Cornmeal in one, buttermilk in the other, sugar in both
Chess pie vs buttermilk pie, measured on the same scale: the cornmeal, the cup of buttermilk, the crackled top, and the doneness test both pies depend on.
13 min read
Bigos gets better every time you cool it down
A bigos recipe built around the reheating: the cabbage ratio, three meats, dried mushrooms, and how to cool a deep pot repeatedly without taking any risks.
14 min read
One pound of beef, four bowls, 25 minutes
A korean beef bowl for four from one pound of meat: the slice, a ten-minute pear marinade, cucumbers pickled while the rice cooks, and the pan heat it needs.
12 min read
The peel, the juice, and the preserved lemon do different jobs
Most zest vs juice cooking advice ignores the third product: what the peel oil, the acid, and a jar of salted lemons each do, and when each one goes in.
13 min read
Stuffed, curried, stewed, hashed: four ways a sweet potato becomes dinner
Four sweet potato main dish methods measured the same way: stuffed, curried, stewed with peanut and grated into a hash, with the variety each one needs.
12 min read
Persimmon pudding only works with a hachiya collapsed to mush
A persimmon pudding recipe that depends on collapsed fruit: how ripe is ripe, getting the pulp, the thin batter, and why the middle is meant to sink.
13 min read
Four pounds of onions cook dry before any fat goes in
A doro wat recipe timed from the onions: four pounds cooked dry, then niter kibbeh and berbere, plus where to buy the blend and which injera substitutes work.
13 min read
The tarka takes ninety seconds and does most of the work
A red lentil dal recipe that runs on a thirty-minute clock: no soaking, twenty unattended minutes, and the ninety-second tarka that carries the flavour.
13 min read
Bitter is a flavor, not a flaw
What bitter flavor in cooking is actually doing: four sources worth using, the dose that balances fat and sugar, and the two fixes for a dish gone too far.
13 min read
Roast the cauliflower leaves you were about to throw away
Four cauliflower main dish methods from one head: whole roasted, steaks, a braise and a stem soup, plus what the leaves taste like at 425 degrees.
12 min read