My sweet tooth is relentless. My favorite words are sugar and butter. I taste batter by the spoonful, not the lick (don’t do this, they say it’s unsafe). I refuse to add nuts to brownies, because they take up too much room. I have never once allowed a cookie to “cool completely” before tearing into it like a flea-bitten medieval serf. I dream about ice cream. I thirst for hot chocolate. If I were on death row, my last meal would be caramels dipped in hot fudge. I could go on, but you get the point. My signature colors are simple and sweet.

The apex product for those of us afflicted by (blessed with?) this kind of sugar-lust is pound cake. Dense, moist, rich, thick, sugary pound cake. Happiness really is a fat, golden slab of it, so heavy with butter that lifting a forkful to your mouth counts as a bicep curl. Pound cake is a perfect—and increasingly rare—expression of culinary clarity. It is what it is (butter, sugar, flour, eggs), and it is nothing more. It doesn’t need to be.

Of course, over the years, innumerable riffs have been attempted (inflicted?) on pound cake, usually to disappointing effect. Cranberry pound cake? Sure, but why? Sesame pound cake? Eh, meh. Thyme and pink peppercorn pound cake? Oh, bless your heart. You do you.

But there’s one pound cake twist that I do believe in: Tarting it up.

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I have played with oatmeal forever. I am sure I wasn’t the first person to combine it with cherry tomatoes and soy sauce, but I am equally sure I was the first to write about that, and it’s as winning a ‘recipe’ as I know.

This is just as good, and even better in the winter, when there are no (real) cherry tomatoes. Oats (I’m using Bob’s Red Mill ‘high protein’ oats, which are good), a dropped egg, some sambar spice mix. (This Sourcery sambar is beautiful.)

You want a recipe?

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Maybe you’ve had a “crumb bun” from a deli in New Jersey. Maybe you’ve picked up a shelf-stable “crumb cake” at the supermarket. Maybe you grew up with a relative who served crumb-topped coffee cake on Sunday mornings. I’ve done all of the above. And I’m sorry to say, in all instances, my satisfaction has been tempered by a wistful sense of regret. I regretted that there wasn’t a higher crumble-to-cake ratio. I regretted that the crumbles tumbled away before I could close my mouth around a bite. I regretted the collapse of the partnership between vanilla-scented sponge and heady cinnamon crumbles—a partnership that should have been perfect. Oh, woe.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ll eat it anyway. I’m genetically unequipped to say no to crumb cake; I just don’t have it in me to refuse. But still, I believed there had to be a better version.

Shouldn't crumb cake be bodacious? Brassy? Bold?

I’m not the only one. Many cookbook recipes, and even boxed mixes, offer one mildly promising solution, which is to add a thin layer of crumble mixture to the middle of the cake, so that you’re at least getting a hint of harmony in the body of the thing. It certainly makes for a handsome slice or wedge to serve at a dainty tea party. But a modest strip in the middle of the cake is, well, too modest. Shouldn’t crumb cake be bodacious? Brassy? Bold? I heard the kitchen calling.

I knew that simply piling more crumbles on top of the batter was a fool’s errand. The architecture of crumb cake is already too top heavy, and more crumbles up there would just mean more heartbreak as they tumbled away in ones and twos.

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We’re still in the early days of 2026, but we’ve already moved on from correspondences that begin with “Happy New Year!” A more exciting and evergreen greeting going forward: “Hey, what’s for dinner?” This year (and always, in my opinion) that looks like eating more vegetables.

Seasonal vegetables will forever be the greatest. If you can find them at a farmers’ market, don’t take them for granted. Wherever you can source them, though, they’ll be good for you—in return, treat them with care and accompany them with thoughtful sides and sauces.

A few ways to get yourself on track: Charred winter squash with walnut pesto and radicchio salad—smoky, sweet, herbaceous, and a little bitter. Or, try mushroom patties and sautéed cabbage and onions—comforting, crispy, and with exactly the right balance of acidity. Over the weekend, enjoy grilled cauliflower with eggplant, labneh, and homemade chili oil—toasty, bright, creamy, and slightly spicy.

Even as talk about New Year’s resolutions fade away, these recipes will be ongoing reminders that fresh starts can happen any time.

Charred Winter Squash with Walnut Pesto and Radicchio Salad

Makes: 3-4 servings
Time: 30 minutes

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I’d been busy, so I didn’t have any special plans that Friday night. It would be just me and a DVD of my favorite silly movie, Evil Under the Sun. (If you have never seen this Agatha Christie gem, with Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Sylvia Miles, and Roddy McDowell, stop reading this and go watch it.)

I decided I had a taste for steak frites, which is something I’ve made for a crowd before (people never believe it when you slide a big pile of hot fries onto the table in front of them), but never thought to do for myself. It seemed too, I don’t know, fussy to cook for just one.

But steak frites is what I wanted, dammit, and so I went shopping. The meat counter had an especially fine-looking slab of strip steak, and there was a chubby Yukon Gold fairly begging to be sliced and fried. I gathered a couple of onions, too, for a simple condiment on the side. Oh, and a bunch of parsley because it felt fancy.

A game plan was needed. I knew the onion jam would take the longest, but it’s happy to be left unattended, so I could trust it to do its thing while I tackled the rest. The fries would take about twenty minutes to cook, and because I’d use my favorite cold-oil method to cook them (it works every time), I’d be able to carry on while they, too, cooked happily alone. The steak would take about ten minutes, plus resting time. By moving deliberately and sticking to the plan—first jam, then fries, then steak—everything would be ready for the table at the same time.

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Welcome to the weirdest time of year. Where, no matter what you celebrate, time seems to stand still. Personally, I’ve been in bed for the last couple days with the flu, bingeing on DayQuil and Twin Peaks. And I’m guessing, due to the trends of the last few weeks, some of you are in the same boat.

Once I’m ready to get out of bed, I’m really looking forward to cooking. “Getting dinner on the table” and “cooking” are two different things to me, and the latter is what I like to do in late December. Project cooking. Embracing recipes that require real chunks of time and lots of ingredients and steps and paying attention. It’s not that these recipes are necessarily better than the way most of us cook year-round, but they do feel special, even if it’s just from the eyes of the cook, who knows the efforts and layers that went into it.

I’ve rounded up ten cozy “project” recipes for us all to consider. Some of them are recipes that would normally serve well as a weeknight dinner, but with twists that make them extra special—a traditional chicken soup but made with homemade egg noodles, for example—and some are just things you wouldn’t really choose to make on any random night, like homemade falafel with fixings and zhug. Let us know what you make!

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As the years have gone by, I’ve come to appreciate Bob’s Red Mill more and more for many reasons, but especially these two: One, they’re getting what were once difficult-to-find whole grains, legumes, and other ingredients (unsweetened coconut, for example), into mainstream American markets. The other has been their willingness to respond to trends in food and to create or find new and innovative products, like well-performing gluten-free flour, or fava and chickpea flours.

Because we’re committed to transparency, we wanted to let you know that we’re getting compensated to promote Bob’s. We try to be thoughtful about how we make money, and so we only partner with brands and organizations that we know well and believe in. Bob’s is one of those, and we’re glad to have reasons to promote them.
-mb

Keep calm and cookie on. By now you’ve seen all the gorgeous new cookie recipes online and in magazines. Maybe you’ve carved out time to make a few. Or maybe not, and you’re cookie-less rolling into holiday crunch time. Never fear: we got you.

Even with the holidays breathing down our necks, we’re cool and collected. We’ve got Mark’s classic macaroon recipe in our back pockets. And we’re about to spin the hell out of it.

Macaroons have a rustic charm that requires neither pastry bag nor food coloring. They’re just plain good. With only five ingredients and one mixing bowl, they also happen to be the easiest cookies south of the North Pole. First, you decide whether to go classic (which are naturally gluten-free, by the way), vegan (no chemistry, only a little tofu instead of the eggs), or snappy (with a little flour, they get crisper, sturdier, and more cookie-like).

Then tap into the childlike wonder of the season to make your cookies magical. All you need are some unexpected shapes, sparkly sugar or sprinkles, or a little chocolate, candies, or fruit. In about an hour, you’ll have a homemade gift, potluck contribution, or even a fancy-looking dessert for family celebrations.

For a holiday bonus, here are a handful of recipes to help you make the most of the egg yolks you’ll have after separating out the whites in the recipe:

Homemade Mayonnaise

Cà phê trứng (Egg Coffee)

Michel Keller’s Pain de Gens

Pete’s “This Sauce Is The Pits”

Without wasting another precious minute, let’s demonstrate some ways to create macaroon magic.

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This is the time of year when I make the case that soups from scratch can be as fast and easy as a big salad—and can even more easily be turned into a full, satisfying meal: Just add eggs.

Here are six ideas for using eggs in soup, followed by three recipes to demonstrate some of those hacks, all of them for soups that are ready to eat in less than 45 minutes. And since this is a judgment-free zone, I’ve designed these egg additions to also inspire new takes on convenient frozen, refrigerated, or canned broths and soups.

Let’s start with eggs that simmer in the same pot as the soup. Classic egg drop soup is the most familiar, usually served in a cup as the first course. My version includes suggestions for hearty garnishes—including leftover roast chicken—that use the signature silky texture as a backdrop for a customizable dinner. There are also two other techniques for cooking eggs in soup: First, if poached eggs are your thing, break eggs one at a time into a small bowl, slide them into gently bubbling soup, and cover to cook undisturbed until they’re as runny or firm as you like them. Second, you can use eggs as a thickener. Just before serving, transfer a ladleful of hot broth to a small bowl, whisk to let it cool a bit, then crack in a couple eggs and keep stirring until smooth. Then, with the soup off heat, slowly pour the mixture back into the pot, stirring constantly.

My other three ideas involve cooking eggs separately while the soup bubbles away on the stove. My recipe for beans and greens soup is finished with fried eggs, while the simplest hardboiled eggs—including timing for a few stages of doneness—are nestled into a tomato soup made with canned tomatoes and spiked with your choice of spice blend. (Feel free to swap either egg in either soup.) Another idea is to lightly scramble an egg or two, spoon into the bowl, then top with hot broth or soup.

After planting this seed, I bet you come up with even more fabulous ways to use eggs in soup. Drop me a line at bittman@markbittman.com to tell me about what you made.

Egg Drop Soup with Lots of Toppings

The technique for creating wisps of silky eggs in liquid is a simple way to add protein and body to basic broths. Then, to make it a meal, top with as many extras as you like. Some ideas: shredded rotisserie chicken, leftover grilled or roasted vegetables, crumbled crackers, or a few drops of your favorite hot sauce.

Beans and Greens Soup with Fried Egg

For soup that eats like hearty stew, the greens-and-beans combination always delivers, especially when topped with a fried egg. This is what I call a “universal” recipe—one that works for virtually any bean or green. If you make the beans from scratch, terrific; but with the aromatic vegetables here, canned can be just as flavorful.

Spiced Wintertime Tomato Soup with Hard Boiled Eggs

Here’s the easiest, creamiest homemade tomato soup ever. Each bite brightens the chilliest days—or nights—with a touch of warm spice. And it’s super adaptable: Whole tomatoes you purée yourself deliver rich body and flavor, but crushed or diced are fine in a pinch, and you can skip that step if you want a chunkier soup. You pick the spice, too—curry or chili powder both do the trick. To make this a meal in a bowl, nestle in a hard-boiled egg, done to your liking. And for an even heartier version, add a cup or so of cooked rice just before serving and stir until piping hot.

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Potlucks are meant to be reflections of generosity—abundant, cozy, and nurturing. They’re where we gather for special occasions (or, for no real reason beyond having a good time) and indulge in a variety of dishes that have been passed down from family members or become notorious favorites among friends over the years.

Sometimes, grandma’s nostalgic mashed potatoes don’t have the same effect on friends.

Especially around the holidays, potlucks are about thinking ahead in order to cover all the bases. They’re never a competition, but nobody wants to bring home an arbitrary or repetitive dish that’s barely been touched. Sometimes, grandma’s nostalgic mashed potatoes don’t have the same effect on friends. Pairing rich dips with creamy pastas might make both seem less appealing. Struggles to make space for different takes on similar desserts are entirely avoidable. It’s important to make sure there’s enough to go around for those with allergies and dietary restrictions, too. What’s always welcome is a sense of overpreparedness, and preliminary questions never hurt, either.

So, across the board, what feels festive this season? A welcome beverage; small bites; a warming starter; something hearty (served with generous amounts of crusty bread); a bright and simple salad; good quality cheese; and seasonal fruit with a special treatment for dessert.

We’re covering that lineup with brown sugar pomegranate-limeade; crispy fried squash with creamy and spicy condiments; mushroom soup garnished with pickled mushrooms; braised kale with beans, garlic, and cheese; thinly sliced persimmons with camembert and honey; an easy endive and onion salad; and rooibos-poached apples topped with salted maple whipped cream and toasted walnuts. The recipes are intended for six to eight people, but if your potluck plans are looking smaller or larger, you can easily halve or double the quantities listed as needed.

Make the most of every potluck by compiling ideas for cohesive dishes, delegating shopping and other tasks, and keeping things that travel well top of mind. Also, offer your host a hand whenever you can, from keeping track of RSVPs to clearing tables and cleaning up.

Brown Sugar Pomegranate Limeade

Every good gathering begins with a question: “Can I offer you something to drink?” Around this time of year, a sweet and tangy limeade is a delightful and welcoming treat to add to your beverage offerings. While it might be slightly reminiscent of summer lemonade stands (fun!), its mix of brown sugar—which almost brings a savory element to the table (you’ll taste it when you try it)—and in-season pomegranate will feel a little more fitting for fall and winter. Note: Should you so desire, include a splash of your favorite bourbon when mixing everything together and serve in cocktail glasses with a small sprig of rosemary. Cheers!

Crispy Fried Squash with Avocado Aioli and Salsa Macha

If you happen to be hosting a potluck this season, this is a great dish to contribute. Avocado aioli and salsa macha both come together quite quickly, and they can be made days in advance to free up some time. Once you’ve set up your dredging station and you’re ready to fry, don’t hesitate to ask for help—you’ll want to serve these while they’re fresh. Everyone loves everything crispy, crunchy, and dippable, and this squash is no exception—no crumbs will be left behind.

Mushroom Soup with Pickled Seared Mushrooms

It’s hard to beat a warm bowl of mushroom soup during the colder months—it’s one of the richest ways to enjoy all of that umami. Here, with the addition of seared and pickled mushrooms (that can be prepared ahead of time), there’s extra depth and even more mushroom goodness.

Braised Kale with Beans and Cheese

Hearty and nutritious, a bowl of beans is always a good idea. In this case, though, it’s more of a bowl of braised kale, in which the ratio of greens to beans feels exactly right (and even more nutritious). Best served with warm, buttered crusty bread and a heaping pile of Pecorino Romano or Gruyere, depending on your preferences, this is the kind of dish you’ll want to turn to all season. Note: Feel free to add extra herbs, spices, and seasonings to your taste.

Honey-Soaked Persimmons with Camembert and Sea Salt

Fresh fruit and nice cheese might be one of the best sweet and salty combinations to ever exist. Amped up with honey and flaky salt, thinly sliced persimmons and camembert further the point. Call it a cheese course, or serve it alongside a simple salad and build your plate however you choose—you won’t be let down. Note that camembert tastes best at room temperature, but it’s easier to slice while it’s still cold, so plan and serve accordingly.

Endive and Onion Salad

Wildly simple, but also deeply necessary, a bright and light salad is sometimes the star of the dinner party. Here, the dressing takes almost no time and can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator. This salad is meant to be fresh and balanced as is, but if you wanted to bulk it up, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and homemade croutons or toasted nuts would do the trick.

Rooibos-Poached Apples with Salted Maple Whipped Cream and Toasted Walnuts

Apples, maple syrup, and salted whipped cream? Check, check, check. This dessert is an instant classic, equally light and toasty with a little walnut crunch.

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As the years have gone by, I’ve come to appreciate Bob’s Red Mill more and more for many reasons, but especially these two: One, they’re getting what were once difficult-to-find whole grains, legumes, and other ingredients (unsweetened coconut, for example), into mainstream American markets. The other has been their willingness to respond to trends in food and to create or find new and innovative products, like well-performing gluten-free flour, or fava and chickpea flours.

Because we’re committed to transparency, we wanted to let you know that we’re getting compensated to promote Bob’s. We try to be thoughtful about how we make money, and so we only partner with brands and organizations that we know well and believe in. Bob’s is one of those, and we’re glad to have reasons to promote them.
–mb

Think of how much you enjoy a bowl of popcorn. Maybe you’re sitting on the couch with a bowl in your lap right now, scrolling the mail, reading this story between bites. Cue the lightbulb moment: Since I love this stuff so much, why don’t I cook with it?

We’re with you. And to remedy this obvious oversight, we have started to treat popcorn the same as any other grain-based ingredient. Like croutons, it adds crunch and heft everywhere it goes. Except there’s one big difference: Instead of getting soggy in liquid, popcorn turns pleasantly chewy while its nooks and crannies collect sauce and seasonings.

Also. It tastes corny.

To demonstrate, we’ve developed a popcorn version of “midnight pasta,” so called because the recipe comes together fast enough to eat as a pre-bed snack after a big night. It also happens to be perfect for lunch or easy dinner. You can make it for a crowd, or easily halve or quarter the recipe to serve one or two.

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Once you try the pasta, here are a bunch of ideas of other ways to use popcorn:

• Stuffing (especially those based on cornbread)

• Baked pastas (either inside or crumbled over the surface before baking)

• Casseroles (same as above)

• Risotto (stirred in with the rice so it gets soft, or with the cheese for crunch)

• Polenta (crumbled in with the cornmeal)

• Chili (add just before serving)

• Green salads (instead of croutons)

• Pilafs (during fluff-with-a-fork-before serving)

• Soup (built in as it simmers for chewiness, or as a final crunchy garnish)

• Pie crusts (ground and added to the pastry like nuts)

• Cookies (whole or ground, and folded into the dough like nuts)

• Bread (ground and used like seeds inside or on top)

And now, on to the recipe demonstration:

Stay close to the stove to make sure the popcorn doesn’t scorch. Remove the popcorn from the skillet as soon as it has popped.

This pasta comes together fast, so make sure the ingredients are ready before boiling the noodles.

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Growing up, my favorite part of Thanksgiving season was the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special on CBS. I was five when it aired for the first time in 1973, and every subsequent year, I would start checking the television listings in the newspaper to see when it would be on. It was usually the Sunday or Monday before the holiday, and I’d count the hours in anticipation.

The plot of “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” is simple: resident badass Peppermint Patty’s parents are out of town (a situation which today would spark letters to the network but in the 1970s, no one questioned…ah, freedom). But Patty wants a party, so she cajoles Charlie Brown (er, “Chuck”) into hosting a Thanksgiving feast at his place. She invites the whole gang, including Marcie, Franklin, Sally, and Linus. Charlie protests that all he knows how to make is toast, but Linus, aware that it’s impossible to bat away a force of nature like Patty, convinces him that there’s nothing to do but acquiesce.

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While Charlie sighs in resignation, Snoopy dons his chef’s toque and soon the crew is gathered around a folding table filled with popcorn, jelly beans, ice cream sundaes, and yes, toast. Everyone digs in with gusto, munching happily away—except Patty. She’s pissed. She berates “Chuck” for the nontraditional Thanksgiving meal and Charlie skulks away, ashamed. But after Linus speechifies about the meaning of Thanksgiving, Marcie steps in to patch things up, convincing Patty and Charlie Brown that the holiday isn’t really about the food anyway. It’s about the gratitude.

That was the real lesson, of course, but to my single-digit brain all I could think about was that menu. Popcorn! Pretzels! Jelly beans! Ice cream! What a gorgeous holiday fantasy. Why can’t we do that too, I wondered? Why can’t we fill our Thanksgiving table with good stuff like that? I loved toast! (Still do.)

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As obvious as it is, I never thought to make an omelet with a single egg until I read Kate's piece a few weeks ago. Now, I've made more than a dozen tiny omelets, each time a little different than the last. There's usually a handful of whatever cheese is in the fridge, or the addition of one of the five variations of chili crisp that I have on hand, as Kate suggests, but the version I keep coming back to the most is the Filipino-inspired single-egg tortang talong, which translates to “eggplant omelet.”  It's only two ingredients — an egg and an eggplant, but the process of charring the eggplant black before peeling and dipping it in scrambled egg turns it into something special. 

This takes a few more minutes than Kate's four-minute single-egg omelet, but it's simple just the same.

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First of all: Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you’re not even checking your emails today, and that this post finds you tomorrow, when, presumably, you’ll need it most.

Years ago, I published a piece in the Times Magazine called “A Radical Rethinking of Thanksgiving Leftovers.” It’s a list of mini recipes (somewhere between ideas and full-on instructions) for what to do with the four Thanksgiving leftovers that many of us are most likely to have lying around come Friday: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. It remains my favorite collection of Thanksgiving leftover recipes that I’ve done and, rather than re-jigger the whole thing, I’ve turned it into the equivalent of an album with bonus tracks. Version 2.0 (below) includes all of the original recipe ideas, many of which have been updated to weave in different ingredients and flavor profiles, along with a handful of recipes that were (due to space restrictions) left on the cutting room floor.

Of course, your leftovers may not match these exactly, but there’s enough variety here for you to find at least a few things that will work for what you’ve got on hand. At the very least, consider these “recipes” as a way to stimulate your imagination past the point of the requisite next-day sandwiches.

TURKEY

Turkey-Noodle Soup With Star Anise and Ginger

Cook chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic and ginger in neutral oil until soft, then add chicken or turkey stock, and a few pieces of whole star anise, and bring to a boil. Cook udon or soba noodles in boiling salted water until almost done; drain and stir them into the soup, along with shredded turkey; heat through, and discard the star anise before serving. Garnish: Scallions.

Turkey Salad with Scallions and Smoky, Spicy Mayonnaise

Toss shredded turkey with chopped scallions, celery and cilantro. Fold in mayonnaise, some finely chopped canned chipotle in adobo to taste, and some toasted pumpkin seeds if you like. Garnish: Cilantro.

Indian-Spiced Turkey-Lentil Soup

Cook chopped onion, carrot and celery in butter until soft. Add a sprinkle of curry powder or garam masala and cook until fragrant. Add lentils, a bay leaf and turkey or other stock, and a splash of coconut milk to cover. Bring to a boil; turn the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender. Stir in chopped turkey and heat through. Garnish: Fresh mint.

Pulled-Turkey Sandwich with Hoisin BBQ Sauce

Whisk together ketchup and hoisin sauce (about a half cup of each), a splash of rice-wine vinegar, Chinese five-spice, minced ginger and garlic and some cranberry sauce if you like; add enough water to form a thin sauce. Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, then stir in a pound of shredded turkey and heat through. Serve on toasted hamburger buns or rolls with some shredded cabbage, sliced scallions, or cilantro.

Turkey Carnitas Tacos

Spread shredded turkey in a single layer on a baking sheet (it’s okay if the pieces aren’t super small; include some skin if you can). Toss with any neutral oil, salt, cumin, coriander and/or chili powder. Broil until the edges begin to sizzle and crisp, a few minutes; serve with corn tortillas and the usual taco garnishes.

Arroz con Pavo

Cook sliced onion in olive oil until soft. Stir in short-grain white rice and a pinch of saffron (optional; also optional: cumin and pimento). Nestle turkey into the rice (if you have bone-in pieces, use those). Add chicken or turkey stock to cover by an inch and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Garnish: parsley and lemon wedges.

STUFFING

Eggs Baked in Stuffing

Pack a layer of stuffing into the bottom of a well-greased baking dish or ramekins. (If you have time for a layer of caramelized onions or sautéed mushrooms, even better.) Make indentations and crack eggs into them; sprinkle with grated Parmesan or fontina cheese and bake at 375 until the eggs are just set, 10-15 minutes.

Spicy Stuffing-Stuffed Bell Peppers

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Instead of my usual blather about ingredients and techniques, this week—the official kickoff of the Holiday party season—I’ll get right to the point. You’re busy, maybe a tad stressed. It’s hard work hosting friends and family in relaxed comfort. 

Sometime during the next few weeks, I'm encouraging you to relax with a warm drink. No complicated mixology. Just a simple toddy—with alcohol or not—that smells great, tastes festive, and gives you and your sous chef/bottle washer/helper elf a chance to put your feet up for a minute.

In this spirit, I present three soul-warming seasonal sippers (with parenthetical alcohol-free versions):

• Brown-Buttered Bourbon (or Apple Cider)

• Winter Margaritas (or Hibiscus-Lime Tea)

• Warm-Punched Riesling (or Fancy Grape Juice)

Brown-Buttered Bourbon (or Apple Cider)

Makes: 2 drinks
Time: 10 minutes

When I lived in San Francisco in the early ‘80s and worked in a North Beach "chuckwagon Italian" restaurant, everyone in the joint drank hot brandy after dinner. Some of the old schoolers in the bar would grab me on my way to the kitchen and ask for a pat of butter to float on top—a la hot buttered rum. A foggy and nostalgic night last week inspired this toasty Holiday spin with bourbon. But you can stick with rum or brandy if you like. And the warmed buttered cider is a delicious option for kids, too. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 16 ounces water or apple cider

• Bourbon to taste (optional)

• Sugar to taste (optional)

• Maraschino cherries for garnish

Instructions:

1. Put the butter in a small pot over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it melts, foams, and smells nutty, about 5 minutes. It will suddenly start darkening. When the melted butter turns golden brown, remove the pot from the heat and stop stirring; let the darker solids settle to the bottom.

2. Heat the water or cider on the stove over medium-high heat until it just comes to a boil. (Or use the microwave.)

3. Put as much bourbon as you like (if you’re using it) in the bottom of 2 heatproof glasses or mugs. Sweeten the bubbling water (or cider) with some sugar if you’d like. Pour the hot liquid into the mugs. Add a cherry with some juice from the jar. Top the drink with a couple teaspoons of browned butter. You can stir it in if you’d like or sip the drink through the buttery layer floating on top.

— Recipe developed by Kerri Conan

Brown Buttered Bourbon (or Apple Cider)

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Winter Margaritas (or Hibiscus-Lime Tea)

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The revised How to Cook Everything Vegetarian came out in 2017. I did some of the recipe testing for it, which was really fun. I ate a lot of good things, some of them things that I never thought I’d enjoy but I did — a lot — like the Mostly Vegetable Vegan Quiche. But the shining star of the bunch was Sweet Potatoes Escabeche. 

The crazy thing? Somehow this fabulously memorable recipe did not make it into the book. So when we partnered with Made In on a couple of Instagram reels — right before Thanksgiving, perfect timing — I immediately went to the sweet potatoes as one of the recipes.

Escabeche is a preparation that I love, as it typically utilizes a lot of vinegar and hot peppers; but it’s also interesting because the marinating happens after the cooking, and the dish — fish, meat, or vegetables — is served cold, soaking up its delicious sauce.  

The lost How to Cook Everything Vegetarian sweet potato escabeche is a grilled (or griddled, or broiled) take. Charred sweet potatoes soak up a bright, tasty sauce — garlic, ginger, chile, soy — as they cool. When I tested it, I felt, for at least a moment, that I’d never tasted anything as good. (Don’t be afraid to get the potatoes very crispy on the outside — it will help retain some texture in the final dish.)

Before I get into the second recipe, let’s talk about Made In’s Black Friday sale, going on now, with up to 30% off on items across the site. We talk about Made In a lot, because we love cooking with their products. Here are some picks that would be perfect for the world’s best sweet potatoes:

Carbon Steel Griddle + Press: $29 off for the set. It’s heavy duty, with a beautiful even surface that really maximizes direct heat contact with the food so it gets the potatoes crisp and browned. I’ve used it for so much — chicken thighs, pancakes … the world is your oyster (or sweet potato).

Serving Platter: $10 off. Mark’s beloved red-rim bowls ($14 off) now have an elegant platter to match. 

You can see both in this video Mark and Holly made together:

The second recipe we featured in the reels incorporates one of the best recipes in the Bittman repertoire: Portobello Bacon. You cook shiitakes with pimentón until they’re incredibly crispy and crunchy and almost meaty-tasting, loaded with flavor — simple as anything and you won’t believe how good they are. They go on top of a simple brown rice and brussels sprouts pilaf — yes, also perfect for Thanksgiving — and really, should go on top of just about anything. For this one, we’d recommend The Best Nonstick Pan Ever Made (in our humble opinions). Mark and I are partial to the blue color. The 12-inch is now 20 bucks off — the time is now. See it in action here:

Sweet Potatoes Escabeche

Makes: 4 servings
Time: 40 minutes

Other vegetables you can use: potatoes, bok choy, asparagus.

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 one-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled

• 1 fresh red chile (like Thai bird), seeds removed

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon

• 5 tablespoons good quality vegetable oil

• 1/3 cup soy sauce

• About 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices.

• Salt and pepper

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

1. Prepare charcoal or gas grill to moderate heat or turn on the broiler and put the rack 6 to 8 inches from the heat source.

2. Put the garlic, ginger, chile, lemon zest and juice, 2 tablespoons of oil, and soy sauce in a blender and puree until smooth (if you don’t have a blender, you can use a microplane for finest holes on a box grater to grate the garlic, ginger, and chile; whisk in the lemon zest, juice, olive oil, and soy sauce. Put the potatoes in a large bowl and drizzle on the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil and sprinkle on salt and pepper; Toss to coat. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

3. Grill or broil the potatoes, turning as necessary to prevent burning, until they’re browned and crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, 15 to 25 minutes. Put the potatoes on a serving platter and drizzle the sauce over all. Let sit for at least 10 minutes, garnish with the cilantro if using, and serve warm or at room temperature.

— Recipe courtesy Mark Bittman and Kerri Conan

Sweet Potatoes Escabeche

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Brown Rice and Brussels Sprout Pilaf With Shiitake Bacon

Makes: 4 servings
Time: about an hour

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons olive oil

• 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• Salt and pepper

• 12 ounces Brussels sprouts, trimmed

• 1 small onion, chopped

• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic

• 1 1/2 cups long-grain brown rice (preferably basmati)

• 1/2 cup apple cider, white wine, or water

• 2 1/2 cups vegetable stock or water

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 400°F and position 2 racks toward the center with a few inches in between them. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil and smear each with 1 tablespoon oil. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and save them for another use (like stock). Slice the caps crosswise as thin as you can manage.

2. Spread the mushroom slices on the prepared pans in a single layer (it’s okay if they overlap a bit) and sprinkle with the paprika, salt, and pepper. Transfer the pans to the oven and bake, switching racks and rotating the pans halfway through, until the mushrooms release their water and the pan is almost dry again, 20 to 30 minutes. Lower the heat to 325°F and continue to cook the slices, rotating again to ensure even browning, until they dry and shrivel a bit, and release easily from the pan, another 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

3. Meanwhile, use the slicing blade on a food processor or a knife to thinly slice the Brussels sprouts.

4. Put 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until the onion softens, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the rice, lower the heat to medium, and stir until the rice is glossy, completely coated with oil, and starting to toast, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, then add the apple cider. Cook, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until the cider has mostly evaporated, just a minute or 2. Turn the heat down to low and add the stock and Brussels sprouts. Bring to boil, lower the heat to a steady, gentle bubble, stir once or twice, then cover.

5. From this point, the rice will take about 40 minutes to become tender; check after 30 minutes to make sure there’s enough liquid and, if not, add about 1/4 cup more. When the rice is tender, turn the heat to the absolute minimum (if you have an electric stove, turn the heat off and let the pan sit on the burner), and let rest, covered, for another 15 to 30 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and the dill and fluff with a fork. Taste and adjust the seasoning, fluff again, garnish with the mushroom bits, and serve.

— Recipe from Dinner for Everyone

Brown Rice And Brussels Sprout Pilaf With Shiitake Bacon

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Hot tip: Select colors of the Thermapen® ONE, the best instant-read thermometer out there—one second readings!—are 35% off for a limited time. A perfect Thanksgiving tool. Get yours here.

In September 1997, the New York Times created a food section, irrationally titled “Dining In/Dining Out.” (It’s now, thankfully, called “Food.” Imagine if the Business section had been called “Making Money/Losing Money.”) After a few weeks of producing The Minimalist, my editor—the great Rick Flaste—had a brainstorm: Why not do “The Minimalist’s Thanksgiving,” all the recipes you need and want, done in the same amount of time it takes to roast a turkey: three hours.

A year or two later, we went one step better, splitting that turkey down the middle (“spatchcocking”) and cutting the roasting time in half. The whole dinner still takes about three hours to make, but the turkey is faster, tastier, more evenly cooked, and easier to carve at the table. 

Accompaniments are a Pierre Franey-inspired stuffing; sherry gravy; sweet potato home fries; green beans; cranberry orange relish; a salad of gorgonzola and mesclun; and for dessert, there’s pumpkin parfait. As I said in the original story, “You can do more work if you like … but I don't see the point.” I’ve done this meal, or something very much like it, for at least half of my Thanksgivings in the intervening 25 years, and never been disappointed.

The original article appears below, which includes the all-important backwards timeline to dinner. (Updates are flagged in itals; the recipes are now written in my slightly more detailed 2023 style.) For fewer or more than 12 guests, the quantities—except for the turkey—are easily divided or multiplied. And if you’re hosting a huge gathering, consider asking others to bring something from their vintage recipe box.

The Minimalist
Give Thanks: In Three Hours, From Scratch
By Mark Bittman
Nov. 19, 1997

If a minimalist approach to satisfying food makes sense on most ordinary days, a holiday like Thanksgiving demands it in the name of survival. This year, I vowed to minimize everything but my expectation for a great meal: time, number of ingredients and, most of all, work. Heretical as it may seem, I thought it might be fun for the cook to have enough energy to enjoy the meal for a change.

My idea was to buy all the food for a sumptuous meal in one trip and prepare the entire feast for 12 in the time it took to roast my 15-pound turkey—roughly three hours. Two rehearsal meals demonstrated that, with one minor exception, the plan works, producing as traditional a Thanksgiving dinner as you can get without spending an entire day—or more—in the kitchen.

And there are no convenience foods—even the stuffing and the cranberry sauce were made from scratch, each in less than 10 minutes. If I didn't stand over a hot stove for two days, as my grandmothers always did, I still prepared more food than anyone could possibly finish; and with all due respect to my ancestors, there were many aspects of this meal—thanks to the high-quality ingredients we now have available—that were fresher and better tasting than any Thanksgiving food I ate as a child.

The Menu:

Turkey with bread stuffing and sherry gravy: To get good-tasting turkey, you have to start with a decent bird. This, I admit, I learned from my maternal grandmother. Like her, I use kosher turkey, available at nearly every supermarket in the New York metropolitan area. It's tastier and moister than other commercial turkey. A high-heat boost at the beginning gets the bird cooking fast, ensures browning and keeps roasting time well under three hours. (Here the turkey is cut open and roasted in about 45 minutes.)

The stuffing was inspired by a recipe from Pierre Franey, the late celebrated chef and food columnist, who often roasted a chicken stuffed with a ''sandwich'' of bread, liver, and parsley. I've tinkered with it to suit my own taste; the result is a light, somewhat unconventional stuffing that resembles a smooth pate. Conventional or not, it was eaten even by the kids at my two mock Thanksgivings, in October [1997]. You can make it and stuff the bird in less time than it takes to heat the oven. (With no cavity to fill, we adjusted the stuffing recipe so there’s a little more, the crusts stay on the bread, and it roasts in a pan next to the turkey.) 

The gravy relies on pan drippings but is finished with nothing more than water; good, relatively dry sherry, and butter. It's made in 10 minutes or so, as the turkey rests before carving.

Sweet potato home fries with garlic and parsley: There's no room in the average home's oven for both a 15-pound turkey and a sweet-potato casserole, or even baked sweet potatoes, so preparing either of those would have stretched the cooking time by at least an hour. I got around that problem by starting the potatoes in boiling water, then transferring them to a roasting pan to finish cooking after the turkey comes out of the oven. Garlic and extra virgin olive oil add punch, and parsley makes the colors pop. Peeling, parboiling, and roasting add up to about 40 minutes.

Green beans with lemon: The green beans are precooked in boiling water (you can use the same water for both sweet potatoes and green beans), then finished at the last minute with both juice and zest of lemon. Total time, including picking over three pounds of beans: about 20 minutes.

No-cook cranberry-orange relish: A handful of mint and a couple of pinches of cayenne take the now-classic recipe a step further. Start to finish, 5 minutes, including washing the food processor.

A lemony pear, mesclun, and Gorgonzola salad: A far cry from the ordinary, but not much more work. Peel and slice some pears, wash and dry some mesclun, crumble some Gorgonzola. Dress with bottled dressing if you must, but I prefer extra virgin olive oil and sherry or balsamic vinegar, or a homemade vinaigrette. This will take 15 to 20 minutes to put together.

Pumpkin parfait: I wanted a no-bake dessert, but still had to compromise on my three-hour rule a little, because this dessert—inspired by an idea from my colleague Suzanne Hamlin—needs a few hours in the freezer. Still, the active working time is about 20 minutes. You start with canned pumpkin puree, stir in cream, milk and spices, and freeze. Several hours (or days) later—when you're ready for dessert—you cut up the frozen puree and put it into the food processor, which makes it smooth and creamy. Layer this ingenious creation with lightly whipped cream if you like—or not. (To make this even more like pumpkin pie, we’ve added a sprinkling of maple-spiked graham cracker crumbs, which only add a couple minutes. There’s also a trifle-style assembly option now.)

I start my guests off with cheese and crackers, and pass mixed nuts and fresh fruit after the meal. 

Ready, Set, Countdown To Dinner

Timing is never exact, but it's still wise to have a Thanksgiving Day battle plan. If you're the nervous type, allow an extra half-hour. But in any case, do not begin roasting the turkey more than three-and-a-half-hours before you plan to serve it.

A day or two before Thanksgiving: Mix and freeze the pumpkin puree.

Zero minus 3 hours: Heat the oven. Rinse the turkey. Prepare the stuffing, stuff the bird and put it in oven.

Zero minus 2 1/2 hours: Peel, cut and boil the potatoes. Turn down the oven heat, and check the turkey. Make the cranberry relish.

Zero minus 2 hours: Drain and cool the potatoes; toss them in a roasting pan with the garlic and oil. Trim and boil string beans. Check the turkey.

Zero minus 1 1/2 hours: Drain and cool the string beans. Zest and juice the lemons. Check the turkey.

Zero minus 1 hour: Crumble the Gorgonzola; wash and dry the mesclun; make the vinaigrette. Pick over and chop the parsley for the potatoes. Check the turkey.

Zero minus 30 minutes: Assemble the salad, but don't dress it. Ready the ingredients for the sherry gravy. Check the turkey with an instant-read thermometer. Remove it when ready.

Zero minus 15 minutes: After removing the turkey, crank up the oven heat and put in the potatoes. Heat a skillet, and finish the green beans.

Zero Hour: Force someone else (an in-law is good) to carve the turkey while you make the sauce and finish the string beans. Put everything on the table except the salad, which you can dress and serve after or during the main part of the meal.

Afterward: While dinner plates are cleared, prepare the pumpkin mousse and serve.

45-Minute Roast Turkey With Stuffing on the Side

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Here’s a meatless recipe from Andrea Nguyen’s Ever-Green Vietnamese (we love that title!) that illustrates her modern approach to classic flavors. Ever-Green Vietnamese offers lots of vegan and less-meat options, including sauces and seasonings, starters, soups, salads, mains, and of course banh mi. We encourage you to join me and Kerri as we explore food and more with Andrea and her mom, Clara, on this week’s episode of Food with Mark Bittman.

LISTEN HERE

Follow Food with Mark Bittman on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Pocket Casts | Amazon Music

Char Siu Roasted Cauliflower

Bông Cải Trắng Nướng Vị Xá Xíu

Makes a generous 1 pound, 4 servings

In tropical Vietnam, cauliflower is a prized cool-weather crop that’s typically stir-fried, added to soup, or pickled. Home ovens are uncommon in Vietnam, so few people roast cauliflower. In my California kitchen, however, I coat cauliflower wedges in salty-sweet-spicy seasonings typically reserved for Cantonese-style char siu barbecue pork, and then high-heat roast them. The contours of the wedges caramelize here and there to develop a deep savoriness that evokes the prized edges and corners of char siu pork. Serve this cauliflower as a satisfying main dish or tuck it into bao and banh mi. — Ever-Green Vietnamese

Ingredients:

• 2-pound head cauliflower

• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon agave syrup or mild honey

• Scant 1 tablespoon ketchup

• 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

• 2 garlic cloves, minced and mashed or put through a garlic press

• 1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

Instructions:

Cut the cauliflower
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pull off or cut away large leaves from the cauliflower, saving them for soup or broth, if you like. Trim a slice from the core end, where it’s likely discolored. While holding the cauliflower at a comfortable angle, curved-side down, insert your knife tip into the core. As you push the knife in farther, gently rock the blade side to side and back and forth. In a few seconds, the cauliflower head should crack and naturally break into two halves (mine are always uneven).

Now, cut each half into four wedges, each no thicker than 3 inches on the uneven floret side. (Hold the cauliflower flat-side or curved-side down, whichever is more comfortable. Cut an additional wedge only if you must.) Using a dish towel, dry the wedges so they’ll absorb the seasonings well.

Season and roast
In a big bowl, stir together the hoisin sauce, sesame oil, agave syrup, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic, and five-spice powder. Add the cauliflower wedges and, using a big spoon or spatula, stir to coat well. Most of the seasonings should adhere. Spread the wedges out onto the prepared baking sheet, cut-side down. Drizzle or smear any remaining seasoning from the bowl onto the wedges.

Roast the cauliflower for 15 minutes, use tongs to turn over the wedges, and then roast for 10 minutes longer. Liquid will appear on the pan. Continue roasting for 10 to 15 minutes, during which the liquid will concentrate, bubble, and thicken. As that happens, use the tongs or a spatula to flip the cauliflower pieces about three times so they pick up the seasonings. When done, the cauliflower should look richly browned and be tender yet slightly chewy. A knife tip pierced into the thickest core areas usually meets a little resistance. The total roasting time is about 40 minutes.

To get a slightly deeper color and flavor, keep the baking sheet in its place and switch on the broiler for about 60 seconds, monitoring carefully to avoid burning. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and let it rest a few minutes to develop flavor before serving.

Note
Cutting cauliflower into wedges (instead of steaks) is initially tricky, but it minimizes waste.

— Reprinted with permission from Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea by Andrea Nguyen, copyright © 2023. Photographs copyright © 2023 by Aubrie Pick. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Andrea Nguyen's Char Siu Roasted Cauliflower

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