How do you fry your chicken? This week on Cooking Issues, Dave Arnold shares his fried chicken recipe and cooking techniques! Joined by Nastassia "the Hammer" Lopez, Dave is answering listener questions about the health considerations of carbonation. What is 'duck milk', and how can you use it in the kitchen? Dave offers some suggestions to increase heat in a smoker, and explains how to make a transparent tomato. Later, Dave talks about the many uses of Pectin X Ultra SPL in cooking applications. Hear about the best way to prepare and kill a lobster in order to preserve flavor. This program has been brought to you by The International Culinary Center.

"I have not found any research to show that bubbly water hurts you! Let's separate what's in soda from the bubbles." [13:45]

"If you don't deaerate when you're clarifying tomatoes, you're going to get these solids floating on that the top that are really going to mess with your stuff." [28:00]

-- Dave Arnold on Cooking Issues

On this week's episode of U Look Hungry, Helen Hollyman is in the studio with fried chicken guru Dante Gonzales of Dante's Fried Chicken. If you've been living in Williamsburg for a while, you might remember some of Dante's parties at his Kent Avenue loft, where he fried chicken, invited musicians to perform, and screened films. Hear about how Dante got interested in cooking by helping his grandmother prepare meals as a child. Also, hear about another one of Dante's fried chicken endeavors, Ride or Fry. Dante would fry chicken, and deliver it to people who happened to be in the know about his underground chicken business. Learn more about Dante's branding and design, as well as his new food truck just outside of Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Hear about some of the places that Dante has traveled in the name of fried chicken, as well as his new book, Ride or Fry: The Dante Fried Chicken Experience. This episode has been brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.

"A lot of people are caring about their food. The fact that farmers' markets take EBT is amazing... I love to see a lot of people from different backgrounds being concerned about health." -- Dante Gonzales on U Look Hungry

Dave returns to the studio this week with tales of dog sledding in Sweden and opening up his new bar, Booker and Dax, in New York. Tune in to learn how to keep your meatballs from falling apart, what the Dextrose Equivalent scale is and how to use it, as well as helping those of you with fish allergies find something you can eat. This episode is sponsored by Modernist Pantry.

"When you're cook meatballs, you have to fry them BEFORE you cook them in a bag with butter. That will keep them from falling apart."

"I use Dextrose Equivalent 20 glucose syrup when I make ice cream and want to get the texture but not add too much sweetness."

--Dave Arnold on Cooking Issues