Best Advice on How I Eat From 2019
My favorite part of interviewing people for How I Eat is bullying them into showing me the inside of their refrigerator, but my second favorite part is getting delicious advice on how to eat, drink, and live . Choosing my favorite excerpts from each interview was quite a daunting task and – while I think I made the right choice – you should definitely read each interview in its entirety (trust me, this will help you start the new year right).
Jeffrey Morgenthaler on filling the home bar:
I think that everyone should have their own drink, which they know how to cook, just like everyone should have their own dish, which they know how to cook really well. People who don’t know how to cook, or [don’t] have a dish that they like to cook, kind of sad me. And it’s the same with the drink; you must have something, whatever it is. It doesn’t matter to me. But if you really love martinis, you should be able to make a really great martini at home. Because it’s cool and outgoing and it’s fun to be alone and fun to be with other people. So do your thing, but I think a lot of people understand – and I always try to dissuade people from doing this – but people think that in order to have a home bar, you have to have all brands or types of booze. You know people say, “What should I get from the home bar?” and I say: “Well, what do you like?” If you don’t like tequila, I’m not going to suggest that you buy four different types of tequila for your home bar so you can make a bunch of tequila drinks that you never intended to drink. If you just love vodka, grab six vodkas.
Stella Parks on flour unevenness:
I want everyone to understand that not all universal flours are the same. This is not a regulated term. There is a universal flour that is made with 100 percent chlorinated soft white wheat flour, which has a completely different behavior than other brands, and can be made with 100 percent red durum wheat flour that is completely unprocessed. And then there is flour made from a mixture of white and red wheat, and they are all over the place. Some are high in protein and some are high in starch and vice versa.
Therefore, I always try to indicate in my recipes what kind of flour I use. And I think some people are getting a little salty. They’re like, “Well, if you’re making a recipe that only works with one type of flour, you’re not a very good baker.” In fact, all bakers make a recipe that only works with one type of flour, unless that baker is also cross-testing their recipe on multiple brands of flour – honestly, I don’t think most recipe makers are wasting such time. So the best thing any baker can do is find a brand that they like and stick with it, and as a courtesy tell which brand it is. People don’t understand this, and they just say, “Well, I made it out of this agony, and it doesn’t work. The recipe is bad. Well, this flour has comparatively less starch, or it has a lot more protein, or it has a lot more starch, and that will affect everything. So if you have persistent problems because their biscuits are not spreading enough, or their cake is too coarse or has a cornbread-like texture, try a different flour.
Mara Wilson on the perfect chocolate chip cookie:
I really love rock salt, and one of mine – I’ve been doing this for years – but I sprinkle some sea or pink rock salt on a chocolate chip cookie when I bake it. And I make really good chocolate chip cookies, if I say so myself. I have a great recipe and can tweak it a bit for allergy sufferers, but I’ve been told over and over that I make the best chocolate chip cookies. And I always sprinkle them with a little salt before they go to the oven and that really makes the chocolate stand out. I usually try to use two or three different types of chocolate there. I’ll add dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, and milk chocolate, so there is something for everyone.
Dan Beckner’s Breakfast from the Rice Cooker:
I started making this one pot Japanese breakfast. You get a can of mackerel, you get some rice – usually sushi rice – and you cook it all in a rice cooker. So, you put the umeboshi , the pickled plum in the rice cooker, along with the rice, mirin, a little sake, a little soy sauce, about half an inch of chopped ginger, and butter from a can of mackerel, because mackerel is a super fatty fish. You want the mackerel to be packaged – soybean oil works well – and you pour the mackerel into it, then add water to the liquid level and close the lid. Cook it. The oil prevents it from sticking to the bottom of the rice cooker, but it almost forms a crust during cooking, as if you were making really very good fried rice. And when it’s done, you beat it, put it in a bowl, and then I put Japanese pickles on it like a pickled beef steak. I forgot its Japanese name, but it’s kind of like purple pickles and then Japanese pickles. Top with really finely chopped green onions. And then you eat it, which is great. It’s a good breakfast because it has protein and mackerel has a lot of fat, but it’s not too heavy, you know? And this is the only pot.
Natalie Wynn’s objectively correct view of Hawaiian pizza:
So, I realize that I’m entering some very controversial territory again, but actually Hawaiian pizza is good. I especially love Hawaiian jalapeno because of my spice. So you have ham, pineapple, jalapeno – amazing. This is objectively correct. Especially with jerky, such as ham. Sweet and salty are good. It’s like wrapping a melon in slices of ham. I love this as a snack. Salty-sweet-salty combination. Ouch! It is very good.
Soleil Ho on adding texture to sandwiches:
So my favorite potato chips are Sweet Maui Onion Chips . Do you know Hawaiian? I’ll throw them in a sandwich. Of course, pickles lend a really tasty texture. I hate putting salad in sandwiches because of how limited their ability to add anything substantial is. In fact, when I was a kid – I can trace this back to that – I was in high school and I remember taking money for lunch, and instead of buying a hot lunch or anything substantial, I was buying a bagel. which came with margarine and a packet of Doritos and I just squeezed the Doritos between slices of bagel and ate it like a sandwich. It was just amazing for me.
I’m still on the hunt for the perfect San Francisco breakfast sandwich … First of all, the round bun – the closer it gets to the Kaiser roll, the better – eggs that haven’t been microwaved and good textural contrast. That could mean crispy bacon or, if I’m really lucky, brown potatoes like the ones sold in the freezer, those oval pieces. If it’s in a sandwich? Game over.
My very nice boxed brownie hack:
My favorite pastry is the box mix chocolate chip cookies. I love them because they cost three fucking dollars and are collected very quickly. I will use pistachio oil instead of vegetable oil, and it will make it a little more nutty. And sometimes I also use coffee instead of water. And the box mix – the Ghirardelli mix – always has a perfect shiny crust. Chewy at the edges. There is a fake in the center. They are perfect. I see no reason to waste time measuring something. I hate baked goods. I used to be a baker, but it reminds me too much of the time spent in chemistry, with all the weighing and precision, and I just refuse to be a part of it anymore. I gave it up.