Duck Carnitas With

Radish Escabèche
P. 59

P. 59

P. 48

P. 56

P. 46
 March VOLUME 65 NUMBER 2

STUFFED CABBAGE
HAS NEVER
BEEN CUTER.
P. 78

PHOTOGRAPH BY LAURA MURRAY. FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH. PROP STYLING BY SOPHIE STRANGIO.
HOME A WAY B AS I C A L LY

11 24 31 38 89
The Buy Talk You Destination Highly How to Do Dishes
Heirloom spices Through It Spicy jerk chicken Recommend Step 1: Stop “letting
that’ll supercharge An amaro spritz with tamarind jam. The neon-lit Egyptian it soak.”
your cooking. recipe so easy we Tangy injera with spot we stan, plus BY SARAH JAMPEL
BY SARAH JAMPEL could text it to you. tomato-tuna stew. other endorsements.
BY ALEX DELANY We’re off to D.C., ETIQUET TE
12 the Black food capital 40
The One-Sheet 26 of the country. Dish Decoded 96
Let’s take a deep Having People BY RYAN WALKER-
This cake has more Is It Ever Okay…
dive into fish sauce. Over HARTSHORN layers than your ex. Grocery shopping
BY ALEX BEGGS Please your guests BY RACHEL KARTEN
advice from
and maintain your 37
14 42 Alex Beggs.
sanity with this hands- Person of Interest
Family Meal off spicy, cheesy How chef Meherwan Shop Tour
The winter veg that Vintage meets ON THE COVER
baked pasta. Irani’s cooking
saves our weeknights, modern at Someday Duck Carnitas Tacos With Radish
BY ALISON ROMAN connects his Indian
and more. in Richmond, VA. Escabèche (for recipe, see p.59).
and Southern roots. Photograph by Laura Murray.
BY CHRISTINA CHAEY INTERVIEW BY BY ALEX DELANY
Food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich.
ELYSE INAMINE Lettering by Miguel Reyes.

2 – MARCH 2020
roomandboard.com
 March

THE FUNYUN
CONTENT
YOU’VE BEEN
WAITING FOR.
P. 8 0

44
Taco Nation
Tacos have taken
over Stateside.
Long may they reign.
RECIPES BY
RICK MARTINEZ

60
Going Dutch
In praise of the Dutch
oven, a kitchen
tool that really
carries its weight.
BY JESSE SPARKS
RECIPES BY MOLLY BAZ
AND CHRIS MOROCCO

68
Alternative
Food Pyramids
Cartoonist Liana
Finck takes nutritional
guidelines where
the USDA won’t.
70
Needs More Acid
When life gives you
lemons (or limes or
tamarind), cook with
them! Six recipes that
prove the bright and
sour power of acid.
BY ANDY BARAGHANI

80
Crispy, Inc.
The world loves
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX LAU. FOOD STYLING BY SUSIE THEODOROU.

crispy. It makes sense.

Have you had potato
chips? But creating
crispy, crunchy
perfection isn’t easy.
BY ALEX BEGGS

IN EVERY ISSUE
8 editor’s letter
94 recipe index
94 sourcebook

4 – MARCH 2020
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 Editor in Chief
ADAM RAPOPORT
Creative Director MICHELE OUTLAND
Deputy Editor JULIA KRAMER
Director of Editorial Operations CRISTINA MARTINEZ
Digital Director CAREY POLIS

Editorial Design Food

Features Editor MERYL ROTHSTEIN Design Director CHRIS CRISTIANO Test Kitchen Director CHRIS MOROCCO
Bonappetit.com Editor SASHA LEVINE Art Director CHRISTA GUERRA Senior Food Editors ANDY BARAGHANI, MOLLY BAZ,
Healthyish Editor AMANDA SHAPIRO Associate Art Director LETICIA SARMENTO ANNA STOCKWELL
Basically Editor SARAH JAMPEL Senior Designer BRYAN FOUNTAIN Assistant Food Editor SOHLA EL -WAYLLY
Senior Staff Writer ALEX BEGGS Art Assistant ANNALEE SOSKIN Test Kitchen Manager GABY MELIAN
Digital Restaurant Editor ELYSE INAMINE Test Kitchen Video Host BRAD LEONE
Associate Editors HILARY CADIGAN, Photography Recipe Editor LIESEL DAVIS
CHRISTINA CHAEY, ALEX DELANY
Senior Visuals Editor MICHELLE HEIMERMAN Digital Recipe Editor JILL BAUGHMAN
Assistant Editor ALIZA ABARBANEL
Associate Visuals Editor EMMA FISHMAN Food Editor at Large CARLA LALLI MUSIC
Assistant Editorial Producer EMMA WARTZMAN
Editorial Assistant JESSE SPARKS Senior Staff Photographer ALEX LAU Contributing Food Editor CLAIRE SAFFITZ
Assistant to the Editor in Chief RYAN WALKER-HARTSHORN Staff Photographer LAURA MURRAY Contributing Food Editor RICK MARTINEZ
Contributing Food Stylist REBECCA JURKEVICH
Contributing Editors Operations
Editor at Large ANDREW KNOWLTON Editorial Operations Manager NICK TRAVERSE Digital
Editor at Large AMIEL STANEK Production Manager MATT CARSON Associate Director of Social Media RACHEL KARTEN
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Wine Editor MARISSA A. ROSS Copy Director GREG ROBERTSON Associate Analytics Director CLARA CHEN
Contributing Writer PRIYA KRISHNA Copy Manager BRIAN CARROLL Audience Development Manager ALEX PASTRON
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Chief Business Officer

JENNIFER MORMILE
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6 – MARCH 2020
 eatbasically.com

A BON APPÉTIT BRAND

can’t cook. no problem.

 Editor ’s Letter

How could
you not be
happy at Los
Tacos No. 1
in NYC?

In the months following, I realized that a guy from Roberto’s

My Taco would show up on campus most nights with a cooler packed full
Education of foil-wrapped tacos and burritos, hawking them to hungry
dorm-bound freshmen. It was like the Good Humor truck rolling
up on my block: I’d jump up from my desk and sprint downstairs
to get first pick.
“ H E Y , C ’M O N — we’re
going to Roberto’s.” Those Roberto’s runs became a source of comfort to me, a
“Wait, what’s Roberto’s?” homesick 18-year-old attending college across the country from
“Seriously?” his friends and family. They quickly felt like home in a school
Freshman year, UC San Diego, spring of 1988. This was before and city that didn’t.
I knew from crispy carnitas and hand-pressed flour tortillas so All these years later, as editor in chief of Bon Appétit, when
thin and so laden with fat that I could see through them. Before I get that pang for carne asada or pollo asado, I walk over to Los
I had gotten deeply acquainted with freshly chopped pico de Tacos No. 1, an authentic Tijuana-style taqueria a few blocks
gallo, redolent of cilantro and chiles. Before I had come to rely from work. During the lunch rush it’s jammed with hungry,
on charred and whacked pollo asado as a college-student lunch- impatient New Yorkers of all stripes clamoring to the harried
time staple. taqueros for a few more crispy bits of the spit-roasted al pastor
Growing up in Washington, D.C., in the late ’70s and early ’80s, or just a smidge more (please!) of guacamole.
to me Mexican food meant Taco Tuesdays, which meant store- It’s this unrelenting passion and hunger for quality tacos that
bought hard shells, pre-shredded orange cheese, iceberg lettuce, fuels our 16-page “Taco Nation” feature (see p. 44), a deep,
and ground beef sautéed with a “taco-seasoning” flavor packet. fragrant, juicy dive into a food that has become quintessential
I didn’t get it. to the American experience. As Rick Martinez and editor Hilary
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAURA MURRAY

And to be honest, I didn’t get much back then. I considered Cadigan prove from their exhaustive and absolutely delicious
Nikki Sixx my style icon. reporting, we’re now an entire nation of taco lovers, and no
So there I was freshman year, getting hauled off by a friend to longer just on Tuesdays.
this local family-owned taco chain, where I was told to order the
carne asada with guac and cheese. I can still vividly remember A DA M R A P O P O R T
my first bite all these years later. That emoji of the head explod- edi tor in chie f
ing? That was me. @rapoport on instagram

8 – MARCH 2020
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 GET DOWN YO U R N E W FAV E
WITH FISH SAUCE HOUSE DRINK
p . 12 R e c i p e s , E s s e n t i a l G o o d s , a n d Te s t K i t c he n K n o w - H o w p. 24

With cinnamon
this sweet, who
needs sugar?

Read If
You Love
Flavor
A recent dinner party
ended with me
passing around a jar
of Burlap & Barrel’s
Royal Cinnamon,
begging my friends
to try it straight off
the spoon. Harvested
from an heirloom
Vietnamese species,
it smells like Big Red
gum and tastes so
sweet you’ll swear
it’s sugar-spiked.
Like all of Burlap &
Barrel’s products,
which are available
online (from $6;
burlapandbarrel.com),
it’s sourced directly
from farms and farm
cooperatives, which
means greater profits
for producers and
higher-quality spices
PHOTOGRAPH BY EMMA FISHMAN.

for me. Even when

I use half the amount
called for in a recipe,
FOOD STYLING BY SUE LI

my morning buns,
snickerdoodles, and
pies turn out brighter
and more fragrant than
any I’ve baked before.
—SARAH JAMPEL
 H o m e – Th e O n e - S h e e t

A condensed guide to cooking and seasoning with:

Fish Sauce
What It Is How to Use It
A fermented condiment typically A little goes a long way—sprinkle
made from anchovies that’s glorious a few drops anywhere you want a bit
umami razzle -dazzle in a bottle. of extra-savory funk. Try it in:

The Vinaigrettes Marinades

101
Pasta sauces Soups
where you’d
BUYING STORING use anchovies,
like marinara Stir -fries

The good stuff It stays good

has just two for several Braised Hello,
meats yogurt dips!
ingredients: years, though it
fish and salt. may darken
Some brands and concentrate
add sugar for in flavor over MAKE IT: NUOC CHAM
balance, which time. If your
isn’t the end of kitchen gets hot, This quick and potent
the world, but or if you don’t
anything else is use fish sauce Vietnamese staple sauce
suspect (e.g., often, keep it in pairs with any protein,
preservatives). the refrigerator.
salads, or roasted
H O W ’S I T M A D E ?
vegetables. Whisk 2 Tbsp.
fresh lime juice, 2 Tbsp.
fish sauce, ½ tsp. sugar,
ANCHOVIES
and 1 Tbsp. water in
The most commonly used fish; some a small bowl until sugar is
brands contain trace amounts of bycatch
like squid and other small swimmers.
dissolved. Mix in 1 finely
chopped small garlic
+
clove and 1 Tbsp. finely
chopped cilantro.
SALT
Draws out moisture and preserves the
anchovies so they can ferment for long A Fish Sauce by
periods of time without spoiling.
Any Other Name…
+ Nuoc mam and nam pla are among
the most widely available types
of fish sauce in the U.S., but it exists
in slightly varying styles all over
TIME the world. Maybe you’ve met a few:
The salted fish age in barrels for six months
to a year (or longer). Microbes grow BURMA LAOS
on the fish, deepening the sauce’s flavor. ngan-pya-ye nam pa
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAURA MURRAY

CAMBODIA M A L AYS I A
= tuk trey budu
I TA LY PHILIPPINES
colatura di alici patis
FISH SAUCE J A PA N THAILAND
The liquid is strained and sun-dried, Red Boat , our favorite Vietnamese fish shottsuru nam pla
then aged a month or so more in ceramic sauce ($9 for 250 ml; surlatable.com), KOREA VIETNAM
urns or plastic barrels before bottling. has a deep, not-too-salty flavor. aekjeot nuoc mam

12 – M A R C H 2 0 2 0 BY A L E X B E G G S
 COLLECTION
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 Home

Family Meal
A warming pork curry, spicy katsu sandwiches,
and more recipes we’re loving this month

Napa cabbage
is a cinch to prep:
Tear the leaves,
then thinly slice the
thick white ribs.

Pick a head
that’s heavy for
its size with
a tight web of
leafy layers.

I T ’S H A R D T O
remember what we ate
before this Golden Age of
Brassicas. You know the
ones: Cauliflower. Broccoli.
Brussels sprouts. KALE.
(Seriously, what were we
doing before kale?!) In the
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX LAU. FOOD STYLING BY SUSIE THEODOROU.

midst of these dark lettuce-

less months, we’ve also
been turning to juicy and
crisp Napa cabbage for a
fresh fix. The leafy, showy
cousin of the brassica family
is great stir-fried or added
to soups but also shines when
given the salad treatment:
Massage torn or sliced
leaves with a good pinch of
salt until well-seasoned and
pliable but still snappy. Toss
with a bracing vinaigrette or
use as a crunchy topping for
the curry on the next page.
— C H R I ST I N A C H A E Y

14 – M A R C H 2 0 2 0
Photograph / Alina Tsvor

IMMER
SIVE
TRIPS
JUST F
OR
WOMEN

M E X I C O

WE’RE GOING TO MEXICO

a n d yo u c a n c o m e w i t h u s
c n t r a v e l e r. c o m / w w t t r i p s t o r e a d m o r e a n d b o o k
 Home – Family Meal

Turmeric-Coconut 4 S E RV I N G S 8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ head of Napa cabbage (halved 1 tsp. ground turmeric
Curry With Pork lengthwise), thinly sliced 1 13.5-oz. can unsweetened
Come for the 30-minute curry. Stay Kosher salt coconut milk
for the refreshing salted cabbage 2 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil Cooked rice (for serving)
you’ll want to put on everything 1 lb. ground pork, turkey, or chicken Plain whole-milk Greek yogurt,
R E C I P E BY C H R I S M O R O C C O 1 medium onion, thinly sliced toasted unsweetened coconut
1 2" piece ginger, peeled, grated flakes, cilantro leaves, and lime
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced wedges (for serving; optional)

1. Toss cabbage with a pinch

of salt in a medium bowl, then
massage with your hands until
slightly softened, about 1 minute.
Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large Dutch
oven or other heavy pot over
medium-high. Add pork and
cook, undisturbed, until browned
underneath, about 2 minutes.
Break up pork with a wooden
spoon or heatproof rubber spatula
and continue to cook, tossing and
breaking up as much as possible,
until browned all over but still pink
in spots, about 2 minutes more.
Add onion, season with salt,
and cook, stirring occasionally,
until softened, about 3 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add
ginger, chile, garlic, and turmeric
and cook, stirring often and
reducing heat if bottom of pan
gets very dark, until vegetables
are softened and fragrant,
about 4 minutes. Add coconut
milk and ½ cup water and
bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring
occasionally, until liquid is slightly
thickened, about 5 minutes. Each of the
Taste and season with salt. recipes in
this section:
4. Spoon rice onto plates and top
with reserved cabbage. Spoon Takes under
1 hour
curry over and top with a dollop —
of yogurt, coconut flakes, and Has 10
cilantro if desired. Serve with lime ingredients
wedges if using. or fewer
(not including
salt, pepper,
and one
cooking fat)
—
Requires no
special gadgets
or appliances

16 – M A R C H 2 0 2 0 P H O T O G R A P H S BY L A U R A M U R R AY
 EVEN BUTTER
LOVERS LOVE IT
- Lynn Rupley Smith -
229-TIME STATE FAIR
BAKING CHAMPION

Lynn’s 2019 Winning Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

with Country Crock® Plant Butter

© 2019 Upfield | All rights reserved

Cooks, Bakes and Tastes Like Butter.

Tested and when used with Country Crock Plant Butter® sticks.
 Home – Family Meal

Cauliflower Rice Pilaf 4 S E RV I N G S ½ cup sliced blanched almonds

1 large head of cauliflower (about ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
We love the combo of buttery
2¼ lb.), leaves removed, stem ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
almonds and raisins, but you can
trimmed, coarsely chopped into Kosher salt
swap in any nut or dried fruit
1"–2" pieces 3 Tbsp. chopped golden raisins
R E C I P E BY L A U R E N S C H A E F E R
4 scallions
3 Tbsp. ghee or unsalted butter,
divided

1. Working in batches if
needed, pulse cauliflower in a
food processor to break up
into rice-size pieces (be careful
not to overprocess). Transfer to
a medium bowl.
2. Remove dark green tops from
scallions and thinly slice on a
diagonal; set aside for serving.
Finely chop white and pale green
parts and set aside separately.
3. Melt 2 Tbsp. ghee in a medium
skillet over medium-high heat.
Add almonds and cook, tossing
occasionally, until golden, about
3 minutes; remove from heat. Add
red pepper flakes and cinnamon,
season with salt, and toss to coat.
Transfer to a large bowl.
4. Melt remaining 1 Tbsp. ghee
in same skillet over medium-high
heat. Cook reserved white and
pale green scallion parts, stirring
constantly, until golden brown,
about 3 minutes. Add raisins and
reduce heat to medium-low.
Add cauliflower and season with
salt. Cook, tossing occasionally,
until cauliflower begins to release
some steam and is just tender,
about 3 minutes.
5. Transfer cauliflower to bowl
with almond mixture and toss to
combine. Taste and season
with more salt if needed. Scatter
reserved scallion tops over.

Yes, you can make this

with store -bought
riced cauliflower—we
don’t judge here.

18 – M A R C H 2 0 2 0
 Home – Family Meal

Spicy Chicken MAKES 4 1 large egg

½ cup mayonnaise 2 cups panko
Katsu Sandwiches ¼ cup chopped bread-and-butter 4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs,
If a katsu sando took a trip to pickles (optional) lightly pounded to ½" thick
Nashville and got together with hot 2 Tbsp. plus ¼ cup hot sauce ¼ cup (or more) extra-virgin olive oil
chicken, this would be the result 1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more 8 slices milk bread, white sandwich
R E C I P E BY C H R I S M O R O C C O ½ cup all-purpose flour bread, or potato buns
3 Tbsp. cayenne pepper Shredded iceberg lettuce
2 tsp. garlic powder (for serving)

Rest the chicken on

a wire rack to preserve
maximum crunch.

1. Combine mayonnaise,
pickles (if using), and 2 Tbsp. hot
sauce in a small bowl. Season
with salt; set spicy mayo aside.
2. Whisk flour, cayenne, garlic
powder, and remaining 1 tsp. salt
in a medium bowl. Whisk egg
and remaining ¼ cup hot sauce
in another medium bowl. Place
panko on a large plate. Working
one at a time, dredge chicken
in flour mixture, turning to coat.
Shake off any excess. Dip into
egg mixture, letting excess drip
back into bowl. Dredge in panko,
turning to coat. Transfer to a large
plate or rimmed baking sheet.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over
medium-high until shimmering.
Working in 2 batches, cook
chicken, reducing heat to medium
if it’s browning too quickly, until
golden and very crisp, about
3 minutes per side. (It’s okay to
add a splash more oil if needed
for the second batch.) Transfer
chicken to a wire rack.
4. Spread reserved spicy mayo
over one side of each bread slice.
Top 4 slices with chicken and
lettuce and close up sandwiches.

M A R C H 2 0 2 0 – 21
 Home – Family Meal

Chickpea Bowls 4 S E RV I N G S Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

2 garlic cloves, finely grated 1½ cups plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
With Lemony Yogurt 1 Tbsp. ground coriander 5 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice, divided
Our idea of a reset meal: A heap 1 Tbsp. ground cumin 1 medium fennel bulb, halved
of warm spiced vegetables 6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
that feels anything but austere plus more for drizzling 1 serrano chile, thinly sliced (optional)
R E C I P E BY A N DY B A R AG H A N I 4 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 cup very coarsely chopped parsley
1½ lb.), cut into ½"-thick wedges 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
2 15-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Mix

garlic, coriander, cumin, and
6 Tbsp. oil in a large bowl. Add
sweet potatoes and chickpeas;
season with salt and pepper. Toss
to coat.
2. Transfer chickpea mixture to a
rimmed baking sheet and spread
out into an even layer. Wipe out
bowl; reserve. Bake, tossing once,
until sweet potatoes are tender Try cauliflower,
and chickpeas are golden brown, brussels sprouts, or
35–40 minutes. carrots in place
of the sweet potatoes.
3. Meanwhile, mix yogurt,
2 Tbsp. lemon juice, and a big
pinch of salt in a small bowl.
4. Toss fennel, chile (if using),
parsley, sesame seeds, and
remaining 3 Tbsp. lemon juice in
reserved bowl; season with salt.
5. Spread yogurt mixture into
bowls and top with chickpea
mixture. Scatter fennel salad over
and drizzle with more oil.

FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH

22 – MARCH 2020
Makes
broccoli less
broccoli-ey.

© 2019 Kraft Foods

 H o m e – Ta l k Yo u Th r o u g h I t

117 Words on…

The Spritz You Should Know by Heart

(FYI: Large ice cubes keep cocktails from diluting

too quickly; we like the W&P Peak Extra Large
Ice Cube Tray, $14; wandpdesign.com.) Fill a
Collins or tall juice glass with the cracked ice.
Pour about 3 oz. club soda into the glass, then
FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH. ILLUSTRATIONS BY SUPERFREAK.

a squeeze of fresh
lemon juice,

for a drink that’s equal parts sweet, bitter,

and bright—exactly what you’d want before or
after dinner…or at lunch. — A L E X D E L A N Y
24 – MARCH 2020 P H O T O G R A P H BY L A U R A M U R R AY
 Home – Having People Over

A Very Persuasive Pasta

Alison Roman couldn’t find a baked
pasta she liked. So she made one she did

CARBS FOR A CROWD

Th is h ands -o f f pasta is
great for a low -key dinner
par t y (o r e at it al on e o n
t he c o u c h wa t c h i n g N e t f l i x ,
we d o n ’t c a re ! ) .

26 – MARCH 2020 P H OTO G R A P H S BY DAV I D M A LO S H

Chef Carolina Diaz
Terzo Piano
Chicago, IL

When you spend time artfully crafting your

dishes, you need a pasta that’s artfully crafted.
Bronze cut for a texture that perfectly holds sauces.
 A
S A CRITIC OF
unfortunately soft and too-
saucy foods, the concept
of baked pasta has never
appealed to me. The whole “dump
ingredients into a baking dish and hope
for the best” thing feels like the food
equivalent of wearing sweatpants to run
errands (please don’t do it!). When it
comes to carbohydrate consumption,
you can have your baking dish full
of cheese pulls and overcooked penne
and I’ll take my skillet of al dente just-
glossed strands of spaghetti.
But then again, if I’m making pasta
for a crowd, I’d prefer to have something
that can be assembled, say, ahead of
time. Something that doesn’t require my
attention while guests arrive, can feed
up to eight people, contains more cheese
than should be legally allowed, and has
an almost so-retro-it’s-cool-again feel. So
I guess what I’m trying to say is: I want
baked pasta.
But I want a really good version.
I go the greens-and-cheese route,
which to me seems a little more elevated
than the tomato route. It reminds me of
broccoli-cheddar soup (a taste I enjoyed
as a child and have pretty much been
chasing for the better part of my adult
life), but better and with lots of texture
(my top priority).
Loads of wilted leeks and greens
(I like the bitterness of broccoli rabe)
get tossed with heavy cream (which
negates the need for a béchamel here—
I will do anything to avoid making a
béchamel), grated cheese, and very
Purina trademarks are owned by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.

al dente pasta. You can use any tubular

shape you enjoy, but I will say there is
an unspoken hierarchy, with, obviously,
rigatoni at the top and penne at the
bottom. (And okay, casarecce is a good
one too if I’m feeling fancy and at a nice
shop.) Please do not cook this pasta past
al dente—as the pasta bakes it continues
to cook and soften, and if the pasta
is past al dente, then, well, you’ll end
up with mush and that’s not what we
signed up for. Breadcrumbs—which I
would describe as extremely not optional
here—provide much-needed crunchy
bits (my favorite bits).
After it bakes for longer than you
think (you’re crisping and browning!),
you have a crunchy, still-saucy, veg-
forward dish of pleasingly al dente pasta
with browned breadcrumbs, wispy
greens, and bits of cheese. A baked pasta
even I can love.
 Home – Having People Over

Preheat oven to 425°. Bring a large

pot of water to a boil, then add a
generous amount of salt. Cook pasta,
stirring occasionally to keep it from
sticking together, until just barely
al dente, about 2 minutes less than
package directions. Drain pasta,
reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.
While you are cooking the
pasta, get the broccoli rabe going.
Heat 5 Tbsp. oil in a large Dutch
oven or other heavy pot over medium–
high. Add leeks and season with salt
and black pepper. Cook, stirring
occasionally, until leeks are softened
(but not so much that they don’t have
any texture left) and starting to brown,
8–10 minutes.
Add red pepper flakes to leeks and
stir to incorporate. Add broccoli rabe
by the handful, stirring to combine and
Spicy Baked Pasta With allowing each addition to wilt before
Cheddar and Broccoli Rabe adding more. Season with salt and
6 – 8 S E RV I N G S
This pasta offers the black pepper. Once all of the broccoli
familiar comfort of baked macaroni rabe has been added, cook, stirring
and cheese but with pops of pleasantly occasionally, until bright green and
bitter bright green broccoli rabe wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove pot
throughout. Serve alongside a crisp from heat and set aside.
salad with a simple vinaigrette to Add pasta to reserved broccoli rabe
balance out the richness of the pasta. mixture along with cream, three-quarters
of the cheese, ½ cup chives, and
Kosher salt reserved pasta cooking liquid; mix well.
1 lb. rigatoni, ziti, or fusilli Season with salt and black pepper
8 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, and add more red pepper flakes if you
divided prefer more heat (keep in mind that
3 large leeks, white and pale green the saltiness and spiciness will increase
parts only, halved lengthwise, as the pasta bakes).
thinly sliced into half-moons Transfer pasta to a 3-qt. baking dish
Freshly ground black pepper (or, if your Dutch oven is ovenproof,
1 tsp. (or more) crushed red pepper just leave it in there). Toss breadcrumbs
flakes and remaining 3 Tbsp. oil in a medium
2 bunches broccoli rabe or bowl until coated; season with salt and
3 bunches baby broccolini, black pepper. Scatter over pasta, then
trimmed, coarsely chopped sprinkle evenly with remaining cheese.
FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH. PROP STYLING BY CINDY DIPRIMA.

1 cup heavy cream Bake until pasta is bubbling across the

12 oz. sharp white cheddar, coarsely entire surface and breadcrumbs are
grated (about 3 cups), divided deep golden brown, 30–35 minutes.
1 cup chopped chives, divided Let cool slightly.
1 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs or Scatter remaining chives over pasta
panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) just before serving.

“I go the greens-and-cheese route….

It reminds me of broccoli-cheddar soup
(a taste I enjoyed as a child and have been
chasing for the better part of my adult
life), but better and with lots of texture.”
 behealthyish.com

good food. good health. good vibes.

A BON APPÉTIT BRAND

 THIS CAKE THE SHOP WE
TAKES THE CAKE WANT TO LIVE IN
p. 40 Go here. Eat this. Drink that. Right this minute. p. 42
ILLUSTRATIONS BY LIANA JEGERS

CIT Y INSTITUTIONS
Meet the real monuments of
Washington, D.C.—the
Black-owned businesses that
shaped the dining scene.
P H OTO G R A P H S BY K E L LY M A R S H A L L
 Away – Destination

Washington, D.C.
The Hot Dog Institution
Ever y Celeb Hits Up
No trip to D.C. is complete
without a visit to the original
Ben’s Chili Bowl. Everyone from
…where Black-owned restaurants are thriving the Obamas to the late Anthony
Bourdain has dug into the
Cardozo outpost’s comforting
I seek out Black-owned businesses—
W H E N E V E R I T R AV E L chili dogs and juicy half-smokes
(pork and beef sausages).
especially in our nation’s capital. Affectionately known as Founded in 1958 by Ben and
Chocolate City, it was America’s first majority Black city, an Virginia Ali, Ben’s has long been
a refuge for activists and Black
epicenter for Black intellectuals, artists, and entrepreneurs. folks, especially during segregation
and the peak of the D.C. race riots
Despite facing adversity, from the civil rights era to recent following Dr. Martin Luther King
trends in gentrification, Black people continue to make D.C. a Jr.’s assassination. Through it
all, the Alis still fuel the resistance
hub for innovation—particularly through food. Thanks to influ- with warm bowls of their iconic
beef chili, a family recipe from
ences from the African diaspora and a new class of Black culi- Ben’s Trinidadian father.
nary leaders, you can get a classic Eritrean breakfast with
The Trinidadian Gem
tangy injera alongside creative Afro-Caribbean dishes that live The first piece of advice I got
up to the hype. They’re made by folks who want to keep D.C. a at Cane on H Street was, “You
can’t order just one!” And you
dynamic, delicious place to eat. — R YA N W A L K E R - H A R T S H O R N should take heed because chef
Peter Prime’s Trinidadian food is
fire. I couldn’t get enough of
the traditional doubles, flatbread
ESSENTIALS filled with curried chickpeas
and topped with tamarind
chutney and pineapple chow
(raw chunks tossed in garlic
and hot peppers). And I couldn’t
stop myself from inhaling the
pepperpot inspired by his mother:
fall-off-the-bone-tender oxtail,
brisket, and beef stewed in
bittersweet cassareep, the thick
black juice of cassava root and
the bedrock of all pepperpots.
Sitting in the charming wood
The Hot Spots
interior with “Your House” by
• Ben’s Chili Bowl Steel Pulse playing, I felt right at
• Cane home—and ready for another
• Sweet Home round (or two) of doubles.
Café
• Kith/Kin
• Bukom Cafe The Restaurant
• Oohh’s & That Doubles as a
Aahh’s
Museum Exhibition
• Keren Chef Jerome Grant views
Restaurant Sweet Home Café as an
• NuVegan Cafe extension of the building that
houses it: the Smithsonian
National Museum of African
When to Visit
American History and Culture.
Spring, to catch the “It’s comfort,” he says, designed
cherry blossoms to nourish the body and soul after
taking in the somber galleries.
Where to Stay He worked with curators to give
Akwaaba historical depth to the menu
Bed & Breakfast and asked the museum staff for
Inn, with rooms their own family recipes; together
inspired by Black the café reflects the beauty,
creatives resilience, and food of the African
American diaspora. That means
buttery mac and cheese, smoky
What to Bring Back collard greens, and chicken
Sweet potato that’s buttermilk-brined, dusted
pies from Henry’s with seasoned flour, and fried to
The full spread at Cane, complete with doubles and pepperpot Soul Cafe crunchy perfection.

32 – MARCH 2020
 Away – Destination

Chef Kwame Onwuachi of Kith/Kin Mornings at Keren mean ful, kitcha fit-fit, and Eritrean frittata

The Big Night Out cassava or yam). Get the slightly me how to properly enjoy our lush
Slip on your favorite outfit and caramelized and totally delightful breakfast spread. With my right
come with a group to try all of the fried plantains. Then sink into the hand (it’s an Eritrean thing), I used
beautiful dishes at Kith/Kin, chef egusi, tender goat braised in a French bread to scoop ful, velvety
and 2019 James Beard Award broth thickened with melon seeds fava beans flavored with cumin
winner Kwame Onwuachi’s sleek (known as egusi, hence the soup’s and berbere, and then frittata—
Afro-Caribbean restaurant along name), with hearty pounded yams. 4 MUST-VISITS which in this case means soft-
the Wharf. The menu changes I N C H O C O L AT E scrambled eggs with jalapeños
often, so get these if you see The Hyped Soul CITY and onions. Then I tore up injera
them: creamy crab with sweet Food Joint for tuna silsi, a fragrant tuna and
plantain chips, melt-in-your- There will always be a line out Howard University tomato stew. For the kitcha fit-fit,
mouth mushroom patties, and the door of Oohh’s & Aahh’s, Check out Founders shredded flatbread tossed in
jollof rice with big buttery hunks Library, which has one of clarified butter and finished with
but don’t let that deter you. This
the world’s largest Black yogurt, I ditched the edible
of Maryland blue crab. But beloved soul food spot in Cardozo history archives.
the thing that never leaves the is packed for a reason: It’s like the utensils and just used my hands.
menu—and that you must order— best family cookout, with trap Lee’s Flower and
is the jerk chicken, painted music booming on the speakers Card Shop The Vegan Spot
with Onwuachi’s spicy jerk paste and expertly fried fish and chicken Filled with succulents With Vibes
and accompanied with tamarind on the tables. The restaurant grew and sunflowers, this Cardozo You know you’re in the right
ILLUSTRATION BY SUPER FREAK. FOR DETAILS, SEE SOURCEBOOK.

jam to balance the heat. out of chef-owner Oji Abbott’s boutique is beloved by place when you hear Beyoncé’s
late-night cooking sessions when the community.
“Hold Up” as you walk in.
The West he was in culinary school. The NuVegan Cafe is a hip soul
move here is to get the fried Smithsonian
African Hangout National Museum of food chain restaurant in the D.C.
Catch me on the weekends at shrimp sprinkled with Abbott’s area that challenges the idea
African American History
Bukom Cafe in Adams Morgan, paprika-flecked spice blend and and Culture of what vegan food can be—
dancing late into the night to served with textbook-perfect fries. The museum goes deep on not expensive and trendy but
live music, fueled by fun cocktails the financial, cultural, sustainable and accessible. At the
(get the rum-forward Mango The Breakfast Worth and political contributions Georgia Avenue location, the
Lane) and vibrant West African Waking Up For of the Black communities that woman behind the counter and
staples. Before you hit the dance Do not mix your injera with your built this country. I exchanged smiles (and dance
floor, order the essentials, like ful. I learned that the hard way moves) as I chose from the vast
Eastern Market
the ecowas okra soup: stewed at Keren Restaurant, the iconic This bustling Capitol Hill retail
buffet offerings: sweet cinnamon-
okra with whiting cooked in earthy Eritrean restaurant in Adams hub has everything, from laced yams, peppery chickpeas,
palm oil (a staple of the West Morgan that’s been feeding locals outdoor fruit stalls to and spicy ginger tofu. It was
African pantry) and served with since 1987. My Eritrean friend indoor shops selling funky all so delicious that I grabbed an
fufu, a fluffy mashed starch (like slapped my left hand and showed vintage coats. extra helping of each for later.

MARCH 2020 – 33
 A w a y – P e r s o n o f I n t e re s t

Collards
and Cumin
Chef Meherwan Irani
connects his Indian heritage
with his Southern home

T H E F I R S T P L A C E I L I V E D in
the U.S. was South Carolina. I didn’t
know anything about it. But I saw how
Americans staying at my family’s bed-
and-breakfast in India easily adapted
because of my mom’s hospitality. The
South, I realized, had this culture too.

S T I L L , I C R AV E D H O M E S T Y L E
food. I tried cooking, blundering along
until my mom visited. She taught me
how to make do with what’s on hand.
If you don’t have Indian spinach, try
collards. No coriander? Use thyme.
That informed how I cooked and why
I opened Chai Pani in Asheville.
I didn’t even think about relying on
regional ingredients to make Indian
street food. It came naturally.

MORE THAN ANY OTHER TIME,

I feel the danger of being “other.” But
it’s important to show that “other” isn’t
so other. Food does that. Down here,
chowchow gives rice and beans zing.
Mango pickle does the same for rice
and dal in India. I called other Indian
chefs in the area and told them I had
an idea for a dinner. We could show
people it’s not about the drawl or the
truck. Southerners are people like us.

O U R F I R S T D I N N E R W A S at Chai
Pani in Decatur. “We’re brown and
we’re Southern, dammit!” we joked.
That’s how we got the name: Brown
in the South. We cooked an Indian-
inspired meat-and-three and 130
guests showed up. Around the room
people of every color talked about the
idea of the South becoming one of
the most diverse, progressive parts of
the country. But it’s easy to do this in
Atlanta. So we took our conversation
on the road, hosting four more dinners.

T H E N E X T O N E W I L L B E I N Oxford,
Mississippi. We want to connect with
immigrant chefs in the Deep South who
have never thought of themselves as
Southerners. Can this region be better
because of Brown in the South? That’s
what I’m working on.
— I N T E RV I E W BY E LYS E I N A M I N E

P H OTO G R A P H BY T I M R O B I S O N M A R C H 2 0 2 0 – 37
 Away – Highly Recommend

From New Jersey to the Philippines

Our slightly obsessive picks for this month’s finest things to eat, drink, and buy

Te s t K i t c h e n M a n a g e r
GA BY M E L I A N
on

Winning the Pizza Lottery

Every time I go to Bread and Salt in
Jersey City, it’s an adventure. Chef Rick
Easton constantly changes up the pizzas.
One minute it’s a very simple Margherita.
The next, lardo, honey, and hazelnut. That’s
because he’s super focused on seasonal
ingredients but also because he doesn’t have
a big kitchen. Everything is done on a whim,
but I don’t mind one bit. The pizzas here
are so special—thin, rectangular, and made
with quality ingredients. I don’t even bother
reading the menu before I order. I just
get whatever Easton brings out of the oven,
like I’m at some kind of pizza omakase.

I first noticed Zooba, the NYC outpost of

an Egyptian fast-casual joint, because of the

PHOTOGRAPHS: LAURA MURRAY (INTERIOR, PIZZA); DINA AVILA (SISIG). ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAMIEN CUYPERS.
design by playful creative agency &Walsh.
Art Just look at that ceiling! But I ended up falling
Director

C H R I S TA
in love with the restaurant because every
GUERRA dish is so delicious, like the oozy cheese
hawawshi: fluffy baladi bread stuffed with a
meat-veg patty and pungent roumy cheese.

AS K C A R LO L A M AG N A you’ll persist. He’ll wait, watching

what’s in the sisig at Magna you pierce the golden egg yolk so
Kusina, his homey Filipino it flows over that crispy-fatty meat
restaurant in Portland, Oregon, melange and melts like hot butter
and he’ll point to the menu: on your tongue. Only then he’ll
“pork bits, egg, chile.” Push him divulge: The secret is what he calls
Associate
Editor
further and he’ll tell you that it’s pork mayo, a.k.a. poached pig
Filipino headcheese: all the brain. Chile-laced, soy-salted,
HIL ARY
edible parts of a pig—roasted, and supernaturally creamy, it
CADIGAN
simmered, and hand-chopped, transforms an already rich dish
on like he learned from his friends into something otherworldly.
who grew up in Pampanga, But by this time you’re too busy
The Secrets Philippines (where sisig mopping it up with sticky rice
of Sisig originates). “But which parts?” to ask any more questions.

38 – MARCH 2020
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 Away – Dish Decoded

All! The! Layers!

At Grand Opening, a pastry pop-up inside Mister Jiu’s in San Francisco,
chef Melissa Chou puts a California spin on the classic Chinese sponge cake
by R AC H E L K A RT E N

The Sponge The Tippity Top The Lychee Layer

“A sponge cake is Chou makes not one but THREE different In the middle of the cake,
a really iconic creams for this cake. “Though they’re subtle, Chou slides in a lychee
Chinese bakery the idea is that there are lots of textures,” gelée. It’s a nod to the
item,” Chou says. she explains. While the two creams inside fruit jams typically found
“And what makes it the cake are light and airy, the crowning in traditional Chinese
appealing is that layer is a mascarpone -and-whipped-cream sponge cakes. Because
it’s really soft.” mixture to add some heft and tang. fresh lychees are hard
While some versions to come by, she relies on
rely on leaveners, a frozen French purée
Chou achieves and mixes it with gelatin
maximum fluff by for the gelée. Chou
whipping egg yolks spreads the gelée over
and whites before a pastry cream made
folding in rice bran of cream that’s steeped
oil, sugar, and King and then strained
Arthur unbleached with toasted coconut
cake flour. and coconut milk.

The Fruit

Most Chinese bakeries feature a pretty standard mix

of fruits in the cake, like mangoes and kiwis. Chou instead The pop-up takes place
the second Saturday
takes a cue from the seasons, which means strawberries
of ever y month. Pro tip:
in the summer and mandarins right now. She buys hers
Get there before it opens
from nearby Guru Ram Das Orchards. She loves that they
at 10 a.m.—it will likely
are juicy, sweet, and only slightly acidic—the perfect
already have a line.
complement to the rich vanilla-bean-and-beaten-egg-white
cream surrounding the citrus chunks.

40 – MARCH 2020 P H OTO G R A P H BY AU B R I E P I C K

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 A w a y – S h o p To u r

Someday Is for Lovers

Locally sewn pillows made from reclaimed fabrics sit next to perfectly patinated French pots
at Richmond, Virginia’s Someday. Owner Audie McDougall shares her favorite wares
i nter vie w by A L E X D E L A N Y

Mushroom
Jackknife
“With cleaning bristles
and a sharp steel
blade for separating
caps from stems, this
Marseille Olive knife is also great
Oil Soap Block for trimming flowers
“The soap’s natural, for bouquets.” $38
gentle qualities make
it useful in a variety
of ways, from laundry
“We source
to skin care to dog these pieces
shampoo. Plus, the
shape and rich green
because they
color feel very French really tell a
stacked up in a basket story with their
in your bathroom.” $8
unique patina
and maker’s
marks. At home
I channel Julia
Child and hang
them from
every hook in
the kitchen.”
VINTAGE FRENCH
COPPER POTS
$ 9 8 – $ 18 8

“I’m a sucker Enamel Drink

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olive wood, a party at the shop,
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that these are a lifesaver for
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sustainably I like the simple,
PHOTOGRAPHS BY FRED & ELLIOTT

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it’s filled with booze
Kenya adds to or water.” $92
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42 – MARCH 2020
 F E B R U A R Y 8 – J U LY 2 6

Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling features photographic

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magic and glamour of the fi lm and television industry’s major
players from the last four decades. The exhibition is a look at
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T H E N E W E X H I B I T I O N AT

2 0 0 0 A V E N U E O F T H E S TA R S , L O S A N G E L E S . C A
@ A N N E N B E R G S P A C E A D M I S S I O N A L W AY S F R E E

Michael B. Jordan, photographed by Cass Bird, Vanity Fair, November 2018.

Whether
wrapped in corn
or flour, stuffed
with crackly A young taco lover
at Kiss Pollos Estilo
carnitas or Sinaloa in Phoenix
crispy fried fish,
made in Austin
or Baltimore,
one thing is clear:
There’s never
been a better
time to eat tacos
in the USA

recipes by
RICK MARTINEZ
 Chicken caramelo tacos
and grilled steak tacos at
Sonoratown in L.A.
W HEN I WAS A KID,
my taco Tuesdays (and
Wednesdays, and Thurs-
days, and Fridays…) were
full of fresh flour tortillas,
saucy beef guisados, and ridiculously porky refried
beans. My grandparents came from Torre—n in northern
Mexico, and once they settled in Austin, tacos were a way
of holding on to our Mexican heritage, as common in our
house as PB&Js.
Even back then, tacos weren’t some mysterious entity for
most Americans. We had Taco Bell, after all. But the far-
ther you got from the border, the more likely that’s all there
Tacos in the U.S. are made possible by
the migration of people and that special
alchemy that happens when cultures
coexist. That’s what Mando Rayo
found while traveling the country for
his TV show, United Tacos of America:
the new and the tried-and-true; faithful
interpretations from across the border
and unique local creations. Here
are 11 he can’t stop thinking about.

was—a processed fast-food interpretation of what Ameri-

PREVIOUS SPREAD: PHOTOGRAPHS: BLAKE BONILLAS (LEFT); ALEX LAU (RIGHT). ILLUSTRATIONS BY DANIEL SHEPARD.
cans thought Mexicans ate. TRIPAS
Tortiller’a y Taquer’a Ram’rez, Lexington, KY
Today, all that’s changed. You can eat Sonoran-style
Crispy boiled and fried beef intestines +
duck fat tortillas in Kansas; rich brothy birria in the suburbs local Kentucky corn + a rickety Mexican
tortilla machine = a very tasty example of
of Chicago; or bourbon-braised carnitas in Lexington what happens when south and sur collide.
(a.k.a. Mexington), Kentucky. Whether these tacos are an
homage to the O.G.s or something radically new, all the
best ones are instilled with a deep sense of place: made
with homegrown ingredients, local inspiration, and no
shortage of imagination. And the result? Tacos are not only
more dynamic than ever, but indisputably central to Amer-
ican culture, no matter which part of America you’re in.
That’s what we’re here to celebrate. In these 16 pages
you’ll find essays from fellow taco fanatics (including
National Medal of Arts winner Sandra Cisneros, author
of The House on Mango Street), tips on our favorite tacos FRIED MUSHROOM
8Arm, Atlanta
across the country, four brand-new taco recipes from yours Georgia-grown oyster mushrooms get dredged
truly, and so much more. So let’s, uh, taco ’bout tacos, in cornmeal Baja-style, then fried crackly and
smeared with Sea Island red pea guisado. A
shall we? — R I C K M A R T I N E Z coast-to-coast taco—but vegetarian-friendly!

Big Taco
Moments in 19 0 5 Though tacos gained popularity as a Mexican street snack in the late 1800s (and wrapping food in
tortillas traces back to the Aztecs), this is the year of their first known mention in a U.S. newspaper. Brought across
the USA the border by migrant workers, tacos were typically sold out of pushcarts in border cities like San Antonio and L.A.
 s c a Th i s o
le— ne
a c and ’s not
hic ye
ke s , t t o
n e ha
gg t’s
.

CARNITAS SURTIDAS GOAT BIRRIA PLACERO

Carnitas Uruapan, Chicago Goat Mafia, Compton, CA Horchata Deli Grocery, Queens

Herb-kissed Michoacán-style carnitas are king A Jaliscan staple—meaty red stew laced with Yes, haters, NYC does have great tacos. But you
in Chicago, but none compare to this crispy-on- chiles—gets the L.A. taco treatment with local might have to go to Jackson Heights, a.k.a.
the-outside, juicy-on-the-inside pork-fried pork, goat, dried chiles, chocolate, and California Puebla York, to find them. This one’s packed with
PHOTOGRAPHS: OLIVIA HAYO (BAJA FISH); RINNE ALLEN (FRIED MUSHROOM); JEFF MARINI (CANITAS SURTIDAS); ALEX LAU (GOAT BIRRIA); LAURA MURRAY (PLACERO); BRIAN KAISER

made by the same family for more than 40 years. oranges sourced from the chef’s uncle’s backyard. rice, chile relleno, nopales, and a hard-boiled egg.
(TRIPAS); HAYDEN SPEARS (SMOKED BARBACOA, DUCK CARNITAS); KATE GREWAL (COCHINITA PIBIL); DENNY CULBERT (SHRIMP AL PASTOR); BLAKE BONILLAS (KISS CHICKEN).

SMOKED BARBACOA COCHINITA PIBIL BAJA FISH

Eddie O’s Texas Barbecue, Houston Cocina Luchadoras, Baltimore TJ Oyster, San Diego
Traditional Tejano cooking meets Houston’s high- This Yucatán classic nods to Baltimore’s rapidly Just over the border from Baja, San Diego often
stakes craft BBQ scene in these crazy-tender growing Mexican population: Citrus-marinated feels like an extension of Mexico. So do these
pecan-smoked beef cheeks, served on fresh flour pork cooked under banana leaves is shredded corn tortillas topped with hot battered tilapia,
tortillas made by the pitmaster’s abuela. into a house-nixtamalized corn tortilla. cabbage, and a dollop of creamy, creamy crema.

SHRIMP AL PASTOR KISS CHICKEN

Taqueria El Paraiso, New Orleans Kiss Pollos Estilo Sinaloa, Phoenix

After Katrina, Mexican immigrants came to help In Austin, tradition and novelty go hand in hand. Leave it to the Sinaloans, one of Phoenix’s largest
rebuild the city, creating in their wake Mexican- These blue corn tortillas are nixtamalized Aztec- immigrant groups, to make an excellent chicken
Creole crossovers like this taco full of gulf shrimp style, paired with not-so-traditional duck confit taco: charcoal-grilled, doused in cheese, sprinkled
cooked to pineapple-y pastor perfection. carnitas, and topped with spicy green salsa cruda. with pork, and wrapped in two corn tortillas.

19 37 At Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino, CA, the Rodriguez family’s fried tacos dorados—literally “golden tacos”—
hit the scene. Three decades later a dude named Glen Bell would take notice, infiltrate the kitchen, and use them as the model
for the standardized hard-shell tacos at his own restaurant, a little place called Taco Bell. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. 47
 OR GET
DOWN WITH
ALT-GRAINS
“Growing
up Mexican-
RESPECT American,
THE FLOUR I considered
tortillas part
TORTILLA of my identity. But I have
autoimmune issues, so
In Houston I grew up eating Texas-
style flour tortillas straight off the about 10 years ago I
electric press as my mom rolled went grain-free. My
balls of dough while watching
All My Children. When I moved family joined me but I still
to New York, my father mailed me felt like I was missing out.
tortillas from H-E-B, the world’s
Carne asada just doesn’t

PHOTOGRAPHS: ALEX LAU (FLOUR TORTILLA, TORTILLA PRESS, BONFIL FLOUR); HAYDEN SPEARS (TORTILLA MAKING);
greatest grocery store, because
nothing I found here would cut it. taste as good on lettuce.
But today a wave of small-batch So I got some almond
flour tortillerias are on a mission
to make the world a better place. flour off the internet and
When Ruben Leal moved to riffed on what I learned
Lawrence, Kansas, he was from my grandma, who
discouraged not to find a chewy,
stretchy Sonora-style flour tortilla always had fresh flour
that lived up to his nostalgic needs. tortillas at her house. I
So he started Caramelo, which
ships tortillas made with pork fat (as
made a grain-free
seen on our cover!), duck fat, or version and my mom took
one to Grandma. I
wouldn’t believe what

COURTESY OF SIETE FOODS (CASSAVA FLOUR TORTILLAS)

happened next if we
didn’t have it on video:
She said they tasted
better than hers! Now we
hometown in Sonora, Mexico.
sell them, along with four
other alt-grain tortillas,
online (sietefoods.com)
and in over 13,000
freeze them, and never suffer a stores across the country.”
—VERONICA GARZA,
Ah, what a relief! — A L E X BEGGS SIETE FOODS

19 5 5 Tacos get the official American food treatment of the day when a company named Ashley Foods of El Paso (a precursor
to Old El Paso) markets the first taco dinner kit nationally. It introduces the concept of tacos as “Mexican sandwiches.” Oof. The kit includes
Ashley brand canned tortillas (…no comment), beans, taco sauce, and…a tortilla fryer.
 FRESH MASA
FOR THE MASSES TORTILLAS
Until recently a house-made corn YOU
tortilla probably meant one formed SHOULD BUY
with masa harina, the just-add-water IN BULK
corn flour. Not anymore. Chefs in the
U.S. and Mexico alike are now making
THREE SISTERS
masa the way indigenous communities N I X TA M A L
have done for thousands of years— This Portland, OR,
with nixtamalized, non-commodity tortilleria may be the only
heirloom corn grown on small farms.
The ancient nixtamalization process
involves hours of cooking, soaking,
one in the Northwest
turning fresh nixtamal into
corn tortillas, sold across
HARD SHELLS ARE LEGIT
Washington and Oregon.
Long maligned as inauthentic, the crunchy corn tortilla
and grinding to unlock corn’s hidden deserves its place in the sun for mainstreaming Mexican
nutrients. But the minerally fresh-corn threesisterspdx.com
cooking here in the States. Lucia Rodriguez used what
taste (and extra dose of vitamins) was available to her in Depression-era California to
H AWA I I M A SA
is worth it. Need proof? Try the earthy, engineer Mitla Cafe’s fried-to-order taco dorado. The
Honolulu tortilla makers
deep crimson tortillas chef Fermín legacy continues at spots like L.A.’s Mariscos Jalisco
partner with Mexican
Núñez makes from Texas-grown farmers to produce five and Tlahco Mexican Kitchen in San Antonio.
Bloody Butcher red corn at Suerte tortilla types, named for — PAT R I C I A E S C Á R C E G A
in Austin, or TJ Steele’s rainbow the stone-ground landrace
Maíz Bolita masa, which he uses in corn from which they
everything from pancakes to cocktails came. hawaiimasa.com
at Claro in Brooklyn. — L E S L E Y T É L L E Z
KERNEL OF TRUTH
PHOTOGRAPHS: CHELSIE CRAIG (MASA); ALEX LAU (HARD SHELL); LAURA MURRAY (COSTRA).

O R GA N I C S

BUT WHAT ABOUT…

These simple yet
transcendent organic corn
tortillas, beloved by chefs
and home cooks alike, are
now dominating L.A.’s taco A “TORTILLA” MADE
scene. kotorganics.com

YO L I TO RT I L L E R I A
OF CHEESE?
Midwestern non-GMO Okay, technically
corn gets the traditional costra means “scab”
Aztec treatment in Kansas in Spanish, so
City, MO. The resulting maybe don’t google
white, yellow, red, and it, but one bite
blue tortillas are sold of this crackly
online. eatyoli.com blanket of pure
griddled cheese (!!!)
MANOS DE MAIZ
and you’ll be
This D.C. shop transforms
forever changed.
heritage maize from
Mexico and the U.S. into Just say “costra” and see what happens at:
fresh ground masa, then
sells it, along with thick C H I L A N G O S TAC O S Dallas • LO S TAC O S N O . 1 NYC
tortillas, online. L A V I B R A Houston • C H E L A’S TAC O S San Antonio
manosdemaiz.com TAC O C H E LO Phoenix • J Q ’S T E X M E X B B Q Houston

19 6 0 Second-generation Lebanese immigrants in Mexico City adapt the shawarma rotisserie technique into the trompo—
a vertical slow-cooked pork spit, marinated with pineapple and sliced onto a tortilla—which became what we know today as tacos
al pastor. It would take another generation, however, before they became a standard in taquerias across the U.S. 49
 Taco Lovers, Coast-to-Coast
Clockwise from top left: A server at
La Luz del Dia in L.A. holds up a #3
taco combo platter; a trompo full of
juicy al pastor at Los Tacos No. 1 in
NYC; a construction worker enjoys
shrimp al pastor tacos at Taqueria el
Paraiso in New Orleans; a traveling
musician performs for customers
at Sonoratown in L.A.; hard-shell
tortillas get a hot oil bath at Mitla
Cafe in San Bernardino, CA; taquero
Miguel Escobedo makes and
serves an average of 100 tacos
a day at his taco truck, Al Pastor
Papi, in San Francisco; the salsa bar
includes plenty of bright pickled
veggies at Tacos Quetzalcoatl in East
L.A.; a customer crunches into a
crispy taco dorado at Mitla Cafe
 RICK’S

BEET TOSTADA

“Many think Mexican food is heavy and meat-forward, but that

came with Spanish colonization—before, it was mostly vegetables.
TACOS ARE I tapped into that tradition by seasoning beets with chorizo spices.
BORDERLESS An egg on top adds Texas-style breakfast taco vibes.” —R.M.
DENNY CULBERT (TAQUERIA EL PARASIO); EMMA FISHMAN (MIGUEL ESCOBEDO); FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH (BEET TOSTADA).
PHOTOGRAPHS: ALEX LAU (LA LUZ DEL DIA SERVER, MITLA CAFE, SONORATOWN, MITLA, BEEF TOSTADA); LAURA MURRAY (AL PASTOR);

lime and cilantro.

In the Middle East, you put things in pita

bread. Is that a taco? Well, technically,
right? Every ethnicity has a taco.
Colonization has its ugly side but also
its beautiful side: bringing ingredients
to a place they weren’t before. MARGARET CHO
Borders are just man-made parameters comedian
that close people in. I don’t like
parameters around my life or my food. “My first fusion was back in the ’70s. My parents had a little coffee
That’s why the word fusion doesn’t mean shop in San Francisco that served bulgogi cheesesteaks. I’ve been
anything to me; everything’s fused obsessed ever since. Enter the kalbi taco from Kogi, Roy Choi’s truck in
already. Instead, I like to think of my food
L.A. It’s fusion done right. There’s the Korean tradition of wrapping
as a tribute. I do tributes wherever I go.
“I see you. You have this? Well, we have food, the falling-apart short rib, the kimchi-like salsa. It’s about the
this. Let’s make something beautiful.” immigrant experience. The freedom to take your culture and those you
— AS TO L D TO H I L A RY CA D I G A N
grew up around and blend them together.”

19 8 3 Rubio’s—a chain specializing in deep-fried breaded fish tacos referred to as Baja style—opens in San Diego. Though popular
among surfer bros in Southern California in the 1960s, fish tacos were eaten in Mexican seaside communities across the Pacific and Gulf
Coasts long before any of the Beach Boys were even born. 51
 From her grandfather, author Sandra Cisneros inherited a distrust of authority,
a deep hunger for home, and…his famous peanut butter tacos

“Á P U RO D R ÁC U L A!”That’s what I thought I heard Grandpa with canned tuna. Or fried bologna with mustard. Or his most
Cordero say. Pure Dracula! And why not? He was a man who memorable innovation—a peanut butter taco.
thrived in twilight, venturing from the kitchen or his bedroom Take a warm flour tortilla fresh from the griddle. Add just a
only to greet guests. “Buenos días.” Shaking even the children’s spoonful of peanut butter—it will spread. Fold the tortilla over.
hands, as if we were visiting dignitaries from a foreign country. The peanut butter melts and is even more delicious than on
Because Grandpa survived his wife by 15 years, he taught him- bread. This was my inheritance. Nowadays I substitute almond
self to cook. Even more miraculous for a Mexican man, he butter for peanut and leave the tortilla on the comal a little lon-
learned to make tortillas. Not the corn tortillas of Central Mex- ger, till it’s extra crispy. Is there anything better for breakfast
ico, where he was born, but the flour of the borderlands, a skill with a mug of café de olla? I can almost hear Grandpa saying,
acquired by hard times and forced migration north. “Buen provecho.”
Grandpa lived in a Chicago two-flat in a neighborhood City When he grew frail toward the end of his life, Grandpa went
Hall forgot. A dark building squeezed into a block of dark build- to live with my Auntie Margaret. He took to hiding food under
ings as sinister as rotting teeth. He had survived the Mexican his pillow, complaining, “Margarita no me da de comer.” “That’s
Revolution, the Depression, and two world wars. A campesino not true,” Auntie countered. “He forgot he just ate.” Pobrecito.
from the Mexican countryside with skin the color of red clay Grandpa began to doubt the route to the mouth. His memory
from his native Guanajuato, he wore squashed house slippers migrated. Auntie Margaret recently told me her father’s “¡Puro
and a bandanna tied around his brow like the Apache. In the Drácula!” was actually “¡Puro trácala!” which translates as,
summer, he cut the sleeves off his flannel shirts before Bruce “Nothing but cheating!” I heard it wrong. No doubt this is what
Springsteen made it cool. he’d say of the tortillas I make, with flour premixed.
Flour, hot water, baking soda, salt, lard. Grandpa would let Like many immigrants, Grandpa never returned to his home-
the dough rise, pinch fistfuls, roll them in his hands, and line land, but he planted seeds without realizing his harvest. He
them up in rows like an army. After the troops had rested, he passed down to me his peanut butter tacos, his mistrust of
rolled them out with a wooden rolling pin. Clunk-CLUNK, clunk- authority, and his hunger for home. One hundred years after he
CLUNK. Patting each tortilla in his calloused hands before plac- fled Guanajuato, I followed the opposite route, this time heading
ing them gently on the comal. I’d watch them bubble and inflate, south. Now I live in Mexico, one hundred kilometers from where
the house gradually filling with their warm scent, the heat caus- he was born. And though he was shy with children and might be
ing the kitchen windows to weep. surprised this grandchild remembers him at all, I recognize him
During the Depression, Grandpa bought flour by the sack in the indigenous faces I greet daily. Grandpa taught me to treat
and made sure his family never went without. Often he’d invite everyone with generosity—especially if they are hungry.
a homeless person to share a meal,

FOR JOSÉ ELEUTERIO CORDERO, B. FEB. 13, 1887, LOZA DE BARRERA,

even though he had nine kids to
feed. Maybe only those who have
been poor understand what it is to
be poor. GUANAJUATO, MEXICO, D. OCT. 4, 1974, CHICAGO

Like the people of the Mexican

countryside, Grandpa didn’t hug,
CRISTELA ALONZO
kiss, or even talk much. The lan- actor
guage he spoke fluently was food.
“El camino a la boca nunca se “I love the bean-and-egg breakfast tacos from the Laredo Taco
equivoca,” he liked to say: One never Company, inside a Stripes in the Rio Grande Valley where I grew up.
doubts the route to the mouth. And Yes, I’m picking gas station breakfast tacos. Go with me on this. They’re
then he would hand me a tortilla, simple but delicious and remind me of my mom, who used to cook double
still hot from the griddle, with a shifts at a Mexican restaurant for $150 a week. She had very little
dab of butter and a dash of salt. Or to work with, so her tacos had to be simple, just like these. When food
maybe he would improvise: a tortilla reminds you of your own life, you know it was cooked with heart.”

19 8 9 Fast-food chain Taco John’s trademarks Taco Tuesday® nationally (except in New Jersey, where Gregory’s Hotel, of all
places, holds the trademark and dares to also serve tacos on Thursdays). Both companies have held tight to their trademarks, much to the
chagrin of LeBron James, who tried and failed to get his own in 2019.
 DUCK CARNITAS
TACOS WITH
RADISH ESCABÈCHE
P. 5 9

MY RESISTANCE
In the kitchen, Manuel
Gonzales teaches his kids to
be Mexican and proud

W E S T A R T S I M P L Y : ground beef
tacos. My son, who is nine, stirs the
beans, pours the salt into the picante.
The kitchen smells like my mother’s,
mingling garlic and onions and comino.
I give him a wooden spoon and show
him how to break up the meat sizzling in
the skillet. My daughter chops onions.
I’m nervous when she grabs the knife—
she’s loosey-goosey with it, the way
gangly 13-year-olds are prone to be—
but she doesn’t slip.
“Perfect,” I tell her, as she slides them
into the skillet to brown.
After the climate strikes, the protests,
the marching in the street, cooking might
seem like a weak form of resistance, or
like no form at all. But as far as I’m
concerned, teaching my kids to make
the same slipshod Tex-Mex tacos my
mother made for me might be the most
important lesson I can give them. This
food tells them where they come from,
and more importantly, reminds them to
be proud of who they are. Because
without this pride, resistance—the
kind of sustained resistance we need
now, against an administration that
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAURA MURRAY. FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH.

calls Mexican people thugs and cages

children at the border—is almost
impossible to maintain.
When we bring the food to the table,
both kids chime in: “We helped!”
We eat and laugh, talk about school
and weekend plans. We talk about
things that make us happy and safe. We
talk about how good these tacos are.
RICK’S We don’t talk about politics—and that’s
resistance too.
DUCK CARNITAS This meal may be simple, but it’s a
way to tell my kids, “Look, people didn’t
want your great-grandmother here, and
“Carnitas are my favorite taco in the universe. My dad makes a some of those same people didn’t want
classic pork version, but here I use luscious slow-roasted duck your grandmother here, and some of
those same people don’t want us here
confit with crispy duck skin chicharrones cooked in pork fat. Same either, but here we still are. This is our
texture, same flavor…but extra extra, just like me.” —R.M. food, and we are still us.”

19 9 4 The Mexican peso crisis—a sudden devaluation of the peso against the dollar—leads to mass migration across the border
and beyond to places like Kentucky and New York. The upswing? Regional tacos such as al pastor, placeros, and birria come with them,
expanding America’s taco horizons for good. 53
 RICK’S

GOAT BIRRIA

“I may get some hate mail for this, but I’m not that into the thin
consomé traditionally served with birria. Instead of straining out all the
flavorful aromatics nestled up against that slow-roasting goat meat, “ TAQUITOS!
I purée them with the jus for a super-flavorful dip or drizzle.” —R.M. TAQUITOS! ”
You know him as Machete,
but one of Danny Trejo’s
most important life lessons
came from tiny tacos

B E F O R E I WAS A N AC T O R,
before I was a drug counselor, before I
had a record label and a beer company
and a cookbook and seven taquerias of
my own (Trejo’s Tacos—check us out;
we’re the best!), I was locked up in San
Quentin, and there was this guy.
I’ll never forget him. If you look up
“gangster cholo” in the dictionary, you’ll
see his picture. He’d always come by
saying, “I got burritos! I got tacos!”
Whatever was in the prison kitchen was
what you were gonna get: ground beef,
or if they had hot dogs, a weenie
wrapped in a tortilla. “Hot dogs, I got
hot dogs!” Let me tell you something:
When you’re hungry, they’re delicious.
The first time I got to the joint, this guy
comes by. “Taquitos! Taquitos!” So I
whistle: “How much are they, homie?”
He tells me in Spanish and I say, “You
know what, I just got out of the hole,
GOAT BIRRIA
homes. I ain’t got no money.” Then, in
TACOS WITH
unbelievable, perfect English, he goes,
CUCUMBER
“Oh, you don’t plan on leaving us soon,
PICO DE GALLO
do you?” I almost died. Because
P. 5 8 what he’s saying is, “Look, if you don’t
pay me later, I’ll kill you.” I’ll never
forget that: You might not pay anybody
in prison, but the taco guy is the guy you
always pay, because you always want

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEX LAU. FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH (GOAT BIRRIA).

to eat. — A S T O L D T O H I L A R Y C A D I G A N

JORGE RAMOS
news anchor

“When my son Nicolas lived in Miami, I’d take him to Talavera—the

best Mexican restaurant in town. Just the two of us. We’d get tacos de
queso fundido con chorizo. These hot three-bite tortillas filled with
melted cheese and meat were a taste of home. But more importantly,
they were a way to connect my American-born son with his Mexican
roots. To remind him that he’s the son of an immigrant. That kind
of straight talk is easier with an excuse like food in front of you.”

19 74 Mexico City traffic cop turned Los Angeles dishwasher turned entrepreneur Raul Martinez converts an ice cream truck into the world’s
first taco truck. He parks it outside a bar in Cypress Park, selling meaty soft-shell tacos topped with his signature homemade salsa. It’s so
successful that he opens a brick-and-mortar within six months, which today has expanded into the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain King Taco.
Juan Garcia, chef-owner of
Compton taco pop-up Goat
Mafia, makes birria from a
recipe passed down through
his family for generations.

55
 No taco is complete without a stop at the salsa bar, and we’re always
down with the classics: mild-yet-smoky salsa molcajeteada, deceptively
spicy jalapeño verde. But why stop there? You can make a salsa out of just
about anything—as long as you get the ratios right. Use this handy formula
to select by the seasons, the flavors, or just whatever you have hanging
out in the back of your fridge. The possibilities are infinite. — R . M .

Blended

MANGO
+
FRESNO
+
MINT
PICK A FRUIT, CHOOSE THROW IN
VEG, OR BOTH YOUR HEAT SOME HERBS
Start with 3 cups of Add 1 of the following One handful should do
your favorite fresh chiles—fresh or dried it; just make sure they’re
produce, or mix a few work fine. nice and fresh.
together.
•Jalapeño •Cilantro
•Tomato •Serrano •Mint
•Tomatillo •Habanero •Parsley
•Stone fruit •Chipotle •Tarragon
•Tropical fruit •Árbol •Basil
•Melon Chopped
•Cascabel
•Cucumber •Fresno
TOMATILLO
•Jicama •Thai +
•Berries KIWI
+
HABANERO
+
BASIL

ADD THE NON-

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX LAU. FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH.

HOW MUCH
NEGOTIABLES TIME YOU GOT? Charred
and Blended
These ingredients 10 min.
always have your back. Throw all your items STRAWBERRY
•1 cup chopped onion into a blender. +
THAI CHILE
•1 chopped
20 min. +
garlic clove
Chop everything into TARRAGON
•1 Tbsp. lime juice
cute little cubes for a
•1 tsp. kosher salt pico de gallo vibe.

30 min.
Char everything but
the herbs on a grill or
broiler to maximize from all over the
smoky flavors, then toss nation, check out
it all in the blender. bonappetit.com/tacos

2 015 Welcome to the world, taco emoji! After years of griping from taco-hungry typers around the world, an official Taco Bell petition,
and multiple rounds of tacoless additions (including four types of mailboxes and 25 clocks), the Unicode Consortium adds to the official emoji
keyboard a tiny taco, cementing its status as pop culture icon. Except…it’s a hard shell. The battle continues. — T I M E L I N E B Y S T E V E N A L V A R E Z
PORK VOLCÁNES
A L PA S T O R
P. 5 9

RICK’S

PORK VOLCÁNES

“In northern Mexico, this

taco is called a vampiro
because the crunchy
fried tortilla looks like
a vampire bat wing.
Down south, it’s volcán—
maybe since they see
more volcanoes than
bats! Either way, juicy
pork al pastor and oozy
quesillo are a brilliant
combo.” —R.M.
 Heat remaining 3 Tbsp. oil in a large
Beet Tostadas
G O AT
nonstick skillet over medium-high. Crack 1 7–10-lb. bone-in leg of goat or
eggs into skillet, leaving space around lamb, untrimmed
With Fried Eggs each one, and cook until whites are set ⅓ cup Diamond Crystal or 3 Tbsp.
and edges are crisp, about 4 minutes. Morton kosher salt, plus more
MAKES 6 Beets can stand up to a hard Season with salt. 1 large white onion, chopped
roast and plenty of spice. Their sweet Spoon beet mixture onto tostadas, 10 garlic cloves, peeled
earthiness and firm texture are ideal for dividing evenly, and top each with an 3 large guajillo chiles, seeds
making meatless chorizo. If beets aren't egg, then fried onion, chiles, sage, and removed
your thing, winter squash or another Salsa de Árbol. 1 large ancho chile, seeds removed
sweet root vegetable will also work. 2 dried chiles de árbol
1 3" piece ginger, peeled
1½ lb. red beets (about 2 large), 2 whole cloves
peeled, cut into ¼" pieces Salsa de Árbol 1 14.5-oz. can diced fire-roasted
2 garlic cloves, finely grated tomatoes
2 Tbsp. ancho chile powder MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS This easy chile- 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
1 tsp. crushed dried oregano, spiked cooked tomato salsa pairs well 1 Tbsp. dried oregano, preferably
preferably Mexican with the beet-topped tostadas but is a Mexican
1 tsp. paprika great sauce all on its own. 1 tsp. ground cumin
¾ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil S A LS A A N D ASS E M B LY
1 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1½ tsp. 3 dried chiles de árbol, seeds 5 Persian cucumbers, cut into ¼"
Morton kosher salt, plus more removed, chopped pieces
2⅓ cups plus 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil, 2 garlic cloves, finely grated ½ medium red onion, cut into ¼"
divided 1 14.5-oz. can diced fire-roasted pieces
1 large white onion, halved through tomatoes ⅓ cup fresh lime juice
root end, sliced ¼" thick Kosher salt ¼ cup chopped basil
6 medium serrano chiles, quartered 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice 1 tsp. kosher salt
lengthwise, leaving stems and 1–4 habanero chiles, seeds removed,
seeds intact Heat oil in a medium saucepan over finely chopped
⅓ cup sage leaves medium. Add chiles and garlic and cook, 24 6"-diameter corn tortillas,
6 6"-diameter corn tortillas stirring constantly, until lightly toasted warmed
6 large eggs and very fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Salsa de Árbol (for serving; Add tomatoes and 1 cup water, increase G O AT Rub goat leg with ⅓ cup Diamond
see recipe) heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring Crystal or 3 Tbsp. Morton kosher salt,
occasionally, until most of the liquid has working into flesh and fat. Wrap tightly
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to evaporated and tomatoes are very in parchment or wax paper and chill at
350°. Toss beets, garlic, chile powder, tender, about 15 minutes. least 3 hours and up to 3 days.
oregano, paprika, cumin, pepper, 1 Tbsp. Season tomato mixture with salt. Place a rack in lower third of oven;
Diamond Crystal or 1½ tsp. Morton Using a potato masher, smash until the preheat to 350°. Evenly scatter onion,
kosher salt, and ⅓ cup oil in a medium consistency of a chunky salsa. Let cool, garlic, guajillo chiles, ancho chile, chiles
bowl until beets are coated. Scrape onto then stir in lime juice. de árbol, ginger, cloves, tomatoes,
a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet; bake, D O A H E A D : Salsa (without lime juice) peppercorns, oregano, and cumin
tossing every 15 minutes, until beets are can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and across a large roasting pan and place a
tender and spices are very fragrant and chill. Add lime juice just before serving. roasting rack on top. Unwrap goat leg
smell slightly toasted, 35–45 minutes. and set on rack. Pour 4 cups water into
Meanwhile, heat 2 cups oil in a large pan and cover tightly with foil. Bake until
saucepan over high until oil bubbles meat is pulling away from the bone and
immediately when the edge of a tortilla Goat Birria Tacos shreds easily with a fork, 4½–5 hours.
touches the surface. Carefully fry onion, Let leg sit (still covered) until cool
adding a little bit at time to avoid too With Cucumber enough to handle (about 1 hour). Shred
much spattering and reducing heat as meat into small pieces and place in a
needed, until tender and beginning to Pico de Gallo large bowl; discard bones. Remove
brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a ginger from pan; discard. Working in
paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Repeat Birria is usually served
10 –12 S E RV I N G S batches if needed, purée liquid and
process with chiles, about 5 minutes. with a side of consomé, the rich pan aromatics left in pan in a blender until
Transfer to same baking sheet. Fry sage juices from the roasted meat. We went a smooth. Pour half of consomé over meat
leaves until crisp, about 30 seconds. step further and puréed it with the roasted and mix to coat. Taste and season with
Transfer to baking sheet. Working one at vegetables and softened dried chiles left more salt if needed. Cover and set
a time, fry tortillas, turning once, until in the roasting pan, turning the brothy aside. Pour remaining consomé into a
crisp, puffed in places, and deep golden soup into a spicy dipping sauce. If you medium bowl and set aside for serving.
brown, about 1 minute per side. Transfer are a purist, you can skip the purée, strain D O A H E A D : Meat can be prepared
tostadas to baking sheet. the broth, and serve it on the side instead. 3 days ahead. Chill meat and consomé.
58
 Toss cucumbers,
S A LS A A N D ASS E M B LY Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large nonstick DUCK Prick skin on duck legs in several
onion, lime juice, basil, and salt in a skillet over high until smoking. Spread places with the tip of a paring knife. Rub
medium bowl. Add 1–4 chiles, about one-fourth of pork across skillet in legs with salt, working into flesh and skin.
depending on their heat and how spicy a single layer; cook, undisturbed, until Transfer to a medium bowl or airtight
you like things, and let sit 10 minutes. browned underneath, about 2 minutes. container. Cover and chill at least
Top warm tortillas with meat, then Turn over and cook, undisturbed, until 12 hours and up to 1 day.
salsa. Serve with consomé for dipping. browned underneath and cooked Place a rack in middle of oven;
through, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a preheat to 250°. Heat lard in a large
platter and wipe out skillet. Working in saucepan over medium-high until an
3 batches, repeat process with instant-read thermometer registers 250°.
Pork Volcánes remaining pork and 3 Tbsp. oil. Scatter chiles, bay leaf, cinnamon
Increase oven temperature to 500°. stick, cloves, achiote seeds,
al Pastor Divide pork among tostadas and top peppercorns, and oregano across the
with quesillo; bake until cheese is melted, bottom of a large baking dish. Remove
MAKES 8 Thinly slicing the pork and 8–10 minutes. Top with onion and duck legs from bowl and brush off
cooking it with plenty of marinade still cilantro and serve with lime wedges. excess salt. Arrange legs, skin side
clinging in a hot skillet yields the charred down, over aromatics in baking dish.
edges and deep flavor of traditional spit- Nestle orange and garlic around legs,
roasted pastor. COOK THE COVER then pour warm lard over. Cover baking
dish tightly with foil and bake legs
1 2-lb. piece skinless, boneless pork Duck Carnitas 2 hours.
shoulder (Boston butt) Turn duck legs skin side up and nestle
7 guajillo chiles, seeds removed Tacos With Radish back into fat. Re-cover dish and continue
3 morita chiles, seeds removed to bake until meat is very tender and
4 garlic cloves Escabèche begins to pull away from the bones,
⅓ cup fresh orange juice 2–2½ hours longer.
¼ cup fresh lime juice Duck fat is delicious, but lard is
M A K E S 12 Let duck legs sit in fat until cool
3 Tbsp. achiote (annatto) paste cheaper and easier to find. Of course, if enough to handle (30–40 minutes),
1 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1½ tsp. you just happen to have duck fat lying then transfer to a plate. Reserve 3 Tbsp.
Morton kosher salt around, feel free to use it. Just make sure fat for frying duck skin and strain
8 6"-diameter corn tortillas to strain and use the fat left over from the remaining fat through a fine-mesh sieve
4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil cooked duck legs to make tortillas, into an airtight container and let cool.
12 oz. quesillo (Oaxaca cheese), roasted potatoes, or empanadas. Cover and reserve for another use (see
coarsely grated recipe intro for ideas!).
Chopped white onion, coarsely DUCK Remove skin from legs and set aside.
chopped cilantro, and lime 4 duck legs (thigh and drumstick; Pull meat from bones, tearing into 1"
wedges (for serving) about 3½ lb. total) pieces; discard bones and cartilage.
6 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 3 Tbsp. Heat reserved 3 Tbsp. fat in a large
I N G R E D I E N T I N F O : Achiote paste can be Morton kosher salt nonstick skillet over medium and cook
found at Latin markets and online. 1 lb. lard reserved duck skin, turning halfway
4 morita chiles, halved lengthwise through, until deep golden brown and
Place pork shoulder on a parchment- 1 bay leaf crisp on both sides, 12–15 minutes total.
lined rimmed baking sheet and freeze, 1 3" cinnamon stick Transfer chicharrones to paper towels to
uncovered, until almost completely 5 whole cloves drain and let cool 5 minutes; crumble
frozen, about 2 hours. Using a very 1 Tbsp. achiote (annatto) seeds into small pieces.
sharp knife, thinly slice pork (shoot for 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns D O A H E A D : Duck legs can be baked
about ⅛" thick). Transfer to a large bowl. 1 Tbsp. dried oregano, preferably 3 weeks ahead. Transfer whole legs to a
Meanwhile, bring guajillo and morita Mexican large nonreactive container; strain fat
chiles and 1 cup water to a boil in a 1 large navel orange, quartered through a fine-mesh sieve over meat.
medium saucepan. Cover, remove from 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise Cover and chill. Bring to room
heat, and let sit 30 minutes to allow temperature before removing skin and
chiles to soften. E S C A B È C H E A N D ASS E M B LY shredding meat.
Transfer chiles and soaking liquid to a ⅓ cup fresh lime juice
blender. Add garlic, orange juice, lime 1 Tbsp. honey Whisk lime
E S C A B È C H E A N D ASS E M B LY
juice, achiote paste, and salt; purée until 1 tsp. kosher salt juice, honey, and salt in a medium bowl
smooth. Pour over pork and toss to coat. 1 bunch radishes, trimmed, halved, until salt and honey are dissolved. Add
Cover and let sit at room temperature thinly sliced radishes, onion, mint, tarragon, and
2 hours, or chill up to 6 hours. ½ small white onion, thinly sliced 1 chile and toss to coat. Add remaining
Place a rack in middle of oven; ¼ cup torn mint leaves chiles as desired (depending on their
preheat to 350°. Evenly space out 3 Tbsp. torn tarragon leaves heat and how spicy you like things).
tortillas on a baking sheet and bake until 1–3 Fresno chiles, thinly sliced Top warm tortillas with some reserved
lightly toasted and very crisp (edges will 12 6"-diameter flour tortillas, meat, then radish escabèche and
curl and pucker), 35–45 minutes. preferably Sonoran style, warmed reserved chicharrones.
59
 ✦
CLAMS
ARRABBIATA
P. 6 2
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text by recipes by photographs by

J E S S E S PA R KS M O L LY B A Z a n d C H R I S M O R O C C O DAV I D M A LO S H
One-Pot Gingery Chicken and crisp and easily releases from pot, 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
and Rice With Peanut Sauce 8–10 minutes. Slide thighs around 2 oz. thinly sliced pancetta (Italian
6 S E RV I N G S
We took loose inspiration to different spots (this will ensure even bacon), chopped
from Hainanese chicken rice to create this browning) and continue to cook until 1 medium onion, finely chopped
weeknight-friendly dish that retains the deeply browned, 3–5 minutes longer. 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
comforting and fragrant qualities Transfer chicken to a plate. Let pot cool ¾ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
of the beloved original. Seek out the 2 minutes. 1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
highest-quality basmati rice you can find Set pot over medium-low heat; add 24 littleneck clams, scrubbed
(we recommend Daawat brand)—it will shallots, garlic, and ginger and cook, 4 oz. ditalini (about 1 cup)
make a world of difference in yielding stirring constantly, until very fragrant but Handful of torn basil leaves
supremely fluffy, evenly cooked rice. not browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in Country-style bread (for serving)
rice and star anise and cook, stirring
CHICKEN AND RICE constantly, 1 minute. Stir in soy sauce, Cook oil and pancetta in a medium
6 small skin-on, bone-in chicken ¾ tsp. salt, and 3 cups water. Nestle Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring
thighs (about 3 lb.) chicken back into rice mixture in pot, occasionally, until pancetta begins to
¾ tsp. kosher salt, plus more arranging skin side up. Increase heat crisp, about 5 minutes. Add onion and
2 large shallots, finely chopped to medium and bring liquid to a simmer. cook, stirring occasionally, until softened
8 garlic cloves, finely chopped Immediately cover pot, reduce heat but not browned, 6–8 minutes. Add
1 2" piece ginger, peeled, finely to low, and cook 25 minutes. Remove garlic and cook, stirring occasionally,
chopped from heat and let chicken and rice sit until softened and fragrant, about
2 cups high-quality basmati rice, 10 minutes. 5 minutes. Stir in red pepper flakes.
rinsed Add tomatoes, crushing with your
2 whole star anise S A U C E A N D ASS E M B LY While the chicken hands as you go; increase heat to
1 Tbsp. soy sauce and rice are cooking, make the sauce. medium-high. Bring to a simmer and
Whisk peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, cook, stirring often, until tomato liquid is
S A U C E A N D ASS E M B LY Sriracha, ginger, honey, and ½ cup reduced by half and tomatoes take on
½cup creamy peanut butter warm water in a small bowl until smooth a jammy consistency, 12–15 minutes.
2Tbsp. soy sauce and pourable. If sauce looks a little thick, Add clams and 2 cups water. Cover pot
2Tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar thin with a splash or so of water. and cook, stirring occasionally and
5tsp. Sriracha Remove lid from pot and fluff rice with reducing heat as needed to maintain
1 1" piece ginger, peeled, finely a fork. Pluck out and discard star anise. a simmer, until clams begin to open,
chopped Serve chicken and rice with peanut 8–10 minutes. Uncover pot and transfer
1½ tsp. honey sauce, cucumber, and cilantro alongside. opened clams with a slotted spoon
1 English hothouse cucumber, halved D O A H E A D : Sauce can be made to a plate. Re-cover pot and continue
lengthwise, thinly sliced on a 3 days ahead. Cover and chill. cooking clams until they open, up to
diagonal 15 minutes longer; discard any clams
1 cup cilantro leaves with tender that haven’t opened by this time.
stems Clams Arrabbiata Add ditalini to pot and cook, stirring
4 S E RV I N G S
Taking the time to cook out often (pasta will want to settle and stick
CHICKEN AND RICE Pat chicken dry and and concentrate each wave of ingredients to the bottom of the pot), until al dente,
season all over with salt. Arrange, skin (slowly rendering the pancetta, gently 8–10 minutes. Add clams back to pot.
side down, in a cold, dry medium Dutch toasting the garlic, and letting the Ladle clams and sauce among bowls;
oven and set over medium heat. Cook, tomatoes get concentrated and jammy) top with basil. Serve with bread
undisturbed, until skin is golden brown puts three pots’ worth of flavor in just one. alongside for dipping.

ROUND? O VA L ? AND WHAT SIZE?

Dutch ovens typically come in If you’re someone who A Dutch oven is an investment,
variations of either a circle regularly roasts legs of lamb so it’s important to pick one
or a wide oval. There’s a time and other party-size cuts of that’s right for you. Consider
and place for each, but the meat, then going for an oval how many people you actually
BA Test Kitchen recommends may be the move. You can still cook for. A 5½–6½-qt. one
round vessels because they’re use an oval on the stovetop, will handle cooking for four
a natural fit for round burners, but it isn’t ideal for anything people (with generous
steamer inserts, and other that requires a lot of stirring. leftovers for seconds). But for
kitchen tools. They fit more These shine when cooking a bigger crew, splurge on
With so many options on the securely on stovetop burners dinners that require long stints a large 7–8-qt. oven.
market, choosing the without the overhang of in the oven. The even heat Be realistic! A Dutch oven that
right Dutch oven can feel like their oval counterparts. envelops them and creates the doesn’t fit your needs might
a gamble. Here’s what you No overhang means more ideal environment for a slow discourage you from
should know before you buy. efficient heat distribution. roast or hearty braise. actually putting it to work.

62
 ✦
O N E-P O T G I N G E RY
CHICKEN AND
RICE WITH PEANUT
SAUCE
 Coconut Cod Chowder With Slice 1 lime in half and squeeze juice
Seasoned Oyster Crackers into chowder. Taste and season with
4 S E RV I N G S
Too often fish chowder is more salt if needed. Ladle into bowls,
heavy, gloppy, and one-note. Not breaking fish into large pieces. Scatter
this one. Coconut milk and lots of zippy celery leaves over chowder if using
After countless rounds of product testing
and some existential philosophizing,
aromatics bring life to the dish. And and top with crackers. Slice remaining
the BA Test Kitchen still can’t choose though you may think oyster crackers lime into wedges and serve alongside.
a favorite. Here we break down the can’t be improved upon, you’ll change
two front-runners. your mind when you try the extra-buttery,
paprika-smothered ones we came up with. Squash au Vin
4 – 6 S E RV I N G S
What would happen if
1½ lb. skinless, boneless cod or you gave winter squash the coq au vin
halibut fillets treatment? Layers of flavor from browned
2½ tsp. kosher salt, divided, plus more mushrooms, wine, and miso that give
5 Tbsp. ghee or unsalted butter, the classic a run for its money.
LE CREUSET
divided
Few names are as recognizable as 2 medium leeks, white and pale 5 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Le Creuset, which is beloved for its
beauty and durability. They are lighter
green parts only, halved 4 oz. crimini mushrooms, quartered
than many others. Their white enameled lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise Kosher salt
interiors make it easy to gauge how 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1 large onion, thinly sliced
quickly food browns, though with time, 1 3" piece ginger, peeled, cut into 4 large shallots, halved through root
the white takes on a patina. matchsticks ends, peeled
Round 5½-qt. Dutch Oven, $350; ¾ tsp. ground turmeric 6 garlic cloves, 5 thinly sliced,
lecreuset.com
¾ tsp. ground coriander 1 finely chopped
½ tsp. ground cardamom 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced 1¼ cups dry white wine
12 oz. baby Yukon Gold or red ¾ cup whole farro, barley, or freekeh
potatoes, halved 3 Tbsp. red or white miso
2 13.5-oz. cans unsweetened 1 small kabocha squash (about
STAUB coconut milk 3 lb.), halved, seeds removed,
High quality, thick walls, and
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced, plus cut into 2"-thick wedges
eye -catching finishes are just a few leaves for serving (optional) 1 medium delicata squash (about
reasons why we’re smitten with Staub. 1½ cups oyster crackers 12 oz.), halved, seeds removed,
The darker enamel interior also ensures 1 tsp. paprika cut into 2"-thick wedges
that with a little care these ovens 2 limes, divided 1 cup parsley leaves with tender stems
won’t show signs of wear for years. Zest of ½ lemon
Round Cocotte 5½-qt. Dutch Oven,
$325–340; williams-sonoma.com
Season cod all over with 1½ tsp. salt; set
aside. Heat 3 Tbsp. ghee in a medium Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a medium Dutch oven
Dutch oven over medium. Cook leeks, over medium-high. Cook mushrooms,
garlic, and ginger, stirring occasionally, tossing occasionally, until browned and
until softened but not browned, about crisp, 6–8 minutes. Season with salt;
3 minutes. Add turmeric, coriander, and transfer to a plate. Let pot cool 2 minutes.
cardamom and cook, stirring, until Set pot over medium heat and pour
Lodge fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chile, in remaining 3 Tbsp. oil. Cook onion
Want an affordable option? potatoes, coconut milk, 1 tsp. salt, and and shallots, stirring occasionally, until
Look no further. 6-qt. Dutch oven, ¾ cup water; bring to a boil (still over softened and starting to brown, 6–8
$92; lodgemfg.com medium). Immediately reduce heat so minutes. Add sliced garlic and butter;
soup is at a bare simmer. Cover, leaving cook, stirring often, until garlic is softened
Great Jones
lid slightly askew, and cook until potatoes and starting to brown, about 2 minutes.
We like the on-point colorways and
are barely fork-tender, 10–12 minutes. Add wine; simmer, stirring once, until
modern touches. 6¾-qt. Dutch oven,
$145; greatjonesgoods.com Carefully nestle reserved fish into reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add
pot, spoon some broth over, and cover, farro, miso, and 6 cups water. Bring to
Sambonet leaving lid slightly askew. Cook at a a boil, stirring to dissolve miso. Reduce
Terra Cotto casserole dishes speak bare simmer 4 minutes, then stir in celery. heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring once
to design-minded cooks. 11¾ x10" dish, Cook until fish is opaque and flakes or twice, until farro is halfway cooked,
$270; sambonet-shop.com easily, about 5 minutes. Taste chowder about 20 minutes.
and season with more salt if needed. Taste broth and season with salt. Add
Dansk
Multitaskers love that Dansk’s
Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 Tbsp. squash (submerge the best you can),
Kobenstyle casserole dish has a ghee in a small skillet over medium-low. cover, and cook until tender, about
trivet built into the lid. 4-qt. dish, Add crackers and stir well to coat. Cook, 30 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook just
$120; surlatable.com stirring often, until golden brown, about until heated through, about 2 minutes.
5 minutes. Remove from heat and add Ladle stew into bowls; top with
paprika; toss to evenly coat. parsley, lemon zest, and chopped garlic.

64
 ✦
SQUASH
AU VIN
 ✦
COCONUT COD
CHOWDER WITH
S E AS O N E D OYS T E R
CRACKERS
P. 6 4

66
 Lentil Kielbassoulet Stir mushrooms, lentils, and 1 tsp. salt from oven and finely grate remaining
8 S E RV I N G S
All the satisfaction of a into sausage mixture and add 8 cups 3 garlic cloves over breadcrumbs; toss
hearty, rich, bean-based cassoulet with water. Increase heat to medium-high to incorporate. Add fennel fronds (you
none of the painstaking hours of assembly and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, want to have about ½ cup) and toss
and cooking. Lentils, which do not require cover pot, leaving lid slightly askew, again to combine.
presoaking, sub in for beans, which and continue to cook, stirring a few Scatter half of breadcrumbs evenly
means the whole thing comes together in times, until most of the liquid has been over stew. Transfer pot to oven and cook
a single pot. Be sure to seek out black absorbed and stew is thick and lentils stew, uncovered, until some of the
beluga or French green lentils; they taste are barely al dente, 25–30 minutes. breadcrumbs have cooked into the stew
great and hold their shape. Meanwhile, pulse bread in a food and stew is bubbling around the edges,
processor until coarse crumbs form 13–15 minutes.
½ cup plus 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin (the largest ones should be about ½"). Scatter remaining breadcrumbs over
olive oil, divided Transfer breadcrumbs to a large rimmed stew and cook until stew is very thick,
1 lb. wild mushrooms (such as baking sheet and arrange in an even 10–15 minutes.
maitake or oyster), torn into layer. Drizzle with remaining ¼ cup oil D O A H E A D : Kielbassoulet can be
2" pieces and toss to evenly coat. Bake until deep made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and
2½ tsp. kosher salt, divided golden brown, 25–30 minutes. Remove chill. Reheat, uncovered, in a 350° oven.
1 lb. kielbasa sausage, cut
1" thick on a diagonal
1 large fennel bulb, fronds
finely chopped, bulb finely
chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled, finely
chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
11 garlic cloves, 8 thinly sliced,
3 left whole
1 Tbsp. thyme leaves
1¼ tsp. hot smoked Spanish paprika
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp. double-concentrated tomato
paste
2 cups black beluga or French green
lentils
1 baguette, torn into 2" pieces

Preheat oven to 350°. Heat ¼ cup oil

in a large Dutch oven over medium-high
until smoking. Add mushrooms and
cook, undisturbed, until golden brown
underneath, about 5 minutes. Turn
mushrooms over and cook, undisturbed,
until browned on the other side, about
5 minutes. Season mushrooms with
½ tsp. salt; transfer to a plate.
FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH. PROP STYLING BY CINDY DIPRIMA.

Add 3 Tbsp. oil to same pot and

add sausage, arranging in a single layer.
Reduce heat to medium and cook,
undisturbed, until browned underneath,
about 3 minutes. Turn sausage over
and cook on second side until browned,
about 3 minutes. Add chopped fennel
bulb, onion, carrots, celery, sliced garlic,
and 1 tsp. salt and cook, stirring often
until vegetables are softened but have
not taken on any color, 10–12 minutes. ✦
Add thyme, paprika, and red pepper
flakes and cook, stirring, 1 minute. LENTIL
Add tomato paste and cook, stirring KIELBASSOULET
occasionally, until paste darkens in color
and begins to stick to the bottom of pot,
about 1 minute.
ALTERNATIVE F
T H E U S D A D I D N ’ T H I R E C A R T OO N I S T L I AN A F I N C K T O
68
 OD PYRAMIDS
REIMAGINE ITS NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES. BUT WE DID
69
NE E D S MO R E

It’s a piece of advice you’re likely to hear in any restaurant kitchen, and it really
ought to apply at home too. Making T A R T , T A N G Y I N G R E D I E N T S the
star is one of the simplest (and most delicious) ways to brighten up your cooking
by A N DY B A R AG H A N I p h o t o g r a p h s b y L A U R A M U R R AY
 2
.7
P
E
G
N
A
R
O
D
AN
S
R IE
ER
RB
BA
W ITH
KEN
CHIC
TANGY VI NEGAR

71
 ’V E C R AV E D A L L T H I N G S S O U R MY W H O L E L I F E .
As a kid I nagged my parents to buy me t hose puc ker y
c herr y belt candies at t he gas station. Dusted in citric
acid, t hey would make my mout h salivate at f irst sight.
While I’d like to t hink my palate has evolved over t he
past decade I’ve spent cooking professionally, I still f ind
myself reac hing again and again for just a little more
acidity to make a dish taste truly complete. Think about
it : From a vinegar-spiked herby sauce spooned over a
slow -braised piece of meat at a restaurant to t he many
recipes developed in t he BA Test Kitc hen t hat call f or
using a whole lemon (yes, t here is one in t his stor y),
acid is what keeps me coming bac k for that next bite. These six recipes put
a variety of sour ingredients front and center: c hic ken slowly cooked wit h
caramelized citrus, f ish glazed wit h stic ky -sour tamarind, and more. Next
time you ’re cooking, see what a sq ueeze or a splash or a spr inkle of some
kind of acid can do to your dish. I promise: It will be transformative.

Crunchy Pickle Salad Meanwhile, whisk pickle brine, ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
4 S E RV I N G SWe tend to favor pickles that vinegar, mustard, honey, and red pepper ⅓ cup white wine vinegar
are bright with acid and low on sugar; flakes in a large bowl. Add onion and 1 medium orange, halved
anything labeled “half-sour” usually fits season with salt and pepper. Let sit to
the bill. If using sweeter pickles, add a allow onion to soften slightly, at least Preheat oven to 350°. Pat chicken dry
bit more vinegar and salt. 5 minutes and up to 15 minutes. with paper towels, then season all over
Add walnuts, pickles, fennel, dill, and with salt. Heat oil in a large skillet over
½ cup walnuts Parmesan to dressing and toss to coat. medium-high. Cook chicken, skin side
4 whole pickles (half- or full-sour), Transfer salad to a large shallow bowl down, until golden brown underneath,
halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise or platter and drizzle with oil. Serve with 7–10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a
into 1" pieces, plus 3 Tbsp. pickle toast to sop up the dressing if desired. plate, leaving any fat in the pan.
brine Remove pan from heat and let fat cool
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar down a little (about 3 minutes should do
2 tsp. Dijon mustard Tangy Vinegar Chicken it). Return pan to medium heat and add
1 tsp. honey With Barberries and Orange onion and garlic. Cook, stirring often
¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 4 S E RV I N G S
Dried barberries are and adding a splash of water if needed
½ small white onion, thinly sliced, incredibly tart, more so than any other to keep onion from getting too dark, until
rinsed dried fruit you’ll encounter. Look for them onion is softened and golden brown,
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper at Middle Eastern markets or specialty 6–8 minutes. Stir in barberries, turmeric,
1 medium fennel bulb, tough outer foods stores, or order them online. Dried and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring,
layers removed, thinly sliced tart cherries will also work. until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in
crosswise vinegar and 1 cup water, season lightly
½ cup chopped dill 3 lb. skin-on, bone-in chicken legs with salt, and bring to a simmer.
2 oz. Parmesan, shaved (thigh and drumstick) or a mix of Arrange chicken, skin side up, in
Extra-virgin olive oil (for thighs and drumsticks sauce, then nestle orange halves, cut side
drizzling) Kosher salt down, around chicken. Transfer skillet to
Toasted country-style bread 2 Tbsp. vegetable or other neutral oven and bake, uncovered, until sauce is
(for serving; optional) oil reduced and chicken is cooked through,
1 medium onion, finely chopped 30–35 minutes (or 20–25 minutes for
Preheat oven to 350°. Toast walnuts on 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced separated things and drumsticks).
a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, ½ cup dried barberries or dried tart Transfer chicken to a platter. Spoon
until golden brown, 8–10 minutes. Let cherries, rinsed sauce over, then squeeze juice from
cool; coarsely chop. ½ tsp. ground turmeric orange halves on top.

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 PA R M E S A N
EMO N, AND
LE L
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 Pasta With Brown Butter, Grains in Herby Buttermilk
Whole Lemon, and Parmesan 4 S E RV I N G S
The herbed sauce in this grain
4 S E RV I N G S
Using a sliced whole lemon dish gets a double hit of punchy dairy:
gives unbeatably fresh aroma from the Not as sharp as other acidic ingredients,
skin, bitter complexity from the pith, and buttermilk lends a unique tang and yogurt
tart, puckery juice from the flesh. Thin brings body and richness.
slices soften evenly and ensure that the
lemon plays nicely with the pasta, butter, 1 cup mixed unhulled grains (such as
and Parmesan. spelt, whole barley, and/or whole
farro)
1 lb. short tube pasta (such as 1 small onion, unpeeled, halved
paccheri or rigatoni) 3 garlic cloves, crushed
Kosher salt 2 3x1" strips lemon zest
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, Kosher salt
cut into pieces, divided 1½ cups parsley leaves with tender
1 small regular lemon or Meyer stems
lemon, very thinly sliced into 1 cup dill fronds
rounds, seeds removed 1 cup buttermilk, preferably room
1 oz. Parmesan, finely grated, temperature
plus more for serving ½ cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt,
Freshly ground black pepper preferably room temperature
½ lemon
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling Extra-virgin olive oil (for
generously salted water, stirring drizzling)
occasionally, until very al dente, about Freshly ground black pepper
2 minutes less than package directions
(pasta will finish cooking in the sauce). Toast grains in a dry medium heavy pot
Meanwhile, heat half of the butter in over medium heat, stirring occasionally,
a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot until just slightly darkened and beginning
over medium until melted. Add lemon to smell nutty, about 4 minutes. Pour
slices and cook, stirring often, until in 4 cups water, then add onion, garlic,
softened and bottom of pot is browned lemon zest, and a couple of big pinches
in spots, 5–7 minutes. Using tongs, of salt; stir to combine. Bring mixture to
transfer one-third of lemon slices to a a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low
plate; set aside. and simmer, stirring occasionally and
Just before pasta is al dente, scoop skimming any foam from surface as
out 2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Add needed, until grains are tender (pull out
1½ cups pasta cooking liquid to butter a few grains and take a bite to test),
sauce. (This may seem like a lot of liquid, 35–45 minutes; pluck out and discard
but it will thicken once the remaining onion, garlic, and lemon zest.
ingredients are added.) Add remaining Meanwhile, purée parsley, dill,
butter a piece at a time, whisking until buttermilk, and a big pinch of salt in a
each piece is incorporated before blender until bright green and smooth.
adding more, until the sauce is emulsified Pour into a medium bowl, add yogurt,
and creamy. and whisk until your arm gets a bit
Drain pasta and add to sauce. tired—3 minutes should do the trick
Cook, stirring often and adding 1 oz. (whisking the mixture well will ensure
Parmesan a little at a time. Once all of that the yogurt doesn’t split and get
the cheese is added, continue to cook, grainy when you add it to the grains).
still stirring, until cheese is melted and Pour buttermilk mixture over grains.
sauce is creamy and clings to pasta, Increase heat to medium and bring to
about 3 minutes. If sauce looks very a bare simmer. Cook just until heated
ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLAY HICKSON

thick, add more pasta cooking liquid through, about 1 minute. Remove from
1–2 Tbsp. at a time to thin (saucier heat and squeeze in juice from lemon
is ideal as it will thicken as it cools). half. Stir well, then taste grains and
Remove from heat and sprinkle with an season with more salt if needed. Skim
almost ridiculous amount of pepper any foam from surface.
(about 2 tsp.); toss once more. Ladle grains into bowls. Drizzle some
Serve pasta topped with reserved oil into each bowl and top with coarsely
lemon rounds and more Parmesan. ground pepper.

77
Stuffed Cabbage With darkened in color and onion is almost INGREDIENT INFO: Tamarind concentrate,
Lemony Rice and Sumac jammy, about 5 minutes. Mix in herbs, often labeled “concentrate cooking
4 S E RV I N G S
With its crinkly texture, raisins, and 2 Tbsp. sumac and cook, still tamarind,” can be found at Asian and
savoy cabbage is our go-to for stuffed stirring, until herbs have slightly darkened Thai markets and online. We like
cabbage, but the regular ol’ green in color and are very fragrant, about Tamicon Tamarind Concentrate ($7;
variety also works. Both will become 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in thespicehouse.com). You can also use
meltingly tender. lemon juice; let cool 5 minutes. tamarind paste, a dense brick of dried
Add onion mixture and egg to rice tamarind pulp that isn’t as concentrated
12–14 large savoy or green cabbage and mix well; season generously with in flavor and needs to be thinned with
leaves (from 1 large head) salt and pepper. Wipe out pot; reserve. water until spoonable. Use the same
Kosher salt Working with 1 cabbage leaf at a time, amount as you would concentrate.
¾ cup long-grain white rice (such as cut out the thickest part of rib by making
basmati or jasmine), rinsed a thin V-shape; discard. Place 3 heaping Toast coconut in a dry medium saucepan
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more Tbsp. filling in the center, running over medium heat, stirring often, until
for drizzling crosswise across leaf. Starting at the golden brown, 5–7 minutes. Transfer to
1 large onion, finely chopped base where you cut the V, fold notched a small bowl.
½ cup pine nuts side of leaf up and over filling, then fold Wipe out saucepan. Combine oil
1 cup finely chopped mixed tender in sides and roll up leaf like a burrito. and shallots in saucepan and set over
herbs (such as parsley, mint, dill, Arrange cabbage rolls, seam side medium-high heat. Cook, stirring
and/or tarragon) down, in a single layer in reserved pot. often, until shallots are golden brown
⅓ cup chopped golden or brown Add butter and ½ cup water and bring and crisp, 8–10 minutes. Using a
raisins to a simmer over medium-high heat. slotted spoon, transfer shallots to paper
2 Tbsp. sumac, plus more for serving Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and towels to drain; immediately season
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice steam rolls until filling is cooked through with salt.
1 large egg, beaten to blend and leaves are tender, 18–25 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add
Freshly ground black pepper Divide cabbage rolls among plates; ginger and garlic to saucepan. Cook,
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter drizzle with oil and sprinkle with sumac stirring occasionally, until browned
Sour cream (for serving) and pepper. Serve with sour cream. in spots, about 4 minutes. Add tomato
paste and cook, stirring constantly, until
INGREDIENT INFO: Sumac, a tart, citrusy paste splits and color darkens slightly,
spice generally sold in ground form, Tamarind-Glazed Black Bass about 2 minutes. Add tamarind
can be found at Middle Eastern markets, With Coconut-Herb Salad concentrate, honey, and soy sauce and
specialty foods stores, and online. 4 S E RV I N G S
This sweet-and-sour glaze cook, stirring constantly, until glaze is
will work on other proteins besides fish. smooth and just beginning to bubble,
Line a baking sheet with a clean kitchen If you’re using it on grilled meats like about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat;
towel or a few layers of paper towels; chicken, steaks, or ribs, brush on the taste glaze and season with salt.
set aside. Working in batches, cook glaze toward the end of the cooking Place a rack in upper third of oven;
cabbage leaves in a large pot of boiling process so the sugars don’t burn. preheat to 425°. Place 1 fish on a cutting
generously salted water until bright board and thoroughly pat dry inside
green and pliable, about 2 minutes per ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut and out with paper towels. Using a
batch. Transfer leaves to a bowl of ice 3 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil or a neutral sharp knife, make slashes crosswise on
water to cool; reserve pot of water for oil (such as grapeseed or a diagonal about every 2" along length
FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH. PROP STYLING BY SOPHIE STRANGIO.
cooking rice. Transfer cabbage leaves vegetable) of body (make sure to cut all the way
to prepared baking sheet and let drain. 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced into down to the bones as this will help the
Return water in pot to a boil and rings fish cook evenly). Turn fish over and
cook rice, stirring often, until grains swell Kosher salt repeat process on the other side. Transfer
and rise to the surface, 3–6 minutes 1 2" piece ginger, scrubbed, thinly fish to a parchment-lined baking sheet,
(depending on quality of rice). Bite sliced lengthwise then repeat with remaining fish.
into a few grains to test; they should be 4 garlic cloves, crushed Season both fish all over with salt.
al dente (rice will finish cooking when 1 Tbsp. double-concentrated Brush both sides with about half of the
baked inside the cabbage). Drain rice tomato paste glaze, leaving the garlic and ginger
and rinse under cold running water to ¼ cup tamarind concentrate behind. Roast fish, brushing with
stop it from cooking further. Drain again 2 Tbsp. honey remaining glaze halfway through, until
and transfer to a large bowl. 1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce glaze is sticky and flesh flakes easily
Wipe out pot. Pour in ¼ cup oil and 2 1½–2-lb. head-on whole black sea with a fork, 16–20 minutes.
set pot over medium heat. Add onion bass or red snapper, cleaned Arrange fish on a large platter or
and cook, stirring occasionally, until 3 Thai chiles or 2 serrano chiles, 2 smaller platters and scatter toasted
softened and golden, 7–9 minutes. thinly sliced coconut, crispy shallots, chiles, and
Add pine nuts and cook, stirring often, 1 cup mint leaves, torn if large mint evenly on top. Serve with lime
until nuts smell toasty and have slightly Lime wedges (for serving) wedges alongside for squeezing over.

78
TAMARIND-GLAZED BLACK BASS WITH COCONUT-HERB SALAD
 c.
In

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 hick en?
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Wh y Biolo

photographs by ALEX L AU
 WO BEACH CHAIRS sit side by side in front of the glitter-
ing blue ocean. The sun is shining. And in between those
chairs, nestled in the warm sand, is a perky yellow bag
of Funyuns. ¶ That’s a mural I saw in the Frito-Lay head-
quarters in Plano, Texas. I was there! My pilgrimage to
the pinnacle of potato chips! Each step I took down those
carpeted corporate hallways was a bounce. I love potato
chips. I love snack foods as a whole category, but chips are my number one. I have
a stash under my desk that I share on our office snack table when the mood calls
for it. I have a designated “chip plate” my coworkers know by name. At my last
job I became known for shrieking “They put chips on your sandwich!” every time
we ate at a local lunch spot (that had no other redeeming qualities).
I’m trying to set myself up here to explain how I ended up at First, Put On a Lab Coat
Frito-Lay headquarters, standing in a stainless-steel-outfitted
Culinary Innovation Center in front of a spread of chips, accept- The study of crispy started in the food lab that brought the
ing a strawberry Bubly water from a guy called Chef Jody. world Jell-O, instant coffee, and a Seinfeldian array of break-
Because the thing about chips is, they’re perfect. The reason fast cereals: General Foods (now owned by Kraft Heinz). Scien-
chips are perfect is their texture. They’re crispy. And crispy tists weren’t paying close attention to food texture until the
foods are the best foods. legendary General Foods research scientist Alina Szczesniak
Okay, fine! I also like jiggly. A colleague of mine wrote a broke it wide open in the ’50s. Me summarizing her work:
piece about the beauty of chewy. Another is enamored with “Everyone’s obsessing over how foods taste and totally ignor-
“crispy gone soggy.” There are other fantastic food textures ing how important TEXTURE is to the experience of FLAVOR.”
out there. But why is crispy so alluring, so valuable, so desir- The other scientists: “Oh daaaaaaaaaamn. She’s right.”
able? Bon Appétit used it around 500 times (I’m rounding up) Szczesniak, who died in 2016, laid out a scientific range to
last year to describe everything from salmon skin to the top evaluate food texture based on eight qualities, like hardness
of baked French toast. Frito-Lay yearns to achieve hyperbolic and elasticity, called the sensory texture profile. Crispiness is a
levels of crisp. Popeyes has us lined up for crispy chicken “stimulant to active eating,” wrote Szczesniak with a colleague,
sandwiches. The opulence-forward restaurant Benu in San and “it appears to hold a particular place in the basic psychol-
Francisco has served “pork with inverted crispy skin” on its ogy of appetite and hunger satiation, spurring one to continue
$325 per person tasting menu. eating.” Well, yeah.
In the datasphere, the use of crispy/crispiness in U.S. To assess crispiness, which Szczesniak categorized as “brit-
reviews on Yelp has increased 20 percent in the past decade. tleness,” you had to measure the force a bite needs to break
In close to 7,000 menus analyzed by Stanford’s Dan Juraf- a food. Her team used human panels to test texture, but she
sky, crispy is by far the most frequent adjective used to also invented a few machines, including the Texturometer, a
describe texture. The Cheesecake Factory uses the words mechanical mouth (with blades, not teeth, I know) that spits
crisp or crispy nearly 50 times on ONE menu. Researchers out readings on crispiness and other traits. Today Frito-Lay
have revealed that people find crispy foods “appealing” and and its competitors have their own versions of the Texturome-
“enjoyable,” and that people associate crispy and crunchy ter to measure products’ crispiness.
food sounds with “FUN” and “pleasantness.” Get this, brai- What did General Foods do with this data? The company
niacs: Neurons in our orbitofrontal cortex DING DING DING came out with aisles of crispy cereals, frozen foods, and pack-
like game-show bells whenever we eat crispy foods. Crispy is aged snacks as Americans were starting to spend more and
everywhere. Crispy is beloved. Crispy is… more time in front of the TV. How convenient.
Totally calculated.
Our predictable, blatant obsession with crispy has sparked
an entire food and marketing industry that caters to it. You Wait, What About Crunch?
can measure crispy, engineer it, and promote it. Scientists can
make crispy crispier. But why do we love it? How do we see it, People tend to use crispy and crunchy interchangeably, but
hear it, and taste it? What even is it? Who the heck is crunch? there’s a difference, and it’s been studied. This isn’t a matter
Let’s get to the bottom of this bag of potato chips. of opinion, okay?! Scientists recorded people eating a variety

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APPLES ARE WHAT
SCIENTISTS CALL
“ W E T C R I S P. ” R E A L LY !
of crispy and crunchy foods—crackers, chips, apples—and is also how they promote crisp. The pop and whoosh of released
found that crispy foods make easier breaks and higher-pitched air. Classic Lay’s bags had a makeover recently and on the back
sounds and are usually attacked with the front teeth, while there’s a list of words with “CRISPY!” up top—where they
crunchy are molars, lower-pitched. Other studies looked at the know consumers’ eyes go first because, of course, they do eye-
mess a food makes when it’s bitten, and crispy foods had more tracking experiments. You thought we lived in a world without
breaks and pieces compared with crunchies. Many have chip surveillance?!?! And don’t forget the sound of the crum-
pointed out that the words are onomatopoeic: crispy ends with pling bag, or the pop-off of the Pringles lid. Those signify
an uplifting quick isp like a chip snapping in your teeth, crispiness as much as the chip itself.
crunch comes out of the mouth like a bulldozer hitting dirt. Then there’s the photo of the single oval chip—no crumbs
A Pringle is crispy; a thick Snyder’s pretzel is crunchy. in sight—on the front of the bag. Katie Ceclan, a marketing
exec at Frito-Lay, told me this is because consumers associate
crumbs with broken boys at the bottom of the bag. Plus, “we
Let’s Talk About PCs spent a lot of time with shadows,” Ceclan said. On the previ-
ous bags a straightforward shot was too flat and cartoonish.
Back at Frito-Lay HQ, I stood in front of a chip lineup that Crispy is dynamic and tactile, multidimensional mouth magic!
spanned from airy Wiffle ball–like Poppables to classic Lay’s Crispy lives in the shadows.
(which they refer to as “PCs”) to kettle-cooked Lay’s and these
new chickpea flour Frisbees called Off the Eaten Path. Dr.
Chris Cioffe, senior vice president of sustainability and global Call Me Crispy Poppy
snacks R&D at PepsiCo (phewph!), beamed with pride at her
chip babies. I beamed with gluttonous joy. I gushed like a red- Well, sometimes crispy lives in the crumbs. At Popeyes, they
carpet reporter about what a fan I was of jalapeño kettle chips. call them crispy poppies. “That’s when you get that kind of
“Women really seem to like the kettle-cooked,” Dr. Chris gnarled or almost cornflake texture on the chicken,” said Amy
said, “and usually the fold-overs are the secret”—fold-overs, as Alarcon, vice president of culinary innovation at Popeyes. Her
in, the chips that fold in the fryer like shells. Frito-Lay got the team’s latest creation, the wildly popular crispy chicken sand-
female fact from post-market reports and from consumer wich, captivated the crispy nation for weeks. The ad campaign
panels, but a 2015 study at the University was just one close-up photo and a viral
of Arkansas came to similar findings: tweet that threw shade at Chick-fil-A’s
Female consumers were more likely to sandwich: “Y’all good?”
notice food texture, especially crisp and We tried the sandwich in the office.
crunch, than their male counterparts, Senior food editor Andy Baraghani was
whose attention first goes to food color impressed with the supremely crispy skin
and flavor. Don’t ask why! No one knows!! despite it having traveled at least 30 min-
Maybe we’re trying to drown out the noise utes. (A box of fries, on the other hand,
of men talking so much!!! was pure sog.) All of our talk was about
Kettle chips are in the “hard bite” cate- the crispy shell—what’s inside, in this
gory, which “is growing like crazy” right case, isn’t what counts. The coating here is
now, Dr. Chris said. They’ve introduced not the same as what you’ll find on the
Ruffles Double Crunch, a kettle-cooked classic Popeyes chicken. It’s a combina-
Ruffle, plus revamped Cool Ranch and tion of hard and soft wheat flours, similar
Flamin’ Hot Limon Doritos. to the difference between all-purpose and
But where do chip babies come from? fluffy cake flour. Popeyes works directly
A R E W E H AV I N G
Frito-Lay creates crisp in four major FUNYUN YET?
with flour mills to source flour that has
ways, executive chef Jody Denton told the exact percentage of protein needed to
me: ingredients (finding the right combi- “deliver that perfect shatter bite that peo-
nation), moisture control (dehydrating snacks), shaping ple expect from us,” Alarcon said. Each season the wheat crop
method (each chip has its own custom equipment), and the changes slightly, in the way corn does, so the culinary team has
speed and method of cooking (frying, baking, etc.). to regularly measure the protein in the flour and adjust the
Kettle chips are all about that fry time. A regular potato chip blend until the ratio is calibrated for peak Popeyes crispy.
is fried fast at a high temp. A kettle chip cooks longer at a lower If you look at the ad for the sandwich, it’s nearly 3-D. I spoke
temperature, getting browner and crispier. Cheetos get to Tom Hamling, head of creative for the agency GSD&M, who
extruded, which means they get squirted out of a machine oversaw the campaign. Every detail was scrutinized to make it
like cheese turds or Play-Doh noodles. By squirting the dough appear as crispy as possible. Photographers and food stylists
out with added air, they end up as Puffs. Cheetos Crunchy are are sent a styling brief, which no one dared show me, that sets
extruded, but their time in the fryer is the key to their harder the ground rules. IT SHOULD NOT LOOK GREASY, but there
bite. I got a glimpse of the machines, which look like missile should be a twinkle of shine, it might say. A food stylist who
launchers. That, folks, is why you can’t replicate Cheetos at definitely signed an NDA gets the official recipe, and the
home, unless you’re Claire Saffitz. beauty pageant begins.
Frito-Lay sustains crisp with packaging. The bags are puffed There’s a crowd on set that includes some of the Popeyes
with nitrogen-infused air that keeps the chips fresh. Packaging culinary team to give the stylist notes as the camera starts

84
rolling. If the sandwich loses its recently fried glow, a stylist
might dab it with oil in the places the light hits, which is exactly
how I apply highlighter to my cheekbones. If a spot on the
chicken is lacking definition, a stylist who has worked on sim-
ilar shoots told me she might do some “crisp grafting,” piling
fallen crispy poppies back on the chicken to oomph it up.
“Even Kate Moss wears makeup sometimes,” the stylist said.

Crispy in Concert
“This is Pringle chews, starting slow.” Marshall Grupp was
splayed on a rug in the offices of the Sound Lounge, a sound
mixing studio in New York. He has wavy long hair and was
wearing an incredible fleece pullover in a southwestern print,
which is a look I’d say screams: I’m the sound guy. They’d
assembled a tray of crispy foods to take into a recording studio
with me—a Honeycrisp apple, Frosted Flakes, Ruffles, a Rice
Krispies Treat—and Grupp was snacking on them analytically:
“There’s sugar on the Frosted Flakes, so it might add to the
texture of the sound.”
Years ago he made a hundred-something sound effects library
for Pringles, a collection of sounds for ads and wherever else a
Pringles crunch might be heard (your dreams?). When the first
recording played on the Sound Lounge’s giant speakers, we
heard a big satisfying crrr-unch and then four crunchy decre-
scendoing bites. It was like hearing Pringles at Carnegie Hall.
I was rapt. “Wow. That was a pretty good sound,” Grupp said,
amused. There were no mouth noises, no hint of moisture or
breathing. It was “clean.”
“This is a single. Pringle. Crack.” A quick, papery snap.
“That’s just hands,” Grupp said, snapping a chip in half with
his hands to show me.
Behind every chip commercial, there’s a chip biter with a microphone.
“Chip nibbles.” A rapid-fire tat-tat-tat. Grupp exclaimed: Executive producer Becca Falborn expertly chomps on a stack of Pringles
“I even did nibbles!!!” at the Sound Lounge mixing studio in New York.
The Sound Lounge records Foleys—sounds that match up
with an image—for movies, TV, and commercials. For food
clients, a producer goes into the recording studio and eats
the food itself. Then the Sound Lounge will edit the sound: Pringles while listening to the feedback sound of their biting.
layering sound over sound like thwacking Bruce Lee punches, The researchers found that the louder the sound, the crispier
balancing the bass and treble, or adding the chips seemed. In a bacon study (!), the
reverb for slow-motion chip action. “It sound of crispy bacon was as important
becomes a little more artistic, a little to people’s enjoyment of it as smell and
more dramatic,” Grupp said. “[We’re] taste. Frito-Lay has measured products’
taking a real sound and making it more crunch in decibels, mostly to “maintain
than what it really is.” brand identity,” confirming that Cheetos
When a commercial for Ore-Ida tater are consistently crunchy, year after year.
tots needed to sound crispier, producers They once audibly confirmed that Dori-
fried the tots a second time, which did tos make the loudest crack.
the trick. In the ad, a sports commentator I put on headphones and headed into
narrates as a little girl sits at the dinner the Sound Lounge recording booth with
table with her mom: “Will Lily trade a the tray of snacks. We cranked up the vol-
bite of chicken for the crispy Ore-Ida ume and I bit into a Ruffle; I could hear
tater tot???” Lily bites into the tot and the A C O V E T E D P O P E Y E S C R I S P Y the crunch loud and surreally clear. It
CHICKEN SANDWICH
Sound Lounge’s beautiful crunch crack- sounded plasticky. A Nature Valley gra-
les in its split second of stardom. nola bar that I snapped in my hands was
When we bite into crispy food, the crunch in our teeth sandy and anticlimactic. Corn Flakes crushed in my palms
vibrates up our jaw to our ears. We hear it and feel it. It’s a sounded like a giant walking on Legos. We looked at the
huge part of why we find crispy foods exciting. In an Oxford sound waves of my crunches and you could see the sound
University study published in 2015, people bit into 180 spike up and down. “It has a personality!” Grupp said.

85
 WE TOLD YOU
CRISPY LIVES IN
THE SHADOWS.
 Meanwhile, in New Jersey The package has “2X the crunch!” stamped in a chalk font
and reminds me of ads for CrossFit gyms and protein pow-
When Gail Vance Civille picked me up from the train station ders. Sensory Spectrum’s Civille has a theory that people of a
in Summit, New Jersey, I noticed we were both wearing blue certain personality type like crispy because it’s an attack.
corduroy pants. “I wore my most textured outfit for you,” “It’s much more aggressive than chewing on a caramel,” she
I said. “My friends say my house is full of textures,” she told me, baring her teeth.
replied before defying every turn her Google Maps narrated That doesn’t fully explain it, though. Szczesniak and other
and yet somehow ending up at Sensory Spectrum, her con- scientists published in The Journal of Texture Studies, which
sulting company. There they evaluate everything from body you better believe I read, posited that humans like crispy
lotion to kitty litter to granola bars in development. They because it signaled freshness and safe-to-eatness in our cave-
might get 15 chip prototypes to test, after which the maker man days (lettuce, apples, tasty crickets). Then fire meant we
might narrow down to three to test with consumers. Then could create crispy—we adapted to love crispy things even
Sensory Spectrum might see the product again to determine more when fried in fat.
shelf life (you thought expiration dates were plucked from The Omnivorous Mind author John S. Allen wrote that
thin air?). Civille, 76, has eaten a lot of stale chips. crispy rescues us from “sensory habituation,” getting bored
Civille worked with Szczesniak at Gen- by the third slippery sip of tomato soup.
eral Foods back in the day. Since then The most comprehensive, logical theory
she’s cowritten a book that explains how to me was a similar argument from
to run a sensory panel (similar to what Oxford professor Charles Spence, who
Szczesniak started) that most food com- did the Pringles sound studies. He writes
panies use. A food-loving crowd of 10–15 that crispy is king because it offers a
trained experts sit around a table and “multisensory experience”—sight, taste,
VERY thoroughly analyze, say, a new fro- feel, and especially sound, piled together
zen chicken finger, according to a VERY like a tin roof sensory sundae.
specific set of categories. One of which I didn’t talk much in this story about
is, duh, crispiness. It’s a 0–15 point scale. cooking crispy at restaurants, where it
A marshmallow is 0. A Life Saver is 15. can be just as scientific as at Popeyes, but
Iconic products like Quaker Chewy gra- for a much smaller audience and with
nola bars (2) and Goldfish (11) are tent- much scarcer ingredients. At Atomix in
poles in the scale, so if you’re trying New York, chef Junghyun Park adds
IS IT A P O PPABLE OR AN A S YE T
something new, you can think, Is this UNDISCOVERED PL ANET?
nitrogen dioxide gas to the batter for
crispier than a Goldfish? Then it proba- a super-crispy langoustine twigim (like a
bly ranks at 11 or higher. If you look at the fritter). In outer space—I mean Vesper-
evaluations of snack foods on the whole, Civille said, “As the tine in L.A.—chef Jordan Kahn makes an herbal distillate of
crispiness goes up, the liking score goes up.” Turkish bay leaves as the base for a thin and crispy bay leaf
She and panel leader Liz Filoramo set up a sample panel cage that holds a caramelized leek heart hostage inside. At
for me. I got an evaluation worksheet, a water cup, a plate of New York’s Momofuku Ko, you start your meal with a one-bite
Cheetos—Crunchy and Puffs—and a spit cup. As if I’d ever pommes soufflé—a dollhouse-size potato pillow that’s been
spit out a Cheeto! Chester, I would NEVER. The Puff was up fried at two different temperatures in order to explode into
first, and Civille instructed me to bite it between my molars, its puffy shape and dehydrated so that it remains insanely
slowly. Crispy, Civille reminded me, makes many small rup- crispy, two techniques the Frito-Lay execs would surely nod
tures when bitten, while crunchy makes fewer breaks and in agreement with.
is denser. The Puff shattered easily between my teeth with a And I didn’t talk about cooking crispy at home! The joys of
shhhick and dissolved into exfoliating cheese goo. We gave chicken thighs fried in their own fat, crispy pakoras, icy-crisp
it a 7.5. The Crunchy was a much denser bite and over with fennel salad, none of which require a bulk order from
much faster. That was a 12. modernistpantry.com. I figured you were pretty familiar
with those cooking techniques since we seem to wax poetic
about them in every issue.
Crispy in Theory Instead I keep thinking about how unreal crispy has
become when it’s formulated in food labs for mass consump-
Meet the new Ruffles Double Crunch. They’re caramel- tion, preserved in puffy packaging. How the photography we
FOOD STYLING BY SUSIE THEODOROU

colored because they’re “kettle-processed,” which you’ll see is saturated, shadowed, and oil-slicked by professional
remember means they were left in the fry oil a bit longer for perfectionists. How the crunch sound in commercials is
extra crisp. The ridges are almost dangerously sharp. “Ouch!” amplified and deepened, like a fart in a porcelain bathtub.
said one of my colleagues when we tried them around the There are so many places in our lives where, when trying to
office snack table. “I can’t hear what anyone’s saying when re-create reality, we simply take it too far—see Instagram,
I’m chewing this,” said another (please note, female) loudly. Vanderpump Rules, and Botox as reference. Where will we go
“They’ve gone too far!” cried a third. I thought they’d be when crispy’s gone too far? After the roofs of our mouths are
great with a tub of sour cream and onion dip, tucking the cut up from too many extreme Ruffles? And that’s when a
second bag under my desk for myself. smooth, jiggly cup of pudding starts sounding really nice.

87
 S T E P-BY- TIPS &
STEPS TRICKS

Almost everything you need to know (and nothing you don ’t)

If you cooked,
you’re exempt
from dishwashing.
That’s the law!

How to Do Your
Dishes Like
a Neat Freak
With great power (cooking!) comes
great responsibility (...cleaning)

by SA R A H JA M P E L

P H OTO G R A P H S BY T E D + C H E L S E A C AVA N AU G H
 Basically

1
The World Revolves Around Your Soap Bowl
You know how when you hand-wash a ton of dishes, you end up squirting
soap into the sponge a million times? Not anymore. Make a soap bowl, a reservoir
of warm sudsy water, and you’ll get through a dinner’s worth of dishes faster,
without wasting soap and a few gallons of water along the way. Here’s how:

1 2
In your empty sink, place a shallow bowl. It shouldn ’t take As the bowl slowly fills, dip in your sponge , using it to wash
up the whole basin—you need some room to work . Add a couple small, not-so-dir ty things like glasses and utensils. Don ’t
of pumps of soap , then trickle in hot water from the faucet. submerge anything in the bowl—it’s your clean soap source .

3 4
When the bowl is good and foamy, tackle the dinner ware , Rinse the soap of f the dishes as you wash, directing the runof f into
followed by heavier items like pots and pans. Saturate the empty section of the sink and away from your sacred bowl.
your sponge in the soap bowl and pour some of its power ful If your supply becomes contaminated (grease happens!), restar t
liquid directly into dir tier items as needed. with fresh soap and water. Pause to dr y as the dish rack fills up .

We get it: It’s tempting to toss everything into the sink as you cook, heap on more
2
ILLUSTRATIONS BY TIM LAHAN

dirty dishes as you clear the table, then hit the ground running and wash till you
drop. But clogging up the sink slows you down and invites shattered glasses and
KE E P cracked plates. Instead, take a sec to think through your plan of attack. If you’ve
TH E S I N K got room to organize the dishes on your kitchen counter, fantastic! Keep like with
like and wash from lightest to heaviest, saving anything greasy or gloppy (which
C LE AR will benefit from a short soak) for last. If you’re working in a small space, enforce
(It’s your workspace, crowd control: Just leave the dishes where they are, whether that’s on the table or
not your dumping ground) on the stove, and bring them to the sink when it’s their time to shine.

90 – MARCH 2020
 5
THESE TOOLS (ALMOST) MAKE
D I S H WAS H I N G A P L E AS U R E

3
The cardinal sins
of dishwashing
Any of these practices may
result in a very justified scolding—
especially if you’ve offered to
“help” in someone else’s kitchen:
•Neglecting the bottoms
of plates and bowls... All-natural soap that gets the job done Gloves that keep your hands bone-dry
You wouldn’t skip washing Plant-based, biodegradable, These gloves are durable yet
your back in the shower, and refillable, this dish soap is gentle on flexible, and the folds prevent water from
would you? skin but tough on grease. dripping down your wrists.
Common Good Dish Soap, Casabella Waterblock Gloves,
•...and the outsides of $9 for 16 oz.; commongoodandco.com $7; casabella.com
pots and pans
Just because you’re only using
the inside of cookware doesn’t
mean the outer surfaces don’t get
grimy and oily, too. Scrub ’em!

• Leaving a pot to
“soak overnight”
Soaking is not an excuse to
procrastinate. It should
happen either while you’re
eating or while you’re doing
the rest of the dishes—and
for no longer.

•Leaving the drain trap full The all-purpose grub-cleaner A sponge you won’t forget to replace
Sorry, but emptying it is part If there’s a stain that won’t fade, try this The official sponges of the BA Test Kitchen,
of the job. near-magical cleaning powder, these never get stinky. You’ll know it’s time for
which will make your pots, pans, and a fresh one when the design on the top fades.
4 baking sheets glitter anew.
Bar Keepers Friend, $10 for two; amazon.com
Skura Style Sponge, $36 for 12;
skurastyle.com
The best way to
spend less time
doing dishes is to
make less dishes
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF YAMAZAKI (DISH RACK)

To reduce cleanup time, cook

with foresight. Prep and measure
dry ingredients (nuts, vegetables,
herbs) before watery, oily, or
smelly ones (anchovies, blue
cheese, kimchi) and you’ll be
able to reuse cutting boards,
knives, and measuring cups. The strong but gentle scrubber A dish rack you’ll want to show off
Designate a bowl for collecting Made of durable waterproof palm fibers, Can dish racks be cute? Minimalist-chic
“gently used” items you’ll return it pulls off burnt crusties from your and just big enough, it contains
to so that they don’t disappear cast iron without damaging it. It’s also drips, is easy to wipe clean, and won’t
into the sink or dishwasher. And great for cleaning vegetables. take up too much counter space.
double up by using pots as Kamenoko Tawashi Scrubber, $9; Tosca Dish Drainer Rack, $70;
serving dishes. So casual-cool. eastfork.com theyamazakihome.com

M A R C H 2 0 2 0 – 91
 Basically

6
O H , YO U H AV E A D I S H WAS H E R ?
Lucky you! But you’re not off the hook. Behold our guidelines:

➜ Load from back Thin plastics (like

to front, which will quar t containers)
help you fit in more should go only
stuf f. Unload from on the top rack
bot tom to top , so to protec t them
that you don ’t drip from melting .
on your dr y dishes.

➜ Don ’t put Place bowls and

in anything you cups facedown
couldn ’t (or or at an angle so they
wouldn ’t want to) don ’t collect water.
replace: ceramics,
pots, fine china.

➜ Scraping is a
good idea, but
rinsing is usually
not necessar y.* Don ’t dishwash
*Your parents sharp knives, which
are going to kill will dull. (But ter
us for that. knives are fine .)

Wooden items like

spoons and cut ting
boards could
Pans, especially warp or crack .
nonstick, don ’t Keep them out.
belong: They’re
bulky and
damage -prone .

Position the tines

of forks and the bowls
➜ Right af ter you of spoons sticking
empty the machine , up (for maximum
add detergent. gunk removal) and
You’ll see the soap the blades of but ter
and know the knives pointing
machine is dir ty. down (for safety).

You need more dish towels

HE LITERALLY WROTE
THE BOOK ON IT
For even more intel, pick up
a copy of How to Wash
the Dishes ($15; Roost Books)
by Peter Miller.

92 – MARCH 2020
Now is the time
to start listening.

Join the best writers in America

as they make sense of the world
and the people changing it.
Hosted by David Remnick.

THE NEW YORKER

RADIO HOUR
PODCAST
A co-production with
recipe index

Praise the braise.

P. 64

COOK SIDE DISH Tamarind-Glazed PASTA Spicy Chicken Pasta With Brown
THE COVER Cauliflower Black Bass With Pasta With Brown Katsu Sandwiches Butter, Whole
Coconut-Herb Butter, Whole p. 21 Lemon, and

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID MALOSH. FOOD STYLING BY REBECCA JURKEVICH. PROP STYLING BY CINDY DIPRIMA.
Duck Carnitas Rice Pilaf
p. 18 Salad p. 78 Lemon, and Tangy Vinegar Parmesan p. 77
Tacos With Radish Parmesan p. 77
Escabèche p. 59 MEAT Chicken With Spicy Baked Pasta
MAIN Spicy Baked Pasta Barberries With Cheddar and
Goat Birria Tacos
SALAD COURSES With Cheddar and and Orange Broccoli Rabe
With Cucumber
Crunchy Pickle SEAFOOD Pico de Gallo Broccoli Rabe p. 29 p. 72 p. 29
Salad p. 72 Clams Arrabbiata p. 58 POULTRY VEGE TARIAN Squash au Vin
SOUPS p.62 Lentil Kielbassoulet Duck Carnitas Beet Tostadas With p. 64
AND STEWS Coconut Cod p. 67 Tacos With Radish Fried Eggs p. 58 Stuffed Cabbage
Chowder With Pork Volcánes Escabèche p. 59 Chickpea Bowls With Lemony Rice
Coconut Cod and Sumac
Seasoned al Pastor p. 59 One-Pot Gingery With Lemony Yogurt
Chowder With p. 78
Oyster Crackers Turmeric-Coconut Chicken and Rice p. 22
Seasoned
p. 64 Curry With Pork With Peanut Sauce Grains in Herby CONDIMENT
Oyster Crackers
p. 16 p. 62 Buttermilk p. 77
p. 64 Salsa de Árbol
Squash au Vin p. 58
p.64

bon appétit is a registered trademark of advance magazine publishers inc. copyright ©2020 condé nast. all rights reserved. printed in the u.s.a. volume 65, no. 2. Bon Appétit (ISSN 0006-6990)
is published ten times a year by Condé Nast, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. principal office: 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer; Pamela Drucker
Mann, Global Chief Revenue Officer & President, U.S. Revenue; Mike Goss, Chief Financial Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No.
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94 – MARCH 2020
sourcebook New from
®

TRAVEL PLANNER
DESTINATION:
GOAT MAFIA 625 N. Alvarado St., Compton;
facebook.com/thegoatmafiagrillandcatering The most
WASHINGTON, D.C.
pp. 31–33
HORCHATA DELI GROCERY
9002 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, NY;
347-536-5859
comfortable rug
AKWAABA DC BED & BREAKFAST
1708 16th St. NW; 866-466-3855;
JQ’S TEX MEX BBQ Austin
facebook.com/jqstexmexbbq
in the world.
akwaaba.com/akwaaba-dc
KISS POLLOS ESTILO SINALOA
BEN’S CHILI BOWL 1213 U St. NW; 306 W. Yavapai St., Phoenix; 602-900-7371;
202-667-0909; benschilibowl.com facebook.com/kisspollosestilosinaloa
BUKOM CAFE 2442 18th St. NW;
202-265-4600; bukomcafe.com KOGI BBQ TRUCK Los Angeles;
323-315-0253; kogibbq.com
CANE 403 H St. NE; 202-675-2011; cane-dc.com
LA LUZ DE DIA W-1 Olvera St., Los Angeles;
EASTERN MARKET 225 Seventh St. SE; 213-628-7495; luzdeldia.com
202-698-5253; easternmarket-dc.org
LAREDO TACO CO. Laredo; 956-722-0721;
HENRY’S SOUL CAFE 1704 U St. NW; for locations, go to stripesstores.com
202-265-3336; henryssoulcafe.com
LA VIBRA TACOS 506 Yale St., Houston;
HOWARD UNIVERSITY 2400 Sixth St. NW; 713-389-5783; lavibratacos.com
202-806-6100; home.howard.edu
LOS TACOS NO. 1 136 Church St., A match made in heaven:
KEREN CAFE & RESTAURANT New York; 212-574-4694; lostacos1.com
1780 Florida Ave. NW; 202-265-5764; The beauty and texture
MARISCOS JALISCOS 3040 E. Olympic Blvd.,
facebook.com/Keren-Restaurant-and-Coffee- of an accent rug
Los Angeles; 323-528-6701; facebook.com/
Shop-162306217215617/
mariscosjalisco combined with the
KITH/KIN 801 Wharf St. SW; MITLA CAFE 602 N. Mt. Vernon Ave.,
202-878-8566; kithandkindc.com San Bernardino; 909-888-0460;
plush support of
LEE’S FLOWER AND CARD SHOP 1026 U St. mitlacafesb.com a comfort mat.
NW; 202-265-4965; leesflowerandcard.com NIXTA TAQUERIA 2512 E. 12th St., Austin;
NUVEGAN CAFE 2928 Georgia Ave. NW; 512-551-3855; nixtataqueria.com
202-232-1700; ilovenuvegan.com ROBERTO’S TACO SHOP San Diego;
OOHH’S & AAHH’S 1005 U St. NW; for locations go to robertostacoshop.com
202-667-7142; oohhsnaahhs.com RUBIO’S COASTAL GRILL
SWEET HOME CAFÉ 1400 Constitution Ave. San Diego; 858-272-2801; for locations,
NW; 202-633-6174; go to rubios.com
nmaahc.si.edu/visit/sweet-home-cafe SONORATOWN 208 E. Eighth St., Los Angeles;
213-628-3710; sonoratown.com
AWAY
SUERTE 1800 E. Sixth St., Austin;
pp. 37–42
512-953-0092; suerteatx.com
BREAD AND SALT 435 Palisades Ave., TACO CHELO 501 E. Roosevelt St., Phoenix;
Jersey City, NJ; 201-792-2618; instagram 602-368-5316; tacochelo.com
.com/breadandsaltbakery/ TACOS QUETZALCOATL
CHAI PANI 22 Battery Park Ave., Asheville, NC; 4827 E. Olympic Blvd., East Los Angeles;
828-254-4003; chaipanirestaurantgroup.com 323-392-4444; facebook.com/pages/Tacos-
GRAND OPENING AT MISTER JIU’S Quetzalcoatl/588618544638817
28 Waverly Pl., San Francisco; TALAVERA COCINA MEXICANA
415-857-9688; misterjius.com 2299 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables, FL; GellyGrippers
MAGNA KUSINA 2525 SE Clinton St., 305-444-2955; talaveracocinamexicana.com at each corner
Portland, OR; 503-395-8542; TAQUERIA EL PARAISO anchor rug
magnapdx.com 617 N. Broad St., New Orleans; 504-939-4316; securely
ZOOBA 100 Kenmare St., New York, NY; 646- facebook.com/elparaisotruck to floor
328-9144; zoobaeats.com TJ OYSTER BAR 4246 Bonita Rd., San Diego;
619-267-4577; for more locations,
TACO NATION go to tjoyster.com
pp. 44–59
TLAHCO MEXICAN KITCHEN
8ARM 710 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Atlanta; 6702 San Pedro Ave., San Antonio;
470-875-5856; 210-455-0135; facebook.com/tlahco
[email protected] TORTILLERIA Y TAQUERIA RAMIREZ
AL PASTOR PAPI San Francisco; for events, 1429 Alexandria Dr., Lexington, KY;
go to alpastorpapi.com 859-455-9237;
Luxurious
CARNITAS URUAPAN 1725 W. 18th St., tortilleria-y-taqueria-ramirez.business.site
Machine-washable comfort mat
Chicago; 212-226-2654; carnitasuruapanchi.com TREJO’S TACOS 1048 S. LaBrea Ave.,
Los Angeles; 323-938-8226; accent rug
CHELA’S TACOS 5231 Broadway St.,
Ste. 117, San Antonio; 210-535-7340; for more locations, go to trejostacos.com
chelas-tacos.com
CRISPY, INC.
CHILANGOS TACOS pp. 80–87
10777 Harry Hines Blvd. SE 130, Dallas;
214-782-9772; chilangostacos.com ATOMIX 104 E. 30th St., New York;
CLARO 284 Third Ave., Brooklyn; 646-476-7217; atomixnyc.com T WO - PA R T C O M F O R T SYS T E M
347-721-3126; clarobk.com BENU 22 Hawthorne St., San Francisco;
415-685-4860; benusf.com
COCINA LUCHADORAS
253 S. Broadway St., Baltimore; 410-732-4000; MOMOFUKU KO 8 Extra Pl., New York; Learn more and
facebook.com/cocinaluchadoras 212-203-8095; ko.momofuku.com shop additional designs, colors & sizes at
EDDIE O’S TEXAS BARBECUE VESPERTINE 3599 Hayden Ave., Culver City;
1307 Enid St., Houston; eddieosbbq.com 323-320-4023; vespertine.la GelPro.com
866.435.6287
 Questionable Etiquette

Is It Ever Okay…to Bring

11 Items to the 10 Items or Less Aisle?
Solicited advice from Alex Beggs on how to behave at the grocery store

Can I bring 11 items to

the 10 items or less aisle?
Who’s really counting?
—MATHEMATICAL MITZI
I’m not counting; GOD IS
COUNTING. This is the honor
system, do you have any? I don’t
think 11 is a big deal; 14 is too
far; 23 is outrageous. This is the
only order we have left—don’t
let it disintegrate into lawless
chaos like Twitter and Congress.

Is it ever okay to ride on

the carts like a race car?
—WHEE! WESLEY
If the aisle/parking lot is clear,
YES. There are more dangerous
things a person can do with
a grocery cart. Once when I was
What’s your stance on sampling a kid, I was riding in the cart
while my brother pushed me as
grapes or little snickety fast as possible through the
snacks from the bulk bins, etc.? outdoor garden section at the
Walmart Supercenter and I stood
— Q U A L I T Y- C O N T R O L Q U I N C Y up and yelled, “STOP!” and he
Please address the best way
did. I flew forward, landing on
to abandon items you realize
You can have ONE grape. Not a whole you don’t want/need,
my head on the concrete. And
look how I turned out!
cluster. I’m looking at you, Andy especially perishable ones.
—DISCARDED D ’ANGELO
Baraghani! I don’t care if you just came The road to hell is littered with
vacuum-packed chicken breasts
from the gym and are bulking up! On stuffed into magazine racks
grapes! If you want to try something,ask. (a real thing I’ve witnessed).
You know someone has to deal
Did you know that at a lot of major grocers, with that, don’t you? There’s no
a manager will let you sample ANYTHING grocery store detritus fairy who
taps it with her wand and makes
your heart desires? Yes, even off-brand it disappear. However, since
graham crackers. But do you really need to 17 people asked this question,
it’s clear we can’t stop leaving
sample a roasted almond? Come on now. the unwanteds in our wake. Who
has the time or energy to trek
through an exceptionally air- It’s normal to take an empty
conditioned labyrinth to return bag of chips or an opened
Can I remove individual What do I do with a piece that wrong-flavored yogurt? bottle of Dr Pepper to the
items from a pack, like of produce I dropped on You do. Return it! Or fine, hand checkout line, right? I’m going
one can of beer or a single the floor? it to the cashier and apologize. to pay for it; I’m just hungry.
pudding cup…? —BUT TERFINGERS BOBBI —FAMISHED FELIX
ILLUSTRATIONS BY CARI VANDER YACHT

—LIVES- ALONE LENNY Put it back in the pile or add it This was divisive. I’m strongly
First you should know that it often to your basket. If it’s a more If no one’s around to help, against it, but my editors are
costs more per unit when you do delicate item, like an avocado, can you climb the lower strongly for it. Plus, a Trader Joe’s
this. But stores have different take it to the customer service shelves to reach an item employee told me there was
policies, so ask before you crack counter or hand it to the nearest on the top shelf? no store policy against breaking
into a sixer of Kozy Shack. store employee. Too embarrassed? —SHORT SHELBY open a bag of Elote Corn Chips,
And what’s the worst that would Buy it and bury it in the backyard Do you want to die under so it’s not illegal or anything. But
happen if you got the whole and hope an avocado tree grows a fallen shelf of canned queso? please pay for what you snack
case? You’ll make some friends, as a reminder of your flaws. Or, (Kind of.) Go find someone on, and don’t leave crumbs all
Lenny. Make some friends. I dunno, eat it??? to help! It’ll only take a second. over the conveyor belt.

96 – MARCH 2020 Do you have bad manners? Find out by emailing your etiquette questions to [email protected].
 IT’S MORE THAN LUCK
T H AT B R I N GS
PEOPLE TOGETHER.

MADE WITH MILK FROM GRASS-FED COWS

T H AT G R A Z E O N T H E LUS H PA ST U RES O F I RE L A N D.