You’ve heard a lot about Bryan over the past two years. He is the only other person who has tasted every recipe on this site and so I thought now might be a good time to let him pick some favorites. I seriously could not do this without him. At long last, he speaks…
Thanks, Tim, for inviting me to do this! And, thanks, readers, for staying tuned. I really enjoy getting to be behind the scenes of this amazing project. When Tim started discussing this over two years ago, I knew that he’d be great at it, but he still continues to impress me with his writing, photography, and mad kitchen skills. I get to eat some seriously good food, y’all. It was really difficult to narrow it down, but here are the five that I remember most fondly/crave most often.
Tim doesn’t like chocolate. I, on the other hand, would pass up almost any dessert on the menu for the one with “devil”, “death”, or “molten” in the name. Tim knows this and occasionally indulges me. The greatest of these selfless acts was this stracciatella. It is amazing. The sweet, smooth vanilla really highlights the deep, bitter, chocolatiness of those thin crunchy swirls, making them taste even chocolatier. This is a truly impressive trick for someone who claims not to “get” chocolate.
I started my life in Canada, where the proper condiment for french fries is vinegar—and not the malty British pub stuff, the white stuff you buy by the jug to clean your windows. So maybe that’s why I was so impressed by the fact that you could get the taste of vinegar inside the potato. It’s more likely though that these things were just that good—charred outside, tender inside, an impressive zing throughout. They were unique and delicious, and made a memorable BBQ even better.
Tim’s rugelach are seriously delicious. I can’t explain why. Walnuts, raisins, apricots—all of these are fine, but aren’t anything I get excited over. But mix them together—with flour, butter, love, etc.—and they truly become more than the sum of their parts. Flaky, chewy, sweet, salty magic. We eat these standing around our kitchen.
This and the pickled peppers [1] (favorite recipe #6—honorable mention) recently led me to boldly proclaim that thyme is my favorite herb. What about oregano? What about cilantro? What about basil? I know, I know. Tim and some friends fought valiantly for those, but I would not be swayed. Make this and you’ll understand.
This is one of the few things that Tim will bake unplanned and unannounced. I’ll hear him fussing in the kitchen and assume it’s some new recipe from a new cookbook using fruit we bought over the weekend for a post he’ll write later that evening. But then I go investigate and he’s pouring liquid caramel over this familiar crumbly yellow cake. He just wanted a treat. I love it too, but Tim is unusually stingy with this one. He insists it’s his favorite not mine and therefore he shouldn’t have to share. Now that it’s officially one of my favorites too, he’ll have no choice. Sorry, boo. : )