The right tools for the job

Published October 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM EDT

large mixer with dough in it, Max Meier reaching in with scraper — Max Meier leads the bread program at Muddy Fork Bakery. He is pictured here with the new Italian spiral mixer and a batch of bread dough.

This week on the show, we focus on tools of the trade. Muddy Fork Bakery upgraded their mixer and it turned out to be a game changer. Hot sauce production is made easier with a hand crank food mill. And if you ever accidentally purchase the wrong kind of rice in Tokyo, never fear, they have coin operated kiosks to help you out.

Spiral vs. planetary
I was picking up croissants from Muddy Fork at the farmers market one Saturday, and Eric and I got to talking and he mentioned that they’d just got a new mixer.

Max Meier standing with large, commercial dough mixer in a bakery surrounded by bags of flour. — With the new mixer, the height of the bowl is a lot easier on the baker, not as much bending and lifting.

He talked about the mechanism and how it changes the structure of the dough. I was intrigued. I headed out there a few weeks later so Eric could tell me all about it.

Red hot
Habaneros do well in my garden. I love growing them. The plants are beautiful, the peppers themselves are gorgeous, and so plentiful, that I always end up with more than I can deal with.

bowl of sliced carrots, small bowl of salt, pepper stems, vinegar, a pot of red whole peppers in a pot on a camp stove on a small wooden table outside — Preparing the hot sauce outside keeps the irritating fumes out of the kitchen. This is a big batch, one recipe times 20.

I have a favorite hot sauce recipe and I have started making large batches of it to share with friends. Here, I walk through the steps of making a recipe x 8. [Alexis Carvajal producded this story]

Coin-op grain processing
When I had the chance to visit Tokyo last year, there was only one food story I was interested in: the coin-operated rice polishing kiosks.

a woman in a green dress and a man in jeans, white t-shirt and ball cap stand in front of a machine with Japanese text, in a small room. — Aiko and Carl investigate the Rice polishing machine before trying it out. Rice polishing kiosks can be found in a few places around Tokyo and in the outskirts. Residents use them to convert brown rice into white rice.

David Gann, my high school friend who lives outside of Tokyo (in Saitama) helped me make my dream come true.

Goodbye and hello
This is the next to last episode of Earth Eats. I am excited about expanding my scope beyond food, to include film, theatre, dance, painting, printmaking, poetry, and everything arts and culture related that's happening right here in Southern Indiana.

Jake Lindsey

Nice Work is an arts and culture show with co-hosts Tyler Lake, Kayte Young and Alex Chambers.

I am teaming up with Alex Chambers (of WFIU’s Inner States) and Tyler Lake (of WTIU’s Journey Indiana) for a weekly show featuring timely stories about events and shows to check out, plus extended interviews with creative people in our community. It’s called Nice Work. I hope you will tune in!

Music on this Episode:
The Earth Eats theme music is composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey.
Additional music on this episode from Universal Production Music.

Credits:
The Earth Eats’ team includes: Eoban Binder, Alex Chambers, Toby Foster, Luann Johnson, Aaron Cain Leo Paes, Samantha Shemenaur, and Harvest Public Media.

Earth Eats is produced, engineered and edited by Kayte Young. Our executive producer is Eric Bolstridge.