The Key Ingredient

Food Series / 3 Seasons

Renowned food writer and cooking teacher Sheri Castle celebrates local ingredients, tracing their journeys from source to kitchen. Sheri introduces us to local farmers, growers, fishermen and chefs and shares approachable home cooking recipes and tips.

26m 46s / TV-G

Preview | We’re Sweet on Sweet Potatoes

30s

Sheri Castle visits a farmers market to explore sweet potatoes of all shapes, colors and sizes. She then heads to the kitchen to share her favorite recipes for sweet potato casserole and twice-baked sweet potatoes. Asheville-based chef J Chong demonstrates a twist on Cantonese cuisine with her sweet potato and pork dumplings, and Sheri shares how to create the perfect sweet potato puree.

Preview | New Season

1m 1s

Sheri Castle is back this fall with eight all new ingredients, including peaches, mushrooms, crabs, honey and more. Sheri introduces us to local farmers, growers, fishermen and chefs and shares approachable home cooking recipes and tips. A new season returns to PBS in October 2024!

Cherry Tomato and Cornbread Panzanella | Kitchen Recipe

5m 18s

Sheri Castle’s cherry tomato and black pepper cornbread panzanella is a dinnertime favorite. Fresh, juicy tomatoes are the star of this recipe—their seasonal perfection is paramount.

Savory Summertime Tomato Pie | Kitchen Recipe

3m 30s

Sheri Castle’s savory summertime tomato pie is a fresh and flavorful treat. Although many of us grew up eating tomato pie, this recipe is news to others who don’t know what they’ve been missing.

Preview | Let’s Talk Homegrown Tomatoes

30s

Food writer Sheri Castle admits her love affair with homegrown tomatoes and talks with the “Tomato Man,” heirloom tomato gardening expert Craig LeHoullier. She shares her recipes for a savory summertime tomato pie and a cherry tomato and black pepper cornbread panzanella. Sheri also cooks along with Yordanys “Jay” Bastardo to make his Dominican tomato and shellfish gumbo.

Preview | The Egg Comes First

30s

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? The egg clearly comes first in Sheri Castle’s lemon angel pie and deviled egg salad. She rises early with the chickens to gather fresh eggs and cooks with food culture preservationist Gabrielle Carter, who makes Sheri swoon over gorgeous jewel-toned pickled eggs. Sheri also shares a helpful hint on how to quickly assess the freshness of an egg.

Deviled Egg Salad | Kitchen Recipe

4m 37s

Sheri Castle whips up a delicious deviled egg salad recipe that’s sure to impress. Crumbling the eggs rather than mashing them into a paste gives this salad a fabulous texture. Plus, the flavor is robust, similar to top-notch deviled eggs.

Lemon Angel Pie | Kitchen Recipe

6m 39s

The egg clearly comes first in Sheri Castle’s “oh so lovely” lemon angel pie. This old-fashioned recipe with Southern roots dates back to the days when home cooks who kept chickens might have more eggs than flour for baking.

Fresh Fig, Orange and Bourbon Crostata | Kitchen Recipe

5m 55s

Figs reign supreme in Sheri Castle’s inventive fresh fig, orange and bourbon crostata. This recipe takes inspiration from the flavors of a classic Old Fashioned cocktail, which go beautifully with the natural jammy sweetness of fresh figs.

Trudy’s Ocracoke Fig Cake | Cook Along with Trudy Austin

6m 5s

Sheri Castle joins Trudy Austin in the kitchen and learns the secrets to her prize-winning Ocracoke fig cake. Figs are so important to Ocracoke life that the town hosts an annual fig festival that includes recipe contests, including a traditional fig cake category, which Trudy Austin (a ninth-generation Ocracoker) has won more than once.

Seared Chicken Thighs with Fig Pan Sauce | Kitchen Recipe

6m 22s

Sheri Castle shares a perfect pairing of pan-seared chicken thighs with a fig pan sauce. This combination of pan-seared chicken thighs and a quick pan sauce featuring fresh figs is simple yet elegant enough to serve to guests.

Preview | Figs Galore

30s

Sheri Castle visits Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks to find one of the world’s greatest diversity of fig trees. She shares recipes for pan-seared chicken thighs with a fig pan sauce as well as a fresh fig, orange and bourbon crostata. On the island, Sheri learns the secrets to a prize-winning fig cake and shares a helpful hint on a way to quickly roast figs.

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