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    I Was Sidelined by Illness. This Ghanaian Soup Got Me Back in the Kitchen.

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    Brothy and bright, this Ghanaian light soup is the perfect summer balm, Yewande Komolafe writes.A good recipe offers a clear set of instructions and a satisfying result. A great one is much more, engaging our imagination with each step, offering a way to replicate a meal after it’s been considered, made, consumed.But what happens when our ability to cook the food we love suddenly changes? What does it look like to document a sensory experience through an intermediary?Recipe: Light Soup With MushroomsIn December 2023, after a lifetime in kitchens working on the line and then developing recipes for cookbooks and magazines, I experienced a health crisis that kept me from cooking for well over a year. During that time, I began to accept the fact that making new recipes — a balance of passive observation and active adjustments — would require careful planning and, because of physical limitations, even more steps in an already complex dance.The processes I undertook seamlessly before would have to be accomplished much more slowly, and collaboratively. I would have to watch as assistants cooked via my words, acting as more of a passenger than driver, and hand over tasks that had, before my illness, become second nature to me.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Make Homemade Pasta Like an Italian

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      TL;DR: It’s not necessarily the pasta water. It’s the marriage of starch, cheese and water, Eric Kim writes.This spoonable pasta is a dance of sorts between two pots: one with fresh green beans and orecchiette, the other with sausage ragù.David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.By More

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      The Physics of Perfect Pour-Over Coffee

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      Scientists used fluid dynamics to learn how to get the most flavor from pour-over coffee.More than a billion cups of coffee are consumed daily: French-press, espresso, cold brew, whatever it takes.Arnold Mathijssen, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, is partial to pour-over coffee, which involves manually pouring hot water over ground beans and filtering it into a pot or mug below. Surely, he figured, applying the principles of fluid dynamics to the process could make it even better.With two students of similar mind, Dr. Mathijssen began studying how to optimize the pour in a pour over. Their science-backed advice: Pour high, slow and with a steady stream of water. This ensures the greatest extraction from minimal grounds, enhancing the coffee’s flavor without added beans or cost.The findings, published this month in the journal Physics of Fluids, highlight how processes that unfold in the kitchen — from making foie gras to whipping up a plate of cacio e pepe — can inspire new scientific directions. In turn, science can enhance the art of cuisine.“Kitchen science starts off with a relatively low entry barrier,” Dr. Mathijssen said. “But it’s more than just cute. Sometimes fundamental things can come out of it.”Dr. Mathijssen primarily studies the physics of biological flows, such as the way bacteria swim upstream in blood vessels. But when he lost access to his lab during the Covid-19 shutdown, he started playing with his food — literally. He shook up bottles of whiskey, tested the stickiness of pasta and slid coins down slopes made of whipped cream and honey. The interest culminated in a 77-page review, structured like a menu, of the physics involved in making a meal.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘No Cake, No Entry’: More Than 1,000 Picnic to Celebrate the Love of Cake

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      No crumbs were left behind at Cake Picnic in San Francisco on Saturday as attendees gawked, photographed and ultimately ate 1,387 cakes.More than a thousand people gathered for a picnic on Saturday around tables draped with white tablecloths and spread over the lawn of the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco.There was just one rule: “No cake, no entry.”Kayla Kane, Mikayla Tencer and Lizzy Giap, left to right, wait to register and set down their cakes.Laura Morton for The New York TimesAttendees — including pastry chefs, home bakers and people with store-bought cakes — walked, drove and flew to bring elaborate cake creations to Cake Picnic, a touring festival where you can have your cake and eat it, too.“It was harder to get than a Taylor Swift concert ticket,” said Elisa Sunga, Cake Picnic’s organizer, noting that the $15 tickets sold out in less than a minute.This Cake Picnic turned out to be the biggest since it started nearly a year ago. Ms. Sunga described the intense interest in the festival as both “exciting” and “terrifying.”A spectacular variety of cakes adorned the tables, including: a light lemon cake with passion fruit filling, a tower made out of smaller spongecakes, Jell-O cake, pink champagne cake, a kid-baked dinosaur pyramid cake, and plenty of desserts with flowery ornaments.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Make the Best Baked Potato

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      A simple trick yields crisp outsides and fluffy insides, ready to be topped in three smart, exciting ways from Eric Kim.Turns out, the baked potato has always been big and great.In 1909, Hazen Titus, the dining car superintendent on the Northern Pacific Railway, had a vision: Having learned of a surplus of oversize spuds, he’d ordered them up and placed them on his menu. His “Great Big Baked Potato” became a hit, to be ordered, appropriately, on a train route of the same name.Recipes:Aglio e Olio Baked Potatoes | Caramelized Kimchi Baked Potatoes | Hot Honey Baked Sweet PotatoesThese days, a long Idaho tuber, split down the middle like a hot dog bun to reveal fluffy white starch, a pat of butter nestled into the left side, is still big and — more important — great, with its perfect creamy-crunchy-fresh combo of sour cream, chives, cheese and bacon.I spent the past year baking pounds and pounds of potatoes to come to a simple conclusion: The baked potato is worth celebration. There may be no better (and easier) way to gather than by building on a reliable but never boring base and delighting in each turn of the flavor wheel.Here are my tips for success:1. Set up a bar (and really load up on toppings)Aglio e olio, the simple yet satisfying combination of garlic and oil, pairs beautifully with a split-open spud.Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.Cooked down with butter and sesame oil, kimchi mellows its sharp, tangy edges in this riff on a classic baked potato.Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Make Dinner Out of Pantry Ingredients

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      Make those everyday staples anything but boring with these expert tips.It’s coming up on five years since the pandemic lockdown instigated our collective spate of panic-buying groceries. And I’m pleased to report that I’ve finally gotten through my bulk order of canned sardines.I ate those sardines on buttered toast (divine, with a squeeze of lemon, some sliced red onions, loads of black pepper), stirred them into chickpea salads and mashed them with sautéed garlic for quick pasta sauces. And if I wasn’t feeling sardine-ish, I also had a minor sea’s worth of tuna, salmon and anchovies rubbing fins with the canned beans and tomatoes, bags of rice, boxes of pasta and jars of tahini, preserves, pickles and chiles packed tight on every shelf. My pantry is comfortingly and reassuringly filled to the gills (and not just with gills).I know I’m not alone. Because if there’s one thing the pandemic underscored, it’s that having a well-stocked pantry goes beyond the convenience of fast, easy meals. All those pastas and beans bring peace of mind. No matter the havoc raging in the outside world — be it pandemics and hurricanes or just too much work to think about grocery shopping — there’s a grounding calm in knowing you always have something on hand to make into dinner tonight. Also inherent in pantry cooking is thrift. Cooking at home is already a money-saver compared with eating out or ordering in, especially when it’s based on an economical roster of beans, rice and pasta.All that said, pantry cooking is more than merely getting a meal on the table. Now that you’ve assembled all those ingredients, what are the best, most flavorful and appealing ways of using them both quickly and easily? After all, if you already don’t have the time or energy to shop, you might not have much in the reserves for cooking, either.As I’ve worked down my bulk orders, I’ve learned that finding ways to turn everyday staples into meals that sparkle isn’t hard, as long as you have the right ingredients on hand. Here are some of my best strategies, tips and shopping suggestions to making pantry meals with style.Color With CondimentsThink of your pantry staples as blank canvases, waiting for the Abstract Expressionism of your condiments. Stock up on bright, bold items that you know you love, and throw in a couple of new ones to play with. My palette includes chile crisp and chile paste, Dijon and whole-grain mustard, olive tapenade, red curry paste, several hot sauces, Indian pickles (lime, mango and mixed), red and green salsas, and I use them with an open hand. Adding a few spoonfuls of your favorite condiment to classic pantry recipes can transform them from workaday to wonderful.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More