gras cocktails--from the Suissesse to the Bacchanalian-- to hangover helpers and digestifs. Tune in and by the end of this episode you'll be ready to pass for a native and even get invited into New Orleans crew. This episode is sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons.

"In order to storytell you need to have a couple facts and then you embellish your story, so reading old books is a fantastic way to get facts . . I keep about 8 cocktail books behind the bar and I love to serve a guest, make them a drink, and then hand them a book so they can read about it, it enhances the experience."

--Chris Hannah on U Look Hungry

Sarah Obraitis sits down with Charles Antonie Crete & Hugue Dufour of Toque to talk about French-Canadian culture, fois gras & the upcoming film "Durs a Cuire (Well Done)"