Whenever someone asks what my favorite part of my job is, the answer is always writing for our kids’ podcast, Mystery Recipe. (It’s tough to beat “write a segment featuring a hamburger bun having an existential crisis” when it comes to work assignments.) As Mystery Recipe dives into its fifth season, I’ve been thinking about some of my personal favorite Mystery Recipe nuggets and facts. And so, in a shameless attempt to proselytize a nation, I present them here in no particular order.
5 Things You’ll Like About Our Weird and Delightful Kids Podcast, Mystery Recipe
Mystery Recipe delivers more than just ingredient facts.
By Published June 8, 2022.
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10 ingredients. 45 minutes. Quick, easy, and fresh weeknight recipes.
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1. It’s a kids’ podcast that I still enjoy listening to as an adult.
Any piece of kids’ media worth its salt should be appealing to kids. BUT, it’s a really big bonus if it also appeals to adults, or at least, doesn’t make you want to turn it off. (It was even an honoree for best podcast writing in the 2022 Webby Awards.) This podcast is loaded with fun facts, has an interesting interview with food industry professionals each week, and the weird and wonderful weekly Wildcard segments are truy funny. Which brings me to . . .
2. There are gloriously weird segments.
Were you a person who enjoyed the award-winning musical Hamilton? Well, so did we, and we did NOT throw away our shot at writing a Hamilton song parody. In season 4, our staff writer/resident genius/personal hero Chad Chenail turned the musical’s opening number, "Alexander Hamilton," into a parody about a scallion, Alexander the Scallion. Are there other wacky segments that make us say, “how am I getting away with writing this?” Sure. But number one in my heart is that rapscallion rapping scallion.
3. Our oven mitt co-host Mitsy is voiced by a very real and TikTok-famous comedian.
In my opinion, there isn’t a funnier, more soulful fictional piece of kitchen equipment in the world, and while it’s due in part to some great writing, it’s also due to Ceara O’Sullivan, who voices Mitsy. With over 550,000 followers, it’s pretty clear that she knows how to deliver a joke. And whenever she pops up on my TikTok feed, it gives me so much joy to know she also gives her voice to Mitsy. (Just be aware that Ceara’s TikTok content is definitely geared towards adults if you take a listen.)
4. It teaches kids about food and cooking from multiple perspectives.
Can we guarantee that this kids’ cooking podcast will magically turn your picky kid into an adventurous eater? No. But it can get them thinking about food in new and different ways. Kids can listen along to kitchen science experiments; hear trivia in many different categories; and, where applicable, learn geographical or historical context for an ingredient, such as in one of season 5’s Butter Week episodes, where kids learn about ghee in "Ask A Grownup."
5. It has a cook-along finale that gets you cooking in the kitchen with your kids.
After eight weeks chock-full of ingredient fun, you and your young chefs can actually cook the season’s mystery recipe with Molly Birnbaum, Mitsy, and other characters from the show to help you through. We make sure that the cook-along runs at the actual pace of cooking, so all you have to do is gather ingredients, press play, and make some kitchen memories.
You can listen to Mystery Recipe here or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
Hey! Did you know ATK Kids has its very own YouTube channel? Subscribe now and watch great, funny, silly, and delicious cooking videos for the whole family.