Innehållsförteckning för Apr-14 från Bon Appetit

1. TRUST YOURSELF “Whether it comes to a roast or a particular bean, it’s all about what you like—not about what someone is telling you you should like.” 2. GRIND IT RIGHT “If you want to nail consistently great coffee, invest in a better grinder. Either conical or flat burrs can do an awesome job.” 3. STEADY THE WATER TEMPERATURE “When brewing pour-over or drip, aim for the higher end of the 195–205 degree range—but not boiling.” 4. WATCH THE TIME “You don’t have to split hairs over milliseconds, but there’s a reason recommended brewing times—and kitchen timers—exist.” THE HASHTAG You never know what will elicit heated opinions on Twitter. Case in point: a recent query from our Twitterer in Chief. “Can someone explain to me glass cutting boards?” @rapo4…

PHOTOGRAPH BY DANNYKIM METAL OF HONOR A recent move from Manhattan to Brooklyn forced me to downsize my kitchen. One thing I was unwilling to part with in the clean-out was my carbon-steel skillet. Lighter than cast iron and more versatile than nonstick, it does the job of both—evenly conducting heat like a diner griddle and easily releasing even the most delicate fish. Its preseasoned surface gets better with age, and more important, it helped me perfect my omelet game. That alone is enough to earn it a spot on my list of kitchen essentials. —ALISON ROMAN Lodge makes excellent seasoned carbonsteel skillets in 8-, 10-, and 12-inch models ($40–$50, williamssonoma.com).…

Everything you need to eat, drink, buy, and do this month BROWSE The Ultimate Neighborhood Grocery San Francisco’s brilliant Local Mission Market expands its reach this spring with the introduction of Local Cellar, a Central and Northern California-focused beerand-wine store. It lives around the corner from the 2,700-square-foot grocery, where nearly everything is made in-house. localmissionmarket.com DRINK This Cult Wine If you ever spot Domaine Mosse on a wine list, order it. Bottles from the 42-acre French vineyard don’t land stateside very often, but when they do, you can be sure what’s inside is unconventional...and delicious. After all, Mosse was making natural wine long before it was cool. domaine-mosse.com ORDER A Rib Eye to Your Suite The room service at the new Thompson Hotel in Chicago is reason alone to…

It’s Raining Cookbooks! THE HEAVYWEIGHTS In Eating with the Chefs ($60), Fool magazine’s Per-Anders Jorgensen visits the best restaurants in the world and sits down for their staff meals. Jean-Pierre Gabriel’s beautiful and ambitious Thailand: The Cookbook ($50) extracts 500 recipes from the country’s most seasoned home cooks. Your coffee table will thank you. THE FRANCOPHILES "We’ll always have Paris—and great books about eating there. My new favorites include approachable cookbooks from young chef Greg Marchand (Frenchie: New Bistro Cooking; $23) and opinionated expat David Lebovitz (My Paris Kitchen; $35), as well as Alexander Lobrano’s culinary tour and cookbook (Hungry for France; $45). I trust anywhere that man sends me!"—Christine Muhlke, executive editor and wannabe Parisian THE IRISH TRENDSETTER 30 Years at Ballymaloe ($35) pays tribute to the Emerald Isle’s…

KOUIGN-AMANN WHAT YOU’LL NEED MAKES 12 DOUGH 2 Tbsp. (30 g) Europeanstyle butter (at least 82% fat), melted, slightly cooled, plus more for bowl 1 Tbsp. (10 g) active dry yeast 3 cups (400 g) allpurpose flour, plus more for surface 3 Tbsp. (40 g) sugar 1 tsp. (5 g) kosher salt BUTTER BLOCK 12 oz. (340 g) chilled unsalted Europeanstyle butter (at least 82% fat), cut into pieces ½ cup (100 g) sugar 1 tsp. (5 g) kosher salt ASSEMBLY All-purpose flour ¾ cup (150 g) sugar, divided Nonstick vegetable oil spray SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: Two 6-cup jumbo muffin pans; ruler WHEN I LIVED IN PARIS, I fell for the unpronounceable kouign-amann (that is, “queen-a-MAHN”). A sort of denser, sugar-crusted croissant made with indecent amounts of butter, the pastry is…

SPRING GREENS Mizuna, dandelion greens, and sorrel are among the beautiful greens hitting markets come April. Ranging from spicy (mizuna) to bitter (dandelion) to lemony (sorrel), these nutrientdense supergreens are wonderful in salads and soups, or in place of basil in pestos. Remove any tough stems and wash thoroughly right before using. PEA SHOOTS & SPRING ONIONS Pea shoots are the young stems, tendrils, and leaves of English, sugar snap, or snow pea plants. Grassy and sweet like peas, these delicate vines are as good fresh in salads and sandwiches as they are lightly sautéed. Harvested before the bulb grows to full size, spring onions are milder than full-grown ones, with a shallot-like flavor. Use their white (or sometimes purple) and green parts raw as you would scallions (think salads…

My husband might phrase it differently, but it’s fair to say I’ve been tracking the quietly intense chef Inaki Aizpitarte for over ten years. It started in 2003 when my Parisian food friends took me to La Famille, a tiny spot where his ambition radiated from a kitchen the size of a dorm fridge. The week after Aizpitarte opened Le Chateaubriand in 2006, I waited at the bar for a table for so long that I was too drunk to remember my meal (though I got some great phone pics of the bed-headed waiters modeling “I y NY” T-shirts). And at the Omnivore festival in Deauville, France, four years ago, I watched as Aizpitarte showed a gorgeously abstract film involving blowtorched chestnuts and raw daikon (I think). I’m not the…

A REAL PROJECT MY WIFE HAS THIS FRIEND Meeghan Truelove, who, besides having a brilliant name, throws a helluva dinner party. I like that she does the opposite of what I do. I’m always telling people to cook what they know—to play it safe when guests are coming over. Meeghan goes big. On a snowy night last winter, she threw a cassoulet party: 15 or so friends, each bringing a bottle of red, a long, rambling table with candles and mismatched plates and cutlery, and two big crocks of bubbling cassoulet. One recipe came from the estimable Paula Wolfert, the other from Canal House. Meeghan had never made cassoulet before, but this didn’t stop her from grinding her own Toulouse sausage, sourcing authentic Tarbais beans, and confiting duck legs, and…

All Cracked Up Don’t let those leftover Easter eggs go to waste. Instead, chop them up for a Middle Eastern salad, toss with pasta, or get downright devilish with pickled chiles CAMPANELLE WITH EGGS AND CAPERS ¼>ej" YebZ" eh heec temperature, I love the briny bite of the capers and anchovies against the creamy eggs.”—Dawn Perry, senior food editor Cook ½ lb. campanelle (or other short pasta) until al dente; drain, reserving ’ Ykf fWijW Yeea_d] b_gk_Z$ >[Wj ¼ cup olive oil over medium heat. Add 4 anchovy fillets, 2 finely chopped garlic cloves, 2 Tbsp. capers, and ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until anchovies dissolve, about 2 minutes. Toss in pasta, ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan, and 2 tsp. lemon juice, adding pasta cooking liquid…

BOTTARGA The roe sac of gray mullet that has been salted, dried, and pressed until hard. It’s briny with a creamy, almost caviar-like flavor. Seenat: II Buco Alimentari e Vinería in NYC, where it’s shaved over roasted brussels sprouts. Try it at home: Microplane over scrambled eggs or simple pasta, or shave thinly and toss with raw fennel, lemon juice, and olive oil for a knockout salad. Anna Maria Fish Company’s Cortez Bottarga, $42 for 3 oz.; cortezbottarga.com MOJAMA Salt-cured, sun-dried yellowfin tuna loin from southern Spain. It’s firm with a strong, saline bite. Seen at: Estela in NYC, served over egg salad on house-made matzo. Try it at home: Grate it over pizza, potato salad, or fried eggs to add complexity and saltiness, or treat it like fishy charcuterie:…

COLD CUTS & CULT GREENS HOLIDAY DON’TS There are foods so awesome (popcorn, fried chicken) that they deserve their own national holiday (January19and July 6, respectively). And then there’s everything else. APRIL 17 Cheeseball Day I’ll tell my grandma; she’ll be tickled pink. AUGUST 13 Filet Mignon Day There should be a Rib-Eye Day way before this one. NOVEMBER 11 Sundae Day Were all the days in summer taken? DECEMBER 15 Cupcake Day Unless you’re 12, have a grown-up piece of cake. I Need a Hero Some sandwiches are best left to the experts—or at least someone with a very sharp meat slicer. Fortunately, I’m in luck: Restaurants from Roman Candle Baking Co. in Portland, Oregon, to Publican Quality Meats in Chicago are doing fine riffs on the Italian combo,…

HERE’S THE STANDARD VEGAS MOVE: Hit a cheap buffet and blow the rest of your budget on a splashy show and a few blurry hands at the blackjack table. Fun? Well, yeah. Necessary? Not when the best odds are on the food. Topquality culinary options number in the high hundreds, and the count continues to climb: more celebrity-chef restaurants, a newly transcendent Chinatown, and a burgeoning hipster dining scene downtown. You came here to party, so why not be extreme in your dining choices? On your next trip to Las Vegas, go with these sure bets. 1 Dine in a Nightclub Imagine Cirque du Soleil and Le Cirque joining forces and you’ve got the extravagant new Rose. Rabbit. Lie. at the Cosmopolitan. Acrobats strut overhead, performers tap-dance on tables, and…

Who knew big flavors, bright herbs, and a real fork were allowed this close to a keyboard? To get the recipe for Noodle Salad with Chicken and Chile-Scallion Oil, see page 85. 1 NEVER EAT OUT OF A PLASTIC CONTAINER Why does everyone have a “favorite” coffee mug but shovel pasta salad from an old takeout container? Keep a real bowl, plate, glass, and set of silverware at work. We’re not talking porcelain, but it’s practically scientific fact that food tastes better when eaten from a legit plate, with a fork that won’t snap when you stab a piece of chicken. 2 STOCK YOUR PANTRY (YOUR DESK-DRAWER PANTRY, THAT IS) 1 MUSTARD A dollop adds bite to salad dressing; a spoonful and you’re halfway to a ham sandwich. If you…

DO THE TWISTS A wellcrafted cocktail isn’t complete without the right garnish. This final flourish—often citrus or fresh herbs—enhances the drink’s taste, smell, and look. We’ll assume you know how to put a sprig of mint in a glass, so here are three elemental citrus twists and how to master them.—CLAIRE SAFFITZ HORSE’S NECK Trim the nubs from both ends of the lemon. Holding a sharp paring knife at an angle and starting at the top, remove the peel (and some pith), working your way around and down in an unbroken spiral. Apply even pressure and rotate the fruit, not the blade. THIN SPIRAL ZEST Puncture the lemon with a channeling knife, a bar tool with a V-shaped blade. Firmly drag it around the fruit to create a long, thin…

READERS’ FAVORITE RESTAURANT RECIPES —GEORGE D. MCCOY, Raleigh, NC GRILLED HANGER STEAK WITH CUCUMBER SALAD 4 SERVINGS We’re hooked on the juicy and crunchy textures and sweet and spicy flavors in this steak and salad pairing. HANGER STEAK 1 2" piece lemongrass, tough outer layers removed, lightly smashed, very thinly sliced ¼ cup (packed) light brown sugar 3 Tbsp. fish sauce 2 Tbsp. Asian sweet chili sauce 1½ lb. hanger steak, center membrane removed (see page 109), cut into 4 pieces CUCUMBER SALAD AND ASSEMBLY ½ cup unseasoned rice vinegar 2 Tbsp. Asian sweet chili sauce 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest 1 medium cucumber, thinly sliced 1 medium carrot, peeled, julienned ½ small daikon, peeled, julienned ½ small red onion, thinly sliced Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper ½ cup…

QUESTIONS FOR Okay, let’s do this. What’s the last thing you ate? “One of those thin bagels with lox, and an iced tea.” Death row meal of choice. “I make this super-garlicky pasta with red peppers, zucchini, and Parmesan. They probably wouldn’t let me make my own pasta on death row, but I would ask anyway.” World’s greatest food city. "Rome. But right now Chicago is killing it.” Your go-to movie snack. “Usually I’ll just eat popcorn, but if theaters would sell me goat cheese and garlic with Triscuit crackers, I’d give them all my money.” What was the cause of your last hangover? “Extra-dirty vodka Martinis. They’re so easy to drink! I should really just drink olive juice; it’d be safer.” Greatest food hates. “Beets. They look so appealing,…

SOUTH SIDE 8 fresh mint leaves, slapped + 3 oz. dry gin + 1 ½ oz. fresh lemon juice + ¾ oz. simple syrup + Club soda + Lemon peel EL DIABLO 3 oz. tequila blanco + 1 ½ oz. fresh lime juice + 1 ½ oz. crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) + Ginger beer + Thyme sprig PALOMA Kosher salt (for rim) + 2 oz. tequila reposado + ½ oz. fresh lime juice + Grapefruit soda (preferably San Pellegrino Pompelmo) + Grapefruit slice FIVE STEPS TO CRAFTING THE PERFECT HIGHBALL GET THE RIGHT GLASS A proper highball is tall and narrow, with a hefty bottom. We buy ours for $8 each at thebostonshaker.com. STIR, DON’T SHAKE Add all liquids—except the bubbly one—to your glass and give them a quick…

SIMPLE SEAFOOD SUPPERS A light fish chowder and a clever clam pasta are speedy (we’re talking on the table in 30 minutes or less) and satisfying Fish Stew with Fennel and Baby Potatoes ACTIVE 20 MINUTES TOTAL 30 MINUTES 4 SERVINGS This stew might come together quickly, but it gets plenty of backbone from fennel and white wine. 1/4 cup olive oil 8 oz. small waxy potatoes (such as baby Yukon Gold), scrubbed, sliced ¼" thick ½ medium fennel bulb, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper ¼ cup dry white wine ¼ cup crème fraîche 1½ lb. skinless flounder or fluke fillet, cut into 2" pieces 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill Lemon wedges (for serving) Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.…

1 The Best Sauce Is as Easy as Juicing A bracing green juice is the perfect postindulgence drink, but in the hands of a chef, a similar elixir can elevate a dish as handily as any fancy French reduction. “It’s about lightening things up and making them brighter,” says chef Ignacio Mattos of New York’s Estela. “Plus, fresh juices hit so many notes.” Just run handfuls of herbs and vegetables through your juicer, combine the results, and...voilà. We love Mattos’s master sauce recipe (at right), but to make your own, start with something acidic (Mattos loves sorrel), add an oniony note (chives, leeks), and go from there. (Parsley is great for flavor and color.) Blend juices to taste. SERVE IT WITH Fresh burrata on grilled bread, steamed clams, seared scallops,…

THERE’S A SCIENCE TO THE PERFECT MATZO BALL SOUP. EVERY GREAT BALL BEGINS WITH SCHMALTZ If you’ve never cooked with chicken fat, you’re in for a treat. Schmaltz lends an incomparable flavor and luxurious texture to matzo balls—butter and vegetable oil can’t compare. And don’t worry about wasting any extra; you can use schmaltz in plenty of other dishes, too. See Prep School, page 108, for ideas. SINK OR SWIM Buoyancy is a hot-button issue when it comes to matzo balls. Some people like theirs to float; others prefer sinkers. While ours do sink, they’re far from leaden. Their lightness doesn’t come from leaveners like baking powder or egg whites, though; it’s because we rest the matzo mixture in the fridge for at least two hours, where it hydrates and…

Betty White After 74 years in show business, Betty White is still going 100 miles per hour, most recently locking up her fifth season as the wisecracking caretaker Elka Ostrovsky on TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland. How does one fuel a career that spans eight decades? Not how you’d think. “I don’t eat a proper diet,” says the 92-year-old White. “Lunch is usually a hot dog and french fries, or something equally devilish. Red whips are my curse.” Though she has always cut a lean figure, White never paid much attention to fad diets. “There was one where you ate nothing but grapefruit,” she recalls. “I love grapefruit, but I also love other things.” Things like vodka, which she drinks on the rocks with “lots and lots of lemon.” And…