Monday, October 28, 2024
Good morning!
Some nice words about the Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser! [Food & Wine]
Are Rice Krispies Treats Overrated? Gasp, never! [Eater]
I do not make the rules. I cannot even explain the rules. I’m just saying that the number one most perfect food to serve alongside candy (or sugar-addled, costume-clad children) is chili and I will listen to no argument suggesting otherwise. There’s nothing like a pot of hearty, spicy, fragrant chili warming on the stove, a choose-your-own toppings bar, and a hearty wedge of cornbread to make all of the salty gooey crunchy chocolate confections you’re going to eat before and after taste better.
[Especially if that candy is this evil incarnate I almost wish I’d never tasted for the first time last year, as it’s all I think about in October now.] Below, a whole bunch of almost as addictive candy and candy-like confections you can make at home, including two popcorn-centric ones we talked about on the latest podcast.
And that’s not all! Today we have an interview with the incredible Justine Doiron (Justine Snacks) whose first cookbook, Justine Cooks: Recipes (Mostly Plants) for Finding Your Way in the Kitchen, is out tomorrow. Are you around tonight? I’ll be in conversation with Justine at 6pm at the Williams-Sonoma in Columbus Circle to celebrate her book’s launch.
If you’re around tomorrow evening, I’ll be in conversation with Luisa Weiss at 7pm at POWERHOUSE Arena in Brooklyn to celebrate her new book out tomorrow, Classic German Cooking.
Cheers!
Deb
glazed apple cider doughnut cake
New! This cake tastes like a glazed apple cider doughnut and will make your kitchen smell like fall blew up (gently, aromatically) in it, but is secretly even more magical: it’s naturally dairy- and egg-free.
We’ve got a whole new way to hang out in the kitchen.
I’m so excited to announce the special audiobook edition of Smitten Kitchen Keepers, Smitten Kitchen Keepers: A Kitchen Counter Conversation! Available on November 12th and read by me, I hope it feels exactly like you've pulled up a chair and I'm hanging out in the kitchen with you.
To answer some very important questions:
So you’re… reading recipes out loud? I promise, I am not reading recipes, which would be criminally boring. In this audiobook original, I take you through 44 Smitten Kitchen Keepers super-favorites and we get to dig in deeper, more backstory, more riffs, and some great sidebars that could have never made the cut in a 336-page hardcover cookbook. It feels conversational and fun.
How do I get the recipes? A downloadable PDF will provide you with all of the recipes I discuss in the audiobook.
What’s on the cover? Oh that’s the Devil’s Food Cake with Salted Milk Chocolate Frosting and it’s the easiest and most small-crowd-pleasing 3-layer birthday cake you will ever make. We’re obsessed with it, and hope you will be too.
How do I buy the audiobook? You can preorder Smitten Kitchen Keepers: A Kitchen Counter Conversation everywhere audiobooks are sold including Apple Books, Audible, Barnes & Noble, and more and it will be ready to listen to first thing on November 12th.
Bonus recipe: When you purchase the audiobook, you will receive a signed holiday card from me with a bonus recipe! To receive your card and recipe, complete the form with your purchase order number right here.
[US Residents, 18+. Ends December 13, 2024. See terms here.]
“One of the winning elements of ‘The Recipe’ is that it’s not prescriptive — rather than settling on one universal ‘perfect’ recipe, the chefs explain their personal preferences, then give listeners the information they need to make their own adjustments. By breaking their recipes down ingredient-by-ingredient, digging into what each one is doing, they make the science of cooking approachable and fun.” — New York Times, 7 Podcasts to Inspire a New Hobby 10/24/24
The newest episode of my podcast with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb is all about our mutual favorite snack, Popcorn! You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, such as Apple, Spotify, and more.
three-bean chili
This is my ideal three-bean chili. You can make it on the stove, in a pressure cooker, or a slow-cooker. You can use a little or a lot of heat. Few things taste better on a chilly fall day.
skillet turkey chili
A one-skillet, weeknight-friendly chili with a simple ingredient list that requires little planning ahead, which is awesome because I discovered during quarantine months that even with all of the time in the world, I never quite mastered planning far enough ahead to not be in a rush when making dinner. 🙃
chicken chili
Proof-positive that easy recipes -- the directions are literally "throw everything in the pot and turn heat on" (yay) -- needn't always lead to compromised results, this chicken-bean chili for stovetop, slow- or pressure-cooker has been on repeat around here for a couple years and we're not even close to tired of it.
beef chili + sour cream and cheddar biscuits
A cozy, warming, hearty meal for a cold, rainy day: yes please. Plus, if you assemble your cheddar biscuits and sour cream like so, you've basically created the unholiest (read: awesomest) "shortcakes" in the world.
perfect, forever cornbread
This is my wish for us: I think we should bring a pan of freshly-baked, thick, buttery, crisp on top cornbread to our next potluck/chili party to share with friends and I think it should be this one, my forever favorite. A pat of salted butter on top is mandatory.
drop cornbread biscuits
These biscuits are craggy and delicious and completely easy, whether as a side dish or just a better-than-expected weekday breakfast.
salted brown butter crispy treats
A forever site favorite in which two minor-seeming things -- flaky sea salt and brown butter -- transform crispy treats from a "kid thing" to a thing-that's-hard-to-share-with-a-kid (or anyone). No matter where I take them, they never last 30 minutes. [Video below!]
chocolate peanut and pretzel brittle
This is my favorite brittle and it's absolutely cluttered with roasted peanuts and salted pretzels before being coated with dark chocolate. It's crunchy, caramelized, buttery, and salty and absolutely memorable.
coffee toffee
You know how sometimes no matter how much coffee you drink, it's not enough? Good news, there's a candy for that.
spicy caramel popcorn
Buttery, golden, sea salt-flecked homemade caramel popcorn with peanuts and a little bit of heat is the best idea right now, trust me.
miso black sesame caramel corn
Sure, caramel popcorn is good, salted butter caramel popcorn is better, but have you tried adding a little salty, complex miso paste to caramel popcorn? I did and it was so good, it was almost unfair to all of the non-miso caramel popcorns out there, and also to anyone who'd hopes you'll share it with them, because you will not want to.
twinkie bundt
Not just a fun thing to say out loud, but a goofy, delicious buttery buttermilk cake with a soft vanilla marshmallow filling that brings cheer to everyone around you.
I’ve written three cookbooks and I’m a tiny bit biased, but I think you’d love them all. Wondering what you might cook from Smitten Kitchen Keepers now that school’s back in session and the leaves are changing colors? I thought you’d never ask! Try the peanut butter, oat, and jam bars, spiced sweet potato oven fries, tangy baked eggplant and couscous, and weeknight lemon chicken wings. To finish, I recommend the apple butterscotch crisp, the pumpkin snacking cake, and/or the apple cider old-fashioned. Were you looking for a list of all the recipes in each of my cookbooks? I’ve added these in a separate page and hope it makes it easier for you to find everything you want to cook.
AN INTERVIEW WITH JUSTINE DOIRON
My shelves are full of wonderful cookbooks I don’t get to talk about enough, so I’ve added this section so you can get to know the cool people behind them. Today we're chatting with Justine Doiron, aka Justine Snacks. Her new cookbook, Justine Cooks: Recipes (Mostly Plants) for Finding Your Way in the Kitchen, is out tomorrow.
1. What inspired your cookbook?
When I first pitched my book, the thesis was: "recipes that I wish I had when I was learning how to cook, and foods that make you feel like home." Cookbooks were what taught me how to cook, and as someone who didn't grow up in a big food family, cooking was how I built my own sense of "home." That was the main inspiration behind the book, and of course it evolved as I wrote it, but the thesis stays the same.
2. What recipe are you the most proud of in the book, or felt the most triumphant when you got it right?
The Miso-Butter Pancakes! I think pancakes are so funny. Some people make amazing pancakes from eyeballing it, and some highly fussy pancake recipes are tragedies. It was important to me that this pancake recipe brought new flavors to the table while still being easy to whip up. It took so many tries (nearly a painful amount), but what I ended with is a lacey-edged pancake that cooks perfectly every time. Flavor-wise, it also pairs perfectly with maple syrup. Which was very, very important to me. Any pancake feels a little naked without syrup.
3. What recipe is so low-effort, high-reward that it's worth cooking for dinner tonight, even if we're tired and don't want to cook?
Gochujang Beans with Melty Escarole. It's what I cook when I cannot bear to look at a stove. It arguably is better with canned beans, and you can make it while being half asleep, yet you're still getting your greens in. And who doesn't love a brothy, umami-y bean?
4. What's something you wish more people knew about your book?
I wish people knew the real hits are in the first chapter. Sauces, condiments and small recipes are the recipes that taught me how to cook. They pack in so many techniques! There's a lot you can discover when you are making a salsa verde, drying out perfect breadcrumbs, or sizzling a Fresno hot sauce in a pan. I always worry people will skip that chapter, it's the chapter I really put the extra details in.
Thank you, Justine! You can preorder Justine Cooks right here.
salted brown butter crispy treats
shop my favorites
Ever wonder where I get my cutting boards, paring knives, offset spatulas and more than you see when I cook? I've created a page on Smitten Kitchen with links to some of my favorite kitchen items, the ones I'm asked about the most — yes, including the the Smitten Kitchen x Staub Braiser, which is back in stock! For each item, I've attempted to provide a range of shopping links so we're not just focusing on one giant retailer.
See you next week!
