The unofficial kickoff of cookout season — Memorial Day weekend — hurtles toward us like an errant Frisbee in an overcrowded park. Will you meet it with rec-league reflexes and roll up to the party with a parade of complementary pasta salads, or will you let it ding you in the temple? I’m admittedly about…
If you’re a frequent reader of this newsletter (hi, Mom), you’re familiar with the name Hetty Lui McKinnon. I talk about Hetty’s recipes a lot — they’re delicious, of course, but also consistently satisfying, delivering a lot of wow and oomph (technical terms). Hetty, along with Alice Callahan, a Times reporter who covers health and…
The thick brown liquid had been fermenting in the jug for three days, which meant it was time for Fatean Gojela to get it ready to serve for Orthodox Easter. With her granddaughter, Ava, at her side, she poured it little by little through a thin mesh sack. “Patience, Mama,” she said to Ava, showing…
For years, as soon as the craving for homemade pizza struck me, it was very easy to gratify … four days later. My family’s favorite recipe for slow-rising dough isn’t difficult, but it does need attention on consecutive evenings and a couple of overnight stints in the fridge. Those logistics are often more than our…
Salvatore Carlino knows what it takes to make the perfect New York slice: He grew up in his parents’ pizza shop, Papa Leone, in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay, and now owns his own pizzeria, Lucia, with locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan. So when a New York Times reporter called to inform him that a member of…
I have a special dinner for those rare evenings I cook for just myself. When my (cabbage-shy) daughter and (dairy-avoiding) husband aren’t home, I’ll treat myself to a pan of cheesy, spicy cabbage. I sauté shaggy slices of the crucifer in olive oil with garlic or onion, and then finish the dish with chile, either…
It was the word “frazzled,” I think, that set me off. It was all meant to be very simple. I was to write a recipe for a superquick dip, using pantry ingredients, ready in under 30 minutes. Delicious. Easy. No need to overthink. The only variable might be the main ingredient: the butter beans, I…
Longtime vegetarians already know: To be a vegetarian is to eat really well. But if you’re looking to make the switch to vegetarianism or just a more plant-forward diet, you may have questions, even concerns. What should I cook? How do I think about meals? How will I know if I’m getting enough protein? A…
Opening Bourbon Steak New York The chef and global restaurateur Michael Mina, first known for Aqua in San Francisco, is now making his New York debut in this grand, bronzed space overlooking Central Park, after scouting dozens of New York locations. The New York cut of his Bourbon Steak brand includes trolleys serving raw bar…
If you’re looking for the moment when American omakase restaurants began to threaten steakhouses as the preferred venues for young men of means to commune around prohibitively expensive protein, you could do worse than the weekend of Jan. 8, 2021. That’s when Joe Rogan walked into Sushi Bar ATX, in Austin, Texas. “Best sushi I’ve…