Recipes

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This pecan pie ice cream is built on a base of French vanilla, with toasted pecans, cloaked in maple syrup, swirled in. Making the vanilla custard for this French-style ice cream is a delicate operation, like producing hollandaise, because of the fragile nature of eggs when they are heated. Perform this part of the recipe when you can give it your full, undivided attention. If preparing this custard in a saucepan over direct heat makes you nervous about overcooking and curdling the eggs, you can make it in a double boiler, but it will take at least 20 minutes longer to get the custard to thicken.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Dane Sayles, the chef of East Hampton Point in New York, believes porgies can take strong flavorings, so he adds spicy pickled peppers and their pickling liquid to his herb marinade. He also whizzes in some tahini, which smooths the emulsified mixture. At his restaurant, he blanches the herbs (drops them in boiling water for 10 seconds, then plunges them into ice water before draining) to help fix their color. It's something you can do as well and should remember the next time you make pesto. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Porgy is a fish that takes beautifully to grilling whole, filled with aromatic ingredients. Here, Ayesha Nurdjaja, the chef of Shuka in New York City, stuffs the fish with lemon and herbs. When lightly charred, the skin of the fish becomes crispy and delicious. One way to guarantee that your fish will lift easily off the grill is to have clean, well-oiled grates, and if you're willing to sacrifice a couple of extra bunches of scallions, lay them on the grill, then put the fish on top. The scallions will burn away, but the fish will release. Fennel fronds work the same way. Ms. Nurdjaja tops the fish with a lightly-dressed arugula salad — but it’s just as delicious on its own. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Soup is an easy first course for a seasonal gathering, especially when it can be prepared — even frozen — in advance. This one calls for Kabocha squash, a variety that’s not too sweet, and is dense and rich, though delicata, honeynut, the ubiquitous butternut or an everyday orange pumpkin all work well. Seasoned primarily with miso, this calls for only a pinch of cinnamon to hint at the inevitable pumpkin spice. And instead of presenting this vegan soup as a plated first course in china or pottery bowls or even in hollowed-out mini-pumpkins, you might consider spooning it into small cups or glasses for guests to sip as an hors d’oeuvre before dinner.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Here’s a grandmother’s recipe related to gnocchi but from a grandmother who was not Italian. In this recipe from my mother, Annette Gertner, a potato-based dough is formed into small noodle shapes, which are tossed with bread crumbs and onions, Austrian-style. Another way to serve the noodles is to gently fold them with warm sour cream and chives. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Hearty and aromatic, this braised lamb dish, adapted from my mother, Annette Gertner, takes inspiration from the Middle East by way of Eastern Europe. It simmers mostly unattended and even benefits from being made earlier in the day — or even a day or two in advance — and reheated. The four shanks yield four copious portions. (The recipe will serve six if every guest does not insist on having a bone.) Orzo alongside will sop up the sauce. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

In this recipe, adapted from my mother, Annette Gertner, an orange, pith, skin and all, provides a bittersweet counterpoint for tangy onion to season and dress a whole, broken-down chicken that’s browned on one side, then baked. Worcestershire sauce binds the flavors with a good amount of umami, while some bits of orange and onion paving the chicken skin caramelize in the oven and enrich the pan sauce. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Unlike ham and cheese, a sandwich that’s ubiquitous across the globe, jambon beurre (ham butter) is strictly French. Though it’s a seemingly sparse construction — simply baguette, cooked ham and butter — the ingredients for this interpretation from L’Ami Pierre in New York require careful selection. High-quality baguettes are now sold in many bakeries. High-butterfat butter enhances the sandwich, providing more fat than 80 percent supermarket standard, and the ham, preferably silky jambon de Paris, a cooked ham sliced, in the finer shops, from a bone-in joint, can make it or break it. French-style or similar cooked ham is available in many areas; to avoid are boneless, often waterlogged deli hams. Like most sandwiches, this one is designed as a treat for one, but, cut into smaller sections and served on a platter, it can enhance a buffet, even at holiday time.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Hold the steak. This vegetarian take on steak au poivre, from Manhattan’s Café Chelsea, boasts the same generous application of crushed black pepper, mellowed with cream, stock and a vibrant splash of Cognac, but calls for slabs of maitake mushroom instead of beef. To strut its meaty swagger, the dish is listed on Café Chelsea’s menu among the grilled choices (a grill pan or skillet works just as well) rather than being relegated to the vegetable section. The restaurant opts for large slices of maitake, but the recipe works with several smaller pieces as well. Though quick to assemble, it’s not easy to scale up, so think intimate dinner or Valentine’s Day. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Milan. The city’s name represents a recipe. You know it: a flattened, crisply breaded surfboard of veal or chicken that’s often big enough to cover the plate. Sometimes fish is called on. Or pork. Here, the technique is applied to large mushrooms, which are also flattened and then treated to the step-by-step of a dusting of flour to dry the surface, then an egg wash to grab the final coating of crumbs. (The same technique will also produce a schnitzel.) Marissa Lo, the executive chef at Boat House in Tiverton, R.I., was inspired to try the technique with big portobello caps after visiting Italy. Serve them dressed with a tangle of salad greens, or top with tomato sauce and melted cheese like a Parm. However you serve your Milanese, consider a platter of them for a holiday party. Florence Fabricant

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

The Jamaican beef patty is an island’s history in the palm of a hand. Dubbed Jamaica’s “No. 1 fast food” by Enid Donaldson, author of “The Real Taste of Jamaica,” a beef patty’s filling is spiced, then baked inside of a suet dough. These pastries are often filled with seasoned ground beef, but can include pork, lamb, lobster, shrimp, cheese, chicken and ackee. The dish is a byproduct of Jamaica’s long history — the introduction of spices from African slaves, as well as Indian and Chinese indentured laborers, impacted the patty’s development. But while this meal is found throughout Jamaica, it’s also present wherever the Caribbean diaspora is around the globe. Both the dough and the filling can be made prior to baking. Eat with coco bread for a more substantial meal.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Kakuni — “square-simmered” in Japanese — is a dish of pork belly cubes that are tender and savory after simmering slowly in a base of soy sauce, sugar and sake. The dish is eaten all over Japan, but its origins are in China. The dish most likely stemmed from dongpo pork: a Chinese braised pork belly dish believed to have been created in the Song dynasty. Because of a strong Chinese presence on Japan’s island of Kyushu, Japanese-Chinese style dishes emerged over time, becoming more distinctly local with each passing century. Now, kakuni remains popular in hubs like Nagasaki — but it’s cooked in homes and izakayas all over. By blending basic Japanese ingredients and allowing ample patience while cooking, a deeply flavorful and rich dish that embodies comfort results.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Enchiladas are an essential component of Houston’s ebullient, dynamic foodways. Mexican in origin, while distinctly Tex-Mex at the same time, the dish adapts to its surroundings. Each enchilada recipe is deeply local: The style ubiquitous in Monterrey, Mexico, will be different from those found in San Antonio or El Paso or Mexico City. But from enchilada to enchilada, the common denominator is deliciousness. In “The Enchilada Queen Cookbook,” Sylvia Casares notes, “for Tex-Mex-style cheese enchiladas, yellow cheese, such as Cheddar, is the traditional choice” yielding “the quintessential Tex-Mex enchilada.”

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Korokke, or Japanese croquettes, are comforting oval-shaped staples. The dish was introduced to Japan in the late 1800s and is said to have descended from French croquettes. Now, you’re as likely to find these crunchy-creamy cakes in a neighbor’s kitchen as at a butcher’s shop, street vendor or convenience store counter. Potato korokke consists of mashed potatoes folded into a mixture of onion and ground beef, but that formula is a platform for endless variation. Kabocha korokke substitutes potatoes with Japanese squash; kani cream korokke is filled with crabmeat and bound by bechamel; kare rice korokke eats like a distant cousin of arancini; kon kurimu korokke uses corn and cream. Leftover korokke can be reheated and eaten with toasted milk bread for a miracle sandwich.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Regardless of where, or even when, you’re eating a biscuit, the formula’s the same: a little flour, a little water, frozen butter. A pair of deft, knowing hands and an oven to bring them home. A biscuit can be a side dish of little note, or it can characterize an entire place and time, etching its own corner in your memory. The acidity and crunch of ripe kimchi meld deeply with Cheddar here, and also in versions from Kay Chun and Joy Cho, resulting in a biscuit that traverses multiple flavors from bite to bite. For the best results, chill your butter in the freezer and your buttermilk in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Cooking Dawn Burrell’s creamed greens is an exercise in extracting as much flavor as possible, as economically as possible: With the trinity of garlic, onion and bell pepper, the dip’s flavor profile is distinct, but the collard greens and shito, a chile sauce from Ghana, are still allowed to shine. This dip can be served as an appetizer, side dish or as the star of a series of smaller plates. And its texture is both inviting and distinct, creamy and wholly spiced. Ms. Burrell serves the dip with crunchy fritters made with rice and fonio, a tiny grain popular throughout West Africa. Pairing the dip with a baguette, a bowl of tortilla chips or slices of toasted bread would also make a solid meal. Bryan Washington

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Bánh cuốn, or Vietnamese steamed rice rolls, pack platefuls of flavor into every bite. The dish originated in northern Vietnam, utilizing a batter that forms a delicate rice sheet, which gets rolled around a mixture of pork and wood ear mushrooms. Bánh cuốn’s accompaniments generally include bean sprouts, fried shallots, herbs and chả lụa (Vietnamese pork sausage), along with a dipping sauce of nước chấm. Though the dish has a number of ingredients, its preparation consists of simple steps; give yourself ample time to prepare and the cooking process will be seamless. This meal is best eaten immediately, but it can hold in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Jamaican stew peas are ubiquitous to the island nation, and each version is as individual as the person cooking them. Red peas (kidney beans) are mellowed out with coconut milk and stewed alongside beef, pork, chicken or even vegetarian options. Allowing ample time to soak the peas before cooking makes for a streamlined process. And, as ever, your most crucial ingredient will be time. But the more you make this dish, the more it’ll gel alongside your personal preferences: more garlic, less meat, larger peppers or varied herbs. The choices are entirely yours. Spinners, flour dumplings that you roll into ropes between your hands, are essential to making this a full-fledged meal, adding texture and body to the stew.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Pecan pastries are synonymous with the American South; this recipe is a handheld compendium of community. The flavor profile mirrors its larger cousin — the full-sized pecan pie — but tarts serve just as ably as a crowd-pleaser. This pastry dough comes together easily, but be sure to chill it for at least an hour and a half before forming your tart shells in the pan. And resist the urge to overfill each pastry cup: the sweet, sticky pecan mixture should come only three-quarters of the way up the side because it will rise as it bakes. These pecan tarts can hold at room temperature for several days, if you have any left by then.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Kare rice is instantly nostalgic and hearty, a dish that’s both warming and filling. Japanese curry has origins in India, and it made its way to Japan’s populace by way of the British. By the late 1960s, kare rice became a common sight in Japanese markets and restaurants, and the dish has since found its way into kitchens all over the world. There are as many variations of kare rice as there are cooks preparing the dish: It can easily be made pescatarian (utilizing seafood as the protein), vegetarian or even vegan (omitting the chicken and utilizing a vegetable-based broth). In this version, dashi is used to add umami, with a range of vegetables to add texture to the dish alongside its chicken.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

This banana bread is a formidable treat: moist on the inside, with a crunchy bite around the edges. Banana bread may have emerged to prominence around the 1930’s — in the midst of the U.S.’s Great Depression, alongside the urge to economize recipes and the emergence of widespread baking powder usage — but the dish is now a global mainstay. It’s just as satisfying over coffee in the morning, as a quick bite for lunch or shared over a scoop of ice cream after dinner. The crunch of pecans complements the bread’s softness. Miso adds complexity alongside the banana’s sweetness. Be sure to utilize the ripest bananas you can find because it really will make a difference. This banana bread can hold for several days on the counter or in the fridge, if you have any left.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Menudo is magic in a bowl — sporting tripe, a deeply spiced broth, and the choice of many different seasonings, the Mexican soup is a gift. Also known as pancita, the dish is amenable to many variations and this version from Mely Martínez’s book, “The Mexican Home Kitchen” (Rock Point, 2020), is especially soothing. Most menudo recipes follow a similar blueprint: protein (usually tripe) is simmered in broth until it reaches a silky completion. Your choice of meat sits nestled in a base which can be as spicy or soothing as your tolerance and preference allows. On the side, lime, oregano and onions are among the accoutrements to season your dish — and hominy can be a hearty addition to the bowl, complementing the textures that have been stacked atop one another. Bryan Washington

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Doria is a warm blanket in a ramekin, an embrace in a casserole dish. This Japanese dish sits firmly in the canon of yōshoku, Western-inspired meals, and while the final product is reminiscent of a gratin, the meal is simmered with a base sauce prepared beforehand. Doria fillings run the gamut of your preferences — myriad proteins work exceedingly well here — while also serving as a keen means of utilizing extra vegetables. In this instance, diced chicken is folded into onions, mushrooms, carrots and spinach. That sauce overlays the rice in its entirety. Doria is a filling, comforting meal, perfect for taking care of yourself and those you hold dear.

Bryan Washington · NYT Cooking

Bò né (which translates from Vietnamese to “dodging beef”) is often served for breakfast, but is delicious any time of day: The meal consists of sizzled beef (bò) and fried eggs, with a smattering of pâté and butter dashed across a crisp baguette. Bò né is generally served alongside a salad plate, and offered on roadsides throughout Vietnam, and in Vietnamese restaurants all over the globe. You can partake in each component individually, or fill your baguette to make a sandwich, or figure out a third way that works best for you; there are as many routes to eat bò né as there are diners, and each of them is flawless. Purchasing the pâté and butter from your local Vietnamese market or diner would be ideal (just ask if they sell it by the pound), but whatever you can find will be solid. And if you’re short on time, simply seasoning the beef with salt and black pepper also works.