The Most Popular Recipes of 2018
ByĀ Sam Sifton
Good morning. We mined our data to come up with a list of theĀ 50 most popular new recipes on NYT Cooking this year. Iām super-stoked to report that the top slot went to Julia MoskināsĀ recipe forĀ chicken franceseĀ (above), an American-Italian interpretation of French cooking that youāll find on restaurant menus all over the United States but particularly in ones built under the low slate skies of Rochester, N.Y., where the dish is known as āchicken French.ā
A number-one position for the children of East Avenue, Upper Falls and Swillburg! A Kodak moment for Fairport and Greece, Brighton, Pittsford, Irondequoit! Chicken francese is a fantastic dish, easily made, with deep and abiding flavor that goes nicely alongside plain spaghetti tossed with olive oil and butter, a side ofĀ garlicky greens, some bread. Try it.Ā Chicken FrenchĀ for all.
Other top recipes this year included: Alison RomanāsĀ salted chocolate chunk shortbread cookies; Melissa ClarkāsĀ sheet-pan chicken with sweet potatoes and peppers; theĀ beef and broccoliĀ I learned to make from the private chef Jonathan Wu and the restaurateur and chef Dale Talde; and AlisonāsĀ classic baked macaroni and cheese. Check outĀ the complete list, and get cooking. Collect them all!
You donāt have to cook a recipe tonight, of course. On Wednesdays I encourage you not to use recipes at all, but to engage in an exercise of improvisatory cooking, working off a narrative theme.
For instance, bananas Foster. You can look atĀ the recipeĀ a predecessor of mine, Jane Nickerson, brought to The Times in 1957. Or you can riff off the experience I had on Saturday night atĀ Commanderās Palace in New Orleans, where a top-tier captain named Samantha La Pointe-Woolf made the dish tableside, and made it the best Iāve ever had.
All you need is a lot of butter, a lot of brown sugar, a couple of bananas, light rum, some banana liqueur if you have any (if you donāt, the rumās just fine). Everything is ratio: Think about a half stick of unsalted butter for every two bananas, and about as much brown sugar. Melt and swirl the butter and sugar over medium-high heat to create a thick caramel, then add the bananas, peeled and halved, to get a little color on them. Sprinkle with cinnamon, add a half cup of rum and a splash of banana liqueur, then tip the pan slightly so the alcohol goes alight.Ā WHOOSH GOES THE FLAME. Continue swirling until everything dies away, then spoon the caramel over the fruit again and serve with vanilla ice cream.
For instance, bananas Foster. You can look atĀ the recipeĀ a predecessor of mine, Jane Nickerson, brought to The Times in 1957. Or you can riff off the experience I had on Saturday night atĀ Commanderās Palace in New Orleans, where a top-tier captain named Samantha La Pointe-Woolf made the dish tableside, and made it the best Iāve ever had.
All you need is a lot of butter, a lot of brown sugar, a couple of bananas, light rum, some banana liqueur if you have any (if you donāt, the rumās just fine). Everything is ratio: Think about a half stick of unsalted butter for every two bananas, and about as much brown sugar. Melt and swirl the butter and sugar over medium-high heat to create a thick caramel, then add the bananas, peeled and halved, to get a little color on them. Sprinkle with cinnamon, add a half cup of rum and a splash of banana liqueur, then tip the pan slightly so the alcohol goes alight.Ā WHOOSH GOES THE FLAME. Continue swirling until everything dies away, then spoon the caramel over the fruit again and serve with vanilla ice cream.
You can find actual, tested, written and photographed recipes to cook right now onĀ NYT Cooking. Like, for instance, this awesome salty-sour recipe forĀ pork shoulder asadoĀ that Priya Krishna learned from Chad and Chase Valencia, brothers who own and run the Filipino restaurantĀ LasaĀ in Los Angeles.
Of course, youāll needĀ a subscriptionĀ to access them. It will support everything we do. (If you want to redouble that sustenance, consider buying aĀ gift subscriptionĀ for someone else.)
And have you signed up for Emily Weinsteinās newsletter āFive Weeknight Dishesā? Thatās free. As are most of the things we post onĀ Instagram,Ā FacebookĀ andĀ Twitter.
Weāll be standing by to help, should anything go wrong along the way, either with your cooking or our technology. Just ask for help:Ā cookingcare@nytimes.com. We will get back to you.
Now, nothing whatsoever to do with persimmons orĀ Moscow mules, butĀ Baratunde ThurstonĀ recently introduced me toĀ Detour, a kind of cool-kid tourism app that leads you on tours around cities across the United States and the world. (Itād be neat, we agreed, to write a fictional one for New York, a satirical guide to the East Village, say.)Ā Bose bought the appĀ a number of months ago to use as an experience for their forthcoming augmented reality platform, so act now.
Here are The Buzzcocks, āEver Fallen in Love,ā an early-days video performance I hadnāt seen before and itās terrific. (Pete Shelley, the bandās leader,Ā died last week at 63.)
Finally, I likeĀ this photo-audio feature in The California Sunday Magazine, a roundup of some Californiansā go-to meals. Check that out, and make bananas Foster for dessert tonight. Iāll be back on Friday.
Weāll be standing by to help, should anything go wrong along the way, either with your cooking or our technology. Just ask for help:Ā cookingcare@nytimes.com. We will get back to you.
Now, nothing whatsoever to do with persimmons orĀ Moscow mules, butĀ Baratunde ThurstonĀ recently introduced me toĀ Detour, a kind of cool-kid tourism app that leads you on tours around cities across the United States and the world. (Itād be neat, we agreed, to write a fictional one for New York, a satirical guide to the East Village, say.)Ā Bose bought the appĀ a number of months ago to use as an experience for their forthcoming augmented reality platform, so act now.
Here are The Buzzcocks, āEver Fallen in Love,ā an early-days video performance I hadnāt seen before and itās terrific. (Pete Shelley, the bandās leader,Ā died last week at 63.)
Finally, I likeĀ this photo-audio feature in The California Sunday Magazine, a roundup of some Californiansā go-to meals. Check that out, and make bananas Foster for dessert tonight. Iāll be back on Friday.
