3 Easy, Foolproof Desserts for the Weekend

Maybe you don’t bake or you are, like me, a baker who’s insecure about his prowess. You’re surrounded by friends and professional bakers who whip up the most gorgeous puddings. You, on the other hand, are clumsy in the kitchen and imprecise when you co…

Maybe you don't bake or you are, like me, a baker who’s insecure about his prowess. You’re surrounded by friends and professional bakers who whip up the most gorgeous puddings. You, on the other hand, are clumsy in the kitchen and imprecise when you cook—which, in everyday food, makes for adequate, sometimes even delicious results because it's cooked by instinct and by experience, and always to taste.

But in baking, which they say is a science, your inexactitude can mean a broken custard or a soapy banana bread.

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55 Crock-Pot Recipes to Set & Forget

A couple of years ago I wrote that I’d never throw out my Crock-Pot, a priceless, light blue checkered heirloom piece of scrap metal named Hal. Update: I still haven’t. Despite all of the love letters I’ve written to the Instant Pot this year, I’m happ…

A couple of years ago I wrote that I'd never throw out my Crock-Pot, a priceless, light blue checkered heirloom piece of scrap metal named Hal. Update: I still haven't. Despite all of the love letters I've written to the Instant Pot this year, I'm happy to report that Hal is alive and well, and sitting on my bookshelf as we speak.

Do I use him as often as my Instant Pot? Maybe not. But I do love him more. I love that he only has three options for me (Off, Low, and High), and that I can carry him under one arm. My Instant Pot may cook up a mean short rib, but it's heavy, ugly, and doesn't have a name—because no matter how many fancy appliances come into my life and sweep me off my feet, Hal the Crock-Pot will always be my bread and butter when it comes to slow-cooking.

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Moussaka, but Make It Bulgarian

While many are most familiar with Greek-style moussaka (consisting of layers of eggplant, potatoes, and minced meat topped with a white sauce), this dish has variations all throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The origin of the word moussaka actually …

While many are most familiar with Greek-style moussaka (consisting of layers of eggplant, potatoes, and minced meat topped with a white sauce), this dish has variations all throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The origin of the word moussaka actually comes from the Arabic musaqqa’a (مسقعة), which roughly means “to moisten,” referring to the fact that many versions of this dish consist of slices of eggplant that soak up a zesty tomato sauce.

Some food historians suggest that the origin of this dish is found in the Ottoman Empire, and a version of moussaka is served in Turkey to this day. This theory makes the most sense considering that the spread of moussaka throughout the Mediterranean coincides with the reach of the Ottoman Empire at its peak. Currently, you can find versions of this dish in the Levant (the area around Lebanon), Egypt, Romania, Greece, and the Balkans, and each former Ottoman territory has its own way of preparing it.

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Why You Should Cook a Whole Dang Squash in Your Slow Cooker

Welcome to Set It & Forget It, a series about all the ways we rely on our slow cookers, Instant Pots, and ovens during the colder months. Whether it’s a long braise on the stove or a quick burst in the pressure cooker, one thing’s for sure: Comfort…

Welcome to Set It & Forget It, a series about all the ways we rely on our slow cookers, Instant Pots, and ovens during the colder months. Whether it’s a long braise on the stove or a quick burst in the pressure cooker, one thing’s for sure: Comfort food means comfort cooking.


The humble winter squash is a beloved cold-weather staple, but when was the last time you changed up your cooking method for those butternuts and acorns? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve slid a tray of oiled and salted wedges into the oven for roasting, pureed cubes into soup, stirred a puree into a dip or batter. Were the results of those squash-y endeavors a delight to eat? Of course. Still, none excites me in a way I want to write home about, as they say.

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Marshmallow Crispy Treats, but Darker, Nuttier & Better

The original Rice Krispies Treats recipe is a classic for a reason—but there’s room for improvement. I’ve always found that the standard ratio of one bag of marshmallows to six cups of cereal produces treats that are too dry and overly firm. Sure, they…

The original Rice Krispies Treats recipe is a classic for a reason—but there’s room for improvement. I've always found that the standard ratio of one bag of marshmallows to six cups of cereal produces treats that are too dry and overly firm. Sure, they taste good, but Rice Krispies Treats have so much more potential and the base recipe is yearning to be improved upon. So in an attempt to elevate them to their full potential, I decided to reformulate the classic. To kick off my development and search for inspiration, I turned as ever to the internet.

The first upgrade I came across was from Smitten Kitchen. Her trick? Browning the butter. This added a wonderful nutty flavor and wasn’t all that difficult to do—a few extra seconds was all it took. While this yielded treats that were rich with toasted dairy flavor, I wanted to see just how far I could push it. I doubled the amount of butter her original recipe called for, swapped sweet cream butter for a salted variety (because salt makes everything better), added a heaping tablespoon of vanilla extract, and finished them with a generous glug of bourbon to highlight the complex brown-butter flavor as much as I possibly could. It was no longer just sweetness—it was sweetness with a depth of smoky caramel flavor. I loved where the recipe was going (it was a clear step in the right direction), but I wanted to push it even further.

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Our 30 Best Homemade Bread Recipes

The only thing more satisfying than smelling freshly baked bread is smelling freshly baked bread in your own kitchen. There’s a reason baking bread is its own kind of ritual. A from-scratch loaf is a mix between science and magic, where simple flour, s…

The only thing more satisfying than smelling freshly baked bread is smelling freshly baked bread in your own kitchen. There’s a reason baking bread is its own kind of ritual. A from-scratch loaf is a mix between science and magic, where simple flour, salt, and water transform into crusty-edged, fluffy-centered (and hopefully butter-slathered) goodness. It’s delicious, yes, but it's also empowering—a project that warms your home and satisfies deeply.

Whether you love pillowy focaccia, craggy soda bread, or a tangy sourdough, there’s a bread recipe waiting for you. And to prove it (eh?), we’ve combed through Food52's recipe box for our 30 favorite bread recipes, ever.

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The Chicken Breast Recipe That Changed My Meal-Prep Game for Good

Table for One is a column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and only himself—and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.

With all the solo cooking I do in my day to day, it can be hard to buy just the righ…

Table for One is a column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and only himself—and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.


With all the solo cooking I do in my day to day, it can be hard to buy just the right amount of ingredients for any given recipe. But there is, for me, something so curiously satisfying about procuring only what I need for a single serving, and nothing more. An eggplant, a lemon, and a sprig of mint for a salad; a perfect boneless, skin-on duck breast from the butcher; a half-pound of shrimp for nights when all I want to eat is shrimp. No leftovers.

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A Quick, Comforting Instant Pot Soup You Can Set & Forget

Welcome to Set It & Forget It, a new series about all the ways we rely on our slow cookers, Instant Pots, and ovens during the colder months. Whether it’s a long braise on the stove or a quick burst in the pressure cooker, one thing’s for sure: Com…

Welcome to Set It & Forget It, a new series about all the ways we rely on our slow cookers, Instant Pots, and ovens during the colder months. Whether it’s a long braise on the stove or a quick burst in the pressure cooker, one thing’s for sure: Comfort food means comfort cooking.


In the 18 years that I spent going to public school in Fulton County, Georgia, I ate my fair share of cafeteria lunches. In fact, I hardly ever packed my own lunch, and neither did my parents, who worked full-time at a beeper store on Buford Highway. This meant that I had the cafeteria menu memorized, and knew exactly which day to fill up on breakfast (because it was mystery-meat sloppy joe day) and when to leave room (because it was grilled cheese and soup day).

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I Think We Can All Agree That *This* Is the Worst Meal to Pay For

Table for One is a weekly column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves brunching alone and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.

I have a proposition: Let’s cancel brunch. Or at least, what it’s become: waking up before noon on…

Table for One is a weekly column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves brunching alone and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.


I have a proposition: Let’s cancel brunch. Or at least, what it’s become: waking up before noon on the weekend, followed by an hour-long wait for overpriced food and sugary cocktails at a crowded restaurant.

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The No-Cheese, No-Sauce Pasta Amanda Hesser & Her Kids Eat on Repeat

Welcome to More Ketchup, Please, our newest series that’s spilling the beans on all the different ways we cook for, and with, our kids. We’ve got some great guests stopping by, to get schooled by their little ones on how to perfect family favorites. Th…

Welcome to More Ketchup, Please, our newest series that’s spilling the beans on all the different ways we cook for, and with, our kids. We've got some great guests stopping by, to get schooled by their little ones on how to perfect family favorites. The more (cooks) the merrier? We think so.


If it surprises you how self-sufficient Amanda Hesser’s 12-year-old twins Walker and Addison are in the kitchen, then you probably haven’t read Cooking for Mr. Latte. The 2003 cookbook with memoir is an account of how her husband went from being a man with an empty refrigerator when they first met, to a pasta-making supremo after they had kids. If you have read Mr. Latte, then it’d be perfectly logical to expect this love of food and fearless cooking from her kids, whose starter lessons in the kitchen began when they were little.

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