Food & Wine USA - (06)June 2020

12 JUNE 2020

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THIS WEEK, I PLANTED A GARDEN. I’m no green

thumb, but I found comfort and purpose in

mixing soil and seeding it with vegetables with

workaday names like Better Boy tomatoes and

straightneck squash. This garden has sparked

a minor obsession and internet searches for

ginger plants and bay laurel saplings. Oh, the

possibilities: A Southeast Asian curry garden!

A salad garden! Wait, couldn’t we also raise

chickens?

And then yesterday I found our dog Birdie

snout-deep in one of the barrel containers,

rooting up tomato plants to get more licks of

bone meal–flavored potting soil.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

While the garden takes root, I’m finding more immediate returns in my kitchen by feeding a

sourdough starter (which I’ve named Althea) that was FedExed by a friend. I’ve been adding red

wine to a vinegar crock again and making quarts of stock in an Instant Pot to freeze. In other

words, I’m cooking and learning a lot, just like I imagine you are. The best way to step back from

the darkness is to light the stove.

I’m grateful for people like the truck drivers, grocery workers, and farmers who continue

working to put food on my table. The food and beverage industry is hurting on every level, with

millions of unemployed workers. To help restaurant workers, Food & Wine is partnering with

Southern Smoke Foundation to raise money to support those in crisis. You can help by donating

at southernsmoke.org/foodandwine.

I’m also grateful for our Food & Wine team working from home to create the magazine that

you’re holding in your hands and the stories and recipes we share daily on foodandwine

.com. Grant me a minute to brag on these people, like Digital Editor Margaret Eby, who delivered

sourdough starters to colleagues in Brooklyn one weekend afternoon. People like Mary-Frances

Heck, our senior food editor, who, when she’s not texting me with gardening advice, is testing

recipes at home and interviewing restaurant owners about how they’ve changed their business

models to stay open and serve their communities. People like Senior Editor Kat Kinsman, who

has been recording conversations with chefs for our Communal Table podcast from her apartment

while also clocking late hours to support chefs struggling with mental health challenges via F&W

Pro and her site Chefs with Issues.

During this difficult time, food and drink give us a way of caring for others and offer a sense of

connection, whether through storytelling or through kitchen comforts like homemade bread. In

that spirit, we bring you this issue full of great writing and delicious new ways to make this summer

more joyful, including a shawarma recipe for your grill (p. 34); a double-decker Brita cake (p. 77);

chef Ned Baldwin’s simple ways with fresh-caught fish (p. 94); and new takes on tiki cocktails

(p. 50) for your next happy hour, be it virtual or in person.

Stay strong, stay together, and cook something good tonight.

From the

Home Office

A New Season

THE ULTIMATE FIREPIT

On nights when I need

a lot of surface area to

cook on, my favorite grill

is a Sea Island Forge, a

rugged 30-gallon cast-

iron firepit with smartly

engineered grill accesso-

ries built to last (se a

islandforge.com). For

more outdoor fire gear

picks, see p. 20.

KOJI LOVE

Food Editor Josh Miller

has turned F&W staff into

koji rice obsessives. It’s

the vital ingredient in

his versatile all-purpose

marinade for any meat

(recipe p. 79). A staple

Japanese ingredient for

centuries and the key to

making miso, sake, and

soy sauce, koji breaks

down and tenderizes pro-

teins while adding bold

umami flavor. Look for

koji rice on amazon.com.

A COOKBOOK FOR

THESE TIMES

Ned Baldwin is a low-key

brilliant home cook who

moonlights as chef-owner

of Houseman, his restau-

rant in New York City. His

simple and understated

new book, How to Dress

an Egg, written with Peter

Kaminsky, teaches basic

concepts like mastering

roast chicken or pot-

roasting pork shoulder

and details how to dress

them up with additional

flavors and accoutre-

ments. Simply put, Bald-

win’s is a chef cookbook

better suited for the

kitchen than the coffee

table. Find three of these

recipes on p. 99.

Subscription Help: foodandwine

.com/myaccount or email us at

[email protected]

or call 1-800-333-6569.

HUNTER LEWIS

@NOTESFROMACOOK

[email protected]

SUPPORT THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY

Food & Wine is partnering with Southern Smoke

Foundation’s emergency relief fund to help

support workers in the food and beverage

industry impacted by the pandemic. Visit southern

smoke.org/foodandwine for more information.

photography by RAMONA ROSALES

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