Hey there, listeners, future callers and cooking enthusiasts.

Welcome to DinnerSOS, the show where we help you save dinner or whatever you're cooking.

I'm Chris Morocco, food director of Bon Appetit and Epicurious.

Our caller this week is George. How you doing, George? I'm doing well. How are you

doing today, chef? Good. Whoa, chef. Oh, my goodness. All right. We're going formal. I love it. How are you

doing? I'm doing well. So, long story short, this is actually a very, very embarrassing SOS because I'm a chef.

It was just natural when you came on to call you chef.

George worked professionally in kitchens for years.

But despite his training, there's an ingredient he just can't seem to get the hang of.

Kinoa is my nemesis.

I cannot cook kinaw to save my life. Why Kinawa? Well, George wants to

increase the quantity of plants in his diet. I spoke to my doctor, and she was just saying that

doing more plant-based proteins would help me in my diet. So I know quinoa's like the superfood and stuff,

I've tried making it either A, it has no flavor, or B, like I'll try to make it salty like

the C, it doesn't work. I try to cook it a little bit. Like someone told me that I didn't let the,

you know, the kernel pop like you do a grit. So I try to cook it longer with a little bit more water.

And then it's just like a soupy mess that has no flavor.

Or it'll still be soupy on top, but it's burning on the bottom.

Kind of like a sticky rice.

Yep.

So the last time you cooked quinoa, what happened?

So I actually tried to come up with my own recipe, and I did a pine nut, spinach, roasted red pepper,

...