South African Wine Without the Buzz

The choices when it comes to nonalcoholic wines, especially still wines, have been growing in recent years. Lautus De-Alcoholised Wine from South Africa is already five years old, but it’s a new import for the United States and a welcome addition. Like most of the more palatable products in the category it starts with real,…

Masala Cheese Toast, Courtesy of La Boîte

La Boîte, the spice boutique in Hell’s Kitchen, delivers a free online newsletter with news about their products and creative recipes. A recent one for masala cheese toast by Kanchan Koya, a spice expert with a doctorate in molecular biology, evokes an after school snack she once enjoyed. It essentially is a grilled cheese sandwich:…

How to Pack the Perfect Beach Cooler

Packing a cooler for a relaxing, sun-filled day at the beach is like playing Tetris. But no matter how adept you are at puzzles and video games, inevitably you give up on stacking all those multishaped containers neatly, resorting to lugging a poorly organized cooler — along with multiple bags — across the hot sand.…

Kung Pao, the Easiest, Most Adaptable Recipe

A steaming plate of kung pao anything feels like the part of a fireworks show when small, bright bursts pop without deafening booms. Surprising but not jolting, it’s a dish filled with beats of excitement: You don’t know when they’re coming, but they’re always welcome. With kung pao, that likable little thrill comes from the…

Heat Wave Salads

It arrived just in time for a major heat wave: a big project devoted to simple salads, with 20 recipes from New York Times Cooking that capture all that is fresh and fragrant and vibrant in summer. These are what you make for dinner when you can’t fathom turning on the oven, and you pair…

Welcome to Chicago, Hot Dog Town, U.S.A.

CHICAGO — Before leaving the city for graduate school, Heidi Ratanavanich got a shoulder tattoo of a Chicago-style hot dog. Painterly and bright, the tattoo depicts a poppy-seed bun cradling a shiny frankfurter, which is topped with a squiggle of yellow mustard, neon-green sweet pickle relish, chopped white onion, two tomato slices, a pickle spear,…

Eggplant Five Ways

“No other vegetable is so content to abandon itself to your will,” Ruth Reichl wrote of eggplant in her 2015 cookbook, “My Kitchen Year.” Though if you’re skeptical, here’s one way to quickly gain some confidence: Start with her simple eggplant salad, which I’ve made so many times since first reading about it I’ve lost…