美国国家公共电台 NPR Mama Stamberg's Relish Faces Its Toughest Critics: NPR Staffers

Mama Stamberg's Relish 1 Faces Its Toughest Critics: NPR Staffers

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We're approaching Thanksgiving, when certain members of the NPR family encounter a Thanksgiving side dish that is relished 3 by some. Here's NPR's special correspondent Susan Stamberg.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE 4: Many, many Thanksgivings ago, my fiance took me home to Allentown, Pa., to be inspected by his family. My mother-in-law-to-be served a relish that was so delicious I married her son. Ever since, I've offered the recipe to listeners. You can find it at npr.org.

Over the years, in addition to appreciation 5, I've gotten a good deal of grief about this recipe, especially from NPR staffers, many of whom had never tasted it but felt perfectly 6 free to groan 7 nonetheless. Well, last year, with no warning, the head chef in our in-house cafeteria made a batch 8 for the entire staff. Seeking redemption, I grabbed my microphone and went to work.

Hi, Lynn Neary.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: Hi, Susan Stamberg.

STAMBERG: We tend to address one another formally around here.

Well, I'd love to have lunch with you today. But I can't 'cause I have to go downstairs. I understand that the NPR salad bar is serving Mama Stamberg's cranberry 9 relish.

NEARY: (Laughter) Excuse me. I'm just recovering from a cold, and you're making me start coughing.

STAMBERG: Oh, I was afraid I was making you sick.

NEARY: No.

(LAUGHTER)

NEARY: You know, I've never tried it, Susan.

STAMBERG: It's time. You'll come downstairs with me. We'll do it today.

(SOUNDBITE OF ELEVATOR BEEPING)

RECORDED VOICE: Going down.

STAMBERG: Hello. Do you have any idea what this is?

TIM PRESTRIDGE, BYLINE: I have zero idea what that is. It looks like a Jell-O product that my grandmother used to make in Alabama.

STAMBERG: Tim Prestridge, Institutional Giving Department. Well, it's not Jell-O. And it's not your namby-pamby, cranberry-sugar-orange recipe. Mama Stamberg's has guts 10 - cranberry, sugar, sour cream, onion and - wait for it - horseradish. And it's bright pink. I invite Tanya Blue from Development to try it.

TANYA BLUE, BYLINE: Are you going to wait until I actually taste it?

STAMBERG: I'm afraid I am.

BLUE: Oh, wow.

STAMBERG: You don't have to be polite. Few are.

She sticks a finger - no fork handy - into the blob of pink on her plate. It has been called Pepto-Bismol pink.

BLUE: That's tasty.

STAMBERG: You like it?

BLUE: I do like it. I'm so delighted that you're pleased.

STAMBERG: This is the chef, Janis McLean. It was her first Thanksgiving cooking for us.

JANIS MCLEAN, BYLINE: I have heard about this for years.

STAMBERG: Yeah?

MCLEAN: And this year, I got to make it. How cool is that?

STAMBERG: Pretty cool. Hers tastes better than mine. And it's almost gone.

CINDY CARPIEN, BYLINE: It's disgusting.

STAMBERG: Cindy Carpien, how can you say that?

CARPIEN: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't say that very well. It's disgusting.

STAMBERG: Cindy is my all-time favorite producer - or was until that mean remark.

You've tried it. Have you?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: No, I've never had it (laughter).

STAMBERG: Don Gonyea, do you see what they're serving here?

DON GONYEA, BYLINE: What's this cotton-candy-colored thing (laughter)?

STAMBERG: Mr. Gonyea, former White House correspondent - he has covered five presidential elections - should give him a strong stomach.

GONYEA: I haven't had this in years. I haven't had this since...

STAMBERG: Could there be a reason?

GONYEA: I don't prepare the relishes 11 in our household (laughter).

STAMBERG: Nicely done - political.

Gonyea decides to taste it.

He's putting it in his mouth. He's chewing. He's looking past me.

Not a good sign.

GONYEA: It's great.

STAMBERG: Oh, my goodness.

GONYEA: It's fantastic.

STAMBERG: Could you take some over to the president?

GONYEA: I'll do that.

STAMBERG: Really?

GONYEA: Now I'm just being nice to you (laughter).

STAMBERG: You always have been. Bless you, and Happy Thanksgiving.

GONYEA: Happy Thanksgiving.

STAMBERG: Happy Thanksgiving all around, dear listeners. I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News, Washington. Whoops 12. Here comes Lynn Neary again.

NEARY: I'm a little afraid, I have to tell you. I'm kind of a traditionalist when it comes to cranberries 13.

STAMBERG: This will clear your cold. It will clear your sinuses.

NEARY: I know it will. That's what scares me (laughter).