Hi. It’s me, Kim Severson! It’s that time of the summer when everyone but me goes on vacation. This means I get to talk about something my friends and family are tired of hearing, which is how much reporting power fuels everything we do over here in the best section of The New York Times.
Consider this story on the new generation of Texans that is blowing up the barbecue orthodoxy in a post-Franklin Barbecue world.
Brett Anderson started this project two years ago. He’s based in New Orleans and has been eating Texas barbecue for 30 years. For this story, he took seven reporting trips and worked with our colleague Priya Krishna, who grew up in Dallas. She, too, returned from Texas with several sauce-stained notebooks.
Clip their list of the 20 best new Texas barbecue spots and stick it on the fridge with a magnet like a boomer.
Their excellent story might make you want to try your hand at an urban version of Texas-style brisket, or this elotes-flavored street corn pudding (above). It was adapted by Brett and Genevieve Ko from the chef Ernest Servantes of Burnt Bean Co. in Seguin, Texas.
Featured Recipe
Street Corn Pudding
For dinner tonight, I’ve got two great recipes for you: The first is Eric Kim’s cold noodles with tomatoes, which is the thing to make as soon as you get some great tomatoes. You probably have the rest of ingredients already. Adding ice to the salted, juicy tomatoes makes a deliciously cold broth. Can we call it a Hot Cold Noodle Summer?
I’ve also got Ham El-Waylly’s roasted chicken thighs with blueberries on my list this week because I happen to have a lot of blueberries and I have never made them into a sauce with whole-grain mustard. Pro tip: Make sure you get the chicken thighs crispy by using that elusive cooking technique, patience.
And if you want to make your family think you are a magician, pull out one-ingredient banana ice cream for dessert. Make sure the bananas are ripe, and if you want to be fancy, add some toasted almonds or chocolate chips.
Whew! Almost done here, which means it’s time for a drink. I stopped drinking alcohol, but that doesn’t mean I stopped making drinks for my friends. Tinto de verano is going into the summer rotation. Traditionalists will use only red wine, ice and the Spanish citrus soda La Casera or Sprite, but take a tip from Rebekah Peppler and add some vermouth for an herbal note. I’ll make myself a chamomile lime rickey and we’ll laugh and toast to nothing and smash our empty glasses down.
There are a ton more recipes on New York Times Cooking. We’d appreciate it if you got a subscription. Deeply reported, accurate food coverage costs money. For technological help, don’t call me (LOL), but do reach out to cookingcare@nytimes.com. Send tips and gripes to foodeditor@nytimes.com.
Thanks for reading to the end! Julia Moskin will be back for the next one.
