Cooking and cookbooks

Want to start an argument? Just bring up pizza: how it’s made, what fits the definition, which style is supreme. All are up for debate. So it came as no surprise that Julia Moskin’s article this week about the state of frozen pizza , and an accompanying taste test of upmarket frozen pies , garnered hundreds of comments from New York Times readers. “Pizza,” as Amy in Connecticut said , “is a big tent.” Some wished we had reviewed their favorite supermarket brands, like DiGiorno , Stouffer’s and Screamin’ Sicilian , while others rallied around local favorites like Lou Malnati’s , Butch’s and Home Run Inn . But many just wanted to share their pizza wizardry, how they gussy up a frozen pie or make a quick one from scratch. Here are some of our readers’ favorite ways to ’za . Frozen Pizza Hacks Get the Pizzeria to Make It for You Buy a Half-Baked Pizza: “Most pizzerias will ‘prebake’ pies for you: assembled and only partly baked, so you can either finish … [Read more...] about Reader Tips for a Better Frozen (or Homemade) Pizza

SAN FRANCISCO — Gabriela Cámara is having a very good year. Five years after she moved to the United States from her native Mexico, she is at the tipping point of world culinary fame. Her 20-year-old restaurant, Contramar , is both a beloved institution and a power-lunch destination: the Union Square Cafe of Mexico City. Her San Francisco restaurant, Cala , has established her here as both an eloquent translator of modern Mexican food and an advocate for social justice: She provides health insurance and other benefits to all full-time employees, many of whom are recruited through job programs for the formerly incarcerated. A glowing documentary film about the restaurants, “A Tale of Two Kitchens,” executive-produced by the actor Gael García Bernal, premiered two weeks ago on Netflix. She has just published a cookbook, “My Mexico City Kitchen” ( Sqirl , whose casually fabulous cooking mirrors her own. And Council of Cultural Diplomacy , composed of people who bring … [Read more...] about This Mexican Chef Is Having a Very Good Year

It all started with the jam. This being Los Angeles, it wasn’t, of course, just any jam. It was — and is — organic, and local, and often made from varieties of fruit that usually don’t make it out of California, like Blenheim apricots, or combinations that you don’t see elsewhere, like strawberry and rose. The jam is fragrant and not overly sweet, and you want to eat it with a spoon. Word started to get around that Jessica Koslow, 33, was spreading it with ricotta on burned brioche, and soon there were lines out the door at Sqirl, her cute, shabby, hip little storefront on Virgil Avenue in East Hollywood. “Sqirl was, really, a jam company,” she said to me a couple of weeks ago, munching on a piece of brioche with blood-orange marmalade and almond-hazelnut butter. “I knew it couldn’t stay that way, because I wanted to create a place that worked, long-term, on a street corner that no one wanted to be on.” So Koslow turned Sqirl — the name combines “squirrel” (as in “squirrel away”) … [Read more...] about Breakfast Gets New Life at Jessica Koslow’s Sqirl

When Gavin Kaysen announced in March that he would leave his longtime position as Café Boulud ’s executive chef to open his own restaurant, plenty of people in the restaurant industry — and those who watch it — were surprised. As Daniel Boulud’s right-hand man, Mr. Kaysen was a player in one of the most successful restaurant empires in New York. But the bigger surprise was where Mr. Kaysen, 35, planned to open his restaurant, Merchant : not in Manhattan or Brooklyn but in Minneapolis, his hometown. A chef with no shortage of opportunities in New York had decided to leave. “I had some people ask me candidly, ‘Why? Why leave New York? Why move there?’ ” Mr. Kaysen said. Traditionally, chefs trained in New York and then stayed, with the goal of running big kitchens or opening their own places. Yes, there have always been chefs who have left, for reasons that are familiar to New Yorkers of any profession: to have more space for children, or to be closer to family (the reason … [Read more...] about Chefs Move Beyond New York

Hello, everyone. I’m a senior editor on the Food desk, and I’m filling in for Emily Weinstein this week. To me, cooked alliums like shallots, garlic and onions of all sorts are the perfect weeknight ingredient for winter. In terms of flavor, they bring a skein of warmth and a lightly savory base note without necessarily adding heft. Satisfying and hearty, but not too rich. More important to me, though, is the act of chopping. For many, this can be tedious, but I find it a welcome little interlude between work and dinner. You can chop with as much focus, artistry, satisfaction or ire as the preceding hours might dictate. But, mostly, I just like to zone out a bit — though not enough to lose a fingertip — and run the knife through its paces. Is this mindfulness? Who knows? But these five dishes will give you a chance to feel that out. Happy cooking! 1. Doenjang Salmon Rice Bowl Eric Kim is behind a wealth of weeknight go-tos for me, but this dish is one of my … [Read more...] about A Little Night Chopping