My favorite recipes
The 19 bangers and 13 jams I make the most
I made a thread the other week listing my favorite dishes to cook for family meal when I worked as a line cook. I decided I wanted to keep rolling with it, using this as an ongoing document of favorite recipes, separated (of course) between bangers and jams.
I very much fall in the recipes-as-inspiration over recipes-as-rules camp. But both approaches work. I highly recommend Daniel Licht’s Cooking As Though You Might Cook Again as the best cookbook to break you free from hardcore recipe following, if you’re interested in that. It’s also just a beautifully written, short little book, packed with ways to help you grow and learn in the kitchen.
I’m favoring online-accessible recipes, but almost everyone listed here has at least one cookbook worth purchasing.
Bangers
I referenced the Estela endive salad in the Cool World piece. It's very good. Ignacio Mattos is a salad whisperer. But, if you're cooking at home, this shaved fennel salad is the go-to. No other recipe better combines simple prep, bold flavors and impressive presentation.
I taught myself how to cook by making every dish in
’s first two cookbooks. (Seriously, every single one). This roast chicken with vegetables and homemade aioli is the thing I make the most often.I don’t know why you would make pancakes any way other than the way Chez Ma Tante does it.
Minh Phan’s rice porridge with squash and brown butter is excellent for the winter. My favorite twist on this is to throw in some sausage or chorizo.
You can never go wrong following techniques from
, including this grilled spatchcocked chicken with honey, chile and lemon.Biscuits from my favorite baker in America.
This panzanella from the Wildair guys is a summer staple.
There’s nothing groundbreaking about this mushroom quesadilla from Enrique Olvera, but that doesn’t make it any less special.
The only BBQ chicken wings I’d bother with at home.
Poole’s pimento cheese, which I make more than any other party snack. (Always serve with Ritz).
- ’s crispy mushrooms with soy butter.
This gnocchi and clams recipe is kind of a dumb amount of work for a dinner at home. I still think it’s worth it.
Bavel’s grilled oyster mushroom kebabs.
Ludo Lefebvre's perfect omelet, as seen in season 2 of The Bear (s/o
).Tacos 1986’s tacos al hongo. (I have a thing for mushrooms).
Melissa Weller’s fudgy brownies.
I’m not much of a kitchen hack guy, but this cacio e pepe technique from David Chang and Priya Krishna is pretty mind-blowing.
Any kind of grilled salmon collars, especially these.
Jams
Master the dressing behind Via Carota’s insalata verde.
Dirty rice and jambalaya guided by Isaac Toups. This coconut rice from Tejal Rao is also so nice accompanying any kind of meal.
Kuku sabzi from Samin Nosrat.
La Buvette’s giant beans and citrus.
This green chile popcorn.
Breakfast tacos should be simple, and Veracruz outlines the steps very well here.
I think this is the ideal at-home Caesar approach. Riff on it as you wish.
Kris Yenbamroong’s mall pasta and pad krapow gai.
I’m a cornbread purist, so the Sean Brock recipe works for me.
This recipe merely involves buying good crab claws and adding yuzu to Kewpie mayo. But, yeah, you should do this as much as you can.
There’s no need to follow Jessica Koslow’s sorrel rice bowl recipe meticulously. Instead, use it to inform a wonderful lunch with whatever you have around.
Make more salt-baked fish at home.
Tough to pick just one dish from
, but I’ll go with these lamb chops, cucumber mint salad and sweet and smoky tahini.