Good morning. One of the many things I love about the community we’ve built here at New York Times Cooking is the notes that subscribers add to the recipes. The notes are, for the most part, helpful and kind, often funny and probing. And if there are plenty who say they substituted sardines for the chicken and the recipe’s awful, there are many more who bring their history and culture to bear in what they write, and who lift us all with their experience.
Take Eric Kim’s recipe for Brunswick stew (above), which he wrote about for The Times in the fall. Readers from all over the South have weighed in with thoughtful memories of the dish as it was cooked by their families for decades: butter in place of the olive oil, canned tomatoes in place of the fresh, Vidalia onions always, a little more Worcestershire sauce, a dab of barbecue sauce, some okra, a handful of barbecued pork.
My plan for today is to read all the notes, make some considered decisions and cook Brunswick stew.
But not only Brunswick stew. Pasta with chopped pesto and peas for lunch. And here’s a reminder that even if you’re no more Irish than Sal at the pizza shop: If you want to eat homemade corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day, you’ll need to slip that meat into your brine today, so that it’s perfect by Friday, good to go.
As for the rest of the week. …
Monday
I love Melissa Clark’s recipe for cauliflower shawarma with spicy tahini, which goes well with flatbreads and a bowl of chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and olives. It’s a fast take on the traditional version made with chicken or lamb, perfect for a weeknight when you’re in search of big flavor.
Tuesday
Eric Kim has a new recipe for ricotta pasta alla vodka that pairs a dollop of cheese with an extra boozy version of the classic recipe, making the dish creamy and rich.
Wednesday
These soy-glazed salmon hand rolls from Kay Chun are a marvel for midweek cooking. The recipe is a riff on the roasted eel dish known as unagi: rich, fresh and crunchy all at once. Try it with quinoa instead of the usual short-grained rice.
Thursday
Zainab Shah’s new recipe for chicken Manchurian is her take on an immensely popular dish at Chinese restaurants across South Asia. It’s sweet and sour, punchy with peppers and chile, and excellent over rice or noodles. Get to it.
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Now, it’s a far cry from saffron or ling cod, but Wayne Lawson, in Vanity Fair, has broken his four-decade silence about editing — really, ghostwriting — Gloria Swanson’s 1980 autobiography, “Swanson on Swanson,” available at libraries and used-book stores alike. It’s an amazing tale.
