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☆ Let This Breakfast Change Your Life
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An astrological concept, a Saturn return is considered a time of great upheaval — “growing older, burning out at work, increasingly higher bills, a couple of monumental life milestones,” as the astrologer Aliza Kelly has put it. As someone who is nearing the end of his return, I’ve never felt more upheaved by the colossal changes I’ve experienced from my late 20s to my early 30s, including but not limited to: new job, new apartment, new boyfriend. One thing I’ve started to do that gets me a little closer to settling into this new beginning — my 30s — is eating Japanese breakfast. The eclectic spread, called ichiju-sansai (“one soup, three dishes”), is beyond just a savory meal that soothes both soul and stomach lining first thing in the morning. An array of pickles pulled from the refrigerator — cucumbers, plums, radishes and whatever is in my house kimchi jar at the time — completes the meal.

Persons: Aliza Kelly, I’ve Organizations: NASA, miso

☆ An Old Trick to the Crispiest Tofu
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

About 1,500 years ago, in the mountains of northern China, you might have found bamboo mats lined with slabs of tofu, resting in the snow overnight. Once frozen solid, “the structure and basic character of the tofu underwent a radical transformation,” William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi wrote in “The Book of Tofu” (1975). Like the best of us, tofu is made up of mostly water. When that water turns to ice, then melts, it leaves behind what Mr. Shurtleff and Ms. Aoyagi called “a lacy but firm network.” This more compact, spongy form of tofu, it turns out, is especially great at becoming truly and unapologetically crisp — crunchy, even — in the oven.

Persons: William Shurtleff, Akiko Aoyagi, Shurtleff, Aoyagi, lacy Locations: China

☆ A Pasta That’s Perfect for Easy Cleanup
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Last week, I asked for your favorite brilliant and easy dinners after I shared a new one of mine, Eric Kim’s peanut butter noodles. I got an email from a reader named Lia that was so attuned to the prompt that I’m sharing it here. (I’ve done this with fresh and with frozen salmon, both work well, but frozen is in some ways better because: 1. Toss in a good amount of hearty greens (anything will do, but my favorite is frisée) and mix a bit. Our editors pick easy meals with easy cleanup, like the one-pot spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and kale below.

Persons: Eric, Lia, it’s, I’m Organizations: New York Times Locations: juicier, New

☆ Inside The New York Times' big plans for its Cooking app
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

She joined the Times in 2007 as a web producer and later helped launch the Cooking app in 2014. Rachel Vanni via The New York TimesWhile many media companies have struggled recently, The New York Times has been a big digital success story. The Cooking app, along with Games, The Athletic, and Wirecutter, have bolstered the company's subscription business by providing different entry points. The "All Access" bundle strategy also lets the Times leverage upticks in demand for different types of content depending on the time of year (such as the winter holidays, which are peak cooking times) or news cycles. Cooking has learned that newer users perceive Times recipes as taking longer than they say.

Persons: foodies, Emily Weinstein, weren't, Rachel Vanni, Camilla Velasquez, Cooking's, Weinstein, Eric Kim, Melissa Clark, Clark, Matthew Tom, Wolverton, Adam Nagourney, Meredith Levien, Los Angeles Times haven't, they're, It's, Wirecutter, Condé, Bon Appétit, Carla Lalli, Molly Baz, Alison Roman, David Lebovitz's Organizations: The New York Times, Times, Business, New York Times, Games, The Athletic, Food, NYT, YouTube, longtime, Journalism, Athletic, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times Locations: America, TikTok

☆ The Night Owl’s Special: Midnight Spaghetti
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Until now, for the last decade, I lived alone in a shoe-box studio apartment on the north end of Manhattan with my dog, Quentin Compson. Now the man, the dog and I live in a shoe-box one-bedroom in Brooklyn. It took awhile to get used to having another occupy my space, when all I ever had to account for was myself and my wire-haired familiar. I didn’t know how much I would rely on midnight for both my cravings and my work. And if there’s one dish that encompasses these precious hours of recuperative solitude, it has to be midnight spaghetti.

Persons: Quentin Compson Locations: Manhattan, Brooklyn

☆ This Southern Staple Is Pure Gold
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Eric Kim | More About Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Frankly, I’d rather sift flour into a small bowl, peel potatoes with a dull paring knife or winkle out pomegranate arils wearing a white T-shirt than sort through green beans. Cooked just a bit longer — all the way through — a green bean can become its fullest self. Of course, you could buy green beans, already stemmed, even washed and “ready to eat,” but they’ll have been slowly molding in their wet plastic bags, sitting on the grocery-store shelf. Cooked just a bit longer — all the way through — a green bean can become its fullest self. The resultant sauce was rich and deep, the same kind of magic that’s in a bowl of Scott’s braised green beans and potatoes.

Persons: Scott Locations: Southern, —, There’s

☆ The Amber Gleam of Yakgwa, South Korea’s ‘It’ Cookie
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Eric Kim | More About Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If Dr. Choi’s mother had a specialty, it was her encyclopedic knowledge of Korean ceremonial foods like yakgwa and how to present them. That’s why the recent commercialization of the cookie, with its ubiquity among young people who respect the tradition enough to reinterpret it, has delighted Dr. Choi. Today, Koreans enjoy yakgwa outside of those rites of passage, like as an after-school snack or weekday dessert with vanilla ice cream. When fresh, the cookie’s sticky, amber syrup should drip off slowly, drenching your fingers, like Winnie the Pooh’s paw, in honey. (The YouTube star and cookbook author Maangchi uses the word “juicy” to describe biting into fresh yakgwa.)

Persons: Choi, Choi’s, ”, Winnie, Maangchi Locations: Dang, Manhattan

☆ Love Shrimp Scampi? Try This Rosé-Infused Twist.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Eric Kim | More About Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“I feel like it’s totally underutilized,” she said about the fruity, moderately spiced pepper, named for a commune in France and prevalent in Basque cooking. When it comes to the piment d’Espelette, which turbocharges the flavor and pinkish color of this shrimp, you don’t have to pluck it from a Basque field. Be sure not to skip the orange zest, though; it brings out the Provençal wine’s inherent fruitiness. This last addition was a gift from another friend and colleague, Melissa Clark. Zested over the shrimp, the bittersweet orange lent balance and made the buttery sauce taste all the better.

Persons: Rebecca, ”, Melissa Clark, Melissa Organizations: The Times, Google Locations: France, Basque, Gochugaru, Aleppo, Brooklyn

☆ The Secret to the Greenest Pesto
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Eric Kim | More About Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Until very recently, the Nickelodeon-green, almost teal pesto was a total mystery to me, a recipe I tried to replicate for years to no avail. But it’s the key to this dish, the most striking feature of an otherwise ordinary seafood pasta. But the pesto at Da Andrea is always shiny velvet, a shade of green that feels as if you’ve blended neon Chicago-dog relish into cream. Without the nuts, the pesto was pure basil, its floral aroma buoyed by an unbreakable emulsion of liquid and fat. If the pesto is the galaxy of this pasta, then the perfectly cooked seafood pieces are its brightest stars.

Persons: Da Andrea, Meliano Plasencia, Plasencia, I’ve, “ Organizations: Nickelodeon Locations: Da

☆ A Chinese spy used fake LinkedIn profiles to target officials to hand over secrets, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Chinese spy created several fake LinkedIn profiles to target UK officials, The Times of London reports. Another Chinese agent previously confessed to using LinkedIn to find people likely to possess sensitive information. AdvertisementAdvertisementA Chinese spy has been using LinkedIn to try to get UK officials to hand over state secrets, The Times of London reported. The UK's security minister Tom Tugendhat said in a statement shared with Insider that the Home Office is aware of Chinese Intelligence using LinkedIn and other social media sites to target British citizens. In a statement shared with Insider, a LinkedIn spokesperson said: "Creating a fake account is a clear violation of our terms of service.

Persons: Beijing –, Robin Zhang, Eric Chen Yixi, Robin Cao, Lincoln Lam, John Lee, Eric Kim, Tom Tugendhat, It's, Lazarus – Organizations: The, LinkedIn, Chinese Ministry of State, The Times, Times, Intelligence, National Security, Washington Post, Reuters, Prevention & Defense Locations: London, Beijing, China, North Korea

☆ Good Eggplant Parmesan Takes Time. But It Doesn’t Have to Take Forever.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Eric Kim | More About Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The flavors and textures meld. No one component stands out. If you’re not using “a whole bottle of olive oil” when making eggplant Parm, he said, then what are you even doing? Like Elton John and Kiki Dee, Ms. Rito and Mr. Tacinelli finish each other’s sentences, often talking simultaneously — not over each other, but through. When asked, for instance, about the difference between Italian and Italian American food, the couple, who co-wrote the 2021 cookbook “Italian American,” baton-passed the answer.

Persons: Scott Tacinelli, Don Angie, Rito, ”, Elton John, Kiki Dee, Tacinelli Locations: Italian American

☆ A Summer Dinner Party That’s Actually Fast and Easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Genevieve Ko | More About Genevieve Ko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The confusing spirit of August — the urge to relax while also making the most of lazy days — extends to cooking for friends. There’s a craving to casually have people over for a beautiful meal that takes nearly no effort. These special, unfussy dishes from the New York Times columnists — Melissa Clark, Yewande Komolafe, Eric Kim and Genevieve Ko — are perfect for an impromptu gathering because they come together so quickly. We’ve also included a shopping list and prep plan so you can stay stress free while you cook. Maybe you can have it all.

Persons: — Melissa Clark, Yewande Komolafe, Eric Kim, Genevieve Ko —, We’ve Organizations: New York Times

☆ How to Improve a Summer Tomato Sandwich? Furikake.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Sam Sifton | More About Sam Sifton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There may be no better summer sandwich than a tomato one, on white bread smeared wall-to-wall with mayonnaise and sprinkled lightly with flaky salt and a little cracked black pepper. But as he so often does when he’s cooking, Eric Kim recently came up with a few tweaks that take things to new heights. For his sandwich (above), in addition to lightly toasting the bread (that’s a yikes for some), Eric adds to his salt and pepper a sprinkle of furikake, the savory-sweet Japanese spice blend and rice seasoning. The seaweed in the mixture, he wrote for The New York Times Magazine, “amps up the tomato’s savoriness, intensifying the harmony of fruit, carb and condiment.”Excellent! (Will I go further off-piste and add a sautéed soft-shell crab to each of the sandwiches?

Persons: Eric Kim, Eric, Will Organizations: The New York Times Magazine Locations: furikake

☆ The Sandwich Southerners Wait for All Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Eric Kim | More About Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

When it comes to the tomato sandwich, at least in the South, the conversation is less about what it is than what it is not. According to the readers of my hometown’s Gwinnett Magazine in Georgia, the Official Tomato Sandwich is two slices of white bread (“Not toasted. But the bread was not great.” That’s because she didn’t have her Merita Old Fashioned Bread, the soft white sandwich loaf she was used to. The joy of a Southern tomato sandwich is to highlight the fruit. The mushy whiteness of a soft sandwich bread, as the dripping tomato sogs the edges, is auxiliary for some.

Persons: ”, Mary, didn’t Organizations: Gwinnett Magazine Locations: Georgia, Southern

☆ Butter, Garlic, Spice, Sweetness, Umami and Starch
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Sam Sifton | More About Sam Sifton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Make any recipe more than three or four times and you’re going to change it, either for reasons of taste or expediency, occasionally both. Make that recipe six or seven times and it’s altered forever. That’s where I am with Eric Kim’s recipe for gochujang buttered noodles (above). Make Eric’s dish as he intended, or take it in whatever direction your pantry allows and your taste desires. It’s just butter, garlic, spice, sweetness, umami and starch.

Persons: Eric Kim’s, cheong, Cook Organizations: ssamjang Locations: spiciness

☆ The Secret to an Excellent Sandwich
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2020, Dennis Cantwell and Monica Wong did not plan to open Palm City as a hoagie deli. What was intended to be a temporary arrangement took off at a time when to-go food was a necessity of quarantine life. “There was something sentimental about a little taste of somewhere else,” said Mr. Cantwell, reflecting on why Philadelphia hoagies were such a success in San Francisco. Mr. Cantwell and Ms. Wong are looking into opening a second location. At this crop of new sandwich shops, be careful not to mistake curation for limitedness.

Persons: Dennis Cantwell, Monica Wong, Melissa McGrath, ”, Mr, Cantwell, “, Wong, curation Organizations: Philadelphia, limitedness Locations: Palm, Philadelphia, San Francisco

☆ Fish Tacos al Pastor, Stained Delicious With a Complex, Brick-Red Adobo
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Sam Sifton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Good morning. Eric Kim had that opportunity recently at the restaurant Ensenada in Brooklyn, with the chef Luis Herrera. He wrote about it this week for The Times, and gave us an adaptation of Herrera’s recipe for fish tacos al pastor (above), which is our meal for this evening. It’s pretty cool — grilled fillets of buttery white-fleshed fish standing in for the more traditional pork, everything stained delicious with a complex, brick-red adobo, and served with pineapple pico de gallo and plenty of warm corn tortillas. Featured RecipeView Recipe →

Persons: Eric Kim, Luis Herrera, gallo Organizations: New York Times, The Times Locations: Ensenada, Brooklyn

☆ A Stir-Fry to Convert Green Bell Pepper Skeptics
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Next to its older siblings in blazing red, orange and yellow, the green bell pepper has never had the best reputation. But, if you’re trying to capture the edge of bitterness, where savory and sweet intermingle, then the green pepper might be your ideal implement. Perhaps the one dish where the diner must confront the unripe pepper head-on is pepper steak. For many Americans, what comes to mind is the saucy beef stir-fry seen on takeout menus and strewn with crunchy panels of Christmassy red and green bell peppers. The Chinese American pepper steak, she said, “feels like a culmination of all of those influences.” The Leungs — Sarah, Kaitlin, Bill and Judy — published their first proper pepper steak recipe only recently, in April, using oyster sauce, chicken stock and red bell peppers in addition to the green.

Persons: Sarah Leung, “, Sarah, Kaitlin, Judy — Locations: Louisiana, Sichuan, Fujian

☆ These Fish Tacos Couldn’t Be More Brilliant
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

And in Herrera’s recipe, it will occupy most of your time, but the return on investment couldn’t be higher. The resulting mixture gives a warmth and complexity — a “Hmm, what is that?” — to an otherwise breezy al pastor. When he first opened Ensenada, Herrera used pale out-of-season tomatoes that diluted the bright coastal flavors he wanted to showcase in these fish tacos. But it’s not just the pineapple that makes this fish al pastor — it’s the char. Al pastor, “in the style of a shepherd,” is a method of barbecuing meat on a rotating vertical spit that Lebanese immigrants brought to Mexico in the late 19th century.

Persons: Herrera, Cosme, pescado, —, gallo, chiles, Adobo, it’s Organizations: Alto Locations: Caracas, Venezuela, Manhattan, Ensenada, Mexico

☆ A Quick and Easy Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Melissa Clark | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Both the cookie and the cake would pair delightfully with an iced coffee lightened with Gabriella Lewis’s sweet cream cold foam. Serve it with Eric Kim’s watermelon and feta salad for a juicy, refreshing contrast to all that deli meat. You do need to subscribe to cook these recipes, along with the tens of thousands of others at New York Times cooking. Improvise Your Melon SaladsTo make Eric’s watermelon salad even more colorful, substitute sliced cucumber and cantaloupe for some of the watermelon. Or use any combination of melons here; the simple olive oil, feta and basil dressing will work brilliantly with whatever you have.

Persons: Gabriella Lewis’s, Slagle’s, Eric Kim’s Organizations: New York Times Locations: Italian

☆ The Crispiest Chicken Cutlets You Can’t Mess Up
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Margaux Laskey | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

For something equally lovable but a bit less hands-on, try Eric Kim’s ritzy Cheddar chicken breasts. They rely on Ritz crackers and are baked in the oven, which means no Jackson Pollock oil splatters to clean up. Speaking of vegetarians: Priya Krishna calls vegetable pulao “a weeknight staple in many Desi households” because it’s wildly flexible. Not only is it less messy, but I find it’s easier to get an even thickness when the slippery meat is neatly contained. You can do this in advance, then roll or fold up the sheets — meat included — and store in the fridge until you’re ready to bread and fry.

Persons: Eric Kim’s, Jackson Pollock, there’s David, Priya Krishna, ”, Natasha Pickowicz, Guy Organizations: Ritz Locations: Victorian England

☆ The Secret to Better Salmon Is Salt
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Sam Sifton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

J. Kenji López-Alt went full Kenji recently and dove deep into the process of dry-brining salmon to achieve firmer, juicier, less albumin-stained cooked fillets. Which means if I can get to the store early today, I can make Ali Slagle’s new recipe for teriyaki salmon or my old one for pan-roasted salmon with jalapeño (above) this evening, and eat it with steamed rice and Mark Bittman’s salad of asparagus ribbons tossed in sesame oil and rice vinegar. As for the rest of the week. “Just made this and mid-meal felt the urgent need to come here and rave about it,” one subscriber noted on the recipe. “Super easy and super quick to make!”

☆ The Secret to Mastering Your Cocktail Order
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Eric Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Like knowing how to order off a menu, ordering a drink is something that needs to be learned. And finding your signature cocktail is an intellectual endeavor — an examination of yourself and your predilections — as much as it is a gustatory one. It has taken me a lifetime to find My Drink, a slow but steady culmination of all the glasses I’ve had before and all the times I’ve anxiously ordered at a bar. For Hirsch, using “language that you can taste” is a necessary step toward helping people understand what’s in the glass. It’s also, he says, “a good way to build connections between glasses.” And these connections are, ultimately, what can help you discover a new drink.

☆ More than 250 business leaders back Julie Su for Labor secretary as nomination hangs in the balance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during her confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of the Labor Department in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on April 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. More than 250 business leaders are urging the Senate to confirm acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to helm the department, according to a letter first obtained by CNBC. "Julie Su is a trailblazer whose track record speaks for itself," reads the letter, which cited her experience as Labor secretary of California. Additionally, her experience as U.S. Deputy Labor Secretary has given her a thorough understanding of the Labor Department and the current issues facing the economy, businesses, and workers." She was confirmed to be deputy secretary to former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh in 2021 by a party-line vote, but several key moderate Democrats have yet to say whether they will support her this round.

☆ Life on the Edge of the Menu and More: The Week in Reporter Reads
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Eric Kim has a strategy for how he approaches restaurants: Live life on the edge of the menu. Just because a restaurant is known for one thing doesn’t mean you can’t order something else. Sometimes the oddity on a menu might be the chef’s passion project, which is reason enough to order it. When Mr. Kim visited the city for a friend’s wedding in January, his eyes gravitated toward the citrus-glazed turnips. Who knew that the star of his seafood lunch would be a side dish of turnips?

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