10 JANUARY 2021
EDITOR’S LETTER
“EXCUSE ME, SON,” said a regal
older woman in the checkout
aisle, pointing to my cart.
“What kind of bread is that?”
“Naan,” I said. “A kind of
Indian flatbread.”
“May I ask how you will use
it?”
“With a chicken curry. It’s
great for sopping.”
“Oh, honey,” she replied
with a rueful laugh. “Don’t
nobody know about soppin’
anymore.”
We ended the conversation
abruptly to keep the line
moving. Still, days after, her statement haunted me. Was sopping truly a dying
art? I started talking to some of my chef friends, asking them if they, like me,
swiped torn bread around the bottom of a bowl to collect what deliciousness a
spoon could not. Sopping, according to my polling, is not a generational thing.
It is a universal act, and especially so during this time of year when we seek
comfort from the contents of the stew pot.
So, ma’am, kindred spirit from grocery aisle 8, wherever you may be: We hereby
officially declare this sopping season open—and we have the recipes and stories
to show for it. Turn to “Good to the Last Sop” (p. 92) and get ready to break out
your Dutch oven and bean pot, simmer your dal and bisque, bake your baguette
and cornbread (see recipe at right), and fire up your roti and tortillas!
And while you’re planning dinners from this issue, you’re hopefully also creat-
ing a post-holidays self-care plan for the winter ahead. Like me, Senior Editor
Kat Kinsman deals with seasonal affective disorder, and this year she’s using 17
fragrant mail-order citrus plants (“Comfort Me with Citrus,” p. 15) as a balm. My
own plan for keeping the darkness at bay involves a 5 p.m. ritual of building
a fire in the den off the kitchen, which makes a fine venue for uncorking one
of the complex after-dinner wines recommended by Executive Wine Editor
Ray Isle (see “Meditation Wines,” p. 48) and is also just the spot for reading
Bryan Washington’s ode to magical oxtail (“Love Me Tender,” p. 24) and toasting
to the life of Provençal wine matriarch Lulu Peyraud, whom Steve Hoffman
memorializes so beautifully in the story “Adieu Lulu” (p. 86).
May your year ahead be better than the one before it. And may your dinner
tonight be good down to the very last sop.
Swipe Right
Buttermilk Cornbread
ACTIVE 30 MIN; TOTAL 50 MIN; SERVES 8
Food Editor Josh Miller calls this recipe of
his “a baked good with inherent grace” for
its ability to accommodate stir-in whims
like grated cheese or diced chiles. How-
ever, he’s strict about following three rules
to achieve a crispy crust: Preheat the skil-
let to get it screaming hot; salt the skillet
to flavor the crust; and turn out the corn-
bread onto a rack right after baking.
2 Tbsp. peanut oil
2 cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal
(about 8^1 / 2 oz.)
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4^1 / 4 oz.)
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
2 3 / 4 tsp. kosher salt, divided
2 tsp. baking powder
1 / 2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups buttermilk, well stirred
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter (3 oz.), melted
- Add peanut oil to a 10-inch cast-iron
skillet; place skillet in oven, and preheat
to 450°F. (Do not remove skillet while
oven preheats.)
- While oven preheats, whisk together
cornmeal, flour, sugar, 2^1 / 2 teaspoons salt,
baking powder, and baking soda in a
medium bowl. Stir in buttermilk until
smooth; stir in eggs, then stir in melted
b u t te r.
- Carefully remove skillet from oven;
pour hot oil from skillet into cornbread
batter, stirring until blended. Working
quickly, sprinkle remaining^1 / 4 teaspoon
salt in bottom of skillet, and immediately
pour batter into hot skillet (do not stir).
Return skillet to oven.
- Bake at 450°F until top is golden brown,
about 22 minutes. Immediately invert
cornbread onto a wire rack; let cool 10
minutes.
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HUNTER LEWIS
@NOTESFROMACOOK
[email protected] FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY: VICTOR PROTASIO; FOOD STYLING: KAREN RANKIN; PROP STYLING: SARAH ELIZABETH CLEVELAND
portrait by RAMONA ROSALES
