The Atlantic
On recipes, spontaneity, and time: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Naz Deravian, the author of the cookbook
Bottom of the Pot, grew up in a family that shunned recipes in favor of spontaneous cooking an attitude that initially impeded her effort to write a cookbook. However, as she wrote in an article for
The Atlantic, the specificity and certainty of following a recipe eventually became a source of comfort for her, especially as she grappled with national and personal stressors.
Even for those who are not facing such upheaval, recipes can be reassuring safety nets. Spontaneity has become a glamorous ideal in the food world (see, for example, the editor Sam Sifton’s recent work
I remember where I was when the baking revolution began. Do you?
It was November 2006, and I was a test cook at Cook’s Illustrated magazine in Brookline, Mass., when I walked over to see what my colleagues were gawking at. It was a loaf of bread that my fellow test cook David Pazmiño had just transferred to a cooling rack. I remember the loud snaps and pops coming from the bread as it cooled, the glossy crust crackling. He cut off a slice, revealing an open, airy hole structure with a moist, custard crumb. It was extraordinary.
“This was the recipe that democratized bread-baking,” says Peter Reinhart, a chef-instructor at Johnson & Wales University and the author of “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” (Ten Speed Press, 2001).
The (easy) Bundt recipe you ll be making for brunch this weekend By sanguinic Text size Copy shortlink:
Bundt pans aren’t just for cakes.
Sure, dozens and dozens of Bundt cake recipes have been published in Taste since the section s debut on Oct. 1, 1969.
But starting in the late 1970s, another phenomenon began to appear: a quick Bundt pan version of Monkey Bread, the gooey, caramel-ey, pecan-packed, pull-apart treat. Between its first appearance in 1978 and its last in 1993, recipes for this oddly named but easy-to-prepare favorite were published at least seven times.
In that Betty Crocker era, two descriptives mattered most:
The Secret to Incredibly Easy Homemade Pizza Making this homemade Pizza Margherita is simple and gratifying. The pizza dough requires no kneading, and you can use it over the course of two weeks.
By Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoë François
Follow the ingeniously simple no-knead method to save time and money and become the pizza hero at your house.
PHOTO: TIM NAUMAN PHOTOGRAPHY/WWW.TIMNAUMAN.COM
Classic Pizza Margherita is made with just a few ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, water, olive oil, basil, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
TIM NAUMAN PHOTOGRAPHY/WWW.TIMNAUMAN.COM
Making a homemade pizza any time you want is easy if you make a big batch of dough all at once.