This week Dave is back to Cooking Issues after a 3-week hiatus and Nastasia joins in from the Outer Banks. This episode loaded with question from listerners and answers from Dave from what to do with papaya pectinesterase to how to make the best ice coffee to the best ways to vacuum seal. Learn how to keep your vacuum sealed veggies from floating in water, industrial marshmallow production, and the function of malt in beer making. This episode is sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

On this week's episode of Cooking Issues, Dave Arnold and Nastassia Lopez are joined by Aaron Marks, Development Executive for a food mini-series called Deconstructing Dinner: Reconstructing Our Food System. For more information, visit Deconstructing Dinner's Kickstarter page. After a brief discussion about Dave's love for financial history, Dave talks about combi steam ovens' capabilities at low temperatures, and how to make sure your combi steam oven is properly calibrated. Dave tackles some other listener questions about the vinegar-making process, and how different meats fair in pressure cookers. Patrick Martins of HRN's The Main Course stops in to talk to Dave about George Foreman grills and cooking in a New York City apartment. Finally, Dave discusses the safety of the different sugar substitutes on the market, as well as tomorrow's upcoming Crif Dog Classic eating contest at Roberta's. This program has been sponsored by The International Culinary Center.

"At the onset, if you want to make sure your results are good and your recipe is good, just start with a purchased culture if you're going to make vinegar."

"I have a big problem with the entire nutritionist outlook because it keeps changing. All the data, all the ideas of what's good, what's bad- keeps changing every year!" -- Dave Arnold on Cooking Issues

On a "holiday" themed episode of Cooking Issues, Dave rides solo as Nastassia is in the comforts of Southern California. Nastassia does join by phone while Dave answers some interesting questions from listeners. Tune in to find out how short ribs are affected when prepared using low temperature cooking techniques, how to make homemade fizzing tables, why hot ice cream never really works out and how to best prepare a Christmas goose. This episode was sponsored by Tekserve & their E-Waste events in January 2011. For more information visit www.tekserve.com/recycling