Good morning. It’s Emily again, and I’m thinking that today is a great day to make Marian Burros’s plum torte (above).
Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s possibly the most famous New York Times Cooking recipe of all time, and among the most loved. (Apologies to no-knead bread.) The plum torte is adorable and genuinely easy to make, using only a handful of ingredients. It travels well, it keeps well and it’s good any time of day. You don’t need thermometers, kitchen scales or other doodads. You don’t even need a mixer. You just need an hour, some fruit and an appreciation for the classics.
Featured Recipe
Original Plum Torte
The back story is that this plum torte first appeared in The Times in 1983. The following year, so many readers wrote in to request it that the recipe was printed again. On and on it went like this, until The Times finally told people to cut the recipe out of the newspaper and save it; it would not be printed again. (Grouchy, but I respect it.)
Now, of course, you can find and bake the plum torte anytime you like. Use any fruit you want: The plum torte is so easygoing, you don’t even need to make it with plums. We’ve collected a whole bunch of ways to modify the recipe here.
But you can’t live on plum torte alone. Here are some ideas for the rest of the week:
Monday
The easiest cacio e pepe to nail is probably a vegan one: You remove the risk of clumpiness that comes with the grated cheese. Alexa Weibel’s recipe has both vegans and omnivores raving in the comments.
Tuesday
Kay Chun has a genius for combining flavors; here she adds Dijon mustard to the chorus of miso, scallions, garlic and ginger in this chicken recipe. She even gives you instructions for turning leftovers into chicken salad for lunch the next day. We love a twofer!
Wednesday
I’ve made Eric Kim’s version of gyeran bap more times than I can count. This is delicious cooking for nights when sliding a golden fried egg onto a pile of rice is about as much as you can do.
Thursday
At the top of this recipe, Ali Slagle asks whether I’m looking for silky fish with flavors that go with anything — and the answer is yes, I am. This gentle cooking method is especially good for leaner wild salmon, which doesn’t have the rich cushion of fat you get with farmed salmon.
Friday
These salmon and corn cakes from Lidey Heuck are late-summer heaven and a strong way to end the week. They’re a great vehicle for using up leftover salmon (perhaps from the baked salmon above), though canned salmon works too.
That’s it! At least for now, though if you head to New York Times Cooking you’ll find thousands upon thousands of recipes to scroll. You’ll need a subscription to use them, so I hope you’ll subscribe today if you haven’t already. If you have questions about your account, email cookingcare@nytimes.com; if you’d like to reach me, I’m dearemily@nytimes.com, and I love to hear from you. Melissa Clark will be back with you on Monday.
