The New Yorker Radio Hour

Episode: Helen Rosner Takes the Office-Fridge Challenge

Date: December 17, 2019
Host: WNYC Studios and The New Yorker
Featured Guest: Helen Rosner

Overview

In this engaging and inventive episode, Helen Rosner, the New Yorker’s food correspondent, is challenged to create a three-course meal using only the leftovers and random ingredients found in the magazine’s shared office fridge (and cabinets)—with just a single “lifeline” item allowed from Target. Producer Rhiannon Corby enforces the rules, while Helen navigates trays of mystery food, coworkers with odd snacks, and the reality of true “resourcefulness.” Staff members are roped in to taste and judge the resulting feast.

The episode offers an insightful, humorous look at food improvisation, office culture, and the joy (and horror) of scavenging in a communal fridge.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge Setup

• [00:09] The premise is introduced: a never-before-tried "Office Fridge Challenge," where Helen must cook a meal from items sourced from the staff fridge, freezers, and counters—with one lifeline to Target.
• Helen immediately notes her unfamiliarity with the office kitchen:
  • “I don't come into the office that often. Like, this is not my home turf. So I'm learning about this kitchen as I go.”

2. Exploring the Unknown (and Often Unappetizing) Contents

• Helen narrates her fridge finds, ranging from nearly-defunct salads and mysterious liquids to more promising ingredients:
  • “I've got half and half fat free milk. That's going to be useless... Oh, this is a whole salad from Pret. Ooh. Ew. Pudding.” (01:30)
  • “This is the container of mysterious brown stuff that David Remnick told me not to open.”
• Discovery of mold—described as “science project level mold”—draws in another staffer, Deborah, for verification:
  • “It's sort of beautiful. It looks like an artwork. It looks like a painting.” (03:00)

3. Foraging Beyond the Fridge

• Helen seeks supplies from coworkers:
  • Burke Bilger offers “dried caterpillars from the African food market” (04:10)
    • “They're pretty big. They have these lovely yellow stripes on them.”
    • After tasting: “That is not something you want to eat whole, but it's got a vibe.”
• Finds include sardines, beans, grains, ancient salads, and chimichurri from a previous staff potluck.

4. Devising the Menu

• Helen plans:
  • Starter: “We're gonna have a salad to start, which feels… very lame.”
  • Main Course: “...roasted broccoli, which I'm gonna glaze with a reduction of the chicken stock...put it over a bed of this combination of beans, quinoa, and possibly farro.”
  • Dessert & Cocktail: “The thing I'm actually super excited about is I have dessert plans and a cocktail." (06:00)

5. The Lifeline & Seeking Booze

• Helen calls Caroline to ask for an electric griddle from Target, opting for flexibility over any single ingredient. (07:20)
  • "Not quite a hot plate... you just pour your pancake batter right on top and you make pancakes on there.”
• Does a “scavenger hunt” for alcohol among staff:
  • “Nick Trotwine has a lot of alcohol. Oh, Nick Troutwine has so much.”
  • Helen selects "Chivas Regal" whiskey and then secures "Crystal Head Vodka" from Bruce Diones—passed down from John McPhee.

6. Experimental Cooking Under Adverse Circumstances

• Helen improvises a bread pudding using a method borrowed from high-end restaurants:
  • “You fill it with a batter and you spray this foamed raw batter into a Dixie cup and then you microwave it... the result is this really beautiful light bread.”
  • Helen adapts: “I'm kind of doing a bullshit version of that with our bread pudding.” (11:00)
  • “They're like little pucks of bread pudding. They are. Look at my perfect little bread pudding cakes.”
• Main course: Attempts to revive “a little flaccid” broccoli using the griddle.
  • “This is real cooking.”

7. The Judging

• Nomi Fry (staff writer) is recruited as the judge:
  • Helen presents her meal:
    • First course: Sardine salad with “thinly sliced cucumbers and carrots...marinated for about an hour in lemon juice, this really cool Korean mentaiko mayonnaise... and some tomatoes and cilantro from a several days old Pret salad...” (18:10)
    • Main: “Charred broccoli on a bed of mixed grains and black beans, which were a combination of the same pret salad...”
    • Dessert: Bread pudding of “stale hamburger buns soaked with half and half and a bunch of sugar packets... sauce made out of cream and some whiskey.”
    • Cocktail: Bloody Mary with “something that I think was tomato juice...packet of hot sauce...rim of McCormick salt free seasoning...and some crushed caterpillars that Burke Bilger just happens to keep at his desk.” (20:30)

Notable Quotes - Judgment Time

• Nomi Fry on salad:
  • “Delicious. Thyme has only been kind to the pret salad these elements were taken from.” (19:15)
• On main:
  • “This is actually good. Like, I would actually eat it.” (19:55)
  • “Like, if they were served to me at a restaurant, I would totally be like, yeah, this is pretty good. But then again, I'm really not a gourmand.”
• On the Bloody Mary (with caterpillar rim):
  • “That has to be tasted. That has to be tasted. Wait a second. Crushed caterpillar. Oh, man. Oh. Oh. Maybe the vodka will make it better.” (21:15)
• On bread pudding:
  • “Extremely sweet. Maybe we added too many sugar. Extremely sweet, which is not a bad thing. The whiskey is good here. I'm having another bite after complaining that it was too sweet." (21:50)

Scoring

• “Considering the circumstances, this would be an 11, but, you know, without that handicap, I would probably put it at an eight and a half maybe.” – Nomi Fry (22:25)

Notable Moments

• Helen taste-tests dried caterpillars, sparking both revulsion and fascination backstage:

  “That is not something you want to eat whole, but it's got a vibe.” – Helen Rosner (04:45)

• The Bloody Mary’s rim (crushed caterpillar) is sampled with great trepidation, summarizing the episode’s spirit of culinary adventure and mild horror.
• The bread pudding “miracle” — from microwaving to the griddle, producing a surprisingly edible dessert out of stale burger buns and scavenged cream.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:09 – Challenge introduction
• 02:05 – Fridge exploration and initial finds
• 03:00 – Mold discovery and comedic reaction
• 04:10 – Dried caterpillar snack
• 05:20 – Menu planning
• 07:20 – Lifeline call for electric griddle
• 08:45 – The quest for office alcohol
• 11:00 – Experimental bread pudding
• 15:30 – Cooking and assembling plates
• 18:10 – Presentation of three-course meal
• 19:15 – 22:30 – Judging, tasting, and scoring

Podcast Tone & Style

Throughout the episode, the tone is irreverent, resourceful, and playful. Helen Rosner’s humor and inventiveness, combined with the skeptical but game participation of her colleagues, create an atmosphere of low-stakes culinary competition and high camaraderie. The staff’s willingness to join the chaos—offering up odd office “supplies" and judging with surprising generosity—provides warmth and wistful office nostalgia.

Conclusion

This episode is a delightful foray into the absurd and creative possibilities of communal office life. Helen Rosner’s ability to transform fridge rejects, snack drawer oddities, and staff-desk booze into a passable (and, by some accounts, impressively edible) three-course meal is testament not just to her culinary chops, but to the joy that comes from saying yes to an odd, communal challenge. As the judge said:

“Considering the circumstances, this would be an 11.” (22:25)

For listeners, the episode is both a celebration of culinary creativity and a reminder of the strange treasures lurking in every office fridge.