Serious Eats

Vicky WasikWhat’s the best way to cook a sweet potato? I don’t mean those boiled-to-death, mashed-with-maple syrup, drowning-in-marshmallows sweet potatoes (no shade at sweet potato casseroles). How do you cook whole sweet potatoes straight up, with little adornment?Some people boil their sweet...

Jillian AtkinsonI have a rule about recipes: never trust one where the writer professes to hate the dish or a key ingredient in it. It's an easy angle for the recipe writer, who's usually trying to convince the reader that this version is what made them see the light, but it doesn't...

Vicky WasikSalads are an integral part of a Thai meal. Growing up in Thailand, there were few dinners that didn’t involve some sort of a salad. And it’s not because we wanted to make sure we ate our vegetables! In fact, most of our salads are protein-centric with few veggies. Salads are typically...

Vicky WasikThere are a few things I look for when it comes to cornbread. It can't be dry, it has to have a tender, non-gritty crumb, and I like it to actually taste like, well, corn. These cornbread muffins meet all of those requirements. They're soft and almost cake-like, with a rich,...

Vicky WasikI think that there absolutely must be a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, since it doesn’t feel right without one. But the one I like to make isn't the classic loved by so many, it's this silky, dreamy, light-as-air pumpkin chiffon pie.A pumpkin chiffon pie is similar to a normal...

Jamelle BouieThe Cosmic Brownie wasn't my favorite Little Debbie snack. Whenever I had a chance to eat a Little Debbie, it was usually an Oatmeal Creme Pie or a Nutty Buddy bar. Which is to say that my expectation for this cereal was not particularly high. I mostly just hoped that it would be...

Rezel KealohaThe origins of kare-kare—a peanut butter-based curry made with oxtail, tripe, and a wide variety of vegetables—are unclear, but there are a number of theories. It was invented in Pampanga, the culinary epicenter of the Philippines; it was originally a traditional dish of the Moro...

VIcky WasikNam prik pao is versatile pantry staple in Thai cuisine, a thick, savory, sweet, and slightly spicy paste—or jam or relish, if you prefer—primarily made from dried spur chiles, garlic, shallots, and dried shrimp. It's used as a flavor-boosting condiment for soups, stir-fries,...

Tim ChinWalk around in any Chinatown and you’ll eventually find yourself browsing the display case of a Chinese bakery. These shops offer cakes and snacks that present a departure from traditional European bakery fare: Fluffy coconut cocktail buns (gai mei bao), crackling pineapple buns (bolo bao),...

Rezel KealohaBulalo—a luscious, meaty soup featuring marrow bones, beef shanks, cabbage, potatoes, and corn simply seasoned with fish sauce—dates back to before the Spanish occupation of the Philippines. It originated in the Southern region of Luzon, one of the archipelago's three major...

Vicky WasikGreen papaya, which is just unripe papaya, is a common ingredient in Southeast Asian cuisines, where it's used in soups like gaeng som, or salads like the iconic som tam Thai. It's prized for its crisp texture and mild vegetal sweetness, which is reminiscent of chayote squash....

Vicky WasikWalk down any bustling street in Thailand and you will hear the rhythmic beat of wooden pestles striking clay mortars as vendors prepare iterations of som tam—pounded salads that are paired with a sour dressing. The most well-known entry in this category is easily som tam Thai, the...

Vicky WasikPork ginger, also called "Japanese ginger pork," according to Google, is one of those dishes that's so simple you'd never think to write down the recipe.If you grew up eating pork ginger (which is what we called it in my house) or butaniku no shogayaki (which is, the...

Rezel KealohaWhen I was a toddler, my lola (grandmother in Tagalog) took me to see a pig slaughtered at the local palengke, or market. We were going to make dinuguan—a classic Filipino stew of pork meat and innards simmered in blood and vinegar—and she deemed the experience necessary. It was...

Tim ChinStep into any dim sum restaurant, and you’ll likely run into some version of youtiao. Roughly translated as “oil strips” in Mandarin, these airy, golden fried sticks of dough are the equivalent of savory donuts or churros. While they're commonly eaten in China for breakfast with...

Vicky WasikIn Thai cuisine, noodles are generally enjoyed as a single-serving, stand-alone meal. Favorites like pad see ew and pad thai usually aren’t shared or included as part of a larger spread. As Pailin Chongchitnant wrote in her article describing how to construct a balanced Thai meal,...

Jillian AtkinsonBrown stew chicken is a rich and silky Jamaican stew. Of course, stew chicken is not specific to any one Caribbean island, and while different islands may have recipes that appear similar, there are subtle but important differences. For example, a Trinidadian version might be very...

Andrew JanjigianAfter choreg, the bread Armenians consider most fundamental is lavash. This paper-thin, blanket-sized bread is one of the most ancient breads still being made today.The very first breads humans invented were likely cooked directly on hot embers; later, they were baked on the surface...

Vicky WasikThis chicken salad gets its vibrant flavor from bright basil pesto. Speckled with chopped sun-dried tomatoes, every bite is pleasantly tangy, and it makes for a great easy lunch or mid-afternoon snack.For his Best Chicken Salad, Kenji cooked the chicken sous-vide. I wanted the same...

Rezel KealohaPancit—a noodle dish with vegetables, seafood, and/or meat—is everyday fare in the Philippines, but it's also commonly served at birthdays, holidays, and celebrations since noodles symbolize long life. The word "pancit," which means noodles in Tagalog, is derived from...

Vicky WasikSalads are a key component to a balanced Thai meal, and if you love a protein-heavy salad, you'll love laab. Like tam (pounded salads) or yam (mixed salads), laab is a distinct salad category that's defined by an action—namely, chopping or mincing. As such, laab can best be...

Debbie WeeI used to love Key lime pie so much that I'd order it any time I saw in on a menu. Unfortunately, my body turned against me once I hit 30, picking a fight whenever I ate dairy. But instead of giving up my favorite dessert, I was pretty sure I could make a lime pie with filling that...

Vy TranFor many people, the first things that come to mind when they think of Vietnamese food are hot bowls of phở and crusty bánh mi. But, for me, the meal that best represents Vietnamese cuisine is the rice roll platter. Often served as a beautiful spread, the rice roll platter can accommodate...

Vicky WasikWhen fresh corn is in season, you don't need to do much to let its flavor shine. I love chomping down on an ear of grilled or steamed corn on the cob, but when I’m feeling a bit more creative, I like to make tam khao pod kai kem, a bright and refreshing Thai salad that pairs the...

Rezel KealohaLumpia are Filipino egg roll-style snacks that can be prepared with any number of different kinds of fillings, both savory and sweet. Introduced by Chinese traders some time during the precolonial period (between 900-1565 AD), the name is derived from Hokkien, a language that...

Andrew JanjigianWhen I was developing a recipe for aloo samosas, I wanted to give readers the option of making samosas with a non-vegetarian filling, too, so I developed an additional recipe for samosas stuffed with lamb kheema, or spiced ground lamb.The process is basically identical to the one...

Andrew JanjigianSamosas, the triangular parcels of fried, flaky dough wrapped around fillings of all kinds, are a very popular treat in South Asia. Everyone loves them, just like everyone loves to eat dumplings, empanadas, and pierogi—there’s something universally appealing about stuffing delicious...

Rezel KealohaSisig, the Filipino street food of chopped pig parts and chicken livers tossed with a spicy and sour dressing, is said to have originated in Pampanga, a province centrally located on the island of Luzon in the northern Philippines, although the dish was very different from what’s...

Vicky WasikThere’s a whole world of starches out there, from rice starch and cornstarch to mung bean starch and beyond. And yet of all the starches we might use, I think potato starch doesn’t get nearly enough love.Sure, potato starch has its fans. For those who keep kosher, it’s a popular...

Jamelle BouieSpace Jam: A New Legacy is not good. Compared to its predecessor, which is at least watchable, it has worse writing, worse acting, and worse visuals. It's a pure I.P. grab, a cynical product of studio plotting that's even more cynical than most modern Hollywood...

Vicky WasikGrowing up, I didn’t really ever question what I was eating, especially if it tasted good. While a lot of people are turned off by the thought of eating a furry and cute creature like a rabbit, I’m not, mostly because I’ve eaten it a lot and I think it’s delicious, especially when it’s...

Vicky WasikIf you're an avid cook who eats meat and fish, you’ve probably heard more than a few people go on about the virtues of whole-animal butchery. “It’s a money-saver!” “You’ll become a more independent and resourceful cook.” “It gives you a deeper level of respect for the life that was...

Vicky WasikThe best remedy for the fatigue that sets in during long winters is a steaming bowl of rice and a dolsot of gamja-tang, a spicy pork bone stew, thickened with potato and crushed perilla seeds, topped with sliced scallions, fresh chiles, and torn perilla leaves. It’s also a dish that...

Tim ChinAgemochi is a type of fried mochi that you can find at grocery stores and convenience stores in Japan. While agemochi is typically made using joshinko, a type of Japanese rice flour, this recipe is made almost entirely with potatoes and potato starch.Potato starch has powerful binding and...

Yup, it's chicken fat.Sho SpaethThe microwave oven is a wonder. It can warm up leftovers in minutes; it can make packaged ramen in about the same time; it can turn your vegetable scraps into powder; it can toast nuts; it can fry shallots, garlic; it can boil water; it can defrost things...

Andrew JanjigianEetch—pronounced midway between “itch” and “etch” and transliterated into English in just about all the ways you can imagine forming that sound—is a classic Armenian dish consisting of bulgur wheat, tomatoes, and lots of chopped green herbs. It’s often compared to tabbouleh, but...

Vicky WasikBatter-fried chicken is something of a rarity. Due to tradition or cultural preference, battering isn't the go-to method, and dry-dredged Southern fried chicken reigns supreme.And yet, while you can't go wrong with the classic dry-dredge, I'd argue that batter-fried...

Vicky WasikIf you ask most fans of Thai food in the West what their favorite curries are, they’ll probably rattle off a list pretty quickly—red, yellow, green, massaman, panang—because they’re so ubiquitous that they’ve become as familiar as pho or sushi. However, for many people, they also happen...

Vicky WasikWhen I was growing up in Thailand, making curry paste was a commonplace kitchen task. The sound of aromatics being steadily pounded into a prik gaeng, or curry paste, in a granite mortar and pestle was one I heard daily, either emanating from our own kitchen or our neighbors’, even...

Vicky WasikIf you walk around for a little bit in any of the open-air markets in Thailand, you'll start to notice that shophouses and street vendors all have very specific setups that serve as clues for what they serve to their customers. Finding kanom jeen vendors is easy: their beautiful...

Vicky WasikVegetable preservation in Korean cuisine is commonly associated with kimchi-making, but there are plenty of other styles of pickles and ferments in the banchan extended universe. One of my favorites is jangajj, or soy sauce-pickled vegetables. Crunchy, salty, sweet, often spicy, and...

Debbie WeeI look forward to tomato season every year, when ripe tomatoes in brilliant shades of red, green, orange, and yellow are seemingly everywhere. This tart, a play on Kenji's tomato, mayo, and toast, is just a way to showcase the quality of in-season tomatoes: a crisp puff pastry spread...

Jojo Siwa Strawberry Bop! cerealJamelle BouieI’m not about to say that General Mills' JoJo Siwa Strawberry Bop! cereal is good. It's yet another one-note, sugary cereal with a flavor profile that bears little resemblance to what it’s supposed to be. I didn't taste any strawberries in...

Vicky WasikThe cuisine of Isan, the northeastern region of Thailand that borders Laos and Cambodia, has become more popular outside of Thailand in recent years, thanks to dishes like the papaya salads known as som tam and fiery, minced-meat salads known as laab (or "larb," as you often...