In the pantheon of winter drinks, hot buttered rum is among the most satisfying and misunderstood. The cocktail recipe dates to colonial New England, when historians say the rum and butter mixture was used as a medicinal tonic for sore throats. It remained popular—albeit less frequently prescribed by doctors—until a 20th-century hater emerged. In his … Read more
As legend has it, around 1914, Roman chef Alfredo Di Lelio combined eggs, butter, and Parmigiano-Reggiano to create the dish that would come to bear his name. Fettuccine Alfredo recipes have since evolved into the cheesy highlight at practically every Italian-American restaurant in the U.S. Traditionalists will tell you that you only need freshly grated … Read more
Enriched with actual melted chocolate, homemade hot chocolate is worlds away from saccharine store-bought mixes. (For those keeping track at home, the base ingredient is also what differentiates hot chocolate from homemade hot cocoa recipes.) Drinking chocolate is a millennia-old tradition created by the Olmec, who cultivated cacao in what’s now Mexico and Central America. … Read more
There’s something to be said for store-bought hot cocoa mix. It’s fast. It’s convenient. But when you have a reliable homemade hot cocoa recipe you can customize to your tastes, there’s almost no going back. Hot cocoa (not to be confused with hot chocolate) gets its rich chocolate flavor from unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or … Read more
The combination of coconut milk, sticky rice, and sweet ripe mango has been a popular Thai dessert for centuries. Stateside, people are more likely to order mango sticky rice (or khao niaow ma muang) from their favorite Thai restaurant, but it’s incredibly easy to make at home. The base ingredient is glutinous rice (often labeled … Read more
While a whole roast duck might seem like a special-occasion dish—something you’d serve for Christmas dinner or order in certain Chinese restaurants—it’s actually very simple to make. If you can prepare a Thanksgiving turkey (or even a roast chicken), you can cook a whole duck. In some ways, cooking duck is even easier than cooking … Read more
Wassail means different things to centuries of people. Used as a noun and verb, the word derives from waes hael, a 5th-century English toast meaning “good health,” or something apple farmers recited to encourage a bountiful spring harvest, depending on which historical account you believe. The term also pops up in Beowulf—and later in song … Read more
In 1936, agriculturalist George Washington Carver published two versions of glacéed sweet potatoes in a farmers bulletin. Forty years earlier, legendary chef Fannie Farmer included her recipe for candied sweet potatoes in what would become her eponymous cookbook. This is to say, The dish most often known as “candied yams” has a long history on … Read more
This cocoa cake asks little and gives so much. But you don’t have to take our word for it: This is “hands down my favorite cake to bake,” writes one reviewer, who goes on to say it’s “always reliable and always delicious.” Another reports to have made the recipe no less than five times, and … Read more
This easy spinach salad recipe has range: It is elegant enough for a dinner party, will impress at a potluck, and makes for a quick and satisfying midweek lunch—especially if you give it main dish energy by adding chickpeas, or sliced hard-boiled eggs. If frying sounds fussy, you can make crispy bacon in the oven. … Read more