How Long Gone · Chris Black & Jason Stewart / Talkhouse

917. - Ruthie Rogers

March 13, 2026·1 hr 11 min·6 clips

Ruthie Rogers called Claridge's for a suite to record the podcast, revealing insider access to luxury hotels.

Zoom trouble clears first. The hosts restart in morning static, with Zoom recorders doing their job and a shirtless guy sweeping a basketball court in the background. Bean is not having it. The recording schedule has thrown off her day, which turns into a door problem, then somehow into a metaphor. Tuesday gets called out. Day three of podcasting in a row has the hosts a little worn down, which suits the show just fine. Then the conversation takes a hard turn. Travis Kelsey's mom's renovations are dangled as the next fixation before Ruthie Rogers comes in on food. She keeps the argument plain. A beurre blanc in Paris can be hard, but plain fish with herbs, lemon, and capers may be harder because there is nowhere to hide. Too many ingredients can blur a dish. Fewer ingredients make every choice count, and every mistake louder. Tomatoes become the example: fantastic jarred tomatoes from Puglia, seasonal peppery basil, and whole garlic cloves browned until soft. Three ingredients, but not three lazy ingredients. The host gets it, saying age has made subtraction feel smarter than default onion and garlic. Vinegar gets pulled into the same argument: white vinegar, red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, flavored vinegar, all tiny choices that change the plate. Ruthie is not precious about it. She likes plenty of food, as long as the clutter earns its place. The close stays loose: Ruthie invites them onto her podcast in London, they like the idea, and the episode slides into a casino Hellcat giveaway read.

As heard by us

Ruthie Rogers makes a loose How Long Gone episode feel precise when she talks about simple cooking, restraint, and taste.

Ruthie Rogers brings How Long Gone into a careful, lightly opinionated conversation about cooking with restraint. After the hosts work through their usual shaggy opening, with Zoom trouble, Bean's schedule, and stray online chatter, the episode settles into Rogers talking about…

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Why you'd press play

Play this if you want chef talk that starts a little off the rails and settles into the kitchen.

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