In the hot seat: What's your favorite hot sauce?
Plus, snack dinners and how to help Texas
Hi friends,
I want to give a warm welcome to our new readers (thank you to Rachel and Sidekick for the shoutout). I’m Abigail Koffler, a freelance writer and born and raised New Yorker. I started this newsletter back in 2017 while working in nonprofits and have worked to grow this community since then. Every Monday, you’ll find recipes, recommendations and links to read. Paid subscribers support my work and receive personalized recommendations and bonus editions on Thursdays.
I also teach cooking classes, which are so much fun to take with a friend. There’s one on Wednesday if you’re free (the ingredients are really easy to find)!
I’m thinking of everyone in Texas affected by the ongoing climate crisis. Here are some ways to help (I donated to Austin Mutual Aid last week).
A few fun facts:
I live in Brooklyn with my boyfriend, Dale and two of my best friends live a few blocks away. Especially during Covid, it’s so nice to have friends as neighbors and as a pod.
I studied history in college and always look for historical connections in the news and in food.
I’ve been a vegetarian since 2013, though I do eat bivalves. Oyster happy hour is one of my favorite things in the world. If you’re not vegetarian, I’m confident you’ll find recipes you’ll enjoy here.
My first flight when it’s safe will be to LA. My dad is from California and I really miss my family out there. Plus, the farmers markets and tacos are incredible.
I have a really good memory and love recommending things. My sister called me Abi-google and friends and family always text me to find the right restaurant.
I’d love to get to know you better! Reply to this email with a fun fact and your favorite hot sauce (Valentina is my favorite on eggs and I’m into Red Clay’s Hot Honey on pizza).
Now, let’s dive in.
Something to cook:
Julia came over to watch the final To All the Boys I’ve Loved before movie (it was adorable and very moving). We made an old favorite: tofu cabbage wraps with mango salsa and peanut sauce from Cookie and Kate. This is a great dish to cook with someone because there’s a lot of chopping (buying precut mango saves time).
I made fried rice in my cast iron pan and was so impressed at how crispy it got. I got the pan about a month ago and already notice a difference. Fried rice is a great clean out the fridge meal if you have vegetable odds and ends. I used leftover rice, broccoli, cabbage, onion, scallions, kimchi, eggs, and leftover tofu. For the sauce, I used garlic, ginger, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and a little bit of ketchup. I finished it with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and rice vinegar. I am incapable of making a small amount of fried rice, but luckily, the leftovers are great.
Quesadillas are a very popular lunch around here. Lately I’ve been making them in a cast iron (a non stick works too). I always add beans of some kind (either canned black beans heated and mashed with some spices or canned refried beans that I cook with some onion and spices). Sazón is great with the beans as is cumin. Serve your quesadillas in wedges with avocado (sprinkled with lime juice and salt) and salsa.
Yesterday, I made Hamantaschen dough (so many of you have been making Hamantaschen, please tag me on Instagram if you do) from a family recipe. The dough needs to chill for a few hours but can wait longer. I’m going to bake them tomorrow and fill them with jam, chocolate, and a sweetened cream cheese.
Something to order:
Dale will pivot any trip to Manhattan into a visit to Scarr’s (I benefit greatly from this). On Monday, he brought home a pie and a vegan caesar salad. The crust on their pies is so good and I only wish I lived closer.
Warm weather (so anything over 40) is worth celebrating. Natalie, Oset and I took advantage of Tuesday’s higher than usual temperatures to have dinner at The HiHi Room. The backyard has heaters and you order via QR code. I had a grain bowl and we split some very tasty cheesy potatoes and a pet nat. The waiter said the restaurant would open for indoor dining once the entire staff had been vaccinated and I love that approach.
The East Village location of Black Seed Bagels is doing a pizza collaboration called Black Seed Pizza. We got to try two Sicilian style pies, the classic and the white. The pizza is very good, similar to Emmy Squared pies and it’s very filling. The white pie has chili crisp, a great addition. Try it out if you’re in Manhattan (check their delivery radius or order ahead for pickup).
My favorite bar Duck Duck reopened after a winter hibernation and Sarah, Julia and I went to celebrate. Most of the seating is inside now (I’m still not comfortable with that) but there was one table outside and we sipped spiked ciders and hot toddies until we couldn’t feel our toes. Seeing a few friends this week boosted my mood SO much.
I don’t live near a Trader Joe’s and have been missing some of their snacks. Dale picked up peanut butter pretzels last week and they significantly improved my snack routine.
Something to read:
How community fridges work (I volunteer weekly at the Cooper Park Fridge and can’t recommend it enough)
High risk restaurant workers on navigating the pandemic
Roberto Serralles is rethinking liquor sustainability (I don’t like the word pioneer in the headline, but the conversation is interesting)
What is baking soda and what does it do?
Really related to Nisha on missing a place while you’re in it. I miss the days of running around the city but I don’t miss lugging a laptop/change of clothes/chargers/etc.
I need to check out this new soup pop up in Brooklyn
Excited for Whetstone’s newest editor Vidya Balachander, who wrote this incredible piece on asafoetida
In Bibi’s Kitchen challenges home cooks to embrace African cuisine and the women who make it. It’s such a great cookbook.
What a job: an interview with a bagel consultant
Incarcerated no more: Michael Thompson finds joy in meals
My Instagram is full of these motivational water bottles. Does anyone have one?
Farm to table on stolen land. This was such an interesting look at the restaurant scene in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Activists Working to Remake the Food System
Inside Tejal Rao’s office and writing routine
The future of wine pairings for all cuisines and budgets
Folu from Unsnackable was on the Office Hours podcast talking about baking, her newsletter, and more.
Mayukh Sen’s Book on Immigrant Women who Revolutionized Food is now available for preorder! Can’t wait to read it.
If you enjoyed Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway’s podcast Home Cooking, you’ll love this podcast about how they decided to make it.
Rachel shared her tips for managing a mild covid case (I cosign limiting your media consumption about covid if you or a family member is sick)
Covid doesn’t discriminate, but people do.
Eric Ehler, a Korean adoptee, is opening a Chinese American restaurant in San Francisco. He’s made a beautiful IGTV about discovering his Asian American identity through food and I hope his restaurant is a big success.
Reply All, the podcast which has been releasing a four part series on Bon Appetit’s toxic and discriminatory culture, is having its own reckoning. The series’ future is unclear. I’m so upset for all the BA staff who opened up to the Reply All host, who in turn was not supporting people of color and unionization in her own organization.
Read Jamie Wilson on the difference between food and food media.
Now, let’s talk about dishes that more people should know about. I’d classify the Parsi recipes in this piece in this category.
Mike shared a Japanese-Canadian dish: A dish that almost no one knows about but that everyone who tries it gets hooked on is Japanese-Canadian Chow Mein. It's completely its own thing, originating in Cumberland, BC in the early 20th century. A Chinese man in town taught the wives of Japanese coal miners how to make chow mein and they adapted it from theirs. It has evolved and mutated since, but it always heavily features globe onions and celery, two ingredients not usually found in traditional Japanese cooking. Every family has slight (or large) variations on the recipe. I got mine from my aunt and have mostly stayed faithful. I wrote about it here.
This week, I’d love to hear your favorite hot sauce. I find it so hard to pick just one favorite so please be specific. Maybe you like one sauce for eggs, another for rice. The possibilities are endless. Reply to this email with your favorites. I’ll share the responses next week.
On Thursday, Adina Goldstein is going to share the results of her Hamantaschen bakeoff (she tested five dough recipes with three fillings, including my family’s dough recipe). She’ll also share details of how to set up a bakeoff of your own, for any dish!
And if you’re free Wednesday, come make a snack dinner with me! Snack dinners always feel like a treat and are a fun way to break up a routine, especially during a pandemic.
Thank you for reading!
xo, Abigail