Do you actually need to heat the oil in the pan before adding onions? Are fresh vegetables always better than frozen? And what’s so special about a shallot? You have lots of burning questions about recipes, ingredients, and food science, and this week, we get some answers. Daniel Holzman and Matt Rodbard, authors of Food IQ: 100 Questions, Answers, and Recipes to Raise Your Cooking Smarts, bring their culinary knowledge to The Sporkful, and take your calls. They reveal the secret ingredient for the best baked mac and cheese, explain when to start worrying about the color of raw ground beef, and separate fact from fiction around salting your pasta water.

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Johanna Mayer, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell. This week's episode was mixed by Marina Paiz. 

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com