Innehållsförteckning för March 2023 från Bon Appetit

Q: Spring break is looming, which presents a problem for me: After a day of travel from some warmer spot, my crew always wants homemade dinner, no matter how late we arrive or how exhausted I am. How can I feed my family with what little energy I have left after hours of travel? Food director Chris Morocco advises: While I seem to be a lost cause as a meal-prepper, lucky for you others on our team are great at planning ahead. Associate food editor Zaynab Issa knows a thing (or five) about stocking her freezer with food that needs only an oven or microwave wake up to taste just as fresh as the day it was made. I suggest you make and freeze her lasagna (page 67) before you…

Soy-Braised Black Lentils We love the way that thick-skinned, tiny-but-mighty black beluga lentils remain chewy and intact even when fully cooked. In this sweet-salty Korean-inspired braise, maintaining a low simmer is the key to keeping each little bead whole. Adding sugar and agave after the lentils are fully cooked ensures that the lentils don’t become tough. Bring 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, ½ cup black beluga lentils, rinsed, 3 Tbsp. soy sauce, and 2 cups water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally and adjusting heat as needed, until lentils are tender (liquid will be mostly absorbed), 18–22 minutes. Mix in 2 Tbsp. agave syrup and 1 Tbsp. sugar; cook, stirring often, until liquid is syrupy and reduced to about 2 Tbsp., 8–10…

My obsession first started on a trip to Morocco in 2017: After asking my waiter what gave my tagine the kick I couldn’t quite put my finger on, he revealed the gift of preserved lemons. I’m a fan of all things briny, salty, and sour, so it’s no surprise these pickled wonders made my palate dance. I don’t need to give you a lesson on lemons; everyone knows these fruits are tart and tangy, ideal in recipes that benefit from acidic balance and an assertive brightness. The flavor is very recognizable, so nine times out of 10 you know when something’s got lemon in it. Preserved lemons, however, are an entirely different story. They’re shelf-stable* (you heard me) and an all-out pantry superstar. They’re more savory than fresh lemons, so…

If there’s only one cake you ever learn to make, let it be this. Yellow cake swaddled in chocolate frosting is perhaps the defining signifier of birthdays and for good reason: It strikes just the right balance of chocolate and vanilla and is soft and colorful on the inside, rich and festive on the outside. This version is cloud-soft thanks to reverse creaming and cake flour (see below), and the shockingly simple frosting tastes like deluxe chocolate custard.…

Making carrot cake is all fun and games until you break a sweat and shred a knuckle grating all those carrots. Taking a page from Brazilian bolo de cenoura, this sheet cake blends the vegetable right into the batter instead, resulting in a sunset orange treat, softly squidgy from the purée and remarkably easy to make. Chunks of chewy dried pineapple and candied ginger stand in for raisins while the cream cheese frosting is light and airy, a mousse-like delicacy. Baked in a 13x9" pan, this cake is begging to be toted to a spring picnic in the park.…

Covering 1,254 miles of riverbank switchbacks, desert and hill country, from the Rio Grande Valley to Paso del Norte—the Texas-Mexico border is as expansive and complex as the culture born along it. But in every town you’ll find variations of the same culinary tradition, united not by specific ingredients but a dedication to making do with what you have. “This is where a hyper-regional cuisine formed,” says Patty Arredondo, a front-of-house professional originally from the South Texas border. “And that became ‘Tex-Mex’—finger quotes for sure.” Texas-born Mexican chefs are quick to tell you that their cooking reflects their own experiences, not some imaginary monolith called “Tex-Mex.” How could it? “The food in McAllen is different from the food just 45 minutes away in Brownsville,” Arredondo says. When she helped open…

Padma Lakshmi is often on the go. She traveled to London to film the 20th season of Top Chef, which features contestants drawn from the 29 international versions of the show. For the upcoming return of Taste the Nation, a docuseries that explores the food of indigenous and immigrant communities in the US, she sampled the Cambodian food in Lowell, Massachusetts, and learned to flatfoot dance in Appalachia. Over lunch in New York City we talk about entertaining closer to home. Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? Director Joel Schumacher, a dear friend who died a few years ago. He had a million interesting stories, all just a little naughty. He’s one of the most intellectual people I’ve met. The writer Michael Cunningham; he has a light…

First introduced to home cooks by the Betty Crocker brand and immortalized in baking genius Rose Levy Beranbaum’s seminal book, The Cake Bible, reverse creaming is a clever method of mixing the dry ingredients with fat (similar to pie dough or biscuits) before adding the liquid ingredients to make a batter. In doing so, the fat becomes something of a raincoat, wrapping around each flour particle. This raincoat of fat prevents the flour from absorbing too much liquid and forming strong gluten bonds (because liquid + flour = gluten). Then the batter is mixed with a liquid like milk or sour cream to build structure (you need some gluten to actually hold the cake together). The result is a plush, delicate cake that comes together in half the time as…

The dome cake is the It girl of cakes; she’s completely unique and impeccably styled, and she has likely showed up on your social feed. Always wondered how to make one? It’s by no means a piece of cake, but if you like an artful project (this one involves stacking layers of varying-size cakes) and obsessing over details, follow along. It’s glued together with a whipped peanut butter filling and finished with a strawberry cream; we promise it’s worth the elbow grease.…

CAJUN CHICKEN GRAVY AND BISCUITS A simple folding method yields majorly flaky biscuits without any rest time. Use a Cajun spice blend without salt for the gravy; you’ll season to taste as you go RECIPE BY KENDRA VACULIN 4 SERVINGS 1 tsp. baking powder½ tsp. baking soda2 cups plus 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour4½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 2¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt, divided, plus more½ cup (1 stick) plus 3 Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. sour cream2 tsp. vegetable oil1 lb. ground chicken2 tsp. plus 1 Tbsp. Cajun seasoning1 small onion, finely chopped1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped2 celery stalks, finely choppedFreshly ground pepper2½ cups whole milk1 tsp. apple cider vinegar½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakesCoarsely chopped parsley (for serving) 1. Place…

Hot milk cake occupies the coveted intersection in the Venn diagram of pound cake (tender, buttery) and sponge cake (light, airy). Here’s how it works: When whole eggs and sugar are whipped to a froth without being heated first, they form a voluminous but somewhat fragile foam (like a bubble bath). Adding scalding hot milk (with a temperature around 180°) begins to ever so gently cook the eggs, strengthening their proteins so the foam remains stable without collapsing.…

CAKE FLOUR With its low-protein content (5%–8%) and extra-fine particle size, cake flour bakes up into the most delicate, tall, and tight-crumbed cake. It can absorb more liquid and sugar than all-purpose flour, resulting in velvety cakes that keep well for longer. High-ratio cakes (with a high percentage of sugar to flour) like the confetti cake or fragile cakes like chiffon really benefit from exclusively using cake flour. The common substitute of all-purpose flour cut with cornstarch lacks the chemical structure to perform as well as real cake flour. Just buy the box. You’re worth it. BLEACHED FLOUR Some flours tout the fact that they are unbleached as a point of pride. Though there are some advantages, bleached flour has some selling points too. Bleaching or chlorinating flour (no, it’s…

When you google “can I freeze ____?” you might be discouraged by the results. But while some foods don’t defrost with the exact same texture they had going into the freezer (learn from my grainy queso mistakes), you can always use them in soups, sauces, and comforting bowls of mush. Here are some lesser-frozen foods that freeze just fine indeed. Leftover canned pumpkinCitrus zestCooked rice or grainsCornbreadAll-purpose curry base (see bonappetit.com for recipe)Fresh chiles (to cook)The dregs of a can of tomato pasteWhole peeled gingerCaramelized onionsCooked sofritoGinger-scallion sauceChiles in adobo…

The recipes in this story include clear instructions for every step, but not everything you freeze has to be done with precision. Sometimes it’s just the easiest way to avoid food waste. Before a vacation, I toss clothespin-clamped bags of spinach, leftover coconut milk, and plastic containers of berries right into the freezer. I didn’t lay the berries on a tray first, or blanch the spinach like I was supposed to. Everything will be okay. When I’m back, it’s all frozen into clumps that I can break and blend into smoothies. Even if I’m not sure something will freeze (polenta?), I’ll try it anyway, because what do I have to lose? Nothing but my precious freezer space.…

Marinara-doused somyeon noodles. Meatballs seasoned with sesame oil and soy sauce. Pizza with kimchi on the side, always. If you’re a child of immigrants, like I am, these kinds of cross-cultural combinations might sound familiar. When I was growing up in New York City, I had access to a thrilling bounty of foods: charred lamb gyros, perfectly spiced Jamaican patties, and succulent pernil. This exposure shaped my tastes—as did the traditional Korean cooking I enjoyed at home. My family blended Asian flavors into almost everything we ate; occasionally it felt like a concession (sometimes you just want a plain old sloppy joe like any other kid, you know?). But today that same impulse is practically a trend: I’ve spotted gochujang on chain restaurant menus and bulgogi taco kits at the…